Out-of-market regional sports networks

Trifilin_Fool

I'm a huge WVU fan and they just sold all of their TV rights to Root Pittsburgh, which I can't get in Eastern PA on FiOS. However, you can get access to it on DirecTV and Dish Network country wide. The fact that this is an option has me considering satelite options even though FiOS has been flawless for me thus far. Its pretty unfortunate.

This makes me wonder - why can the satelite companies do this, but FiOS cant? Is it due to some FCC nonsense? Is it a bandwidth issue? If FiOS offered the same package DTV offered (30+ RSNs including all of the Fox Sports RSNs, the Root RSNs, etc, etc.) I woulnd't even consider the switch.

Caps09

The good thing about college sports is that they aren't exclusive to a particular region like pro sports. You might find it syndicated on your local RSN (CSN or Comcast Network), or even offered online through ESPN3. Unfortunately, Verizon isn't going to offer a bunch of regional networks anytime soon because they don't seem to have enough bandwidth. The only way they seem to currently carry out of market RSN's is if they are offered as "national" versions like NESN, SNY, and YES.