Changes at Weststar means no bar football

| 23/08/2010

(CNS): American football fans who enjoy watching the NFL in their local bar on Sundays may be disappointed this season as WestStar has confirmed it will not be offering the “NFL Sunday Ticket this year for technical reasons. The local cable TV company told CNS that last year it had fewer than 100 subscribers for the special season viewing ticket after a number of bar owners and patrons had raised concerns that it could affect business. However foody fans and home decorators with the basic cable tier will get access to two new channels next month when the firm moves HGTV and the Food Netwrok to the digital classic package.

Regarding the loss of the NFL ticket a spokesperson for Weststar said a letter would be circulating to former subscribers explaining that a combination of programming changes and technical constraints would mean that it could not provide the service anymore but bar owners can still get the service through Direct TV.

 “This year, due to a combination of programming and technical constraints, we will not be offering the "NFL Sunday Ticket" package,” Westar said. “We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and wish to reassure customers that we are constantly looking for great, new, 24/7 entertainment options for our customers.”
 
Meanwhile, home improvement and foody fans subscribing to Weststar will be happy as changes to programming at the cable company will see HGTV and the Food Network moved to the basic package. During Cayman 27’s Island Living Expo, WestStar surveyed customers and found that HGTV and Food Network were two of the most sought-after cable channels.  “We are committed to improving our service and offering our customers more value for money,” Traci Bradley, Director of Operations said. “We are also working on adding more channels to Digital Classic and the Premiere Packages.”
 
On September 1, HGTV will move to cable channel 47 and Food Network to cable channel 48. For more on WestStar’s services log onto www.weststartv.com     

Category: Business

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Since Weststar has a monopoly around here, at least regarding the average household. shouldn’t they be reviewed by government to make sure they are indeed offering the service they say they are?

  2. Anonymous says:

    They still cant get CBS in HD – cant understand that at all. I have both Dish and Westar (Westar as a backup) but at $100 CI a month, I think I have to drop it and get another HD box for Dish. Way more HD and lasts longer in the rain if you will. Try and watch TSN on a cloudy day – forget it.

  3. Anonymous says:

    It’s a shame that Weststar is sacrificing viewership for profits.  They think we can’t figure out that they have dropped channels like SHOWTIME and others because they don’t want to pay their price.  They said that they would not be hiking prices this year but they forgot to tell us the subscribers that they would be taking away certain good channels and putting in less popular ones.  Now they do this NFL thing like they did with the World Cup.  They are too expensive anyway.  I will just have to finally resign to the fact that Dish Network is the better option.  Please Weststart, I have been a loyal customer, don’t do me this foolishness to make a penny.  You practically have the monopoly now, if not already, so why screw loyal ones like me?  The almighty dollar wins again.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Once again Weststar is letting their customers down – coming so soon after the mess and bad coverage during the World Cup.  They charged enough last year – close to $500 – for the coverage it doesn’t make sense to me that they couldn’t offer it again this year.  And as viewers we don’t mind paying that amount in order to be able to enjoy our football games at home.

    They are becoming more and more irrelevant on the island as a TV station.  In addition they seem to be encouraging us to all go to the bars??

     

  5. Big Bear says:

    Why not just drop their subscription and join the ranks of dish network or direct tv subscriptions?

    They have awesome subscription packages for american football, soccer and even hockey.