The Wide World of Sports Can Get Out of This World

When the Raiders’ playoff game against the New England Patriots was blacked out in Los Angeles, Ron Resnick became a lot more popular than Al Davis.

On the day of the game, about 20 of Resnick’s friends showed up at his Sepulveda home. They knew he could beat the blackout with a satellite receiving dish in his backyard. So while millions of football fans in the area had to be content with listening to radio, Resnick and his friends were watching the Raiders lose to the Patriots.

And if they got fed up with football, they could have tuned in any hockey or basketball game being televised anywhere in the world.

Industry experts estimate that 1 million dishes have been sold in this country. They pick up signals from the 20 communications satellites circling the globe. For a sports enthusiast like Resnick, a dish provides unlimited access to games that aren’t being broadcast locally or on cable. Instead of being limited to two or three games on a Sunday during the professional football season, he can see all 13.

“It beats fighting the crowds at a sports bar that has a dish,” said Resnick, an advertising executive who has been tapping into satellite signals for about seven months. “And it’s certainly changed my viewing habits.”

During the baseball season, on almost any given night, Resnick can spin the dial and pull in all 12 games--even more if there are double headers.

“It’s great to sit around and see how many games I can get,” Resnick said. “The secret is knowing which satellite a particular game is on. But I write it down, and now I’m pretty good at finding anything I want.”

A 10-foot dish like Resnick’s ranges from about $1,300 to about $2,000 for one with remote control.

“I’ve got remote control,” Resnick said. “I don’t ever have to get up. I love it.”

Aside from all the extra stations, of course, there’s another bonus for having a dish--friends you never knew you had.

“I guess I’m a lot more popular now,” Resnick said.

It’s all those sports events that have sold a lot of dishes. Ron Levi, general manager of Cable Busters, said he recently sold a dish to a title company. The Camarillo firm wasn’t able to get cable or local television stations because of the mountains. The company, Levi said, specified that the dish be installed before the Super Bowl.

“Dishes are the trend,” Levi said. “You don’t have to ever miss a game.”