Blacked Out

The last three games were a proving ground for not only the White Sox and Indians, but for Comcast Sports Net too. The fledgling cable network has been plagued with audio and visual problems with it's live broadcasts since it's inception last November. So it came as no surprise to me when both the Sox and the Cubs audio and video feeds were down at the same time, on the same night.

A quick visit to Comcast's web page provided this message.

These apologies have become all-too-familiar with Comcast. "As soon as possible" should read "after the final pitch." They finally had both audio and video up for me just in time to see Bobby Howry and the Indians meeting at the mound for a post-game congratulations.

The first few weeks of Bulls games were brutal, and it only got worse as the stage grew larger. When the Bulls made the playoffs, and CSN had the opportunity to reach a broader audience, they once again failed miserably. Not only did they add Scottie Pippen's useless blather to the broadcast team, but they experienced possibly their largest "difficulties" during a game when the Bulls could have clinched. Luckily for fans, they could easily move down the dial to TNT where a professional television station aired the same game without issue.

WYCC, channel 20 here in Chicago, broadcasts all of the IHSA State Final Football and Basketball games live, and I've never seen them have the type of "technical difficulties" on the shoe string budget they operate on. What is Comcast's excuse? They've been up and running for a full year now. This has gotten beyond ridiculous.

The playoffs start in under two weeks. I'm not entirely sure who has the broadcast rights for the early Division Series games, but I do know that under no circumstances should Comcast Sports Net be trusted with airing one of these games. They've proven time and time again that they just aren't up to the task.