Advice to @JennK on the @Comcast Social Media Strategy Regarding an @Xfinity @ACCNetwork Carriage Agreement

Good morning, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) sports fans.

As @TalkinACCSports previously reported, the ACC Network is the second best launch ever of a sports network.  The ACC Network has carriage agreements with Cox Communications, DirecTV, Dish, Hulu, Playstation Vue, Sling, TMobile’s TVision, Verizon FIOS, and YouTubeTV.  This is really significant for the first year of a major college sports network. 

Comcast, however, the largest cable company in America, has not signed an ACC Network carriage agreement.  Comcast, by far, is the largest cable provider in the Commonwealth of Virginia – and it’s not close. The second largest provider in Virginia, Cox Communications, recently signed an ACC Network carriage agreement.  This might be the domino that gets Comcast to fall – but I’m not holding my breath and here’s why (for now, they can afford to treat their customers like trash – yes, I’m being hard on Comcast – read this entire article):

The cable industry is a patchwork of micro-monopolies. Or more accurately, natural monopolies: situations of little or no competition that doesn’t break enough laws to get regulated. A natural monopoly occurs when it’s so expensive to enter a market that it doesn’t make sense for competitors to come in. With cable TV, there’s a massive fixed cost to enter a new market—putting in new cable lines. So, basically, whoever showed up first—or the company that bought them—has the legacy right of being the local cable company.

For decades, cable operators were allowed to set up exclusive regional franchises. A cable company would come into an area, and more or less tell the municipal area in charge of franchising that it needed an exclusive for the next, say, 12-15 years if it was going to build out lines. That ended in 1992 with the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act, but the damage was done.

Let’s take Alexandria, VA, for example (where I live). Here are your alternatives if you want to get the ACC Network:

1. Stay with the status quo and get crap service from Comcast cable (you still have your Internet through them).
2. Get DirectTV – but get your Internet through Comcast.
3. Get Verizon DSL and Voice (you’re required to get both) – get your cable through DirecTV.
4. Get Verizon DSL and Voice – and get cable through Dish.
5. Get Verizon DSL and Voice – and stream through Hulu, Playstation Vue, Sling, YouTubeTV, or TMobile’s TVision.
6. Cut the Comcast Xfinity Cable Cord – and use Comcast’s Internet to stream through stream through Hulu, Playstation Vue, Sling, YouTubeTV, or TMobile’s TVision.

So, this isn’t like the early days of college sports networks – there are options – but you also aren’t going to save a lot of cash.  You will likely save this most cash through options 5 and 6 above – but it will be worth it for me next weekend when I do this. 

Many folks in the ACC Network footprint are being left out because Comcast is the major cable provider.  @Mark_Hokie at ACC Football RX has an article about the comments that many ACC fans are providing as feedback to @ComcastCares.  I’m going to take the flip side here and discuss how Comcast has responded to its @Xfinity customers.  @ComcastCares has really taken the approach of belittling its customer base and it’s something that Jennifer Khoury (Comcast Senior Vice-President of Digital and Corporate Communications) needs to know.  

Here’s a few examples:

@JennK, ACC sports fans are a very educated customer base.  When ACC fans ask about an ACC Network carriage agreement, don’t have your social media team talk down to them and say “You can still watch the ACC games on other Comcast channels.”  Stupid deflection like this makes Comcast look really bad.

@comcastcares why cannot I not watch @CanesFootball this weekend on the @accnetwork You cannot watch @FSUFootball either. What a joke!

— Deplorable Scot (@DeplorableScot) September 7, 2019

Thanks for reaching out. You can still watch some ACC games on channels like the ESPN networks, FOX Sports, FS1 and CBS Sports via the Xfinity X1 and Stream Sports guides. Just search for ‘Sports’ or say ‘Sports’ into your X1 Voice Remote. -CLR

— ComcastCares (@comcastcares) September 7, 2019

@JennK, when your customers ask about an ACC Network carriage agreement, don’t redirect customers to TheACC.com website that isn’t going to have the ACC Network game. These type of comments insult the intelligence of Comcast Xfinity customers.

Very much ready for you to start ACC Network now. UVA game was carried on ESPN App but could not watch because my carrier does not provide ACC Network….. Cue the canned response now …..

— 2drdave (@2drdave) September 7, 2019

@JennK, what the hell have you all been evaluating for months? You knew the ACC Network was coming for months? But to keep saying that you are “evaluating the addition of the channel” treats your customer base like they are dumb. You know the interest is there and stop with the BS here.

Spare me with the non-apology of, “I’m sorry you feel that way.” No, this is on you for your trash social media strategy. This is an amateur hour social media strategy. I have to wonder if @JennK, is even aware of how dumb this looks. I know collegiate sophomores and juniors at Virginia Tech that could run circles around this social media strategy.

I just took a sample of the trash tweets from @ComcastCares – but if you have any other examples, I’ll update this post.

September 8, 2019 Update:  Comcast now says that they are trying to obtain the ACC Network at an affordable price for their customers.  No, Comcast is a natural monopoly and have never cared about an affordable price for their customers.

We’re always evaluating the content and channels we offer customers. In support of our customers, Comcast will not carry the ACC Network until we reach an agreement at a fair and reasonable cost. Please visit https://t.co/9suDjQnPfT -JROD

— ComcastCares (@comcastcares) September 7, 2019

bad corporate policy to lie to your customers about the provision of video and telecommunications services at an affordable price – no one believes you when you say this as you have a natural monopoly and the other companies here negotiates an agreement https://t.co/y0oqsPFGZD

— Matthew (@hokiesmash_ASD) September 7, 2019

Will be implementing #5 or #6 next weekend.

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