**** you ESPN

[kam_soluusar]

Okiday. I am not sure how cable/pay tv works in America. What I do know, is that it really sucks here in Australia. We have different channels, that buy certain programmes of the US and British networks, and then show them here. So I for example, don't have the option of getting HBO. What I will get, is programming shown on HBO, that may be distributed between 2-4 different channels here. In regards to NBA basketball, we get ESPN. But they only show 2-3 games PER WEEK of NBA. We get tons of college ball, Baseball, and NFL, but hardly any NBA.

They have not shown one Rockets game this year. Not a singular F@*king one. And as you can tell, it annoys me. They constantly show Miami, LA, OKC, Boston etc, but NEVER Houston. Last year, they showed Houston twice. Both times were against the Lakers. I am sick of watching Houton Vs LA.

And people wonder why, I am more than happy to "pirate" things off the net. It's a pretty simple concept, give me what I want, and I will happily pay for it. Don't, and I will more than happily "Steal" it. I have paid for ESPN, and they haven't given me jack. There is no NBA TV in Australia, so I can't even have the satisfaction of watching classic games, Documentaries, nightly game recaps etc. (Okay ESPN does some of this, but I hate Baseball and NFL, so I have to sit through all that crap to watch 5 mins of basketball!) I don't think it's fair to pay for something like League broadband, on top of the actual Internet, and Pay TV as well. So, I have cancelled my pay TV subscription, and I now happily use Firstrow sports, and watch it for free.

If I could get NBA TV, and nothing else, I would happily pay for it, but since it is not offered, F@*K it!!!

End Rant.

[spolgar]

In this case, it's not really ESPN's fault.

Their broadcasting of NBA games is relatively meager to begin with, see here:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/b ... 1424_x.htm

Their current contract is a partnership with ABC. ABC gets 15 games a year with the finals, using ESPN broadcasting crews. ESPN gets 75 games a year, one conference final and a few early round playoff games. TNT picks up 52 games a year, including the all star game, much of the playoff games, and one conference finals.

The NBA plays 1230 regular season games a year. Both networks, combined, pick up about 1 in 10 games by contract. The rest is up to regional broadcasters, in this case, Comcast Sportsnet Houston.

The thing is, Comcast Sportsnet Houston only has the regional _television_ broadcast rights, which means they don't have the broadcast rights to internet broadcasts. The only entity that holds that is... NBA League Pass, which is the NBA itself. Your best bet is to write to the NBA to allow League Pass overseas. I'm sure there is crazy demand for it already. Firstrow, NBAliveonline are well known and down the road I'm sure the NBA wants some of it too.

[Dream94]

You can get International League Pass. You can watch all the games online. Its great, I am not in the US and can watch all the games, I think you can also choose to watch only the Rockets games, but anyways it worth getting for sure. You can buy international league pass here:

http://watch.nba.com/nba/subscribe

[kam_soluusar]

I did League pass international a couple of years back. It was really laggy, and the quality was really poor. I think I'll stick to doing it through Firstrow sports. Sure, it can be annoying, but it's free, and beggars can't be choosers.

Just trying to point out that they (the league) say the NBA is a "world" game, yet they have NEVER done anything to include Australia. Let's go to China every year, Africa, Italy/Europe etc. But lets continue to snub Aussie fans.

Oh, the players don't want to travel there...........

Suck it up sissies, that's why you are some of the highest paid pro athletes in the world. a 16hr flight isn't going to kill you!!!!

[MaxRider]

I did League pass international a couple of years back. It was really laggy, and the quality was really poor. I think I'll stick to doing it through Firstrow sports. Sure, it can be annoying, but it's free, and beggars can't be choosers.

Just trying to point out that they (the league) say the NBA is a "world" game, yet they have NEVER done anything to include Australia. Let's go to China every year, Africa, Italy/Europe etc. But lets continue to snub Aussie fans.

Oh, the players don't want to travel there...........

Suck it up sissies, that's why you are some of the highest paid pro athletes in the world. a 16hr flight isn't going to kill you!!!!

and they travel in private jet too

[spolgar]

I did League pass international a couple of years back. It was really laggy, and the quality was really poor. I think I'll stick to doing it through Firstrow sports. Sure, it can be annoying, but it's free, and beggars can't be choosers.

Just trying to point out that they (the league) say the NBA is a "world" game, yet they have NEVER done anything to include Australia. Let's go to China every year, Africa, Italy/Europe etc. But lets continue to snub Aussie fans.

Oh, the players don't want to travel there...........

Suck it up sissies, that's why you are some of the highest paid pro athletes in the world. a 16hr flight isn't going to kill you!!!!

A few years is a long time on the internet world. Do some Australia to US bandwidth tests. If you have tolerable lag to firstrow and if their quality doesn't suck to you, then I think league pass should also be favorable.

Found this:

http://ussportsdownunder.com/nba/watch/ ... oupon-code

Best of luck.

[ccjj]

I am in Hong Kong ang league pass is very smooth! I watch it via a Mac Mini on a 46" TV and the quality is better than standard definition TV boardcast.

[Maf]

Hi. If anyone's interested write me PM. I know great page where you can download EVERY NBA game in great quality. Man who does it is totally crazy. He never takes day off and his rips for Houston games are at 1280:720 resolution, 60FPS. If you don't mind watching it few hours after the game this is great choice. And to be honest I don't mind "stealing" from NBA at all. My internet connection is too slow for good quality on NBA.TV. It's free. Ok, it's free if you want to. The Man uploads it on uploaded so you can choose- download it slowly for free or buy premium for like 6 Euros a month.

[inquisitive]

Hi. If anyone's interested write me PM. I know great page where you can download EVERY NBA game in great quality. Man who does it is totally crazy. He never takes day off and his rips for Houston games are at 1280:720 resolution, 60FPS. If you don't mind watching it few hours after the game this is great choice. And to be honest I don't mind "stealing" from NBA at all. My internet connection is too slow for good quality on NBA.TV. It's free. Ok, it's free if you want to. The Man uploads it on uploaded so you can choose- download it slowly for free or buy premium for like 6 Euros a month.

i think i know what you're talking about too...but some people might be offended