Universal Sports Network got a nice plug by USA Today for its looser and more entertaining analysis and preview/review programming around the Winter Olympics from Vancouver.
The paper noted that the network is only available in about half of all TV homes but the story did not mention a massive black hole for the network: satellite service.
I double-checked and neither DirecTV nor DISH network carry the NBC Universal channel or have any plans to do so.
That means most of us have to find Universal Sports on over-the-air digital. In L.A., that’s channel 4.4. My physical therapist has it playing on his TV for patients in the workout area (probably because it’s free). But over-the-air is still somewhat of a crapshoot in terms of signal reception. In our house we have to hold a portable TV with a telescoping antenna on a certain angle in a couple of the only spots in the house where it gets the signal. 
Even then, the signal frequently freezes and breaks into pixels, especially if I breathe. It’s like the old days of rabbit ears, only worse since the picture often disappears completely rather than getting a little fuzzy or snowy, but at least you could make it out.
With Olympics events on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and USA Network, it’s not like we really need any further coverage, but Universal offers a lot of decent sporting events throughout the year, especially figure skating, which has lost almost all its luster in recent years, and skiing, snowboarding, swimming and track-and-field and other Olympics events that most of the world only cares about every four years during the Olympics.
It may not be worth the trouble or money for either satellite service but aren’t niche networks like USN the kinds of networks satellite was supposed to offer subscribers who can’t find their favorites on cable?
I similarly love Universal Sports, Scott. I did telephone my satellite provider, DirecTV, and was told that they were receiving more and more requests for Universal Sports. If you go to their web site (www.universalsports.com) and click on the banner ad “Want Universal Sports but have DirecTV?”, it’ll forward your request to the provider. If enough of us do this, maybe we can persuade them to carry US for US!
I’m getting it over the air in LA. Needed to put my antenna outside and use one of the cables unhooked from my (now dormant) Directv dish.
More Rugby coming on Universal with the Churchill Cup starting this weekend. Rugby on Television is a gaping hole in the US, but NBC is at least working on it.
Directv recently added Universal Sports Net, but Dishnetwork still hasn’t or probably never will add it. I check daily on my channel lineup with Dishnetwork, but I doubt if they will ever add it. I don’t want to drop dish for one channel, but I guess by threatening Dish to go toward Directv might wake them up. If more Dish subscribers would ban together and go towards Directv maybe this will wake Dishnetwork up. I doubt it, but it is worth a shot.
ONe thing for sure…Dish Network will never have it. I cannot wait until our contract is over with those lying blood suckers. They will tell you anything to get you to subscribe…Stay away from these theives.