Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Oscars Suck...

...when you can't watch them live! So Cablevision customers in the general area of NY/CT/NJ will not be able to watch the Academy Awards, or anything on ABC7 for that matter, because Cablevision and ABC7 had a falling out. If this isn't resolved, 12:01 AM on March 7th ABC goes black!

Is this some kind of cruel joke? Would this EVER happen on the weekend of the Superbowl? I think not. But then again we live in a society where a football is more revered than art. Awesome.

And what the hell ABC? Why would a television network voluntarily black out approximately 3 million Cablevision customers? Network television is already dying, and somehow losing what I presume to be one of your top three markets sounds like something I would generally try to avoid. From what I hear, you're going to become obsolete eventually, are you just trying to speed this up or something? Pull the band-aid off quickly instead of slowly sort of deal? Congratulations, you get the All That Film moron award of the year.

But is Cablevision to blame? Earlier this year we Cablevision customers lost HGTV and Food Network for a period of about two weeks because of a dispute (seems to be their favorite word) between Cablevision and Scripps Network. Should we have seen this coming? I would have never guessed that one of the networks that has been around since my 80 year old Grandma was in her twenties would ever disappear from my home. And while Cablevision has come off as the cheapest company I've really ever heard of with these two disputes just in 2010, ABC is really coming off as the scummiest company for doing this. C'mon. The weekend of the Academy Awards? Even if I switched to Fios or Direct TV I would still miss the broadcast. So thanks guys! I've only given you countless hours of my life watching everything from Desparate Housewives, to Good Morning America and The View. So honestly, what gives?

If ABC were to guess how bad I feel for them in this situation, it would probably end up somewhere between as bad as I feel for Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep at this moment. Frankly, my dears - I don't give a damn.

What's more awesome is being in high school as all of this unfolds. As difficult as it is to find a house with Verizon Fios/Direct TV, it's even more difficult to ask somebody to crash at their house until 12 AM on a Sunday night. Parents have work, we have school. Add that to the fact that the majority of people in my high school don't care or know what the Academy Awards are, and wouldn't have even known that they were unable to watch them on Sunday.

So my options are pretty limited. It's looking like a no-go for the Oscars this year. Don't worry ABC, I haven't been following the Oscars closely ever since February 23rd, 2009.

This post probably seems bitter. Good.

4 comments:

  1. Confound you, Cablevision! You and your blasted flying machine!

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  2. I'm so sorry. Even though I am soooooooo pissed at the AMPAS right now, it's still TRADITION (cue Fiddler on the Roof music). I hope you get to watch. Bad Oscars is better than no Oscars.

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  3. Andrew- Thanks for your concern! I totally agree- I'd rather watch the show crash and burn (which according to some is a legitimate possibility this year) than just not watch them at all!

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