:: Notre Dame Football: Irish Game Day ::
Television Coverage: Watching Notre Dame vs. Boston College on TV
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update Oct. 2, 2010
All across the United States, and with at least some high-speed internet service, the Notre Dame-Boston College game is available. Check the TV regional coverage map to see whether it is on ABC (blue region), or ESPN-2 (yellow region), or check www.espn3.com and click "View Now" to see whether you can see the ABC college football video feeds.
Click here to see the somewhat chalky full-sized TV coverage map graphic offered by ABC/ESPN-2.
The author would be delighted to post the map, but doesn't have time to figure out copyright issues or request permission, so click here.
Please note: ABC mismarked the map; on the original webpage, there was an additional label indicating that the mirror "broadcast" is on ESPN-2. So, where the map is blue, Notre Dame-BC is on ABC. Where the map is yellow, Notre Dame is on ESPN-2. Interestingly, in terms of population, it's about half and half.
Even up the day of the game, there are still people expressing confusion about the coverage, or concerned that they cannot get it easily.
Of course, if your local ABC affiliate updates its online schedule, rather than simply say "regional coverage," you can try that, too.
Viewing for Free Through the Internet
If you do not have a television, or are in a region where it is on ESPN-2 and (1) are part of the half of the nation that elects to NOT get cable, or (2) get cable, but do not have ESPN-2 in your package, as opposed to ESPN, then you can try seeing if your high-speed internet is blocked from getting www.espn3.com, which apparently is the successor of what used to be known as ESPN-360.
That website should provide, for free, all the video feeds from all the games being shown by ABC or ABC's cable subsidiary, ESPN.
(Now, clearly ESPN is trying its darnedest to (1) brand itself better, so people think ABC is a subsidiary of it, by its ABC parent placing the ESPN logo on broadcasts, and (2) pretend as if ESPN constitutes television, or even national television, when in fact (1) ESPN is not broadcast, but piped through a little wire (satellite TV aside) and (2) by the cable industries own admission, nearly half the country elects to not get cable, whether to avoid wasting money, for moral reasons, or some other reason. )
The problem with ESPN3.com appears to be, even though it is free, it apparently gets blocked by some internet providers. The author used to be able to watch Notre Dame games on ESPN for free through ESPN360.com, when the author had internet access through a telephone company.
Later, the author noted that, after getting internet at another location from a cable television company, ESPN360 was mysteriously blocked.
Presently, the author is staying at a location that has satellite television, and is noting that the internet access is blocking access to ESPN3.com
Game Plan
Apparently there still is something called "Game Plan" where some with cable pay to get the game provided pay-per-view
NBC Contract Looking Better and Better
It bears mentioning that this kind of regional black-out fiasco is one reason Notre Dame cut its own deal with NBC, to have true national broadcasts for its national alumni base and national subway alum fanbase.
Basically, ABC is buying up a bunch of games for the purpose of not showing them, or to not show them in some big part of the country.
There undoubtedly, from the old days, would have been plenty of syndicated broadcasters delighted to pick up the Notre Dame-Boston College game to show, selling it to local affiliates.
But by blacking it out to half the nation, ABC is engaging in anticompetitive behavior to prevent competitors from showing it on actual broadcast television, while also trying to coerce Americans to purchase cable packages they, in fact, do not want.
And, you will notice, the cable broadcasts are still showing just as many commercials, despite grabbing the cable fees. The whole concept of showing commercials was that television had to have some way to collect revenuw. That rationale is totally absent in the context of cable. Yet ESPN-2 shows commercials anyhow. Cable TV simply shows lower-quality commercials, usually. For example, at least one ESPN channel starting showing commercials about lingerie football on another cable network, where a channel for troubled young people with loose morals and confused thinking can apparently watch women in lingerie playing football.
A similar anti-competitive action is complicating the matter, by cable companies abusing their role as internet providers to black out the website video feeds.
Notre Dame Football Game Watches
Another option, of course, in areas like Washington, D.C., with an active Notre Dame Alumni Club, is to attend game watches at restaurants or grill and bars. Query whether the University should start developing ways for subway alumni to identify more with the university, such as with adjunct clubs, and easier ways to donate.
If an Alumni Club would like their game watches announced on this site, please let us know.
- Back to the Top -
:: TELEVISION: ABC/ESPN-2 coverage map [blue region has ND-BC on ABC, yellow region has ND-BC on ESPN-2]
:: Notre Dame vs. Boston College Game Notes [PDF]
:: Notre Dame vs. Boston College Game Week - UND.com
:: Notre Dame 2010 statistical summary - NCAA database
:: Notre Dame Roster
:: Notre Dame Football official site - UND.com
:: Boston College statistics - NCAA database
:: Boston College Football official site
:: Notre Dame Football 2010 Media Guide (Table of Contents, PDF sections)
:: Notre Dame Football 2010 Media Guide (Table of Contents, Flash)
Keywords: Notre Dame Football,Brian Kelly, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Boston College
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