Per Wednesday's news that Mariners games would be available on channel 1261 for Xfinity/Comcast customers, I check out the channel at 3pm on Opening Day and find out I have to subscribe!! No mention of a sub price was mentioned in any posts yesterday in the Times or from the Mariners. It's Root Sports in camouflage. I understand how it works and that there is streaming, but this 'subscription' for cable customers was hidden until the last minute, IMHO. Am I wrong? Was this made clear?
So I call Xfinity and they now tell me it would be $37 bucks in installment payments to get MLB Extra Innings. That would be a hard no.
Later I hear Extra Innings isn't correct. So, I'm in the dark and didn't see the game. Good! Meanwhile, the Mariners will be on national TV 40 times this season, according to baseball beat writer Ryan Divish.
$37 in installment payments? Is that $37 per installment, or $37 total? If its $37 total, they won't let you pay the entire amount in one go? What a confusing mess for Mariners fans! Also, not a great look for Xfinity/Comcast.
ReplyDelete$149.00 for the season cut into four parts to lessen the pain. Offered to existing Xfinity customers
ReplyDelete$149 is a lot to ask people to cough up with such short notice. Seeking it in $37 installments is an easier swallow. But even that will be too much for many fans.
DeleteThere is no antenna reception where I live, and I canceled my cable years ago. Streaming was going great, I added ROOT sports to my Hulu account and I was looking forward to this season. Even though I already have some streaming subscriptions, I was willing to add one more for the Mariners.
ReplyDeleteBut no, even with one of the best-selling TV’s in the US (Samsung), and subscriptions to two of the top five streaming services in the US (Prime Video and Hulu/Disney+/ESPN—which includes MLB Network), I can’t download the Mariners TV app on my TV or any of my streaming services. This means I can no longer watch most Mariners’ games on my TV.
My only option is to subscribe to the app on my phone and then either watch them on a tiny little screen, or cast the game to my TV. So I signed up for a free trial (7 days) to try out this new system. If it works I would get the monthly subscription.
How was the game? Beats me. The new Mariners TV app didn’t have tonight’s home opener. I’m glad I only have the free trial.
Screw MLB. When they lose enough money, they’ll come up with a better way.
What I see here is EXACTLY what I was worried about with Comcast Wayne and what I was hoping the Mariners would work to avoid. What this to me suggests is that Comcast slotted that on their expanded digital tier which they sent Root to AND not on regular basic service. So many Comcast subscribers are now like Dish/Sling, YouTubeTV and HuluLiveTV subscribers in that they are stuck having to get the $20/mo streaming package. For a ballclub that I was thinking would prioritize distribution over anything else in this setup, NOT having the games available on Comcast basic is a massive fail on their end. Worse, we're stuck with this for the next three years at least before hopefully something better comes along.
ReplyDelete