Written by Demetri Inembolidis

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Media is evolving. Consumers are adapting. When I was growing up, the main form of entertainment in a household was the television. Some families had regular broadcast channels and others had cable. As I grew older, cable became the norm. As time progressed, the internet became more more interactive and abundant. Before we knew it, media was available on-demand via services like Netflix, HBO Go, Youtube and others. It is almost to the point where cutting the cable is a foregone conclusion. Paying over $100 prer month when the consumer has the ability to watch just about anything they want, when they want, where they want and how they want using services that cost as little as $8 per month or even free of charge is a dying business model.

Some people continue to keep their cable box out of habit. Change can be scary. Other people keep it because they have plenty of disposable income. Then there are people like me who shell out an almost-unjustifiable amount of money every month for cable TV because they are sports fan and do not have any other way to access their favorite team's games without risking malware infections or sanctions by the aforementioned cable companies. 

If I want to watch the Cavs, I must continue to be a customer of Time Warner Cable or a similar service. The NBA and the major cable networks know this, which is why they have such strict blackout restrictions on the NBA League Pass. If I lived outside of the Cavaliers market, I would be able to order the League Pass for a one time payment of $200 and have every game that is not on national TV availabe on my smart phone, TV, Xbox, Roku, iPad and computer. 

I begrudgingly pay my bill every month. This is not a relationship that I would like to maintain, but I must do it due to a lack of other safe and legal options. 

Because of this, it is increasingly frustrating when Cavs games are not on any one of the five different Fox Sports Ohio channels available for broadcasts. Using Time Warner Cable in the Columbus market, games are typically broadcast on 1309 or 1310. In the event that there is a Cincinnati Reds and Columbus Blue Jackets game, the Cavs theoretically can be found on three different alternate standard definition channels. I don't love watching games in SD, but I am a reasonable person. I understand that Reds and Blue Jackets take precedence in Columbus. However, it is difficult to be understanding when all five channels are broadcasting the Columbus Blue Jackets and the World Poker Tour.

What makes it even more frustrating is when the cable guide states that "NBA Basketball" is on one channel and it is a program that is on three other channels. 

This happens somewhat often. I used to call the cable company and they would blame the network. I would then reach out the network and they blamed the cable company. These companies have made an artform out of passing the buck and not resolving the issue. No amount of fancy commercials featuring famous actors and hit TV shows about zombies will make a consumer continue to want to pay for a product when the one item that they want from it is not provided. 

To be fair, Fox Sports Ohio (or is it Time Warner Cable) resolved the issue about halfway through the second quarter. I missed the vast majority of the first half and can only account for what I saw in the latter part of the game.

The Cavs lost their 7th game in a row on a night when nobody really seemed to care (including Time Warner Cable and Fox Sports Ohio). Tyler Zeller had another solid performance with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists. He had his struggles defensively against Spencer Hawes, who finished the game with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. Evan Turner was a pest for the Cavs who gave up 23 points and 13 rebounds to the guard from Ohio State. Tristan Thompson struggled offensively once again. He scored 10 points on 11 shots and missed 5 out of his 7 free throw attempts. 

Jrue Holiday only had 4 points at halftime and he finished with 20. Evan Turner had 3 points at halftime. Whatever the Cavs were doing in the first half defensively was working and they stopped. Speaking of, feel free to inform me what they were doing defensively considering I couldn't watch it. 

The Cavs travel to New Orleans on Sunday to take on the Pelicans. Tipoff is at 6:00. Hopefully Time Warner Cable and Sports Time Ohio get the memo.