Originally Posted by
YoMamaIsCallin
I have been through this in gory detail (being an Austin resident), at least as far as Time Warner Cable Austin is concerned. Here's the breakdown, as of last year (and I haven't heard of any changes):
-- National games are on ESPNx, TNT, and ABC. You can obviously get these.
-- Regional games are on Fox Sports Southwest. You can get these too. TWC even has a high-def FSSW channel that some/most games appear on.
-- A few games will be on NBATV. You can get this via a Sports Package, or it comes with the NBA League Pass package.
-- The rest of the games (30 or so) will be on local San Antonio TV, and not on national or regional channels. A dozen or so of these will be carried on local Austin TV, KXAN or KNVA. So that leaves 20 or so games.
These 20 or so games can be viewed on TV in Austin in one of the following ways:
a) go to a Sports Bar that has the NBA package
b) Subscribe to NBA League Pass
If you go the NBALP route, TWC will tell you that Spurs games are blacked out. The games will be listed as "BLACKOUT" in the program guide. However, the games are in fact shown. (This is also the case with NBA TV.)
Why, you ask? Well, I actually learned the answer to this from a TWC VP. He told me that this was a business decision on TWC Austin's part. They see a risk that at some point in the future, Spurs games may in fact be blacked out in Austin. They don't want to take the risk that customers who buy NBALP for Spurs games may not get what they paid for. So they consciously choose to NOT sell the product for viewing Spurs games.
The best way to buy NBALP is to wait until the beginning of the season, there's generally a 10-day or so free preview, and if you buy during the preview, you get $20 off, so the bill is only $140 or something like that. The other choice is to wait until mid-season (all-start break), and they'll have another free preview and you can buy the 2nd half for some lower price like $80 or something.
One gotcha is that when playoff season starts, your NBALP subscription ends, and they kill your NBA TV access. You have to sign up for the sports package for 2 months to keep seeing NBA TV. And, occasionally, a Spurs playoff game is carried only on NBA TV.
