Boston Bruins blacked out on NESN

[rocinante67]

Anyone else run into this problem? I am in Buxton, Maine and NESN is my RSN and I've never had a Bruin or Red Sox game blacked out before.

 

[charper1]

Just as a thought have you looked at chnl 634? Is it there or maybe on a local affiliate?

 

[Brewer4]

Weird I got NESN HD and RSN HD (channel 95) coverage in Boston. No RSN blackout. Didnt check the SD version.

 

[rocinante67]

Brewer, what channel did you get the NESN HD feed on? I did get the HD feed from FSN Florida on channel 95 (so I was able (sadly) to see the B's get beaten so badly). We don't get NESN HD regularly up here (yet).

What makes this all strange is that even with the free Center Ice preview, I should have been blacked out of the FSN Florida feed and had NESN come through. This is the way the blackouts work on all the sports subscriptions to protect the local market's telecast. What happened last night was exactly the opposite.

 

[Brewer4]

NESN HD is only available with AT9 dish and MPEG4 receiver like H20 and HR20 and, here is the kicker, only in a Boston zip code. Not a New England NESN territory, only Boston. I live in Hartford NESN but "moved" to Boston to receive NESN HD. I get the Boston spot beams so I have no idea why NESN HD is only in Boston. Gotta be lawyers and other silly legal restrictions.

 

[Chuck W]

There was something definitely wrong with their blackout of that game. I called Directv and actually got a very helpful CSR, who IMO went beyond what a normal CSR usually does. After about 20 minutes of researching(also she pulled up local Boston stations and made sure it wasn't being shown on any local station) what the issue was, she said she was going to escalate it, as there was something wrong on their end(I dunno how truthfull she was but she seemed sincere, the whole time).

The simple issue is that I am in NW Connecticut and NESN is deemed to be my home RSN . I should be receiving the games on NESN, without issues(this is SD not HD). Till that game, I have never, ever been blacked out of anything on NESN. They had better get this straightened out fast.

I suggest anyone who had this issue, first call Directv and let them know and second, call/email NESN and let them know. I'm sure they(NESN) won't be happy about having their games wrongfullly blacked out and amy put some pressure on Directv, to get it right.

 

[rocinante67]

DirecTV's CSR was very polite but of no help to me. I also sent an e-mail to NESN and finally heard back from them. NESN says it was a zip code error on DirecTV's part and that the problem should be corrected before the game against the Thrashers tonight.

 

[rocinante67]

Well, problem has not been fixed yet. I contacted
DTV but that was an excercise in futility. I also sent another e-mail to NESN and hopefully they will get this straightened out with DTV.

 

[dishcomm]

There was something definitely wrong with their blackout of that game. I called Directv and actually got a very helpful CSR, who IMO went beyond what a normal CSR usually does. After about 20 minutes of researching(also she pulled up local Boston stations and made sure it wasn't being shown on any local station) what the issue was, she said she was going to escalate it, as there was something wrong on their end(I dunno how truthfull she was but she seemed sincere, the whole time).

The simple issue is that I am in NW Connecticut and NESN is deemed to be my home RSN . I should be receiving the games on NESN, without issues(this is SD not HD). Till that game, I have never, ever been blacked out of anything on NESN. They had better get this straightened out fast.

I suggest anyone who had this issue, first call Directv and let them know and second, call/email NESN and let them know. I'm sure they(NESN) won't be happy about having their games wrongfullly blacked out and amy put some pressure on Directv, to get it right.

I tried to find a link that lists the various NHL team broadcasts territories.I haven't had any luck...you can call DTV and give them your zip code and they will tell you all teams that are blacked out in your area
..A note of caution..just because you are getting the RSN does not necessarily mean that you get the games..Sounds crazy, doesn't it.....I remember lots of concern over SNY and CT customers who were in the Mets territory but not eligible for SNY....They can't watch the Mets at all.....weord..Just call DTV ot get a clarification...

 

[Trainnut]

Escalate is short for "Watch me get this guy of the phone." I've had a few blackout problems "escalated" that have never been resolved.

 

[rocinante67]

Appreciate the help, Dishcomm, but I guess the point we're trying to make isn't clear. This isn't an issue of "why don't I get these games here?", it's about "why am I no longer getting these games here?". Using the zip code locator for RSNs on DirecTV's site shows my RSNs are NESN and FSNE and "home" teams are the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics. To further prove it was a DirecTV error, the Celtics telecast last night came through fine. I've received correspondence from NESN that this is an error on DirecTV's part (zip codes in their database) but NESN was informed by DirecTV that it was corrected. I had to laugh last night when a DirecTV CSR tried to tell me that the Boston Bruins telecast rights were owned by Fox Sports MidWest (Nebraska) and they were the ones dictating the blackout. DirecTV better get this squared away quickly or they are going to lose alot of customers back to cable tv. If this had happened during baseball season and New Englanders were cut off from the Red Sox telecasts, there would be a much louder uproar but (sadly) hockey isn't nearly as popular as baseball.

 

[Chuck W]

I tried to find a link that lists the various NHL team broadcasts territories.I haven't had any luck...you can call DTV and give them your zip code and they will tell you all teams that are blacked out in your area
..A note of caution..just because you are getting the RSN does not necessarily mean that you get the games..Sounds crazy, doesn't it.....I remember lots of concern over SNY and CT customers who were in the Mets territory but not eligible for SNY....They can't watch the Mets at all.....weord..Just call DTV ot get a clarification...

I had gone thru all that with the rep, back on Friday and when we were done, she was sure there was an issue, on their end. Turns out, she was right. I received the following email from NESN yesterday(10/11) about the issue:

Thank you for your note and alerting us to the unanticipated blackouts
of this weekend's Bruins broadcasts. We have been in contact with
DirecTV and learned that the interruption, which was inadvertent, was
related to zip code databases.



The situation has been corrected and you should have no further
difficulties in watching the Bruins, beginning with the game in Atlanta
tomorrow night.



Again, thank you for helping us correct the situation and thanks for
watching NESN.

This response was addressed to me and about 50 others.

And, as of last night, everything was back to normal for me, with no blackouts. I know they fixed it because the CI package used Turner South and I still got the game on NESN, as well.

 

[rocinante67]

Everything back to normal here as well.