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Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: Watching Bobcat basketball if you don't have Time Warner
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OU_Country
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Posted: 5/10/2014 10:25 AM
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I know it has been discussed to no end on this board during the season, but what did folks without Slime Warner do to watch hoops this year? I ask because they've raised our rates beyond what I deem to be fair or normal, and if I'm unsuccessful at haggling/negotiating/complaining that rate down, I'll be searching for a new provider.

Thanks!
cbarber357
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C357
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Posted: 5/10/2014 10:48 AM
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Tell them directv or whatever offered you lower rates. Normally they'll try to beat it. My dad gets cable super cheap by just scheduling times for installation than canceling and telling directv beat it, which is true. I think last time his cable was like $15 below advertised with free showtime and a free DVR. From time Warner.
anorris
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Posted: 5/10/2014 12:11 PM
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If you're in Ohio, you bargain for better rates from TWC, or beg DirecTV or Dish to pay Time Warner to carry the channel (and good luck with that).

If you're out of Ohio... sign up with anybody who carries ESPN3, as the games aren't blacked out out of state.
Pataskala
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Posted: 5/10/2014 12:54 PM
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For a while last year we were able to get ESPN3, maybe because we have the high-end TWC internet service.  But suddenly toward the end of February even that was blacked out.  So I started using firstrowsports.  You have to wade through a bunch of ads and sex chat sites but it was worth it.  (Yes, I know it's unAmerican to go to pirate sites but I presume that ESPN and TWC know about it and could enforce the blackout against them if they wanted.)

If you're in ATT's territory you can threaten to switch to U-Verse.  That might help. 

I'm not sure if things will change once Comcast buys TWC.
OU_Country
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Posted: 5/10/2014 12:58 PM
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Is the MAC stream functional regardless of ISP/Cable Co.?
RSBobcat
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Posted: 5/10/2014 1:16 PM
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OU_Country wrote:expand_more
Is the MAC stream functional regardless of ISP/Cable Co.?

MAC streams work - but often bad feeds

 
Old Zone
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Posted: 5/10/2014 1:16 PM
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The whole thing is ridiculous. I don't even have access to T-W in my area if I wanted to convert and I'm still blacked out. Thank you MAC for your visionary leadership.
Jughead
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Posted: 5/11/2014 7:44 PM
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Yeah, this is by far the worst tv deal in this conference's history. For whatever reason, the softball game was not aired on Time Warner Sports yesterday, yet they still enforced the local blackout on ESPN3 until the fifth inning.
JSF
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Posted: 5/11/2014 9:23 PM
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Jughead wrote:expand_more
Yeah, this is by far the worst tv deal in this conference's history.


Not even close.
bornacatfan
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Posted: 5/12/2014 9:14 AM
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JSF wrote:expand_more
Yeah, this is by far the worst tv deal in this conference's history.


Not even close.
care to elaborate? Historically, for the masses who are newer to the fray, if you would por favor.
MedinaCat
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Posted: 5/12/2014 9:23 AM
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Pataskala wrote:expand_more
 

I'm not sure if things will change once Comcast buys TWC.


My understanding is that the areas covers by TWC in Ohio would be serviced by Charter Communications in order to steer clear of anti-trust issues.  So the ESPN 3 option?
OU_Country
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Posted: 5/12/2014 10:03 AM
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bornacatfan wrote:expand_more
Yeah, this is by far the worst tv deal in this conference's history.


Not even close.


care to elaborate? Historically, for the masses who are newer to the fray, if you would por favor.


I don't know details as well as some, but prior to the previous deal with STO, we had some Fox Sports Ohio and also some ONN Sports.  Neither was as good as the STO broadcast and quantity of games.

Prior to those options, unless I'm forgetting something, we essentially had next to nothing on TV on a consistent basis in the MAC.  So in comparison to the STO deal, yes, the TWC Sports isn't as good.  However in comparison to prior TV deals, I'd say it's better.


Past that, thanks to the folks giving input to non-TWC options.  MAC Basketball is a contributing factor in my decision process.  If it weren't for that, I'd be switching to Uverse immediately.
Pataskala
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Posted: 5/12/2014 12:58 PM
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OU_Country wrote:expand_more
Yeah, this is by far the worst tv deal in this conference's history.


Not even close.


care to elaborate? Historically, for the masses who are newer to the fray, if you would por favor.


I don't know details as well as some, but prior to the previous deal with STO, we had some Fox Sports Ohio and also some ONN Sports.  Neither was as good as the STO broadcast and quantity of games.

Prior to those options, unless I'm forgetting something, we essentially had next to nothing on TV on a consistent basis in the MAC.  So in comparison to the STO deal, yes, the TWC Sports isn't as good.  However in comparison to prior TV deals, I'd say it's better.


Past that, thanks to the folks giving input to non-TWC options.  MAC Basketball is a contributing factor in my decision process.  If it weren't for that, I'd be switching to Uverse immediately.


It's only been ten years or so since the MAC began having a package deal with a sports outlet.  Before that there was no MAC package -- each school cut a deal locally.  The ONN deal was only slightly better than nothing because ONN was carried only within the state of Ohio and not on any satellite services.  The MAC was a poor step-child on FSN.  In the fall we were in the back of the line behind Indians/Reds and Big East/Big 12/Pac 12.  In the winter, we were behind the Cavs, the BJs, Xavier/A-10 and Big East.  We stepped up a bit with the move to STO -- we were available on all cable & satellite services in Ohio and on ESPN Gameplan outside -- but when they were bought up by FSN there was no room at the inn.  The TWC deal is a giant leap backwards.  I'm not sure if Comcast or Charter will get the sports rights; whoever gets it, I hope they do a better job in making games available to the public.
ts1227
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Posted: 5/12/2014 1:54 PM
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OU_Country wrote:expand_more
Yeah, this is by far the worst tv deal in this conference's history.


Not even close.


care to elaborate? Historically, for the masses who are newer to the fray, if you would por favor.


I don't know details as well as some, but prior to the previous deal with STO, we had some Fox Sports Ohio and also some ONN Sports. Neither was as good as the STO broadcast and quantity of games.

Prior to those options, unless I'm forgetting something, we essentially had next to nothing on TV on a consistent basis in the MAC. So in comparison to the STO deal, yes, the TWC Sports isn't as good. However in comparison to prior TV deals, I'd say it's better.


Past that, thanks to the folks giving input to non-TWC options. MAC Basketball is a contributing factor in my decision process. If it weren't for that, I'd be switching to Uverse immediately.
I have Uverse and got by just fine using the MAC and Ohio web feeds. There weren't THAT many games on TWCSN, so those other ones you'd be stuck with web feeds anyway regardless of provider.

Generally in the game chats, people would complain about choppy feeds when mine was fine, so the ATT Uverse internet is good as well.

The only time I wished I had it actually on my TV was the few days of the tournament, but even that can be easily circumvented with an HDMI cable.
Tyler
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Posted: 5/12/2014 2:58 PM
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Here's what I said in the previous thread: All of it is still true. My VPN is still working perfectly. I've been using it to watch Pirates games on MLB.TV all season (from my house in Pittsburgh where they would be blacked out) without any issues.

You can use a proxy server to mask your IP address. There are some free ones out there, but I don't know how reliable they are.

The option I use is virtual private network (VPN). They do a lot of different things to encrypt and protect your data, but the most important for this is they also allow you to mask your IP address by connect to the internet through one of their servers across the world. This does slow down your internet connection, but I've never had a buffering issue or anything with it. I pay for 50MBps internet, and my speeds slow down to around 25-30MBps when I'm connected to the VPN. I subscribe to Private Internet Access. It's $39.95 for a year or $6.95 for a month. It took me about five minutes to set up, and I use it all the time to watch blacked out ESPN3 and MLB.TV games. It was also great during the Olympics to watch the CBC streams from Canada because they were much better than the NBC ones here.

The final option is to use a location spoof on your phone or tablet. There are some free ones available for both OSs. I think there are ones for Android you can download right from the Google Play store and they'll work (I think Fake GPS Location is a good one). For iPhones/iPads you'll need to have a jailbroken device and download an app from Cydia. Once you have an location spoofing app, you just set it up to show you're outside Ohio or in another country altogether. Then you'll be able to watch all the blacked out games. You can also use an Apple TV or Chromecast to stream from your phone/tablet to your TV.

In addition to using it at home to stream games that are blackedout (mainly Pirates games with my MLB.TV subscription), I also use it when I'm on public wifi like coffee shops and airports because those networks aren't secured. I've been using Private Internet Access since September, and I haven't run into any issues or bugs. It's one of the most trusted and highly regarded VPN service providers out there. Like I mentioned before, the only thing that may be an issue is a slower connection while connected to the VPN. My internet is fast enough that it doesn't create any buffering issues, but it could be an issue if you have slow internet to begin with. Might be wise to test it out for a month to see how it works before dropping $40 on it.

Lifehacker (a Gawker site, like Deadspin) has some great articles on why you should use a VPN and which ones are the best and most trustworthy. Private Internet Access is one of their top five suggestions.

Why You Should Start Using a VPN (and How to Choose the Best One for Your Needs)

Five Best VPN Service Providers

The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Streaming Blocked Content Overseas
 
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