I visited my Mom today. She mentioned that her cable company had recently dropped a handful of channels and replaced them with new ones. She has Comcast basic cable, but not digital.

So, I surfed through the channels to see what was missing and what was new. I was floored to discover that channel 22 is now Versus! Cool!

Oh, and to add to my amusement, one of the channels that was dropped from the basic package to make room for the new channels... ESPNNews.

I hope this is a sign of things to come!

NoviVespa3 - 07 September 2008 07:29 AM

I have Dish Network and found I get Versus. My brother lives upstairs from me, but gets his TV via Comcast in Chicago. So, when I read that the IRL is going to Versus, I went up stairs to check. He only get the basic plan, but he does get Versus.

I was very fortunate in that my family has DirecTV and like you already gets Versus.

doggie - 07 September 2008 07:19 AM

middle12 - 06 September 2008 11:07 PM

I visited my Mom today. She mentioned that her cable company had recently dropped a handful of channels and replaced them with new ones. She has Comcast basic cable, but not digital.

So, I surfed through the channels to see what was missing and what was new. I was floored to discover that channel 22 is now Versus! Cool!

Oh, and to add to my amusement, one of the channels that was dropped from the basic package to make room for the new channels... ESPNNews.

I hope this is a sign of things to come!

I wish my system would do that... Time Warner! But alas, we won't get Versus. Basically what you have with ANY of the ESPN actual sports channels is a 'crawl' that gives you instant information and on the main channel, many showings of 'Sportscenter' -- so having an ESPN News Channel is REDUNDANT! Then again, ESPN is a poor excuse for a sports channel anyway when they show 'competitive' Scrabble and the US Spelling Bee! Then again, one can point to the same shenanigans being employed by a certain media conglomerate that is VERY NEAR (emphasis on NEAR) to all of us reading this missive.

That is not to say that Versus will be any better -- it is only to show the lack of quality of sports programming in North America -- to say the least and to put it VERY nicely!

I have Time-Warner in NE Ohio and we get Versus. It seems that carrying/not carrying is on a region by region basis.

Their is a excellent interview of the Versus people by Mark C. of AR1 and he asked some good questions and they seemedto have all their ducks in a row. Yes, their will be cross promotion thru the other sports programming and programming in general. Yes, ComCast will promote. Yes their will be HD. Yes their will be international distribution either thru ESPN or another outlet if that seems better.They are running ad programs and will hit the street running to get their stuff ready for a March big push for the April start of the season. Yes, ABC will be doing 5 races and they will pick them. Broadcasters will be picked by everyone but their is a clean slate to begin with in deciding whom.

My bro in Delaware said Comcast is adding Versus to their basic package, but I swear I watched Versus when I was there last month. Maybe his kids were able to bump up to a Premium package without him knowing, which would be par for the course (a few years ago their 13 yr old secretly ran cable to the basement to the TV that was supposedly just for video games, and got away with it for over a year!). Mind you my bro is a chemist and lacks any total social awareness or skills, hence his affinity for right wing conservativism. That jab is for his eldest son, a proud, budding progressive, maybe now you can finally figure out who I am on this board!

33blues33 - 07 September 2008 07:57 AM

If you don't mind me asking...In what region does your mom live? I only ask because Comcast here just dropped two channels and we are waiting to see which two will replace them. I'm just curious to know if we are one of the lucky ones to pick up Versus.

She's about an hour and a half north of Indianapolis.

OvalsBoring - 07 September 2008 02:54 AM

lacks any total social awareness or skills, hence his affinity for right wing conservativism.

Thanks for that. F*** off.

SpykerWCC - 07 September 2008 06:32 AM

OvalsBoring - 07 September 2008 02:54 AM

lacks any total social awareness or skills, hence his affinity for right wing conservativism.

Thanks for that. F*** off.

Thank you for that Spyder. It is nice to see that someone is also like me -- that there isn't a reason for any political jabs -- this is a race board OVAL -- GET IT? Go spread you political garbage over at: http://www.obamamilquetoast.com -- or some similar domain name -- you 'tard!

middle12 - 06 September 2008 11:07 PM

I visited my Mom today. She mentioned that her cable company had recently dropped a handful of channels and replaced them with new ones. She has Comcast basic cable, but not digital.

So, I surfed through the channels to see what was missing and what was new. I was floored to discover that channel 22 is now Versus! Cool!

Oh, and to add to my amusement, one of the channels that was dropped from the basic package to make room for the new channels... ESPNNews.

I hope this is a sign of things to come!

I wish my system would do that... Time Warner! But alas, we won't get Versus. Basically what you have with ANY of the ESPN actual sports channels is a 'crawl' that gives you instant information and on the main channel, many showings of 'Sportscenter' -- so having an ESPN News Channel is REDUNDANT! Then again, ESPN is a poor excuse for a sports channel anyway when they show 'competitive' Scrabble and the US Spelling Bee! Then again, one can point to the same shenanigans being employed by a certain media conglomerate that is VERY NEAR (emphasis on NEAR) to all of us reading this missive.

That is not to say that Versus will be any better -- it is only to show the lack of quality of sports programming in North America -- to say the least and to put it VERY nicely!

I have Dish Network and found I get Versus. My brother lives upstairs from me, but gets his TV via Comcast in Chicago. So, when I read that the IRL is going to Versus, I went up stairs to check. He only get the basic plan, but he does get Versus.

middle12 - 06 September 2008 11:07 PM

I visited my Mom today. She mentioned that her cable company had recently dropped a handful of channels and replaced them with new ones. She has Comcast basic cable, but not digital.

So, I surfed through the channels to see what was missing and what was new. I was floored to discover that channel 22 is now Versus! Cool!

Oh, and to add to my amusement, one of the channels that was dropped from the basic package to make room for the new channels... ESPNNews.

I hope this is a sign of things to come!

If you don't mind me asking...In what region does your mom live? I only ask because Comcast here just dropped two channels and we are waiting to see which two will replace them. I'm just curious to know if we are one of the lucky ones to pick up Versus.