Where does the blackout area end?

[Arkady Renko]

That is correct and well explained.

CBS affiliates in Syracuse cannot air the game. What about DirecTV sunday ticket? It gets blacked out in Rochester and Buffalo. What about Syracuse?

 

It is blacked out on DirecTV as well. Any customer in the blacked-out station's viewing area is also blacked out. Ithaca and Utica both are blacked out on DirecTV, although Ithaca people can see the game on WBNG in Binghamton.

[Just Jack]

Watertown is another option. When I lived at my parents, we could get both Syracuse and Watertown. So if it was blacked out in Syracuse, I could still watch it from Watertown.

[Whites Bay]

Watertown is another option. When I lived at my parents, we could get both Syracuse and Watertown. So if it was blacked out in Syracuse, I could still watch it from Watertown.

 

The most accurate tool I've used is TitanTv (www.titantv.com). I'm not saying it's 100%, but it hasn't screwed me yet. As of nearly 6:00 P.M. Thursday evening (that's 5 hours post-blackout announcement), both Syracuse and Watertown ARE SHOWING THE GAME.

 

I agree with Jack vis-a-vis Watertown. I've had games blacked out on Syracuse 5, but still televised up north.

 

Thoner7, head for the North Country.

[QB Bills]

can you still watch it on those internet streams?

[CodeMonkey]

can you still watch it on those internet streams?

Yes you should be able to.

[Punch]

can you still watch it on those internet streams?

 

QB, you need to get a Tecmo Super Bowl '90 "Jim Kelly" avatar to go with your username.

Edited October 7, 2010 by Punch

[CodeMonkey]

The most accurate tool I've used is TitanTv (www.titantv.com). I'm not saying it's 100%, but it hasn't screwed me yet. As of nearly 6:00 P.M. Thursday evening (that's 5 hours post-blackout announcement), both Syracuse and Watertown ARE SHOWING THE GAME.

TitanTV still shows it on in Rochester as well, but clearly it will not be.

Their database probably just has not been updated yet.

[CountDorkula]

Thanks guys. I thought the blackout area included Syracuse since the 90’s but I had people telling me they were 100% confident it was 90 miles. Maybe that’s a minimum?

 

Anyways it sounds like it would be easier for me to drive to the game and buy a 5 dollar ticket. I hate missing even a single play of a Bills game but I may be listening this week.

 

P.S.

 

Channelsurfing.net

[Just Jack]

According to the Twitter feed, the game is blacked out in Syracuse.

[Mike In Illinois]

P.S.

 

Channelsurfing.net

 

Another option Usually two steams for each game there.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Champaign Mike

[PromoTheRobot]

Watertown, Binghamton and Albany look like your only option...short of driving to South GA/North FL...or to a bar with Sunday ticket outside the blackout zone.

 

PTR

[I hate the Bills !]

We used to live in the southerntier and had to go to like Warren Pa to get the game. I remember watching many games at Dans Tavern in Youngsville PA

Edited October 8, 2010 by Philhansonfan

[justnzane]

this is a situation that the NFL just has all wrong... The teams and the NFL make ridiculous amounts of money from the television contracts. While the Bills can make about $35 million/year on ticket (with most teams earning potential right in that vicinity except Dallas, Washington, NY, and NE), they generate the majority of their revenue through the NFL television contracts just like every other team as it pays each team ~ $125 million/year.

Since the majority of the NFL revenue comes from allowing fans to watch the games, it would only be sensible to not black out any local broadcast. In addition, for those fans with Sunday Ticket, they already are paying extra to watch the NFL games of choice; it just seems criminal to restrict their choice due to where they live. Furthermore, with the average price of a ticket in the NFL worth $76 in a down economy, it should come as no surprise that people aren't willing to pay for a product full of grown men that cry at the officials like children who lost their pacifiers. If you have the average family of 4, one game day experience is worth approximately:

$300 (4 tickets)

$15 (4 hot dogs)

$5(program)

$20(parking)

$60(apparel: 4 ball caps)

 

= $400 for one game. That is more than a weeks salary for a minimum wage worker. For many middle class workers that is still half of a weekly paycheck, for a regressively less fan friendly experience due to NFL sanctions that take the fun from tailgating and the game itself.

 

In summation, the owners and Goodell, like the commisioners before him, are killing the golden goose. By mandating full stadiums in all 32 football markets (along with restrictions of how many games a market can watch), they are killing viewership of all of their games. With overinflated prices to watch the game live, it forces fans away from the games. In both cases, there are less people watching the game, thus killing their own market.

 

/rant

[Sisyphean Bills]

Take a nap. It's what Buddy'd do. Then you can say the game was Nixed.

[Metal Man]

That is correct and well explained.

CBS affiliates in Syracuse cannot air the game. What about DirecTV sunday ticket? It gets blacked out in Rochester and Buffalo. What about Syracuse?

 

I haven't tried to go to a place with the NFL ticket in the Syracuse area. I did try one in Rome though for a Dolphins game that didn't sell out back in 2006 and it was blacked out there on DirectTV as well. I would assume the same holds true for Syracuse but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to call one of the places to see for sure.

 

I would check out Wild Wings or Tullys this weekend and report back but I will be in Buffalo Sunday so I might actually venture out to the stadium and see if I can get a real cheap ticket.

[AJ1]

The digital thing is an excellent point. In fact I bet you could write the FCC and demand the blackout area be adjusted because digital signals no longer reach the affected areas.

 

PTR

 

Maybe if you were a lawyer and threatened a class action suite they'd listen. Digit signals reportedly only carry 85% of the analog distance. We are right and CBS is wrong but try to change them.

Edited October 8, 2010 by AJ1

[CodeMonkey]

DirecTV handles the blackout thing via zipcodes. They send a list of blacked out zipcodes per channel (game) for the ticket. If your zipcode is not in the blackout list (and you were subscribed of course ) the receiver will show the channel.

 

Back in the day you could change the zipcode on the smartcard to not be blacked out.

Now I think the solution is to have someone outside this area who subscribes to the ticket put a extra receiver on their account and ship the receiver to you.

[Wickedmick]

I live in Smethport PA. Direct TV listing says game will be on here. Not sure if it will change this late or once it starts it'll black out. Traditionally it is blacked out here when not sold out. Will wait and see on sunday I guess. Does anyone closer to Buffalo have direct TV listings saying the game will be on or something else at 1pm sunday.

[zoom4two]

I live on the east side of Rochester. Its about 70 miles to Buffalo. I have heard the blackout area for the NFL is 90 miles. So I would think it wouldn’t be too far for me to drive toward Cuse and catch the game. But at the same time I remember my Dad used to adjust our antenna during blackouts back in the 90s and pick up a snowy Cuse broadcast with a couple of coat hangers. The one year he stopped because they enlarged the blackout area to included Cuse… So im not sure where it ends exactly.

 

Anyone know where the blackout ends? Anyone from farther away KNOW??? If you do, whats the nearest bar to Route 90 that has the ticket

 

Thanks.

It would be great if some of the local backers associations would promote a sports bar that shows the blacked out game. With Sat TV it goes by zip code, along 104 as you head east should be beyond the black out zone. I was at Sodus Pt at Capt.Jacks yesterday and they planned on showing the game today. I know that Marias Tavern in Watkins Glen will show it, I would also try Geneva. Finger lakes racetrack is too close to show the game.

[Hplarrm]

It does look pretty dumb from a business perspective, but the other side of this is that humans are involved and the owners can be actually be forced to bend to business logic (as shown went they bent over and said thank you sir can I have another when they met Gene Upshaw'a public demand that the new CBA would not only tie the salary cap to the TOTAL gross receipts but the player share needed to start with a 6). It took waiting until the last minute and Tagliaboo-boo having to make an empassioned plea for business logic, but in the end 30 of 32 owners opted to go for the money rather than show their personal ego.

 

TV is the cash cow of the NFL and the blackout goes against business logic of supporting your real cash cow and getting paid to advertise their product. However, it seems clear from their desire to try to squeeze every penny they can out of the CBA the NFL has re-opened this can of worms and their human vanity and pride which seems to want to return to the old days where they pretended to be free marketeers (even though they make more money under the current socialized system). At least rhetorically they want to return, but I suspect they will go where there is the most money to be made and in the end a more socialized system delivers more money to the individual owner than a free market scheme.

 

this is a situation that the NFL just has all wrong... The teams and the NFL make ridiculous amounts of money from the television contracts. While the Bills can make about $35 million/year on ticket (with most teams earning potential right in that vicinity except Dallas, Washington, NY, and NE), they generate the majority of their revenue through the NFL television contracts just like every other team as it pays each team ~ $125 million/year.

Since the majority of the NFL revenue comes from allowing fans to watch the games, it would only be sensible to not black out any local broadcast. In addition, for those fans with Sunday Ticket, they already are paying extra to watch the NFL games of choice; it just seems criminal to restrict their choice due to where they live. Furthermore, with the average price of a ticket in the NFL worth $76 in a down economy, it should come as no surprise that people aren't willing to pay for a product full of grown men that cry at the officials like children who lost their pacifiers. If you have the average family of 4, one game day experience is worth approximately:

$300 (4 tickets)

$15 (4 hot dogs)

$5(program)

$20(parking)

$60(apparel: 4 ball caps)

 

= $400 for one game. That is more than a weeks salary for a minimum wage worker. For many middle class workers that is still half of a weekly paycheck, for a regressively less fan friendly experience due to NFL sanctions that take the fun from tailgating and the game itself.

 

In summation, the owners and Goodell, like the commisioners before him, are killing the golden goose. By mandating full stadiums in all 32 football markets (along with restrictions of how many games a market can watch), they are killing viewership of all of their games. With overinflated prices to watch the game live, it forces fans away from the games. In both cases, there are less people watching the game, thus killing their own market.

 

/rant