The Big Game in HD -- Or Not

Imagine that you're a huge Ohio State Buckeyes fan living in Columbus (there are a few of them). The Game against rival Michigan is this Saturday and is the first time the storied programs have ever met when they were the two top ranked teams in college football. It's the game of the year, possibly the game of the century, and the entire sports world can't wait until kickoff at 3:30 pm EST.

Except that you can't see the game in HD because your local cable company, Time Warner Cable, and the local ABC network affiliate, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, are locked in a fight over payment for transmission carriage.

TV critic Molly Willow of the Columbus Dispatch has the full story. She places the blame squarely on the shoulders of Sinclair, as she believes corporate greed is depriving Buckeye fans in Columbus (my hometown) of the ability to see their beloved team in high-def. Meanwhile, out here in San Diego, I'll be enjoying every minute of the game in glorious HD (as long as the cable doesn't go out).

I'm inclined to agree with her to a point. However, it's worth noting that Time Warner Cable picks fights like this literally every year...right now, it's also in a battle with the NFL Network over how much it should pay The League to carry the 8 live games that start on Thanksgiving Day that will likely mean Time Warner customers around the country won't get those games at all. It also engages in a perennial skirmish with ESPN, the latest iteration of which concerns the sports network giant's newest offering, ESPNU (a college sports channel). Time Warner was the last major cable company to reach a carriage agreement for ESPN HD a couple of years ago and still does not offer ESPN2 HD in many of its markets. All of these disputes are due to disagreements over how much Time Warner should pay to carry these channels.

So Molly is right that Sinclair is greedy. No question. But Time Warner shares some culpability as well given that it seems to relish these frequent battles over carriage terms, all of which end with it ultimately carrying these channels anyway. The real loser, as always, is Joe Consumer, in this case represented by dozens of my own family and friends who won't be able to watch Ohio State and Michigan battle in HD thanks to a far less interesting fight between a couple of corporations who can't find a way to put their customers first.