Email ESPN about ESPN2-HD

[AndyHDTV]

I believe it is time to go another route.

George.Bodenheimer@ESPN.com
VP of Programming at ESPN

 

[AndyHDTV]

from a member in my local TWC NYC thread
ecwlukeny:

Amusing reply..dont know who to believe..

Mr Dressler,

Im a loyal TWCNYC customer, paying $194.00 a month for all the services
Time Warner provides. Premium channels, internet, digital phone etc.
Im somewhat disapointed that you guys do not offer more HD channels, but
that is another story...

Is there any hope, that we will at least have ESPN2HD in time for World
Cup?!. This is an event that only happens every 4 years...Im sure it is
not as simple as pulling the switch and the channels shows up,
negotiations take time and i understand that, but you must agree ESPN2HD
has been on air for a significant period of time where some kind of
deal, even temporary one could of been reached, just for the showing of
World Cup...I just do not understand why in the greatest market in the
US, Time Warner always screws us.. Im hopefull that i will hear from you
regarding this issue.

Respectfully,


I'm glad you are a "loyal" customer and sad that you feel that "time
warner always screws us." it's sad, because we often are trying to do
the right thing for our customers and get blamed, as in this case, for
the greed and abuse of others (like disney/espn).

We are entitled to the espn2hd feed now and want to give it to you at no
additional cost. Short of suing disney/espn, which would take years, we
are trying to negotiate to get it on. Disney is demanding lots of
additional things that will cost you even more money (that's why you
think time warner is screwing you) when all we want is for espn to
delivery what they are already obligated to do.

Still, we are hopeful to add espn2hd this year, regretfully that is
likely to be after the world cup.

 

[toadfannc]

If anyone out there still has their head in the sand, and wonders why TWC is not adding any decent programming ... here's why:

http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/437843.html

Their (Time Warner corporate) business model is to take the enormous profits from certain business units (ex. TWC) and funnel it to struggling business units (ex. AOL). As a result, we (as TWC subscribers) suffer with a below average programming line-up (with no significant additions in over 2 years), while they count our money and divert it other parts of their empire.

 

[toadfannc]

from a member in my local TWC NYC thread
ecwlukeny:

Amusing reply..dont know who to believe..

I'm glad you are a "loyal" customer and sad that you feel that "time
warner always screws us." it's sad, because we often are trying to do
the right thing for our customers and get blamed, as in this case, for
the greed and abuse of others (like disney/espn).

We are entitled to the espn2hd feed now and want to give it to you at no
additional cost. Short of suing disney/espn, which would take years, we
are trying to negotiate to get it on. Disney is demanding lots of
additional things that will cost you even more money (that's why you
think time warner is screwing you) when all we want is for espn to
delivery what they are already obligated to do.

Still, we are hopeful to add espn2hd this year, regretfully that is
likely to be after the world cup.

Am I the only one to find Dressler's response patronizing and offensive? ESPN is not "obligated" to give away ESPN2HD. If he and the TWC lawyers had any brains, they would have included language in their existing contract that accounts for new channels as they launch. Isn't it interesting how the many other cable and satellite providers don't seem to have this trouble with carriage agreements?

I am very pessimistic about ESPN2HD ever coming to TWC HD customers, and I'm even more pessimistic about ever getting the NFL Network. I have e-mailed continuously and am sick and tired of the increasingly offensive responses on this subject. Let's face it-- Dressler and TWC does not care about what we want, especially our desires for certain HD channels (since HD is a tiny fraction of their customer base). E-mailing Bodenheimer might make you feel better, but ESPN is not the problem here. Do you expect them to negotiate a sweetheart deal for TWC? Do you really think they are asking more than they have of other cable/satellite providers? Anyway, it can't hurt, so I encourage everyone out there to go for it.

 

[zaydon]

You have to hit them where it hurts..you can write emails til the cows come home. I'm cancelling premium tier channels with TWC until the bring espn2 in hd. The best effect is to do this before the WC.
I cancelled DirecTV entirely because of their superfan package. You think I'm just one guy w/o a voice. You should have seen how many deals they threw my way not to cancel. I took none of them.

 

[mlb]

I've been holding out on dropping TWC hoping that ESPN2HD would be here by the end of the summer... I will almost surely be gone, however, at the end of the summer due to no NFL Network.

 

[toadfannc]

I've been holding out on dropping TWC hoping that ESPN2HD would be here by the end of the summer... I will almost surely be gone, however, at the end of the summer due to no NFL Network.

While it's true that one e-mail won't prompt TWC to make a national carriage agreement, the cumulative effect of thousands of e-mails and calls will force their hand. I feel exactly the same way about ESPN2HD and the NFL Network. If enough of us tell Fred Dressler (Corp VP of Programming for TWC), hopefully they will get the message. I know it's discouraging ... we're loyal to TWC and we get nothing, especially with sports programming. But, you should still e-mail and tell him that you're not satisfied:

fred.dressler@twcable.com

 

[mlb]

What really pisses me off is that they are offering people who switch from Dish or D* the DigiPic 4000 package with HD-DVR for $55 after tax. I spend $105 for DigitPic 2000 and 2 HD-DVRs. When I call them they say they can't do anything for me than offer me 3 months at 50% off... they make a killing off of my bill, yet won't even come close to matching the price they are giving to others. I haven't left yet because I'm waiting to see if Dish lowers the price any more later in the summer on the 622. Even if they don't I will save enough money within 10 months to pay for the $300 lease fee at Dish (for similar packages).

 

[Hall]

Am I the only one to find Dressler's response patronizing and offensive?

Personally, if that e-mail was addressed to me I would have stopped reading at "Time Warner always screws us" and certainly not have replied to his message. It's a 100% no-win situation for him dealing with a customer with that attitude.

I have no problem with TW carrying ESPN2-HD, but make it a seperate tier item so that *I* and others who don't want it don't have to subsidize it. It doesn't work that way though, thanks to ESPN and Disney. It's the same reason I *pay* for ESPN when I NEVER watch it. I'd love it if TW moved ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, etc, etc to a digital tier but they can't. These channels, or at least the main ones, HAVE to be on cable company's "standard" level of service, per Disney/ESPN.

 

[iceturkee]

can't speak for time warner but bright house has espn classic and espn news on their digital tierm with espn hd on their hd pak.

 

[Hall]

can't speak for time warner but bright house has espn classic and espn news on their digital tierm with espn hd on their hd pak.

The discussion is about ESPN2-HD. The various ESPN channels as well as ESPN-HD are already available on TW.

 

[zaydon]

While it's true that one e-mail won't prompt TWC to make a national carriage agreement, the cumulative effect of thousands of e-mails and calls will force their hand. I feel exactly the same way about ESPN2HD and the NFL Network. If enough of us tell Fred Dressler (Corp VP of Programming for TWC), hopefully they will get the message. I know it's discouraging ... we're loyal to TWC and we get nothing, especially with sports programming. But, you should still e-mail and tell him that you're not satisfied:

fred.dressler@twcable.com

The only way to make your voice heard with the cable company is to hit them in the pocket book. I cancelled my Sunday Ticket when that supper fan nonsense came about and then cancelled my directv entirely...telling them the whole time it was because of superfan. they offered me all kinds of free crap to stay but i held my ground.
I'm planning on calling TWC and telling them to cancel my hbo and showtime because they won't add espn2. If enough people cancelled service..that would get their attention. This is a near monopoly..you think they care about your customer service phone calls? If you tell them you're going to E*/DTV that would get their attention.