Fox Sports 2

Why does Comcast/Xfinity continue to refuse to carry FOX Sports 2?

Other than being a monopoly, and not wanting any competition for Comcast's and NBC's (which is owned by Comcast) sports channels?

This has been an issue on the Comcast forums for over three years and there is no response, no answer, nothing from Comcast about any resolution other than (apparently) to claim that "If enough people request it, Comcast will carry it."

How does someone request that Comcast carry FOX Sports 2? Where, specifically, and how?

At this point the only real response to this monopoly abuse of power is to contact your local county franchise authority (this is the local public agency that allows Comcast to continue its monopoly), your local county representatives, and your State and Federal representatives and start agitating to end Comcast's monopoly control.

In my case, I'm contacting my local KCIT, Office of Cable Communications, here:

http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/it/cable.aspx

And I've just completed the cable service survey my local franchise authority (the King County Office of Cable Communications (OCC)) offers, here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DSNGCVY

Comcast -- as a monopoly -- did not fare well in my responses.

"How do you expect this business model to work?"

Comcast/Xfinity is a monopoly. Where you live, how many other cable networks can you subscribe to? Two? Four? Zero?

The concept of a "Business model" applies only to businesses that operate in a competitive economic environment.

Cable companies (monopolies) do not.

There is no "Business model". Monopolies do what ever they want. Comcast does what ever it wants.

In this case, FOX is not willing to pay the exortion that Comcast demands to carry FOX Sports 2.

And FOX really could care less about its customers, since it's only interested in turning a profit also.

#ComcastCares #ComcastDOESNTCare #ComcastDoesntHaveToCare #ComcastIsAMonopoly

Actually, Comcast isn't a monopoly, strictly speaking -- it's true that you have no other cable company to choose from, you have no choice as to what cable company is available in your area, but they're not the only choice you have for TV service.....as they keep pointing out.

I worked for the phone company back in the pre-divestiture days (pre-1980s), and that was truly a monopoly. You had no other choice for phone service, period. Didn't like Mother Bell's service? Your alternative was to go without a phone.

One thing that is true, however, is that Comcast just doesn't care.

decades ago, I worked for a firm no longer in business, pre internet, pre personal computers, pre all technology except basic color tv and landline home telephone (dont think even cordless was out yet.) I had my first car was about 18 then working for a couple years for what was called a food broker - we monitored our group of brands (in pour companies case, koolaid, union carbide, mcilhenny tobasco sauce, pet ritz pie crusts and others). We knew our fellow food brokers, our job was to push our product with the store or local corp office, and frankly steal shelf space, move the kool aid over an extra foot stealing space from county time etc. BUT in the office, and us salesman were watching EVERY grocery ad as we were not loyal to a tore brand, just our product brand,and the ladies in the office clipped ads of our and the competitors ads to make sure we all basically were running comparable sales around the same time. I was getting educated. Years later best buy, computer city, circuit city, highland electronics, fretters stores and others, each sunday I'd pull their ads as many said we will meet or beat the other guys price on whatever - microwave, stereo, big tv (pre flat screen - back then projection tvs) . Then some started rebates. I watching so close realized what holds true to this day, manufacturers had alliances with each chain, unlike the grocery store model where every store had access to all, instead, each store had a model with a tiny difference than the other chains lineup - why - so if you tried to price ,match - you couldn't because tho it seemed the same, there was this very subtle difference. Net result - everyone won - but the consumer. Over time the ones with the best ads and the best help survived, mostly of the chains I mentioned have gone under.When cable came to my town, there was a choice of two for the town to  take. Pick one for the whole town. So it was free tv or cable - one brand. decades later the giant dishes rich folks had went down to 18 inches and everyone was planting one in their garden as they dumped either free tv or comcast for dish or direct tv or att's uverse combo with one of the satellite providers. True we have choices now - free tv with an antenna, one of the satellite providers, or comcast. But like both my examples - dont think for a second comcast isnt keenly aware what the other guys package is - I had corporate representatives, al tennyson, mark Burd and others say exactly as much - they KNOW the other packages. So while this is a pi55ing match between comcast and fox over fox sports 2 - it mostly is also with the other providers - one offers it on a many tiers up package, the other not at all. Frankly yes location matters - a very few comcast reguions get fs2 and I hear in canada they even get speed and mav tv.  My annoyance is each weekend watching fox sports one with their incessant three things I dont want to know interruptions, they constantly refer to watch the remainder of the race, or victory lane or whatever - on fox sports 2. They are paid by fox, NOT nascar or indy car or formula one so they read the copy and keep to themselves if they know few get fox sports 2. One guy said this coming weekend all the nascar is on fox sports 2. That makes me sad and angry as dfad has vbeen dead 2 decades, family I raised died within the past coupel years, cat died two months ago and no job in 7 years so a hermit I look forward to some of the last nascar despite 5 decades a fan before comcast cuts ,me off cuz I cvant afford their high prices (recently they told me I cant turn in the eqpt - I am under contract (after 3 decades a customer?) and I'd be whacked with an early termination fee of 250 bucks. This is straight from the ask tom (tom karinshak;s) office - the supposed friendly face of comcast. Thanks for three decades paying up to 350 a month, we wont let you quit even tho your are destitute, we will send lawyers after you for early termination. This forum is comcast humoring us. Let them whine and they'll go away kind of thing. You know who cares - we the fans. How many contact the fcc and complain - very few - I know - I have and I asked. So comcast tells us leave if we don't like it - they tell me tho if you leave we'll nail you early termination. we have all seen on the news or you tube the comcast reps that antagonize customers that want to leave, or the customer that recieves the bill and their name is a cussword because the last cs rep goofed up, refeered to her as it and somehow it changed her statement name. and she got a lawyer. I look weekly, now I have so few digital channels but can see the lineup changes. More baseball and basketball blocks of never used channels, as this is becoming the united states of mexico (I have hispanic relatives, I am not bigoted, I just hate everything has english and spanish on it, often spanish first - I am polish- how come never english polish - except my pastor is polish so we have english, and polish masses - hahaha. Bottom line, comcast technically isnt a monopoly. But they are too big to fail as the government calls it, hence the time warner deal was nixed. Don't hold your breath EVER seeing fox sports 2. Make the most of what is on fox sports one, and now as comcast  owned nbc takes over nascar for the second half of the season, enjoy what they cover even tho they got naming rights but refuse to carry fs2 - we know it, they know it. We're powerless individual bill paying fans. They are a superpower richer than most nations of the world.We fans will NEVER have any impact on anything com cast does. If they ever added fs2 - it wouldn't be because of us - it would be because of a deal too good to pass up with fox's networks.

"Digital over-the-air TV? Please.

Dish? That's always a good threat to drop on a Comcast customer service operator, but as a practical *reality* how different would Dish really be?

I didn't say there are other good choices -- I just said there are other choices.

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@ebl11 wrote:

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.

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Apologies that Fox has chosen to put some of their high profile events on one of their least distributed cable channels.

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@Me-ManassasVA wrote:

welllll, wellll, wellll, after reading somewhere that I could watch Le Mans today on Fox Sports Go because Comcast here doesn't carry FS2, I dutifully and reluctantly loaded it onto my PC.  After giving up my privacy rights and having to login through a microsoft-approved account into my OWN pc, yes it made me change from a local account to a cloud account - gmail.com, I then find I cannot,  i repeat CANNOT view FS2 because I had to log into Comcast as part of the process.  I'm assuming because comcast (hmm, it won't let me post a bad word c o m m i e c a s t) (AND if I find out they donate to the clinton-crime foundation or the DNC, I'm dropping them and switching to something) doesn't carry FS2.  Sooo, I still cannot view Le Mans except when it's on FS1.  

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ONLINE ACCESS

Apologies. The current contract terms with Fox only allow online access to Fox Sports 2 for customers who have that channel (Fox Sports 2) in their level of service.

That is how most all cable networks operate and this situation is standard across all video providers.

Below from the Fox Sports Go site: http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsportsgo/

Live streams of all the FOX Sports Networks are available at no additional cost to fans who receive FOX Sports as part of their TV subscription through participating TV providers. If you get FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, and FOX sports regional channels at home, you've got access!

If you are interested in both sides of the story, you should also ask Fox Sports 2 why they don't have more distribution on Comcast and other video providers, you can do that here: http://msn.foxsports.com/feedback

Apologies that Fox has chosen to put some of their high profile events on one of their least distributed cable channels. It takes two parties to negotiate and come to an equitable agreement for carriage of any cable network.

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@elsant01 wrote:
I looked at the Fox Sports 1 article on Wikipedia and I noticed this:

"Concerns by providers over the increasing costs for cable and satellite services for their customers (largely believed to be partly due to the higher fees commanded by certain sports channels) resulted in Fox backing off charging the 80¢ per subscriber rate, instead charging the same 23¢ rate that those providers paid to carry Speed."

That sounds to me like Fox charges Comcast $.23 per subscriber for Fox Sports 1. Since ESPN charges less for ESPN2 than ESPN, I would imagine Fox would charge less than $.23 for Fox Sports 2.

My parents and I pay for a triple play. I wouldn't mind a less than $.20 increase on the bill for Comcast to carry Fox Sports 2.

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Just wanted to recap, consolidate and summarize the current situation with Fox Sports 2 that some may find helpful.

Below is not new information and most all has been posted previously in earlier posts;

We certainly realize that anything short of a post that says "Comcast is adding Fox Sports 2 in all areas on this date and your monthly cable bill won't go up" will not be a satisfactory answer for most.

We don't have any announcements to make regarding additional locations for the addition of Fox Sports 2 at this time. We also don't have an expected date for an announcement for the Fox Sports 2 in additional Comcast areas. I'm not currently aware of any decisions to remove or add Fox Sports 2 in any locations. Any potential channel additions or deletions would be communicated ahead of time according to any FCC and local franchise requirements.

We don’t currently have an agreement to add Fox Sports 2 to any Sports Package, as much as we might want to.

Comcast does offer Fox Sports 2 in some markets based on some existing contractual obligations. 

There are other video providers (likely in your area) that may offer Fox Sports 2.

Our content and programming teams are in regular contact with Fox on many topics, including possible additional distribution for Fox Sports 2. The conversations are ongoing. A contract and agreement to terms is required before we can offer any channel to our customers.  These need to be terms that make sense for both parties and for our customers.    

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.

ONLINE ACCESS

The current contract terms with Fox only allow online access to Fox Sports 2 for customers who have that channel (Fox Sports 2) in their level of service. 

That is how most all cable networks operate and this situation is standard across all video providers.

Below from the Fox Sports Go site:  http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsportsgo/

Live streams of all the FOX Sports Networks are available at no additional cost to fans who receive FOX Sports as part of their TV subscription through participating TV providers. If you get FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, and FOX sports regional channels at home, you've got access!

If you are interested in both sides of the story, you should also ask Fox Sports 2 why they don't have more distribution on Comcast and other video providers, you can do that here: http://msn.foxsports.com/feedback  

Apologies that Fox has chosen to put some of their high profile events on one of their least distributed cable channels.

It takes two parties to negotiate and come to an equitable agreement for carriage of any cable network. Below is a quote from Mediacomm (a peer video provider) from early 2013 that I think helps illustrate the situation.  

“Contrary to accusations by industry critics, cable companies are reluctant to raise video subscriber rates because when we do, we lose customers. Mediacom does not make more money when we raise video prices, since we remit virtually every penny of the increase on to the content owners. Over the last three years, the increase in our programming costs was more than double the increase in video revenues, even after taking our subscriber rate increases and equipment charges into account.”

Generally in addition to per subscriber fees, there are additional capital costs incurred (equipment and such) as well as any opportunity costs (what else could we use that bandwidth for).  This is no different than most other businesses.  

I hope that the above helps to explain some of the ”whys”.

Unfortunately, it’s not always as easy as saying, “hey, some of our customers want this this, let’s put it on and pay whatever the costs are and pass those costs along to all of our customers”.  If and when we have additional news to announce, we will certainly do so here and in other places.

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@DLC2 wrote:
Well Comcast you've done it again. Another year that race fans get practically no coverage of sports car racing. The greatest endurance rece in the world is on today and the majority of the coverage is on FS2 (which we don't get) with minimal coverage on FS1. It was the same for the 24 hours of Daytona and the 12 hours of Sebring. How long do your customers have to beg for FS2? Thanks for nothing, get a clue. I so miss Speedvision and COX cable. If the choice was available in our area Comcast would be nothing but a bad memory!!!

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Apologies that Fox has chosen to put some of their high profile events on one of their least distributed cable channels.

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@markdartj wrote:
Comcast Ted will tell us anything to defend Comcast's actions (or in this, inaction). It's always somebody else's fault, isn't it, Ted. It's really telling that now Comcast is telling us to find different providers rather than have Comcast give us what we want. "Just sod off!", so to speak. Fox doesn't help either. They are trying to push the issue by scheduling everything we want to see on FS2. No wonder it's hard for racing teams to find sponsorship. For ten Euros, you can steam the complete 24 hours of LeMans on your computer, with no add breaks. Quite a race going on with 13h 48min to go. To tell the truth, I'd still be watching the stream even if I had FS2. Just one step closer to cutting the cable (if there were a way to stream NFL, & MLB, and FIFA soccer, I would already have done so). Comcast's service is just plain horrible.

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I have posted the below verbatim a few times in this thread.

"Our programming teams meet with networks all the time to work on deals and contracts that make the most sense for our customers and our business.

It takes two parties to negotiate and come to an equitable agreement for carriage of any cable network."

I don't want to set any false expectations. Unfortunately, we don't have any announcements to make right now regarding the addition of this channel. If Fox Sports 2 is important to you, that you should do what's right for you.

I do know that our programming teams meet regularly with Fox on this and other topics. The conversations are ongoing.

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 earlier, 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 are then spread across all of our customers who receive this channel, not just to those who want to pay individually for that specific service or a Sports Package.

The Comcast employees who participate in these forums certainly pass along any collective feedback, interests and concerns to our programming teams.

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@mannyt48 wrote:

Missing all the Womens and under 22 World cups. Atleast get the video streaming version or something

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Apologies. The current contract terms with Fox only allow online access to Fox Sports 2 for customers who have that channel (Fox Sports 2) in their level of service. 

That is how most all cable networks operate and this situation is standard across all video providers.

Below from the Fox Sports Go site: http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsportsgo/

Live streams of all the FOX Sports Networks are available at no additional cost to fans who receive FOX Sports as part of their TV subscription through participating TV providers. If you get FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, and FOX sports regional channels at home, you've got access!

If you are interested in both sides of the story, you should also ask Fox Sports 2 why they don't have more distribution on Comcast and other video providers, you can do that here: http://msn.foxsports.com/feedback

Apologies that Fox has chosen to put some of their high profile events on one of their least distributed cable channels.

It takes two parties to negotiate and come to an equitable agreement for carriage of any cable network.

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@Juan_de_Vashon wrote:

Finally, it's interesting to note that no *paid* representative from Comcast itself ever enters any of these discussions. These forums are just fog banks for customers to blow off steam, not to ever get any constructive, official Comcast help or support.

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Welcome to the thread. I am a Comcast Employee and I have responded in this thread more than a few times. Some good background on the previous page and also below your post. Thanks for your feedback.