# Directtv Sports pack



## dvigue (Feb 6, 2008)

Hi guys, 
I was wondering. If i get the sports pack for 12.99 a month, will i get all the channels listed in that list? 

I am a hige pittspurgh penguins fan and a mets fan. so if i get the sports pack does that mean that I will get those channels all the time??? along with my "home team" channels which is nesn and comcast New england ( im in maine)

im i correct on this?

thanks

Derek


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## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

You will receive all the RSN's but black out rules do a apply.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

You'll get those channels but the games will be blacked out. In order to see the Penguins and Mets in Maine you'll need a subscription to NHL Center Ice and MLB Extra Innings


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## dvigue (Feb 6, 2008)

Steve Mehs said:


> You'll get those channels but the games will be blacked out. In order to see the Penguins and Mets in Maine you'll need a subscription to NHL Center Ice and MLB Extra Innings


oh so why would someone want all those channels if all the games are going to be blacked out?

whats the point of them then? i do get NHL center ice, but i was wondering about this..


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Pre game shows, post game shows, other specialty regional programming like call in shows, Arena Football, Minor League and some NCAA sports and in some areas like mine there's oddball sports boundaries. The Pirates and Indians (along with the Mets and Yankees) are both considered my home MLB teams, neither STO or FSN Pittsburgh are my home RSNs, with the Sports Pak I'd get to see those games but other Pittsburgh and Cleveland sports would be blacked out. Plus the Sports Pak on DirecTV includes more than just the RSNs.


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## jazzyd971fm (Sep 1, 2007)

You would need Sports Pack to see NBA TV, Versus, ESPNU,CBS College Sports(used to be CSTV),Golf Channel,Speed Channel,Fuel TV


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## Vid58 (May 6, 2007)

So, if I got the Sports Pack, would I be able to see any MLB games?


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Vid58 said:


> So, if I got the Sports Pack, would I be able to see any MLB games?


not unless they are nationally televised or broadcast on your RSN... otherwise, you would need MLB EI as Steve explained...


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## Vid58 (May 6, 2007)

Thanks AR. Glad I didn't waste my money.

I should add that I wanted to be clear on this because I have been seeing most of the MLB games on the RSN's this week. I know it's been a free week on MLB EI and that's been great too. But it's been fun watching the Yankees lose on YES.


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## spunkyvision (Oct 12, 2006)

Its also good if you want to see soccer.


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## CapeCodder (Mar 19, 2008)

spunkyvision said:


> Its also good if you want to see soccer.


If you like soccer, try Sentanta. It's an extra 15 a month, but it blows FSC away. Full pre, halftime and post game coverage by the crew at the game - a crew that actually knows something about the game and the league(s) as opposed to the know-little-or-nothings FSC parades out.


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## spunkyvision (Oct 12, 2006)

^ agree I have both


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## rajeshh (Sep 11, 2007)

I wish there was a sports pack that also included ESPN, NFL Network. I mainly have international programming, and local hd, but subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket, and with increasing games on NFL Network, wish that was possible


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## kikkenit2 (Oct 26, 2006)

rajeshh said:


> I wish there was a sports pack that also included ESPN, NFL Network. I mainly have international programming, and local hd, but subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket, and with increasing games on NFL Network, wish that was possible


The NFL channel and ESPN come with the choice package, not the sports pack. And Speed, Fuel, Golf & Versus are in the choice extra package. The sports pack is needed to get the NBA channel and a few others though.


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## ajc68 (Jan 23, 2008)

kikkenit2 said:


> The sports pack is needed to get the NBA channel and a few others though.


&#8230;unless you subscribe to the NBA League Pass. When I did that, I got the NBA channel (601) year round, even w/o the sports pack. That was around '03, so I'm not sure if that's still the case.

This is the time of year I would normally drop the sports pack, but I need it for the 1st round on the NBA playoffs on 601, since I didn't do the League Pass this season.


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## kikkenit2 (Oct 26, 2006)

ajc68 said:


> &#8230;unless you subscribe to the NBA League Pass. When I did that, I got the NBA channel (601) year round, even w/o the sports pack. That was around '03, so I'm not sure if that's still the case.
> 
> This is the time of year I would normally drop the sports pack, but I need it for the 1st round on the NBA playoffs on 601, since I didn't do the League Pass this season.


Thanks for the mention of the other option. I only buy NFL season pass and was not aware but wanted to correct the statement that several other good sports channels were included with the sports pack. The OP wanted more hockey and baseball without having to buy the pass. Don't we all! I don't buy the other sports because most extra games are in SD. I'm basically watching only the NBAHD channel in the sports pack but that would be tough to cancel (part of premier).


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## CUDAHY (Apr 21, 2007)

For some unexplained reason, the replays of Baltimore & Washington National games on MASN have been in the clear the last 2 years. Other replays have always been blacked out.


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## klickyklick (Oct 27, 2007)

I've had it with all the sports packages. Ordered the sports package to find out the games are not available unless you pay for MLB. OK Ordered MLB and canceled the sports package. Go to watch the game on a MLB 720 channel and get the not available because it is on a channel belonging to the monthly sports package. Pick up the sports package again but then you have to guess which channel the game is really going to be on. DVR either gets a blue screen or the game if you guess the right one. I canceled the renewal of NFL, ESPN and MLB packages. I'm tired of dealing with them. Now the superfan fee to get the games in HD, I've had it.


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## Dan Burgess (Apr 3, 2008)

klickyklick said:


> I've had it with all the sports packages. Ordered the sports package to find out the games are not available unless you pay for MLB. OK Ordered MLB and canceled the sports package. Go to watch the game on a MLB 720 channel and get the not available because it is on a channel belonging to the monthly sports package. Pick up the sports package again but then you have to guess which channel the game is really going to be on. DVR either gets a blue screen or the game if you guess the right one. I canceled the renewal of NFL, ESPN and MLB packages. I'm tired of dealing with them. Now the superfan fee to get the games in HD, I've had it.


720 is MLB Game Mix, which is part of SuperFan. Also included with SuperFan is the Strike Zone Channel, as well as HD feeds of games. Last year I didn't pay the $40 for SuperFan, but this year I happily shelled out $50 for it. Most of us consider SuperFan to be a worthwhile expenditure -- some of the HD games are glorious.

The channel assignments in the 720-760 range vary, but I don't see a way that DirecTV could keep a particular team on a particular channel night after night. Some teams, notably the Yankees and Red Sox, are always televised on the same regional sports network (YES and NESN, in my example) so if you have the sports pack, you can know to record the appropriate RSN in the 620-670 range of channels.

I watch most games live, but when I do want to record a game (as with Peavy vs Penny last Friday night) I just log in at directv.com and use the remote scheduling feature. It's a breeze. And I had my choice of feeds -- Vin Scully or Matt Vasgersian. What a treat.

Instead of focusing on the complexities of the situation, you should look at the bright side -- dual feeds of many games, HD feeds of many games, and seemingly all televised games available on MLBEI. (Saturday afternoon blackouts notwithstanding.) MLBEI on DirecTV has never been better.


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## klickyklick (Oct 27, 2007)

Dan Burgess said:


> 720 is MLB Game Mix, which is part of SuperFan. Also included with SuperFan is the Strike Zone Channel, as well as HD feeds of games. Last year I didn't pay the $40 for SuperFan, but this year I happily shelled out $50 for it. Most of us consider SuperFan to be a worthwhile expenditure -- some of the HD games are glorious.
> 
> The channel assignments in the 720-760 range vary, but I don't see a way that DirecTV could keep a particular team on a particular channel night after night. Some teams, notably the Yankees and Red Sox, are always televised on the same regional sports network (YES and NESN, in my example) so if you have the sports pack, you can know to record the appropriate RSN in the 620-670 range of channels.
> 
> ...


I state 720 as a general reference at the start of the where the MLB channels start up, not actually meaning 720... I can tell you it drove me nuts trying to find out which channel the game was on. It made no sense to me on why they would do it like that. If it is listed on the guide in the 720's it just makes sense to just allow it... It wasn't like it was blacked out. I've been getting emails from a DTV CSR and the last message was; I would probably not get any games off the STO/HD 657 channels, even if STO is the carrier in the 720 channels with extra innings. Not because it is blacked out, because I am not in the local OH viewing area. Apparently STO will broadcast the game on DTV only if you subscribe to the sports pack and live in the Cleveland viewing area. I've asked for that to be verified. I swear I watched a CLV game carried by STO in HD during the free preview week.
Superfan, I think it is ok to charge for the extra stuff in superfan like the mix channels but there is no need to role the HD fee into that price. I do not want the extra mix channels, just to be able to watch the games in HD. I feel the HD channels should be included in the normal monthly HD access fee and the games in the Extra Inning fee.


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## CUDAHY (Apr 21, 2007)

I've read that if you subscribe to EI but not the sports channels you still can watch any game in the 600 sports channels. So why don't they just list the sports channel as the EI channel? It would make it a lot simpler and easier to find the feed you want to see.


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## scott72 (Feb 17, 2008)

CUDAHY said:


> I've read that if you subscribe to EI but not the sports channels you still can watch any game in the 600 sports channels. So why don't they just list the sports channel as the EI channel? It would make it a lot simpler and easier to find the feed you want to see.


If you don't have the sports pack, then you're only going to get the RSN or RSN's they want to give you. EI doesn't include the sports pack.


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## Dan Burgess (Apr 3, 2008)

CUDAHY said:


> I've read that if you subscribe to EI but not the sports channels you still can watch any game in the 600 sports channels. So why don't they just list the sports channel as the EI channel? It would make it a lot simpler and easier to find the feed you want to see.


Sometimes the origin is not an RSN in the 600 range. Padres games on SD4 and Blue Jays games on Rogers SportsNet, for example, are feeds that are not assigned RSNs in the 600s.


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

How does the sports pack work for NCAA basketball games? Are they aired on the FSN channels like the NCAA football games are? If not I can not see there being an upside to keeping alot of sports channels that dont do me any good.


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## Steve615 (Feb 5, 2006)

joshjr said:


> How does the sports pack work for NCAA basketball games? Are they aired on the FSN channels like the NCAA football games are? If not I can not see there being an upside to keeping alot of sports channels that dont do me any good.


This is one of the reasons we subscribe to the Sports Pack.
AFAIK,NCAA sporting events have not been blacked out on any of these channels.
We have watched alot of NCAA football and basketball games via the Sports Pack.
The following RSNs/networks are a few that broadcast NCAA games in the Sports Pack.
FSN
VS
ESPNU
The MTN Network ( ? ) Don't know if that is exclusive to the Sports Pack or not.
MSG/MSG+,and others.
I also like the NBA TV channel too.


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

It might be worth keeping if I can get a bunch of Tar Heels games.


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