DirecTV + NBA League Pass = FAIL!

[Tomcat]

Greetings my fellow Kings fans,

I was wondering if anyone is having any problems viewing the Kings game on DirecTV today and last Friday. I've been a NBA League Pass subscriber for several years and have never experienced the problems I've had the last few games.

My location is Humboldt County, CA a good 315 miles away from Sacramento and 600+ miles away from LA and I am getting an error 727 'Program not available in your area'. I would expect to receive at least on the feeds being a League Pass subscriber, but am receiving error 727 on all channels broadcasting the game.

My "home team" in the League's eyes is the Golden State Warriors and I receive 696 CSN Bay Area as my 'regional sports network.' Years ago we had Fox Sports Bay Area which included the Sacramento Kings regional games.

DirecTV is claiming that the League and the teams/networks call the shots on when games are blacked out. Why would the NBA be blacking out little ol' me living in rural Northern California when I'm 300-600+ miles away from the game?

I really want to express my frustration to the Kings organization as well as the NBA. What would be the best way of contacting them? I imagine I can contact the Kings via their web site and get some sort of answer back. As with the league, I don't know where to begin.

Any suggestions?

 

[rainmaker]

Greetings my fellow Kings fans,

I was wondering if anyone is having any problems viewing the Kings game on DirecTV today and last Friday. I've been a NBA League Pass subscriber for several years and have never experienced the problems I've had the last few games.

My location is Humboldt County, CA a good 315 miles away from Sacramento and 600+ miles away from LA and I am getting an error 727 'Program not available in your area'. I would expect to receive at least on the feeds being a League Pass subscriber, but am receiving error 727 on all channels broadcasting the game.

My "home team" in the League's eyes is the Golden State Warriors and I receive 696 CSN Bay Area as my 'regional sports network.' Years ago we had Fox Sports Bay Area which included the Sacramento Kings regional games.

DirecTV is claiming that the League and the teams/networks call the shots on when games are blacked out. Why would the NBA be blacking out little ol' me living in rural Northern California when I'm 300-600+ miles away from the game?

I really want to express my frustration to the Kings organization as well as the NBA. What would be the best way of contacting them? I imagine I can contact the Kings via their web site and get some sort of answer back. As with the league, I don't know where to begin.

Any suggestions?

If you have league pass, nba broadband league pass is included for free. You should be able to watch on nba.com. I've had to watch online when cable isn't coming through clearly.

 

[VF21]

Greetings my fellow Kings fans,

I was wondering if anyone is having any problems viewing the Kings game on DirecTV today and last Friday. I've been a NBA League Pass subscriber for several years and have never experienced the problems I've had the last few games.

My location is Humboldt County, CA a good 315 miles away from Sacramento and 600+ miles away from LA and I am getting an error 727 'Program not available in your area'. I would expect to receive at least on the feeds being a League Pass subscriber, but am receiving error 727 on all channels broadcasting the game.

My "home team" in the League's eyes is the Golden State Warriors and I receive 696 CSN Bay Area as my 'regional sports network.' Years ago we had Fox Sports Bay Area which included the Sacramento Kings regional games.

DirecTV is claiming that the League and the teams/networks call the shots on when games are blacked out. Why would the NBA be blacking out little ol' me living in rural Northern California when I'm 300-600+ miles away from the game?

I really want to express my frustration to the Kings organization as well as the NBA. What would be the best way of contacting them? I imagine I can contact the Kings via their web site and get some sort of answer back. As with the league, I don't know where to begin.

Any suggestions?

Good luck but don't expect much satisfaction. The Kings have nothing to do with this and cannot help you. The NBA will say it's the fault of the carrier, in this case DirecTV, and DirecTV will most likely simply give you a voice mail runaround.

There are simply too many fingers in the pie on this stuff to get to anyone who can resolve your problem. I do have one suggestion, though: try a total reboot of your system.

Blackout areas are determined by zip codes. It's quite possibly DirecTV added some new codes or something and yours has been mistakenly put into the wrong queue. Any corrections would have to be done by DirecTV I believe.

Good luck.

 

[bajaden]

I have a Direct TV service from San Diego. I ordered the sports package so I could ge comcast sports California, or channel 698. The channel comes in just fine until the Kings game comes on and then its blacked out. Direct TV tells me its because of regional black out rules. But they can't explain why a game being broadcast 500 miles north of San Diego would be blacked out when the Kings are playing neither the Clip's or the Fakers.

I never had this problem with Dish, and I'm going to go back to Dish. Fortunately I have other means of getting the game. By the way, Cruzedude who lives in Solona Beach has the same programing I do and he gets the Kings games on comcast california. Explain that one to me. Direct TV couldn't..

 

[CruzDude]

Clips game was a blackout on 698 as Clips games always are in So Cal but we viewed on 754 on NBA TV in HD just fine. We turn off the audio as the one clips on-air guy is such a homie as to ruin listening. Actually was enjoyable with no sound. Was easy to get the flow and ebb so-to-speak. As bajaden said, Kings have no say or influence in satellite feeds. You have to contact Direct TV or NBA package contact.

 

[Superman]

I have DirecTV and live in SoCal. I got the Bucks game and the Clippers game just fine (well, I didn't watch the entire Clippers game, so there might have been broadcast issues).

I swear by DirecTV, but I'm certain that they won't be able to do anything to help you unless it's a simple hardware issue. Like 21 said, reset your receiver (should be a little red button on the front behind the flip panel) and see if that helps. If the NBA/League Pass rules stipulate that you're in a blackout zone, there's no getting around it, and that sucks.

 

[Section 101]

I have DirecTV and live in SoCal. I got the Bucks game and the Clippers game just fine (well, I didn't watch the entire Clippers game, so there might have been broadcast issues).

I swear by DirecTV, but I'm certain that they won't be able to do anything to help you unless it's a simple hardware issue. Like 21 said, reset your receiver (should be a little red button on the front behind the flip panel) and see if that helps. If the NBA/League Pass rules stipulate that you're in a blackout zone, there's no getting around it, and that sucks.

Dont use the red button unless the unit is locked up. You can restart the receiver through the menu options. If you restart it twice within 45 mins it will flush the guide data. This usually fixes guide problems.

 

[bajaden]

I have DirecTV and live in SoCal. I got the Bucks game and the Clippers game just fine (well, I didn't watch the entire Clippers game, so there might have been broadcast issues).

I swear by DirecTV, but I'm certain that they won't be able to do anything to help you unless it's a simple hardware issue. Like 21 said, reset your receiver (should be a little red button on the front behind the flip panel) and see if that helps. If the NBA/League Pass rules stipulate that you're in a blackout zone, there's no getting around it, and that sucks.

Where in SoCal do you live and were you watching the game on comcast california. Thats the channel that was blacked out for me.

 

[Superman]

Ah, just realized that the Clipper game was on Fox Sports West or Prime Ticket, one of the local stations, not League Pass. It was blacked out. I didn't even check the League Pass channels, just went to the local ones. Sorry about that.

However, I haven't had any problems with any other games. Sounds like you might be caught in a regional black hole.

 

[GoSACtown]

sounds all too familiar

i live in san jose, ca and have league pass broadband.. it seems like the kings are blacked out every other night here...numerous angry emails to the nba league pass department have gotten me no where...it makes absolutely no sense...san jose is not kings territory..

 

[Tomcat]

4th consecutive game blacked out...

So here I am hoping to see a game tonight and yep, I got the dreaded 727 error: 'This program is not available in your area'. Tried other suggestions that folks that answered me in this thread such as resetting the receiver, but that proved not to help. Logged a 3rd call to DirecTV to ask what the issue is, and got the standard response of the rules of the NBA/Owners/Broadcasters on blackouts.

Just contacted Maloof Sports & Entertainment since they never responded to an e-mail I wrote the weekend and talked to a very nice lady that answered the phone. She patched me through to what appeared to be Craig Amazeen's (VP of Broadcast Operations and Production) cell phone where I left him a message. I hope that he will be kind enough to respond back.

I know it's the end of the season and the Kings aren't a 'premier' team right now, but I'd still like to see them play. I'm home-bound right now w/ my new addition born last month and take comfort being able to watch my beloved Kings play - win or lose. Unfortunately if the NBA/Owners/Broadcasters are going to treat paying customers of NBA League Pass this way, I can't see paying the premium if I can't see the games - especially now that I'm a family man. The money could be put to better use.

Sorry to post my frustrations in this forum, but this is getting ridiculous! Last year I was able to watch the games up to the bitter end.

 

[JeffZX]

So here I am hoping to see a game tonight and yep, I got the dreaded 727 error: 'This program is not available in your area'. Tried other suggestions that folks that answered me in this thread such as resetting the receiver, but that proved not to help. Logged a 3rd call to DirecTV to ask what the issue is, and got the standard response of the rules of the NBA/Owners/Broadcasters on blackouts.

Just contacted Maloof Sports & Entertainment since they never responded to an e-mail I wrote the weekend and talked to a very nice lady that answered the phone. She patched me through to what appeared to be Craig Amazeen's (VP of Broadcast Operations and Production) cell phone where I left him a message. I hope that he will be kind enough to respond back.

I know it's the end of the season and the Kings aren't a 'premier' team right now, but I'd still like to see them play. I'm home-bound right now w/ my new addition born last month and take comfort being able to watch my beloved Kings play - win or lose. Unfortunately if the NBA/Owners/Broadcasters are going to treat paying customers of NBA League Pass this way, I can't see paying the premium if I can't see the games - especially now that I'm a family man. The money could be put to better use.

Sorry to post my frustrations in this forum, but this is getting ridiculous! Last year I was able to watch the games up to the bitter end.

That's odd because I also have the Warriors as my home team, and I could receive the Kings game in SD on 698 and the game in HD from the Nets' broadcast.

 

[Tomcat]

That's odd because I also have the Warriors as my home team, and I could receive the Kings game in SD on 698 and the game in HD from the Nets' broadcast.

Man, that even makes me more disappointed in DirecTV. Do you live in the Bay Area? The customer service reps keep telling me that they can't even get the game when they try and keep on blaming the NBA and the teams. I've never had such bad luck with DirecTV and I have had them for almost 11 years now. So much for the maximum "hearts" I have on my account.

Hopefully Mr. Amazeen can shed some light on my problem if he calls me back. I'm trying to have faith in Maloof Sports & Entertainment.

 

[JeffZX]

Man, that even makes me more disappointed in DirecTV. Do you live in the Bay Area? The customer service reps keep telling me that they can't even get the game when they try and keep on blaming the NBA and the teams. I've never had such bad luck with DirecTV and I have had them for almost 11 years now. So much for the maximum "hearts" I have on my account.

Hopefully Mr. Amazeen can shed some light on my problem if he calls me back. I'm trying to have faith in Maloof Sports & Entertainment.

Were you blacked out of both the Kings and Nets broadcasts? My location is in a white area (outside of Grade B contour), so not sure if that is the reason. I think it was a mistake because if you have League Pass the only games that should be blacked out are the ones where you can receive the Warriors game locally.

 

[Tomcat]

Were you blacked out of both the Kings and Nets broadcasts? My location is in a white area (outside of Grade B contour), so not sure if that is the reason. I think it was a mistake because if you have League Pass the only games that should be blacked out are the ones where you can receive the Warriors game locally.

My "home team" is consider to be the Warriors with DirecTV/NBA. I live roughly 353 miles away from Oakland (according to Google Maps) and 310 miles away from Arco Arena. I don't know what is the cause of all of this, but I am hoping someone will step forward and provide me with some sort of reasoning.

 

[JeffZX]

My "home team" is consider to be the Warriors with DirecTV/NBA. I live roughly 353 miles away from Oakland (according to Google Maps) and 310 miles away from Arco Arena. I don't know what is the cause of all of this, but I am hoping someone will step forward and provide me with some sort of reasoning.

Were you blacked out of both the Kings and Nets broadcasts?

 

[Tomcat]

Were you blacked out of both the Kings and Nets broadcasts?

Yep, I've been blacked out on both the Kings broadcasts and the opposing teams broadcasts. This has been consistent since last Friday night. I think that is what has been driving me nuts more than anything.

 

[JeffZX]

That's not right. I take it you receive the Warriors as your home team on 696? If so, then 698 should not be blacked out and neither should the other team's feed playing the Kings. Otherwise, you are having blackouts of both the Warriors and Kings.

 

[VF21]

That's not right. I take it you receive the Warriors as your home team on 696? If so, then 698 should not be blacked out and neither should the other team's feed playing the Kings. Otherwise, you are having blackouts of both the Warriors and Kings.

Dude - He knows it's not right. That's why he's trying to find a way to get the situation corrected.

 

[Section 101]

Simple solution. Move!

 

[bajaden]

That's odd because I also have the Warriors as my home team, and I could receive the Kings game in SD on 698 and the game in HD from the Nets' broadcast.

I'm assuming that SD stands for San Diego? My address for the purposes of Direct TV is San Diego, and yet every single Kings game on Direct TV on channel 698 has been blacked out on my tv. Its pointless to even call Direct TV because whom ever I talk to has no clue.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I'm assuming that SD stands for San Diego?

In this case, I think it's "Standard Definition".

 

[JeffZX]

I'm assuming that SD stands for San Diego? My address for the purposes of Direct TV is San Diego, and yet every single Kings game on Direct TV on channel 698 has been blacked out on my tv. Its pointless to even call Direct TV because whom ever I talk to has no clue.

SD in this case is standard defintion.

Ok, that is odd. Now we have two people that are getting blacked out of Kings' games despite having home territories elsewhere.

When you call DirecTV ask for a supervisor; most of the people answering the phones have limited knowledge. You could even ask for customer retention to get attention.

Why have San Diego as your residence? Can the spot beam travel that far? I know it got to LA but not enough to get the non-network stations.

 

[Section 101]

I'm assuming that SD stands for San Diego? My address for the purposes of Direct TV is San Diego, and yet every single Kings game on Direct TV on channel 698 has been blacked out on my tv. Its pointless to even call Direct TV because whom ever I talk to has no clue.

What about league pass channels?

 

[Tomcat]

Simple solution. Move!

It's not that simple, Section 101. I'm rooted in Humboldt County. This is where I am raising my family and have my career at HSU. I subscribe to services such as DirecTV and NBA League Pass to get a piece of the world outside of the "Redwood Curtain". Since I was born and raised in Sacramento, I have such a connection for keeping up with my beloved Kings. In short, I know you are kidding Section 101!

Here's an update on my problem. The Kings Organization is aware of the problem. Apparently I'm not the only one with this issue. I've been playing phone tag with Craig Amazeen, but he is working with DirecTV at resolving the problem for tomorrow's game against the Celtics. In the message he left on my phone, it appears to be a DirecTV problem. I'll keep you all updated if anything changes. Maloof Sports & Entertainment are taking fans concerns seriously and are working on correcting the problem. I'll give them a thumbs up right now for helping out!

Thanks all for letting me constructively vent. I hope to see a light at the end of the tunnel soon.

John

 

[Section 101]

It's not that simple, Section 101. I'm rooted in Humboldt County. This is where I am raising my family and have my career at HSU. I subscribe to services such as DirecTV and NBA League Pass to get a piece of the world outside of the "Redwood Curtain". Since I was born and raised in Sacramento, I have such a connection for keeping up with my beloved Kings. In short, I know you are kidding Section 101!

Here's an update on my problem. The Kings Organization is aware of the problem. Apparently I'm not the only one with this issue. I've been playing phone tag with Craig Amazeen, but he is working with DirecTV at resolving the problem for tomorrow's game against the Celtics. In the message he left on my phone, it appears to be a DirecTV problem. I'll keep you all updated if anything changes. Maloof Sports & Entertainment are taking fans concerns seriously and are working on correcting the problem. I'll give them a thumbs up right now for helping out!

Thanks all for letting me constructively vent. I hope to see a light at the end of the tunnel soon.

John

Here's what I think is happening. I think you are out of the Kings regional area. So you will get 698 programming. But when the Kings play they are blacked out because you are too far away. You will get the blackout for live telecasts and replays of them. You need the league pass to get the games. Otherwise why would anyone get league pass if they could watch the games on all the regional sports channels.

The same thing happens for me with YES and the Yankees. I get the channel, but when a game is on I need the MLB extra innings package to get the games.

 

[JeffZX]

Here's what I think is happening. I think you are out of the Kings regional area. So you will get 698 programming. But when the Kings play they are blacked out because you are too far away. You will get the blackout for live telecasts and replays of them. You need the league pass to get the games. Otherwise why would anyone get league pass if they could watch the games on all the regional sports channels.

The same thing happens for me with YES and the Yankees. I get the channel, but when a game is on I need the MLB extra innings package to get the games.

He already has the NBA League Pass. Since the Kings are not his home team he will not get the replays. I would say he should get the games, but then I will be told I am only telling him what he knows.

 

[VF21]

Keep the comments on the up and up, folks. Per our Tips for Posting, we don't condone or recommend doing anything contrary to the TOS with any of the companies you're dealing with...

 

[Tomcat]

I'm starting to see the light...

Well I guess if one squeaks loud enough and often enough things start to happen. A few things seem to be brewing on the horizon:

• I was able to see the game today. It felt like a small miracle.
• DirecTV has been modifying the regional sports networks for my area. Apparently my local area of Eureka, CA now has the Kings as a regional sports team and we now get CSNCA as well as CSNB. Score! However, they forgot to include my zip code. FAIL!
• I was not able to view Boston's broadcast on the NBALP channels. When I tried to turn to the channels that they were on I got the classic 727 Error that the channel was not available in my area. That's cool, I prefer Grant and Jerry.
• Channel 698 (CSNCA) was on after the Kings game. Looks like CSNCA is officially going to be one of my RSNs!

I also received an e-mail from the VP of Sports Programming from DirecTV. I will be in contact with this person on Monday. I am a little disappointed that I have had to take it this far and be this vocal on different mediums such as this board, Twitter, and via e-mails and phone calls to MS&E. The thing that bugs me the most is I feel like no one at DirecTV was taking my concern seriously until I contacted Maloof Sports and Entertainment and they got involved. Maloof Sports and Entertainment get a big thumbs up in my book!

That is all for now. I'm sure there will be more to come, especially if I end up with another blocked game!

John

 

[JeffZX]

Well I guess if one squeaks loud enough and often enough things start to happen. A few things seem to be brewing on the horizon:

• I was able to see the game today. It felt like a small miracle.
• DirecTV has been modifying the regional sports networks for my area. Apparently my local area of Eureka, CA now has the Kings as a regional sports team and we now get CSNCA as well as CSNB. Score! However, they forgot to include my zip code. FAIL!
• I was not able to view Boston's broadcast on the NBALP channels. When I tried to turn to the channels that they were on I got the classic 727 Error that the channel was not available in my area. That's cool, I prefer Grant and Jerry.
• Channel 698 (CSNCA) was on after the Kings game. Looks like CSNCA is officially going to be one of my RSNs!

I also received an e-mail from the VP of Sports Programming from DirecTV. I will be in contact with this person on Monday. I am a little disappointed that I have had to take it this far and be this vocal on different mediums such as this board, Twitter, and via e-mails and phone calls to MS&E. The thing that bugs me the most is I feel like no one at DirecTV was taking my concern seriously until I contacted Maloof Sports and Entertainment and they got involved. Maloof Sports and Entertainment get a big thumbs up in my book!

That is all for now. I'm sure there will be more to come, especially if I end up with another blocked game!

John

Amazing you got that done!! Hardly anybody at DirecTV understands sports programming.

One disadvantage of DirecTV and Comcast is since Comcast took over the Giants the network holds back about a dozen Giants' HD games a year exclusively for cable; DirecTV subscribers only get the games in SD. And that was after members at AVS Forum assured me that there would be NO change from Fox Sports Net to Comcast. Wrong! Also, with the Warriors the split second the game is over the HD feed is cut and you can only view the postgame in SD. The same is true for the Giants, although they occasionally slip up and show the postgame in HD.

Do those of you in Sacramento get the replays in HD or is that just for cable? Also, never used to get the pregame shows either. Comcast gets petty.