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The same thing is happening this year. Last night's basketball game (11/14) was on ESPN3 and on Time warner's cable network, but not on Verizon 501. This is the only reason I switched. I guess I can understand not showing the exhibition games, but this was a regular season game. Very frustrating, and I may go back to Time Warner when my contract expires.
Why would Time Warner Cable allow FiOS to broadcast its in-house produced SU games? That makes absolutely no sense. I would never expect a TWC production to be distributed on a competitor's system. It would lose the advantage of being able to claim they have more SU games. Friday's game wasn't available on my FiOS system and it wasn't available on Directv either. This happens from time-to-time during the cupcake portion of the schedule, when it's a locally-produced broadcast. Now, when it's an ACC Network-produced game THAT'S when you should anticipate it being on FiOS 501. (Though in my area of NJ the SU games are put on a different network in that situation, WLNY, channel 510.) If you want all the TWC-produced games, you'll need to swith to TWC. They simply won't be on FiOS.
Verizon sales people tell you that the company won a lawsuit against TWC regarding the broadcast of the games. The result was they had the right to take the feed and show it on their Sports Channel (501). I believe that is the case as most games have been shown on there in past years. However the person in charge of turning on the feed apparently forgets to turn it on many times. The Tech Support line gets a lot of calls and then they turn it on meaning customers miss the first 10 minutes of the game. It usually only happens on the first game or two.
For some reason the contract apparently doesn't cover pre-season games as they have never been shown. It also isn't as big a problem since Syracuse joined the ACC. That league controls the TV network and sells the games off to various networks (MSG, ESPNU, etc.). So most games now are carried on another channel other than Verizon's 501.
The reason people complain is due to the lies they were told when they switched from TWC to Verizon. SU Sports is one of the strongest demands in Central NY.