Although this a little far out (only 99 days until Michigan football kickoff!), does anyone know if ESPN Gameplan will be broadcasting out of market college football games in HD? Does it depend on the provider as to whether these broadcasts are distributed in HD?

Thanks.

Boy only 99 days to go I can't wait for CFB it starts 14 weeks from tonight. That is a really good question and one if I got the answere I want may make me sign up for it again. The SD is just plain awful and can not watch it.

Agree. Last time I watched a football game in SD my eyes started bleeding.

ESPN better do something whether it be adding HD games or just more games because this package is really dwindling in value.

ESPN better do something whether it be adding HD games or just more games because this package is really dwindling in value.

I agree with all the games on tv these days this package really isn't necessary.

14 Weeks from tonight it all starts.

For kicks, I called ESPN corporate. The answer I got was that they will have a better idea this July once some games are scheduled.

For kicks, I called ESPN corporate. The answer I got was that they will have a better idea this July once some games are scheduled.

They already have a tv schedule out you can see it on ther website though not complete there is a lot of games already listed.

Here's a suggestion too is to get games that are on anyday other than Saturday, as well. That would atleast make those Thursday and Friday Night games better in terms of selection, in case of a blowout on the national games.

Here's a suggestion too is to get games that are on anyday other than Saturday, as well. That would atleast make those Thursday and Friday Night games better in terms of selection, in case of a blowout on the national games.

That might help but my thinking is the NCAA puts pressure on ESPN to show some of the lesser teams especially on Friday night games and sometimes on Thursdays but not as much anymore. I love CFB it is my favorite sport by far but some of those Friday games and Tuesday games leave a lot to be desired and by adding them into gameplan not sure that would be enough for me.

Just my .02

saw "Lindys preseason magazine" already....they pick georgia over usc in the championship game.

saw "Lindys preseason magazine" already....they pick georgia over usc in the championship game.

I looked last week and didn't see it will have to go back and look again.

I like that pick from everything I have already read man now I am getting all fired up for CFB, Beer, and Bookie

saw "Lindys preseason magazine" already....they pick georgia over usc in the championship game.

As a UGA alum, sounds good to me! If we can get CBS College Sports showing HD, get ESPNU HD, and hopefully get some value to the Gameplan package again, there may be... even TOO MUCH football for one fan :D

As a UGA alum, sounds good to me! If we can get CBS College Sports showing HD, get ESPNU HD, and hopefully get some value to the Gameplan package again, there may be... even TOO MUCH football for one fan :D

No, you just need more tvs.

Although this a little far out (only 99 days until Michigan football kickoff!), does anyone know if ESPN Gameplan will be broadcasting out of market college football games in HD? Does it depend on the provider as to whether these broadcasts are distributed in HD?

Thanks.D* has had some conversations with them regarding this, but there isn't even a percentage of this happening as of yet. Too many questions still to be answered. If I hear anything else, I'll let you know.

Here is my .03 cents regarding the issue of College Football in HD.

I for one contacted Directv about a month ago via email about HD on Espn Gameplan and the response i got back was basically not at the time, but there may be changes over the summer from ESPN and the providers like Directv. I am hopeful to see some HD content on there since all of the sports packs show HD.

Secondly, as a huge Alabama fan :D I cannot wait to see some get SEC football. SEC football is the best in the nation, no if's, and's, or but's!

Third, this package is really starting to lack content. I have been a subscriber to the package for 5 years and every year i seem to get alittle less out of it. However, i do have to mention that because i live in North Carolina (The Football Vacuum of the South:(), I get screwed out of watching alot of the better games around the nation on ABC. For example two years ago we got stuck watching some lousy ACC game instead of Texas v Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout. The one good thing that comes out of the package is that they show alot of Alabama, Tenn, Georgia, Florida, and LSU games against small-time opponents so you can see all the games so you can see how some of the other players on your favorite team look.

I will most likely continue to subscribe until the SEC starts their own network and then i will quit subscribing to Gameplan. The SEC tv contracts run out after 2008-2009 season so hopefully we will see a new network sometime in the not so distant future:D.

I agree I love SEC footbal but I dropped the package a couple of years ago and don't miss it at all. Thew quality of games and more importantly the SD viewing just plain hurts my eyes it was the most compressed programing I have ver seen on D*

Well you have to remember that some of the feeds were pretty sorry feeds. For example, some of the Alabama games are done by a small local tv station in Alabama and the picture quality is bordering on horrible. But, it is still a televised broadcast and i wouldnt have been able see it unless i was there. But, in a few years that is not going to be a problem cause i am on the 4-6 year waiting list for Alabama season tickets.:)

Is there any news on who will carry ESPNUHD at launch/close to launch?

Gameplan could pick up some of those rediculous ppv games that FSN produces because while the games are decent for a half I'm not paying an extra 15 to 20 bucks to see Texas wipe the floor with North Texas or any small conference team.

Bump...Does anyone have any more news on this?

As an Ohio State alum, I did not subscribe last year and did not miss any games. The Big Ten Network filled in all the blanks. I plan to do the same this year.

IF they do the games in HD only "SUPER FANS" will get the HD broadcasts. I wonder what that will cost?:(

IF they do the games in HD only "SUPER FANS" will get the HD broadcasts.

Not necessarily. On DirecTV (which I assume you're talking about), this is only the case for MLB and NFL -- the NHL and NBA packages provided HD at no extra cost. If we get HD for GamePlan, I would not expect an added fee -- especially given the fact that fewer and fewer games are available to the package these days.

Here is my .03 cents regarding the issue of College Football in HD.

I for one contacted Directv about a month ago via email about HD on Espn Gameplan and the response i got back was basically not at the time, but there may be changes over the summer from ESPN and the providers like Directv. I am hopeful to see some HD content on there since all of the sports packs show HD.

Secondly, as a huge Alabama fan :D I cannot wait to see some get SEC football. SEC football is the best in the nation, no if's, and's, or but's!

Third, this package is really starting to lack content. I have been a subscriber to the package for 5 years and every year i seem to get alittle less out of it. However, i do have to mention that because i live in North Carolina (The Football Vacuum of the South:(), I get screwed out of watching alot of the better games around the nation on ABC. For example two years ago we got stuck watching some lousy ACC game instead of Texas v Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout. The one good thing that comes out of the package is that they show alot of Alabama, Tenn, Georgia, Florida, and LSU games against small-time opponents so you can see all the games so you can see how some of the other players on your favorite team look.

I will most likely continue to subscribe until the SEC starts their own network and then i will quit subscribing to Gameplan. The SEC tv contracts run out after 2008-2009 season so hopefully we will see a new network sometime in the not so distant future:D.

As a 'Bama fan, why do you need Game Plan? Every weekend there is an SEC game on this little network called CBS:)

As a 'Bama fan, why do you need Game Plan? Every weekend there is an SEC game on this little network called CBS:)

Gameplan is very useful for SEC fans -- the Raycom (JP/LF) games, in addition to the PPV games for many teams (if you're out of state).

I used to have this package but dumped a few years ago because of PQ. I have found that it is very rare that they have a game on the package that I want to see that I can't get in my local market. I find plenty of games to watch without it.

Gameplan is very useful for SEC fans -- the Raycom (JP/LF) games, in addition to the PPV games for many teams (if you're out of state).
Not to mention the average 2 games on ESPN/ESPN2

Here's what I'm struggling with in terms of Gameplan this season: According to this schedule, (http://www.lsufootball.net/tvschedule.htm) my team may have several games on a Fox Regional broadcast out of my market. So if I got the DirecTV Sports Pack, would that give me the FoxSports Southwest channel if my market is FoxSports Florida? If that is the case three months of that is cheaper than a whole Gameplan season and many of the the FoxSports games will be in HD.

I've never had Sports Pack, so am I understanding this correctly?

Peace,

DM

Here's what I'm struggling with in terms of Gameplan this season: According to this schedule, (http://www.lsufootball.net/tvschedule.htm) my team may have several games on a Fox Regional broadcast out of my market. So if I got the DirecTV Sports Pack, would that give me the FoxSports Southwest channel if my market is FoxSports Florida? If that is the case three months of that is cheaper than a whole Gameplan season and many of the the FoxSports games will be in HD.

I've never had Sports Pack, so am I understanding this correctly?

Peace,

DM
I have the Sports Pack during College FB and EPL seasons. I was able to watch out of markets HD channels when FSN was carrying 3 HD games across all of their channels. For SD games I was able to watch those on various FSN networks. I am guessing that would be the same for HD.

So to answer your question, probably.

I had the sports pack last year for football and basketball season since FSN-Ohio-Cincinnati-HD did not carry a single college football game in HD. There are no blackouts. Every FSN football game is available out of market. There were a couple of games carried both by ESPN-HD and FSN and these games weren't blacked out on FSN either.

Here is a great web site for college football games which does list ESPN gameplan schedules. http://mattsarz44017.tripod.com/ Not every game on FSN is carried by gameplan. If I had to choose between the two, I'd rather have the sports pack because it also includes the MTN, CSTV-HD, and ESPNUHD.

FSN-HD has scheduled its first game on 8/28 (Wake Forest at Baylor). I'll be in Oxford for the Vanderbilt at Miami game (on ESPNU (HD?)) so I'll miss it.

Here is a great web site for college football games which does list ESPN gameplan schedules. http://mattsarz44017.tripod.com/ Not every game on FSN is carried by gameplan. If I had to choose between the two, I'd rather have the sports pack because it also includes the MTN, CSTV-HD, and ESPNUHD.

FSN-HD has scheduled its first game on 8/28 (Wake Forest at Baylor). I'll be in Oxford for the Vanderbilt at Miami game (on ESPNU (HD?)) so I'll miss it.
IS CSTV going to broadcast HD games this year? Or is it going to be that stupid non-linear stretch they continue to do?

I'm planning on being in Oxford for the Memphis/Ole Miss game too.

I used to have this package but dumped a few years ago because of PQ.

I'm not getting it again this year for this very reason. The pq was really, really bad last year, even for SD standards on my comcast system. Factor in the loss of the big ten games last year...I should have dropped it then. Won't make the same mistake this year. Carrying HD games is the only thing that would get me to stick with it, and I'm positive that won't happen on comcast anyway.

GP just showed up on my bill and I'm gonna call and cancel it. I'm going to try the Sports Pack route.

Peace,

DM

Any more news on if ESPN Gameplan will be in HD? I know the 12:00 EST games this year are being carried by Raycom Sports HD. I just do not know if Direct TV will carry the HD feed.

I'd read in another forum that HD will be available, but I don't know if this will be just for the ABC regional games or Raycom as well... beyond that I highly doubt any locally-produced or ESPN Regional games will be HD.

Raycom has said they will be doing the SEC and ACC games in HD IIRC. Who knows if gameplan will pass that aong.

It's been a busy week so I still haven't pulled the trigger on dumping GP. The HD might keep me, but it irritates me that DirecTV won't yet say if they will or won't provide HD on GP.

commodore_dude - Can you post a link? I'd like to read whatever you read in that other forum.

I live in Florida and am a Texas A&M Aggie, so there is an appeal for GP because of the ABC / Big 12 connection. But half of our current unconfirmed games might be televised on a Fox Sports Network and they will definitely providing the games in HD on the -1 channels. I realize that's a big "might," but for the cost differential between GP and Sports Pack, it's tempting.

Peace,

DM

Pulled the trigger and GP is now gone. Gonna give Sports Pack a shot and activate it towards the end of August.

Peace,

DM

After many years with GP, finally canceled. I couldn't get a straight answer from D* on how many games would be in HD, so I reconsidered.

Between the ESPNs, ABCs, RSNs, BTN and CBS there is more than enough content to keep me content.

An occasional out of market ESPN or ABC game I might have peeked in on just isn't worth it to me.

After many years with GP, finally canceled. I couldn't get a straight answer from D* on how many games would be in HD, so I reconsidered.

Between the ESPNs, ABCs, RSNs, BTN and CBS there is more than enough content to keep me content.

An occasional out of market ESPN or ABC game I might have peeked in on just isn't worth it to me.

Ifeel the same way Fred but I cancelled 2 years ago and really don't miss it with so many games on so many channels these days.

Pulled the trigger and GP is now gone. Gonna give Sports Pack a shot and activate it towards the end of August.

Peace,

DM

Remember ANY game on GP will be blocked out on any channel in the Sports Pack. Also you can't yell at DirecTV because "ESPN" does not know what games will be in HD.

Remember ANY game on GP will be blocked out on any channel in the Sports Pack.

That is not accurate and is a common misconception. The fact that a game may be available on gameplan does not cause the game to be blacked out on channels in the sports pack.

For example, the Villanova at West Virginia game on 8/30 is being carried by ESPN+. SNY, Altitude, MASN and CST have picked up the rights to the game. The game is also available on gameplan. Anyone with the sports pack (and without gameplan) will be able to watch the game on SNY, Altitude or MASN.

Conversely, however, gameplan games can and will be blacked out in markets where the game is available by local broadcast.

We received the normal welcome mailing for the auto-renew and there was nothign at all mentioned HD of any kind.

As long as there are still some SEC games on there, my wife will want to sub to it as she is a huge Tennessee fan. We saw 3 or 4 Vol games on gameplan last year and quite a few other SEC games.

Between GP and the sorts pack, it is about as close as a Season Ticket type package for College FB as you can get.

Remember ANY game on GP will be blocked out on any channel in the Sports Pack. Also you can't yell at DirecTV because "ESPN" does not know what games will be in HD.

Well, I didn't yell at anybody. ;) I did mention to the DirecTV CSR that the reason I was canceling was because there has been no mention of HD for Gameplan and to please pass that on to ESPN. She didn't argue and say there would be HD, but appreciated the feedback and said she would pass it along.

Sports Pack will allow me to watch my out of market team in HD this season because FSSW will carry at least one Aggie game. I'm just not sure how many games, as there are four unconfirmed games right now that will be carried by FSSW. And the real kicker is, it will be less than half the cost of Gameplan.

Peace,

DM

Interesting. The GP schedule is up over at DirecTV.com for the first three weeks. No mention of HD, no mention of my team. So I'm happy with my decision to dump it.

Peace,

DM