http://hd.engadget.com/2009/07/09/verizon-cablevision-msg-hd-channel-squabble-goes-to-the-fcc/ Engadget HD Comments for Verizon / Cablevision MSG HD channel squabble goes to the FCC http://hd.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://hd.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://hd.engadget.com/2009/07/09/verizon-cablevision-msg-hd-channel-squabble-goes-to-the-fcc/http://hd.engadget.com/2009/07/09/verizon-cablevision-msg-hd-channel-squabble-goes-to-the-fcc/
Cablevision says they shouldn't have to provide their HD feed, but the truth is they own the teams and networks so that they don't have to provide the HD feed. Rather than compete on price, they want to compete with content exclusivity. BAD for consumers.

They advertise all over the NY market that the only way to see every NY sports team in HD is to have Cablevision because they refuse to make the HD feeds of the Knicks, Rangers, Devils, and Islanders available to FIOS subscribers. If the FCC sides with cablevision, what is to theoretically stop Verizon from purchasing a sports franchise solely to keep the HD feed from Cablevision subscribers? It would then be an impossibility to see every team in HD regardless of what company you have (I'm leaving Direct TV out of this for the sake of simplicity). Is this a consumer friendly policy?

Maybe I'm a little old school, but I think cable companies should not own the content they provide because of this tremendous conflict of interest.

I'm also having trouble wrapping my head around how the FCC held up the Sirius-XM merger for over a year because of theoretical anti-competitive issues, but they haven't yet addressed this.]]>Jul 9th 2009 3:20PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2009/07/09/verizon-cablevision-msg-hd-channel-squabble-goes-to-the-fcc/http://hd.engadget.com/2009/07/09/verizon-cablevision-msg-hd-channel-squabble-goes-to-the-fcc/Jul 9th 2009 3:28PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2009/07/09/verizon-cablevision-msg-hd-channel-squabble-goes-to-the-fcc/http://hd.engadget.com/2009/07/09/verizon-cablevision-msg-hd-channel-squabble-goes-to-the-fcc/Aug 15th 2009 9:17AM