Soccer Fan Stands Up Against Comcast In Quest to Get Fox Soccer Channel in HD

It’s been 17 months since DISH Network launched Fox Soccer Channel in HD. During that span of time, several other satellite and cable providers have added the HD channel. But for the vast majority of Comcast customers, we’re still waiting. And now according to a Comcast executive customer relations representative, the channel is not going to launch this year. At least in the Bay Area of the United States.

“I can pretty much tell you that [Fox Soccer Channel in HD] is not going to launch this year,” says the Comcast representative in the above recording of an audio call that one soccer fan named 81FanVilla had with the cable company recently. Note, that while it’s not likely that Comcast will launch FSCHD in the Bay Area this year, each Comcast region works separately, so it’s possible that other parts of the country will get it sooner.

The call may sound familiar to some readers who have contacted the cable network only to hear the same excuses. But you’ll hear during this call that the soccer fan addresses the excuses and dismisses them with strong arguments. The customer service rep replies “I know, I know” and then passes the buck by saying she’ll communicate the request to Comcast’s marketing department.

Ah, marketing… seemingly the last bastion to conquer before Comcast customers — myself included — can get Fox Soccer Channel in HD. Despite large numbers of soccer fans nationwide who have left Comcast in the past 17 months to go to satellite so they can watch Fox Soccer Channel in HD (and Fox Soccer Plus), it seems that Comcast is still not listening. And with the 2011-12 Premier League season scheduled to kick off on August 13, Comcast should expect even more customers to switch from them to satellite providers. DirecTV and DISH must be loving Comcast’s incompetence.

Meanwhile, congratulations to 81FanVilla for having the fortitude to contact Comcast, to stand up against the excuses and for doing his homework.