From Time Warner Cable

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For Further Information Contact:
Robin L. Wolfgang
Vice President, Public and Government Affairs
716-558-8642 (Phone)
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Robin.Wolfgang@twcable.com

TIME WARNER CABLE ADDS VERSUS HD FOR HOCKEY PLAYOFFS
Digital Cable Customers Will Receive Versus HD May 10th on Channel 708

BUFFALO, NY- May 8, 2007 - Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second-largest cable television operator, today announced the temporary addition of Versus HD to its HD offerings for digital cable customers on Channel 708. The addition of Versus HD will allow hockey fans to enjoy the hockey playoff games beginning Thursday, May 10 until the end of the hockey season. Versus will not black out any more games in this region and has pledged to cover two games of the Stanley Cup. Versus offers the Golf Channel from noon until seven and then begins its Versus hockey coverage at seven.

"Time Warner Cable has heard the clamor of our customers for Versus HD in order to see the hockey playoffs through the best picture available. We are pleased to have the technology and the ability to offer this great opportunity for the next month," stated Gordon Harp, Buffalo Division President, Time Warner Cable. "Behind the scenes we have had to work very fast and juggle some other commitments but we felt this was important to our customers in Western New York. As a company Time Warner Cable strives to provide the best products and services every day."

Versus will remain available on Channel 71 to standard package customers after this temporary viewing of Versus HD ends. Versus is the national cable home of the National Hockey league (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now in more than 72 million homes, the network is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can’t find elsewhere.

As one of the customers that clamored about being able to see Versus in HD, this makes me so happy!

But it does make me wonder if they only did this because you can pick up CBC’s HD signal out of Toronto & all the games from here on out will be on CBC. I hope they prove me wrong & keep it past the playoffs.

I know, I know…I’m bashing Time Warner again.

If you have Time Warner, you probably saw their massive football advertising campaign last year. They presented it to us as if they cared about the viewers. Their ads boasted how you’d be able to watch all your home teams games as well as how many of them are in HD:

We know you love football - which is why Time Warner Cable offers tons of NFL games every week on CBS, FOX, NBC or ESPN. In addition, many games can be seen in High Definition, where available.

Seeing these ads on Fox during NFL games was kinda funny since they did not have the HD Fox channel at the time. But that’s another story.

Everyone really knows that these ads were basically anti-NFL Network ads. Time Warner & The NFL Network have yet to come to an agreement as far as carrying the channel, and that’s another story that I’m sure will grab the headlines in a couple months.

Now here’s my beef: Time Warner runs all these commercials about how much they care about their viewers & I say that’s a load of crap. If they cared about the viewers in the Buffalo area (and any other area that has a hockey team) they’d actually go out & get a deal made to carry Versus in HD.

Look here at the NHL Playoffs TV Schedule for the 1st round. Part of me is upset that NBC has decided to not schedule ANY Sabres games - after all, they are the #1 team in the league. So for Buffalo fans, Games 1 & 7 are on MSG (that’s another mess of a story that I don’t want to get into) and games 2 thru 6 are on Versus.

Think about the commercials they could run, boasting that they are the only way to watch Hockey in HD in the Buffalo area. Instead, no matter how much I complain & request the channel, all they do is remind me what (little) HD hockey they have (as if I didn’t know that NBC carried HD games).

Buffalo games pull massive ratings when they are on:

From The Buffalo News - NBC has to be impressed by Buffalo’s TV ratings. The Sabres’ win over Pittsburgh Tuesday to clinch the Eastern Conference title had an incredibly strong 12.2 rating here on Versus even though it was competing for separate hours with “American Idol” (16.9) and “Dancing with the Stars” (11.4).

Now that it’s the playoffs, those numbers will only increase.

I know I complain a lot, but I want to watch the NHL Playoffs in HD & I’m sick of Time Warner pretending that they care about me. It’s time for them to step up & prove it.

YIPEE! The Stanley Cup Playoffs start tonight!

Of course, I’m torn as to what channel to watch it on.

Both CBC (complete Round 1 Schedule is here) and Versus (complete Round 1 Schedule is here) have Pittsburgh vs Ottawa and Dallas vs Vancouver. I want to watch the games in High Def, which means I’ll want to have CBC on. But I also want to support hockey here in America, which means I should watch the games on Versus.

I think the solution to this is to turn all my cable boxes to Versus & then just watch the games via the antenna on CBC

I am really starting to hate NBC.

In the Jury out on Sabres, NBC deal column by Alan Pergament in Saturday’s edition of The Buffalo News, it was mentioned that once again, NBC Sports will only be airing 9 regular season games for the 2007-08 NHL season. 6-1/2 months of games & the one major network that broadcasts the NHL will be showing us less than 1% of the games.

They did say that they would be adopting a flex schedule (like they have with the NFL) and I agree that that is a step in the right direction. It also means that the Buffalo area will be seeing less of the Rangers & Islanders, because based on the 9 “regional” games I saw this year, NBC thinks that New York City is near Buffalo & that the NY teams are in our division.

NBC will be airing 2 games a week during the playoffs and they will be airing games 3 thru 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, which is kinda big for them seeing as I can’t remember the last time I saw an NHL game on NBC during the week. I also noticed on the NBC Sports website that they will be moving their 30 minute pre-game show from the internet to the television for their 1st playoff broadcast April 14th. I really hope that the local stations don’t loose too much money by airing the pre-game show instead of an Infomercial.

Now some of you will say that Versus is a national channel, and I agree. But it’s not NBC. It’s not even close to ESPN. And, as you know, I can’t find it in High Def. They have the main TV contract for the NHL, but they only air 2 games a week - and those are on Monday’s & Tuesday’s! Apparently, Bull Riding is a higher priority since it has the usual Saturday night prime time slot.

I’d like to thank my parents for raising me close enough to Canada so that I can watch the High Def broadcast of CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada. NBC & Versus should really watch how they cover the NHL (as well as the Olympics) because they both have a lot to learn.

I completely forgot to post these when I made the HDTV Introduction Post.

Here’s a list of handy links for those of you that like to watch NHL games in HD:

NBC’s NHL Broadcast Schedule (all 9 weeks of it)
HDNet NHL Schedule
Versus NHL Game Schedule (assuming you can get Versus in HD)
CBC Hockey Night In Canada Schedule (Canada)
TSN’s NHL Schedule (Canada)

If you know of any other channels that carry NHL games in HD (even if they’re your local channels) then please post them so I can update the list.

I can’t believe I’m about to type this up, but I’m really rooting for Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary & Vancouver to make the NHL Playoffs. Why? Because that means I’ll get to watch some of the NHL Playoffs in HD on CBC via my antenna. (since I’m convinced that Versus HD doesn’t actually exist)

I even have a best case scenario:
Toronto & Montreal each actually make the playoffs (right now, they are both 1 point out) Hopefully, the Sabres are 1st, Toronto is 8th, Ottawa gets 4th or 5th & Montreal gets 6th or 7th. Buffalo would play Toronto and I get to see all the away games in HD since the CBC channel I pick up is out of Toronto. We beat Toronto and Ottawa & Montreal each win their series. With any luck, we’d play Montreal, beat them, have Ottawa win & then face Ottawa for the conference finals. Calgary or Vancouver (I could care less) make it to the finals. BINGO! All of the Buffalo games are in HD & we’d have beaten 4 Canadian teams

Even if that scenario didn’t play out (and odds are against me) it’d be nice to watch any of the playoffs games in HD on CBC, so GO CANADA!

Apparently, Versus has a High Def channel. How one goes about watching it is beyond me.

I have Time Warner Cable & they don’t carry it (but I have requested it)

I looked at DirectTV & Dish Network and neither of them have it.

So I decided to go to the source & ask. I’ve emailed Versus as well as called them (203-406-2500) but I’ve got no reply to either.

The NHL Playoffs are approaching really fast & without the Versus HD channel, I’m gonna be stuck watching most of the games in SD and after watching all of the games on INHD last year (Versus simulcast their games on the now defunct INHD2 channel last season) that’s really gonna suck.