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Fox Sports 2
As a NASCAR fan, I was afraid that I would not be able to see the same racing events that I used to see on Speed when they rebranded the channel this past weekend. I was just proven correct. I now won't be able to see the Whelan Modified race that is airing on FoxSports 2 from Bristol tonight as Comcast doesn't have Fox Sports 2 in the channel lineup. I was able to watch it last year when it was on Speed.
I strongly encourage Comcast to rectify this situation and add Fox Sports 2 to the lineup. If I can't watch the things I want to watch because the channel isn't available, then I'm going to look for a cable provider who can provide it.
drhull
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308 Messages
10 years ago
In recent contract negotiations with Cox, Fox Sports 2 was moved to Digital Essential, their equivalent of Digital Starter. So it is very likely Fox wants the same of Comcast, to take a channel that is not even carried throughout a large portion of their footprint, and place it somewhere that it's easily accessible and something that all subscribers have to pay for, whether they want it or not.
Those of you who are big motor sports fans may not like the current situation, but that's likely why it is the way that it is.
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Dunesbury
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2 Messages
10 years ago
Still waiting for Comcast in Manahawkin, New Jersey, to offer Fox Sports 2. Will miss two Sprint Cup practice sessions tomorrow. If I had a viable alternative to Comcast I would be there immediately.
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mrshvd3
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348 Messages
10 years ago
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GaryNSJersey
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17 Messages
10 years ago
If you still have time after that , start at channel 2 and go through all of the channels and make a note of how many channels we have to pay for that we have no use for versus how many you actually watch . I think we are already getting it from everyone involved in TV pretty darn good already .. Maybe they need to get rid of the usless BS they are shoving down our throats .
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markdartj
Regular Contributor
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148 Messages
10 years ago
Some of those channels that nobody watches actually pay Comcast to be on their line up, which Comcast says helps defray the cost of providing us service. Big joke there is they are actually charging us for channels that are paying them.
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tvest043
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15 Messages
10 years ago
Here we are again with another day of NASCAR - this time the lead series (Sprint Cup), with both practice sessions being shown on Fox Sports 2. How can Comcast be ignoring this?
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CCTeds
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18.9K Messages
10 years ago
All channels, regardless of affiliation, are required to go through the same application and approval process in order to be carried by Comcast.
Our programming teams and local management teams constantly evaluate programming choices and make decisions based on customer interests, costs, channel bandwidth management and contractual obligations.
As with any network contract, we want to come to an agreement that offers the best terms for our customers and our company that keeps both our costs and our customer's monthly costs to a minimum. Any possible addition of any new network would also most likely incur additional costs to Comcast that would be passed along to our customers. As mentioned above, those additional costs are one of the factors in considering adding any new network.
Generally, new networks want to be added to a very widely distributed level of service for the potential of the most eyeballs (ratings) and advertising revenue. That means that the costs would be spread across all of the customers that have that channel in their level of service, not just to those who want to pay individually for that specific service or via a separate Sports Package.
Of course, situations may change based on customer demand, channel bandwidth opportunities, business opportunities, costs and contractual obligations.
The Comcast employees who participate in these forums certainly pass along collective feedback, interests and concerns to those teams. This forum is not the sole source of customer input.
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Greg2581
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3 Messages
10 years ago
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jimrussell2000
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31 Messages
10 years ago
How do they not carry fs2 - easy - the people that pay them to carry their shows or channels place no demands and don't pay any attention. Bascar, imsa, other racing series are well aware of the comcast fox sports feud. And do nothing about it. Plus comcast well knows this feud isnt just with them, fox is one evil company and is feuding with almost all tv providers - most of the satellite systems etc. So in comcast's eyes - they are off the hood - why fight to carry it if no one else does either - and whether nascar (my bias) or anyone else - doesnt make fox or comcast carry their broadcasts for the fans. 25 pages here, every weekend on the nascar web site where fans can comment, on fox sports pages, on all of their facebook pages - and what happens - zip, nada, nothing. For three years and counting. They get our money and in return we are watching truck you on velocity or rally cross on nbc sports, or reruns on antenna tv or me tv, etc, becuse what was on for decades - prior to fox buying speed, prior to comcast buying nbc - we that were home during the day (umemnployed like me, rich folks, folks thaty happen to work but have fridays free) we counted on putting on speed to see practice and qualifying each friday during the 9 month racing season. First espn abandoned qualifying and practices but we still had speed if they carried it. Then speed got bought and destroyed in the states. Then comcast bought nbc, tried to by time warner and others, I think they own all or part of verizon, and last season espn ended any nascar coverage as comcast bragged all over the place how nascar coverage would be better than ever as they got title sponsorship to the xfinity (b tier) series, plus of course that they own nbc and nbc sports.
Of course now with racing well into the season, the xfinitly/comcast (could they finally pick ONE name???) tv commercials turned out as all their ads, the hype never matched reality. They are raking in cash, fox is raking in cash, racing series still have fans that attend and buy junk from the trailers, though anylong time fan sees on tv all the empty seats anymore because nascar and others haven't had fan's backs for easily a decade and it is only getting worse. If they and other sports that contract with fox, and any that also contract with the tv providers, cable, satellite etc, dont put any demands in place for coverage - then we get what has been happending the past three years since speeds demise.
Here in chicago the cubs historically were on wgn, a large independent. the local abc affiliate never carried any local major league baseball, football or basketball or even local hockey - despite the bulls won nba titles, the brears won a superbowl, the cubs, oh well someday, the white sox several world series. Yes the local abc affiliate on weekends as it had ties with espn carried occasional nascar. All of a sudden big announcements at the same time comcast was telling us we'd see better nascar in 2015 than every before thanks to them, simultaneously the local abc channel (wls tv chicago) was bragging to be the new home of the cubs. Guess which one kept their word - of course not comcast. Just a local chicago station - they put on every cubs game they can local or out of town. A couple weekends ago was supposed to be some one off indy race on abc on a saturday - satrdays are when cbs, nbc and abc except for local news, the network stuff usually supersedes local stuff - so we see baseball, football etc - on Saturday's and sundays on abc, nbc and cbs. Not as well nbc and cbs have finally viable sports channels. Fox had to have one too, so they made fox sports one and two, and like the networks, on weekends carried their half season of the sunday nascar races. NO practice or qualifying - just the main sprint cup race. And a trend espn/abc started - at racres end going straight to sports center or fox sports center now that espn is gone instead of victory lane and a half hour of interviews. Ya they cut back but it isnt the same.
In the end, we are just the fans footing the bill.. Apparently the chicago cubs can get wls tv to show every cubs game without exception. the nfl, nba, nca, and hockey seem to have no problem ensuring their games are covered and televised as well - yes for a while the nfl went through hated local blackouts depending on ais - a blank blank is seats - ie seats sold for in person attendance.
Fifa with all its executives headed to jail apparently still manages to have demands that fox televise everything, even sepp bladders election overriding nascar qualifying, then 3 days later he resigned from fifa, but we cant get back the missed nascar coverage. But auto racing sports apparently don't place any demands on fox, or comcast or nbc or the satellite systems, so in the end, we have weekends like last and this weekends where there is next to know auto racing espcially no nascar - because what is covered fox dumps to fox sports 2 so they fulfill the demands fifa places on them where nascar is sound asleep and lets them do as they please.
So this blog/forum/thread will never make any difference. What will is if any of the sports we miss that are dumped to fox sports 2 finally insist and put in their contracts that they have to be televised, and live and on the primary channels they contract with. Until then, xifinity will have free advertising for a series no comcast xfinity customer can watch most weekends, and we have ted making sure we don't swear too often, and otherwise occasional give the corporat espin, and now as the past three years and the next three years, it will if it changes in ANY way - just further deteriorate. How do fans make a difference - stop subscribing to comcast, the satellite systems, etc. Stop going to the nascar events and buying die cast cars caps and t shirts from the trucks on the runway as you walk in. Fans can make a difference in effect with their wallets.
Companies like neilson measure network tv shows we watch in the evenings, and when ratings are bad, abc, nbc, cbs, fox come up with changes because they want sponsors to pay and viewership as high as possible. But stuff like nascar still has in bred management - i.e. where all professional sports have a president, and board of directors, many publicly traded, nascar is owned and the board made up of the grandkids of three founder. They own severla tracks, make up the season schedule, all the racing rules, and do all the contracting with nbc, comcast xfinity and fox. The grandson of the founder of nascar is the current ceo - and he inherited it as a silver spoon and so did his sister. he never was a fan and got in legal trouble for allegations of substances and infide,ity allegations - despite the sport having a hand line and expels drivers on drugs or drivers that hit their wives or girlfriends, one was exiled by nascar before the legal system even handed down a management, ironic the legal judgement said he was free to go. Only then the sport let him back in after missing the biggest race of the season, the daytona 500. So with a company like nascar, run the way it is, there is no way for fans to call and talk to someone live at nascar, they have a meaningless fan council that is just platitudes, and they let television do what they please - we have this - fans livid, and watching reruns and stuff we don't want to because we don't have a sport run my a public board and corporation rather than a family handing things down, makes its own rules, gives its own tracks the plum races etc. It isnt just fox and xfinilty comcast that aren't looking out for us, when sports series like nascar are run the way they are.
hoiw much are you paying each month to comcast or a satellite provider - 100, 200, 300, 400 bucks? in 1983 when I signed up I had all the prermium movie channels and saw all the racing I wanted - for 38 bucks a month. now 30 plus years later it is so deficient for my viewing I still pay qwell over a hundred bucks, have next to none channels that are cable specific, mostly just free tv and variants and yet I have about half of the racing channels I want, but I am also paying for ethnic channels I dont want, and all these blocks of channels reserved for nfl, nba etc while my type of sport is barely televised anymore. How long you going to keep paying hundreds a month if they wont carry what you want - I'm not pointing this at comcast only - any tv provider you pay for - if they dont carry what you want - why are you still paying them every month??????
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jimrussell2000
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31 Messages
10 years ago
couetesy of jayskis.com as I end friday livid not one second of racing has been shown until now near midnight nbc sports airs a tape of qulifying but traditional friday nascar coverage on fs1 has been this time all day golf....read someone suggest nascar cut over now for the season from fox to nbc sports and gave fictional examples of fox nascar announcers larry mac and mikey waltrip announcing live golf...
anyway jayskis quote re last weeks xfinity series thqat no one on comcast or uverse saw:
Chicago TV Ratings: NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Chicago drew just 377,000 viewers on Fox Sports 2 Sunday afternoon, easily the series' smallest audience of the season. The race was originally scheduled to air on FS1 Saturday night, but was postponed due to rain.(Sports Media Watch via Sports TV Ratings)(6-24-2015)
so are we just clueless - all this fifa stuff on fs1 and today all day golf - is golf, the worlds dullest sport to watch suddenly the hot ticket even qwith tiger all but retired?
By the way when nascar comes to town, traditionally chicago local news stations who never in the sports segments mention any auto raaccing results save the indy 500 winner or a giant wreck or death usually pretend they are all into nascar when it is in town, granted last weekend was the less followed b tier (xfinity) series, nasscar promised to put the top tier, b tier and trucks together on weekends at the same tracks and since the promise, less and less often does that ever happen...if not one station was in joliet lasts weekend and under 400 thousand viewers world wide - how does nascar not do anything about fox and their game playing with comcast, att, direct tv and others? easy answer - no one in management at nascar cares.
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Latoque
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10 years ago
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jimrussell2000
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10 years ago
some alleged writer named Kelly Crandall wrote this article for an online web site / racing magazine called Popular Speed.
For as quickly as it became comfortable to pronounce “the NASCAR XFINITY Series” so too was an impression made on those who represent it.
Six months into their partnership with NASCAR as the entitlement sponsor of the second-tier division, Comcast has not only picked up the ball, but run with it since day one. Quite contrary from the atmosphere felt during the September announcement when it appeared the company’s focus was on finding their footing in the sport while planning for adventures down the road.
But the future came quicker than expected and not without notice.
“They picked up and really exceeded everybody’s expectations for a new sponsor coming into a role like they did,” said current XFINITY Series point leader@Chris_Buescher. “There is a lot of responsibility that goes into it and a lot of work and they’ve really put in 110 percent effort to make it work, and it’s been really impressive to see.”
In building something new, however, Comcast started by keeping a piece of old.
Comcast aims to brand and leave a mark all their own on the series but recognized the ability to continue the growth of ideas previously in place. Notably adopting the “Dash 4 Cash” program implemented by Nationwide Insurance and giving it an XFINITY makeover with new venues hosting the $100,000 bonus races.
The decision immediately struck a cord with drivers, Buescher among the many who praised the decision to keep a program that adds extra exposure to the teams while including the fans. But the racing aspect of the NASCAR / Comcast partnership was never in doubt, and the XFINITY Series strongly rolls on into the summer months.
Through the first 14 races, there have been nine different winners, two of which were first timers. The “Dash 4 Cash” handed out their first bonus check in Dover, the same weekend Roush Fenway Racing teammates collided for the win. Headlines have been plentiful, the talent captivating.
No, Comcast faced a more daunting task than sponsoring a NASCAR series: keeping all stakeholders happy by delivering on the track (for drivers) as well as off it (for fans).
“If you look at some of the stuff NASCAR has been able to give us as teams, we now have live Internet on our pit boxes, where in the past it never worked. [NASCAR] said XFINITY was a big part of that,”@Brendan62 revealed.
“With NASCAR’s new pit road camera system, they are able to send us, if we get an infraction, they’ll send us the pictures right away now. So it’s enabled us to have better communication with our teams during races, between our own guys, and better communication with the shop during races.”
NASCAR’s at-track activation is the modern day word of mouth for a company looking to expose their product to the public. In NASCAR, through different fan zones and midways around the country, thousands of potential customers are reached each weekend through one simple platform.
Welcome to the XFINITY Zone.
Currently at marquis events on the schedule – next stop Daytona – or in areas providing Comcast service, XFINITY is not just a sponsor, it’s a product and Comcast continues to look for ways to deliver it to fans. Most recently the zone appeared at Dover and Charlotte, the latter where Richard Childress Racing driver @bscottracinggot a glimpse of it firsthand.
As every NASCAR track has some form of a midway where merchandise can be purchased, games played and products sampled, Comcast as dipped a toe in the water with a display mixed of racing and entertainment. Not the most flashy or largest area, the XFINITY Zone does have the most expensive features, and that’s aside from displaying the new championship trophy.
In the XFINITY Zone fans are given the chance to
Don’t forget about spinning the prize wheel and check out the Driver Dens. The space, one designed by Carl Edwards and the other @ChaseElliott, features items the drivers donated. It’s an area designed to show off their personalities. Edwards’ area featured a mountain bike and guitar; Elliott’s a snowboard and gaming system.
Some of these items could also possibly head home with fans. And speaking of the fans, those with Comcast service, or needing a reason to explore switching their services, are given a demonstration of the latest and greatest technology, for instance, the talking remote.
Relatively new, the remote is essentially a smartphone with voice commands to navigate around the television. Through the X1 Entertainment Operating System, apps for the weather and traffic can be checked on a sidebar while the selected television program is still playing on screen.
Interested in what’s trending on TV? There’s an option for that to help decide what show you should be watching. Or, perhaps you’d like to share video (perhaps while sitting in the grandstands of a race) from your phone to a friend sitting at home? There’s an option for it to be sent directly to their television.
“I think they’ve done a great job with the changes and to be able to step up and do what they’ve done, and this is just a couple months into their first year, and they’ve come on board for many, many more, so we’re excited,” Buescher said. “It’s been a great sponsor.”
While far from perfect as the service still does not provide channels hosting NASCAR races, Comcast expressed hope and plans, at the beginning of the year to branch out in the future. Including providing the service in many more parts of the country, as well as adding additional channels.
Don’t worry though; it’s not all work and no play.
There’s an app for everything or at least it seems nowadays, and when XFINITY launched into NASCAR, they quickly introduced the sport to theirs.
The XFINITY TV GO app is available to any Comcast customer, not just the drivers who can’t seem to get enough of it. Younger drivers like @CaleConley and Ryan@Blaney won’t hesitate to pull out their phones or tablet to catch up on a TV show they might have missed, while even the veterans in the garage have taken to it
“They have the coolest app in the world. The XFINITY TV GO app is like the best thing in the world,” exclaimed @Elliott_Sadler. “They’re not telling me to tell you this, but we have it on all our devices at home, so now when my wife wants to go out to eat, like she wanted to go out to each during March Madness, so I took her out to eat at her favorite restaurant and I got to watch basketball games on my iPad while we ate, so it works out great.”
The app provides users with the chance to watch live television or movies, in addition to catching up on recent episodes of a favorite television series. There’s also an option for kids programming.
“My kids can watch it,” Sadler said. “The XFINITY TV GO app, if you don’t have that, you need to try that out. It is bad to the bone, so I think they’ve a really good job interacting with us drivers.”
In a sport where reaching every generation matters, technology, as NASCAR continues to explore, is a huge part of connecting with the fan base. Comcast / XFINITY is in the same boat, and as they continue to grow on the track, the marketing and activation off it should also improve.
After all, there is plenty of time for fans to be made.
“It’s hard for any new title series sponsor to come right in and be as comfortable as they are and do such a great job, and meet all the drivers and the owners, and that’s something they did in the beginning of the season,” Blaney said. “That’s been really cool to see grow and develop.
“That’s been neat, to meet all of them. They’re really interested in this sport and it’s great to have them in NASCAR. Hopefully we can keep them around for more than 10 years.”
EMAIL KELLY AT kelly.crandall@popularspeed.com
FOLLOW ON TWITTER: @KellyCrandall
Kelly Crandall is Central Penn College graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Corporate Communications. She’s been professionally writing about NASCAR for the last seven years, having started as one of the original members of Bleacher Report when the site launched before moving to Speedway Media for three years. Crandall is the Executive Managing Editor of POPULAR SPEED, who honed her skills by contributing to numerous other sites as well as Internet radio shows. Crandall is an NMPA member and a native of Spotswood, New Jersey.
Comcast over delivering? Have you ever been to a race or tried to watch one via Comcast lately? The coverage is the worst its been since the mid 90’s.
There is a 3 year 25 page Comcast owned forum complaining about fox and Comcast lack of airing racing:
http://forums.xfinity.com/t5/Channels-and-Programming/Fox-Sports-2-formerly-Fuel-TV/m-p/2548218#M61914
the blog being company owned they have paid shills to moderate and periodically these guys go in and delete a LOT of posts one can only suspect to improve how Comcast looks.
This isn’t unique to Comcast/xfinity – a near identical forum runs at att’s site, direct tv, fox’s web site, nascar’s page weekend after weekend is fans livid fox and Comcast screwed fans again with no tv coverage.
This is two weekends in a row that what used to be called fast Friday – traditionally all day LIVE TELEVISED nascar practice, qualifying for the truck, xfinity and sprint cup series aired from early am culminating in a truck race that aired live and would windup around 10 or 11 pm. This goes back to the days when speed was nascar heaven and for a time fox sports one continued it, unitl lately when now it is all day every day and night fifa or wwe wrestling. Today all day was golf of all things.
I dare you to read 25 pages of fans anger with nascar, fox, and Comcast. (yes I have posted often and I make a ton of typos). Your article is colorful and well written but unintentionally you have made any nascar fan reading it livid that knows how bad the coverage has been lately – no coverage last Friday, none today. I don’t know you, nor you me, I am just a 50 year plus nascar fan as well I watch indy car and f1 and ironically I like e racing when it is aired.
Courtesy of Jayskis.com – a long time auto racing web site:
UPDATE: NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Pocono earned 3.6 million viewers on FS1 Sunday afternoon, down 19% from last year (4.5M) and down 17% from 2013 (4.4M), both on TNT. It ranks the least-watched edition of the race since at least 2001 (viewership prior to 2002 was not immediately available), falling below the previous mark set in 2013. As recently as a decade ago, Pocono earned 8.6 million viewers on the FOX broadcast network. It still topped six million in 2008, but has not cracked 5.5 million in any of the years since. Martin Truex Jr.'s win also ranks as the least-watched of the three Sunday afternoon Sprint Cup races on FS1, trailing Dover the previous week (3.9M) and Martinsville in March (4.1M). Despite the lower numbers, the race earned the fourth-largest motorsports audience on FS1 since the network rebranded from Speed Channel in 2013, and the eighth-largest regardless of sport. NASCAR accounts for six of the 11 most-watched FS1 shows.Sports Media Watch.(6-10-2015)
UPDATE: NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Dover earned 3.9 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Sunday afternoon, down 27% from last year (5.4M), down 34% from 2013 (6.0), and the least-watched edition of the race since at least 2001 (excludes rainouts). The race aired on the FOX broadcast network each year from 2007 to 2014. The last time it aired on cable - 2006 - coverage earned a much healthier 6.0 million viewers on FX. Despite the low numbers, Sunday's race did well by FS1 standards. It earned the second-largest motorsports audience on the network since it rebranded from Speed Channel in 2013, trailing only the Martinsville race in March (4.1M).(Sports Media Watch)(6-3-2015)
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I find it fascinating some youngster recent graduate writes with such authority and goinjg so far above and beyongd to pat comcast's back - here it is june 26th and so far, they have not aired several xfinity races, several arca races, two weekends of qualifying and practice and much much moire - all deferred to fs2 which they, att, direct tv and others simply will not make peace with greedy fox and the fans lose. Further, technically xfinity has yet to broadcast a single race from their studios and team - that starts in july when we vampires like darryle and michale waltrip and larry mac are returned to their fox racing cofffins until spring 2016 . So then HOW has comcast overdelivered if they havent actually carried their own announcing coverage yet, and meantime have 3 years, and 25 pages, and countless deleted posts by the mods saying how angry they have made their paying customers of which I have no doubt ms crandall has never paid ddime one to a comcast cable account. If she isnt on their payroll she should be - I've read a lot of drivel by so called racing writers over the years but this is nauseating pandering and with zero research of the history or actually knowing what is going on while plugging comcast/xfinity's addons. I had to fight off the urge to vomit when people like her pander to comcast without knowing any of the reaily and in this case - just how bad it has become.
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Latoque
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29.7K Messages
10 years ago
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jj23
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10 years ago
Do not understand why comcast does not carry Fox Sports Two.
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bgmckn50
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1 Message
10 years ago
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