And you thought PLAYING playoff games was hard.

Dear Comcast, Versus, CSN DC, CSN Philly, and TV in Central PA in general.

What the hell were you thinking? Stanley Cup games are shown on VS. Versus.com told me this.com told me this, and yet surprisingly, you were blacking it out in my area. Okay, I understand that I get Philly's channel lineup, and I understand that I don't have the digital box, just basic cable, but I HAVE VERSUS. According to everything out there, I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO WATCH THE GAME. The fact that I got 10 seconds of "Next on VS" highlighting the Caps, then a blank screen and the notice that "Versus A blacked out" before being subjected to fishing is pretty much almost the last straw.

Comcast claims it was being blacked out by the DC station itself- essentially nobody else was getting their feed, which I find hard to believe. If Verizon was sold out the way everything I've read indicates it was, WHY would you keep people from watching your first playoff run in a bazillion years on TV? And WHY especially would you target the area in Pennslyvania THAT WATCHES YOUR AHL TEAM ON A REGULAR BASIS? Also, please quit telling me that I can watch the game on CSN DC. I don't HAVE CSN DC, as I live in Pennsylvania, two hours away from DC. There's no reason I should have it, unless I'm paying for the $150 Cable From All Nations Package, and customer service rules tell me that you should have my account pulled up on a computer screen in front of you that tells you that's not the case.

When I called Versus, they were completely stymied. They asked repeatedly where I was and took down all my contact information, as according to them, there was no reason I shouldn't have been getting it. Supposedly they're calling Comcast to see what the hell was going on, but I doubt anything will change, as it's Comcast. Seriously, behind the healthcare issues and the gasoline price issues and the economy in general, someone needs to take a good hard look at the monopoly of some cable companies in some areas. In Tacoma, we paid for 100+ channels what I pay for basic cable here. And by basic, I mean literally 20 channels, 5 or 6 of those I'm pretty sure I'm NOT actually supposed to be getting like VS and Style. There's no reason that should cost me 20 dollars. That should cost me possibly 10, ESPECIALLY if I'm only getting TV channels because I'm forced to in order to get cable internet. And don't get me started on "student discount" which only wants to discount something I already don't have (namely the cable box.)

So VS, Comcast, all you other cable entities, figure it out. If I still lived in Oregon, I'd be having less of an issue with this whole thing. There's no reason I should be living in a hockey-rich environment and be completely unable to watch this one stupid game. Add to that the fact that I didn't realize the Pens/Sens was on Yahoo, and I basically spent the night in front of my computer watching box scores, which seems ri-freaking-diculous. As soon as I'm living somewhere else with a real job, I'm ponying up the money to get the hell away from Comcast, because with the exception of one derby girl I know who works for them, they don't care right or left if you're happy or not, because you have nowhere else to go for cable in this area.

God damn it. God DAMN it.
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