OT: Need input from DirecTV Hawks fans...

[Wretch]

I'm seriously considering switching from cable to DirecTV and you already know my biggest concern: what about Hawks games? What's the deal with blackouts and would I have to worry about that living 100+ miles south of Atlanta (in Columbus, GA).

I'd also like to know about FSN South. I believe that I saw it listed on DirecTV's lineup, but there are different FSN South's right? Specifically, there's one that carries Charlotte programming and one that carries Hawks programming...at least I think. Is that still right? And if so, do they ever screw that up with DTV?

Anyway, is there anyone out there that can give me the scoop?

[DJlaysitup]

Overall I've been fairly pleased with Dierctv (satellite). The thing goes out occasionally when there is a big storm coming - but that is actually a nice "early warning device" since the storms come up fast sometimes here in the south. I've never lost the Sat for more than 5 minutes very often (maybe 4 times in a year)...I usta lose cable twice that much.

Get the sports package and you will get 90% of the games - get the NBA package and get them all. Realistically, you will get almost all the games on the various FSN/SS channels.....depending on where you are.

[Chris18]

You should switch to DirecTV. You should be able to watch the games even living in Columbus becuase I go to Georgia Southern and have no problem watching any of the games. I could only find one FSN South so you are fine with that and I've never had a problem with the programming.

[DJlaysitup]

Hey Chris - I agree with you on the DTV thing - how does the basketball team look next year for GSU (OT)...got a big?

[NJHAWK]

I love it but I live in South Jersey so the only time the Hawks are blacked out for me is they play the 76ers and Nets. I also have basic cable because Im a Phillies and Direct TV cant get my local comcast sports net channel. The good thing is that cable cahnnel also carries the 76er games so unless the Hawks are playing the Nets Im good. Direct TV blackouts are weird because I can see the NJ Devil hockey games but the Nets get blacked out because they are on that YES ( Yankee Nets) network. Even weirder is Hawksnjersey lives about 5 minutes from me and the Nets games dont get blacked out for him. It literally depends on your zip code sometimes as to what gets blacked out and what doesnt. BUYER BEWARE: LOL one thing you should know is if you dont get fox sports south and have to rely on nba league pass you will VERY RARELY get the Hawks home team telecast. You will have to watch the opposing teams telecast which can really SUCK. I can buy that fox package for like 12 bucks a month where you get all the fox sports channels but it blacks out during Hawks games unless the league pass feed is the Atlanta one.

[Eddielives]

You may want to get it in writing, if you can, that the Hawks games won't be blacked out in your area as a contingency of signing up with Directv. Here in henry county, just southeast of Atlanta, I have not had a hawks game blacked out on my directv in years. And even that one was like the first game of the season about 5 or 6 years ago. IMO, Directv is about the best television option for this Georgia/southeastern market, even consumerreports rates them just above Dish.

[DrReality]

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Overall I've been fairly pleased with Dierctv (satellite). The thing goes out occasionally when there is a big storm coming - but that is actually a nice "early warning device" since the storms come up fast sometimes here in the south. I've never lost the Sat for more than 5 minutes very often (maybe 4 times in a year)...I usta lose cable twice that much.

Get the sports package and you will get 90% of the games - get the NBA package and get them all. Realistically, you will get almost all the games on the various FSN/SS channels.....depending on where you are.

Ditto.

[Chris18]

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Hey Chris - I agree with you on the DTV thing - how does the basketball team look next year for GSU (OT)...got a big?

I'm not sure how we'll look next year. We lose a lot of good seniors and being in the same conference with Davidson doesn't help either.

[lifelong]

You should get the same FSN coverage (FSN South + Sportssouth) as if you had cable. At least that's how it is for me when I switched from Comcast. I live in Atlanta, though.

[EazyRoc]

Didn't really want to create another topic for this, but if you guys want to check out the Hawks great game 4 vs. Boston check out this link.

Hulu NBA games

[diamond_dave]

I got DTV a few years ago. It blows away cable in my opinion. There's not even a comparison. I get the same hawks games that I got before, but there are times you can also listen to the other teams announcers to get a feel for how they feel about your team.

[EazyRoc]

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I got DTV a few years ago. It blows away cable in my opinion. There's not even a comparison. I get the same hawks games that I got before, but there are times you can also listen to the other teams announcers to get a feel for how they feel about your team.

Doesn't satellite TV go out when it rains ?

[diamond_dave]

It has to be a pretty bad storm to have that effect. Mine has been off three times in the last two years due to weather. My regular cable was off more than that. It might have been that I just had a crappy cable company though.

[lifelong]

I live in Midtown and didn't lose signal during the storm that caused the downtown tornado. I did lose my local channels for a bit, but I suspect that's because they were having their own issues during the storm. I didn't lose any other national channels.

[JackB1]

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I got DTV a few years ago. It blows away cable in my opinion. There's not even a comparison. I get the same hawks games that I got before, but there are times you can also listen to the other teams announcers to get a feel for how they feel about your team.

Doesn't satellite TV go out when it rains ?

It does, but get an antenna (rabbit ears) for local, over the air channels and just switch to that during storms. You will still get all the local network channels in the meantime. Doesn't happen very often.

[Eddielives]

I think it bears repeating that the issues with satellite and storms causing them to lose their signal are, by and large, vastly exaggerated. Even when a big storm comes through, there are times that you won't lose signal for one second. Other times, when the thickest part of the dark cloud, for lack of a better term, is directly in the path of your signal, you may lose signal for a few minutes or just have it go in and out for a few minutes. For whomever is deciding to make the switch to satellite, do not let that issue deter you.