DirecTV Pac-12 Network excuses are annoying

The sports page informs me that next Saturday's Oregon-Fresno State game only will be televised on the new Pac-12 Network. I want to watch the game. But paternalistic DirecTV doesn't feel that I should. 

Today, once again, I contacted DirecTV, saying that one of their Important Subscribers, namely, me, wanted the pissing match between them and the Pac-12 Network to be resolved. Pronto! Before Saturday. 

I got an annoying email response from a customer service rep. My reactions to the annoyances are in italics.

Dear Mr. Hines, 

Thank you for writing about the Pac 12 Sports Network. I see you are one of our loyal customers, and we would like you to know that we appreciate your business.

Believe me, I don't feel very loyal at the moment. I switched to DirecTV from Dish after Dish dropped CBS shows, such as our must-see Survivor, over a contract dispute. So I'd drop DirecTV in an instant if we had a viable cable alternative. But since we live in the boonies, I'm stuck with satellite.

I know that this channel is important to you.

Wow, very astute. Must be the frequent complaining I've been doing via email and Twitter ever since I realized that DirecTV wasn't going to carry the Pac-12 Network at the start of football season.

We have been in discussions with the Pac 12 Conference Commissioner and Pac-12 Networks representatives for several months and hope to reach an agreement that will be fair for both those customers who want to receive Pac 12 programming and those who do not. For the latest information on channel additions, please visit our web site at www.directv.com/pr.

Pardon my self-centeredness, but I don't give a rip about DirecTV customers who don't want to get the PAC-12 Network. I'm forced to pay for lots of channels that I never watch, but other subscribers do, so why can't those other subscribers pay for a channel that I will watch? 

In addition, the vast majority of games, and those with the most conference or national title implications, will instead be televised by the ESPN family of networks and ABC Sports, FOX Sports and FSN, FX, CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network, NBC Sport and NBC Sports Network, and several other regional services, all of which are available on DIRECTV.

First, I don't believe this "vast majority" stuff. But maybe you're right. What's annoying is your assumption that I should only be interested in games with "conference or national title implications." I guess this means DirecTV won't have any OSU games, since likely the Beavers will suck this year and have no chance at the Pac-12 title. Still, I'd like to watch them when I want to. So don't tell me which football games I should be interested in, when the Pac-12 Network will be televising all of them, to my understanding.

Our goal is to always strive to provide our customers the very best TV experience at the most reasonable cost, and so we would hope to provide Pac-12 Networks to the fans whom most want it without burdening non-sports fans with an unreasonable additional expense.  

OK. So do it. I'd be happy to pay 80 cents a month more for the Pac-12 Network. I leave that much in the tip jar at a coffee house when I buy a 16 ounce caffeine fix and a whole grain bagel. Just cut the crap with all that talk about "goal" and "hope." Simply do it! Sign a deal with the Pac-12 Network.

I appreciate the opportunity to assist you. 

And I appreciate the opportunity to sarcastically criticize you.

Whatever happened to the adage "the customer is always right"? I know that DirecTV is getting lots of pressure from subscribers to add the Pac-12 Network. Yet nothing has happened so far. 

Aside from subscribers jumping ship to another TV provider. Keep it up, DirecTV, and you'll learn how loyal to you your avid Pac-12 sports fans are. My prediction: not much.

Note: if DirecTV still doesn't have the Pac-12 Network by this weekend, check out a Washington State fan's humorous suggestions for what else you can do other than watch football. Such as Go to Michael's with your wife to get scrapbooking materials.

Yikes! Scary! Hope I don't have a nightmare about that tonight.

Speaking of nightmares, the Pac-12 Network is encouraging DirecTV subscribers to give their satellite service a fright by signing up with a competitor who does carry the network. Good for them. I suspect the Pac-12 Network is just as greedy as DirecTV, but my sympathies are with the Network, since I want to be able to watch every Pac-12 game, not just the ones DirecTV thinks I should want to watch.

Comments

[Manue Perez]

Being from the Fresno area, I am in the same boat. I was checking my guide for that channel and could not find it. I googled it and found your blog and other news saying they did not yet have a deal, guess i'll have to find a bar.

[Steve Hess]

I am in the same boat as the author and other fans of Pac 12 football. We live in Arizona and we're moving soon. We will not be renewing with Direct TV. They have lost their customer comes first attitude. This situation happened with channels such as Comedy Central earlier this summer. The execs have to get their bonuses....

[Danielle]

I disagree because I could care less about other Pac-12 teams. I only want to watch the one that I particularly like and the fact that my locality is taken out of the equation for this massive mess known as the Pac-12 Network bothers me. I think the root of this problem (pardon the pun) with DirecTV is that ROOT Sports (Formerly FSN NW) got taken completely out with this new network package, so perhaps it is a grudge I don't know. Also keep in mind the Pac-12 Network was jointly chartered by various cable companies which happen to be the ones who have the channel for the most part (conflict of interest much?). I, myself, am not switching back to Comcast's mediocre service, I went 7 months with shoddy service due to a failure in their equipment - zero compensation given for that. Again I only care about NW teams, I could give a hoot what Cal or ASU does and I am sure I am not alone in following one main team and watching highlights of others that I don't care about. What a cluster, talk about being held hostage by utter greed. I feel bad for other conferences that play against the Pac-12 at Pac-12 venues that don't have an "agreement" with the Pac-12 Network because they also don't get to watch their teams play out of state - what a joke.

[Luis]

You hit all the right points and I greatly agree with you and hope a deal gets done ASAP!!!!

[Bunger]

Of course the problem here is 100% on the Pac 12. Simple as that. They want what is "fair", yet they've not been on the air long enough to know what is fair. DirecTV, Dish Network, Uverse, etc...shouldn't pay a dime more than what they are willing to pay at this point. The Pac 12 needs to buck up, accept to terms, and then down the road look at what they think is "fair" based on viewership and ratings. For once, this one isn't on DirecTV (or the other providers who aren't showing the Pac 12 network). No, Mr Blogger, you need to contact your Pac 12 heads and tell them to quit whining about what's fair and take whatever those providers are offering.

[Brian Hines]

Bunger, I agree with you that the Pac-12 Networks also is at fault, but not 100%. I don't really understand what the dispute is all about. It seems to come down to the extent of DirecTV's national coverage of the Pac-12 network, judging from a comment on this site:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogstv/54842677-63/pac-directv-game-dish.html.csp
------------------
"The Pac-12 Network was designed with regional cable networks in mind, not a national satellite carrier. DirecTV carries the Big 10 Network as one channel with overflow feeds when games overlap. That agreement makes sense for DTV. The Pac-12 "demanding" that DTV carry ALL of the regional channels plus the national channel makes ZERO sense especially when you consider all of the content overlap. If the Pac-12 was smart, they would agree with DTV on the Big 10 model... a single channel plus overflow feeds. I don't expect to see that anytime soon though..."
------------------
I don't think DirecTV should have to offer the Pac-12 Network nationwide. So if the Pac-12 Network is demanding this, they definitely deserve a lot of the blame for this standoff.

[Bunger]

Again, with that statement you posted, I fail to see DTV at fault here.

DTV is saying "Pac 12, if you want your stuff as us being a provider, you'll do it our way". The Pac 12 doesn't like it so they blame DirecTV (and Dish, and AT&T, etc). It's not like the network was in place and we are having a dispute like they were having with Viacom. At least that's my take here.

[Shaun]

I was worried that Dish wouldn’t have the Pac-12 channel either, and it wasn’t looking good for seeing my Buffs play Sacramento last Saturday. Friday before my shift was over at Dish I saw the communication that a deal had been reached and Pac-12 would be on channel 413 the next day. I enjoyed the game, but it looks like my Buffs might have a tough year ahead of them, especially looking at the fourth quarter, but at least I got to watch the game.

[robert]

Dump the Big 10 channel,and Mt. West, change to PAC12

[Amber]

Ha ha! I loved this post!!! I agree wholeheartedly with you! I've been pestering DirecTV for weeks now myself. If we didn't have a contract with them, we'd dump them in a minute. I'm a Huge Utah fan, and missing these games has really stunk. It's just not the same listening on the radio. I sure hope a deal will be made soon!!! Until then, I'm back to harassing them via Facebook!

[bman]

This is silly to blame DTV for this, I blame all the conferences and universities that think they need to make more money by creating ANOTHER channel that will be just like 80 other channels I get...a few games on weekends and infomercials the rest of the time. There simply is no reason to do this other than to fill the Pac12 coffers. Your attitude of "give me my games, I'm willing to now pay more for what was included yesterday" is all the empowerment these clowns need to go this route. Where does it end? Should every conference have a channel? Maybe the NCAA should create a championship channel that has exclusive rights for all the bowl games and march madness, you just have to pay more for what used to be included so that the money can be split differently.

[Jen]

Still no Pac12 network. I don't get to watch my sc cal game today. Extremely annoyed.

[Murray MacLeod]

Hey, Direct TV!! $.080? We're talking about $0.80? My contract is up with DTV this month. I'm pretty sure they don't care whether I leave or not. I haven't had ANY response from them about my very concerned email sent to them a couple of weeks ago. Hinesight, your "Excuses Are Annoying" statement here is right smack on the money.