Center Ice on Verizon Fios?

[GKJ]

Has anyone heard anything about Verizon Fios picking up Center Ice? They currently have no sports packages at all, but was told by Verizon that they would be coming. Less than 3 months before hockey season, I have yet to hear anything.

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[SaintRon]

I thought for sure one of the FIOS selling points was access to NFL Sunday ticket.

 

[No One]

I thought for sure one of the FIOS selling points was access to NFL Sunday ticket.

Sunday ticket is exclusive to Direct TV until 2011 or so. Verizon FiOS does have the NFL Network.

The other sports packages are not exclusive, although MLB is close.

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Not having Center Ice is the main reason why I haven't jumped ship to Verizon FiOS.

I haven't seen any announcements from inDemand, Verizon, or the leagues.

 

[SaintRon]

Yup, I called them today and they said they won't offer NFL Sunday ticket. They will have sports channels (golf, NFL network, etc...), but no Sunday ticket. Forgot to ask about Center Ice though.

Pretty stupid on the part of DirecTV. They are missing out on a slew of people like myself who cannot get a signal. If they used their noggin, they could partner with DIRECTV to expand their customer base by offering the full package, not just part of it (to compete with cable, I'm assuming).

Great idea by DirecTV and Verizon but something was lost in the execution.

Oh well, I guess cable will continue getting my money and I'll just have to watch my favorite team when they are on regular TV.

 

[Trepanated]

I've called Verizon about this twice now.

The first time I spoke right away to a guy who knew exactly what I was talking about when I asked about Center Ice (he spoke English too!). He said they didn't have it yet but were working on it, and the best plan was to check back with them in the future. I told him that the MOMENT I could confirm they would offer Center Ice, I'd be cancelling Comcast and calling up Verizon to order FIOS tv. I've had FIOS internet for a year and a half and it's been fantastic.

So, the second time I called Verizon to follow up, I got a guy who didn't really speak English well, had no idea what Center Ice was, might not have ever heard of hockey before (not sure), and couldn't really tell me much. He transferred me to someone else, who did speak English but had never heard of Center Ice. The best she could do was list the channels in the sports package, which is not really the same thing. So that wasn't too helpful.

So I don't know. I'd love to switch to FIOS, but I'm not giving up CI. At this point I'm not all that optimistic that they'll have CI before the season starts, which would mean I'll be with Comcast for another year.

 

[Trepanated]

I wasn't sure if it was ok to bump this, so my apologies if that is frowned upon.

A couple of Verizon guys came to my door on Saturday trying to sell me FIOS tv. I asked about Center Ice, and the one guy said he thought they had it now. He used his cell phone to call his supervisor to be sure. His supervisor confirmed that they were now offering Center Ice. I explained how important it was to me, and that if it turned out that CI wasn't available I was going to be very, very angry, but he said they definitely have it.

So I have signed up, but I need to get my install date. And of course, when I get it, I'm going to ask again about CI (can't be too paranoid about these things).

 

[Trepanated]

I have spent almost the entire time between my last post and this one talking to Verizon (actually, mostly waiting on hold) to confirm whether they were offering CI. The woman I spoke with had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. She put me on hold for a very long time, came back to tell me that she'd found someone who had HEARD of Center Ice (lol, yay progress) and was checking to see about availability. More holding. Finally she came back and said they definitely don't have it.

Ok then! What a mess.