MLB Blackout Restrictions

[Covar]

As a Yankee fan in North Carolina I subscribe to MLB.tv so that I might watch/listen to the bombers. Now this service works great. The video quality varies by bandwidth, but it is cheap (relatively), works for the most part, and allows me to watch games on my iPhone (works perfectly to!).

Now Major League Baseball (I use their full name so you know their in trouble) wants to ensure you still attend/watch games on tv so they will black out [strike]local[/strike]"in-market" games and nationally broadcasts games. This is where the annoyance comes in. Someone's infinite genius had decided that Raleigh, NC is within the television broadcast markets of the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals, despite them NOT BEING ON OUR TV!!!! So every time the Yankees play the Orioles, home or away, I get to either listen to the radio broadcast or wait until 90 minutes after the games conclusion to watch the archived game.

To make matters worse, yesterday Fox broadcasts the Yankees-Red Sox game in the afternoon...In select markets. I got to watch the Phillies take on the Braves (boring game) instead. Despite this I could STILL not watch the Yankees since that game was "Broadcast Nationally." Not to me it wasn't jackasses.

I swear I don't know whether to blame Fox or MLB for that one.

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

This is the sort of stuff that will always stop me from getting any sort of pay per view sports "all inclusive" package. Every single fucking sport has this sort of moronic set up where you can still not see a game you want to see because of their rules and loopholes and all that.

 

[SpecialKO]

Wow, I didn't know they were going to start doing that. That takes all the potential value out for me.

 

[Troll]

This is the sort of stuff that will always stop me from getting any sort of pay per view sports "all inclusive" package. Every single fucking sport has this sort of moronic set up where you can still not see a game you want to see because of their rules and loopholes and all that.

This. A thousand times this. The broadcasting rules for baseball and football drive me nuts.

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

This is the sort of stuff that will always stop me from getting any sort of pay per view sports "all inclusive" package. Every single fucking sport has this sort of moronic set up where you can still not see a game you want to see because of their rules and loopholes and all that.

This. A thousand times this. The broadcasting rules for baseball and football drive me nuts.[/QUOTE]

It's even for hockey too. Ugh. You'd think the clear/distant #4 out of the major sports would maybe be humble enough to not pull that dumb stuff. BUT NO

 

[Soliloquy]

Man... I'm glad I don't care much for sports. Otherwise I'd probably be really annoyed by this.

If there were somehow a blackout on movies I wanted to see, I'd be peeved.

 

[drawn_inward]

I used to work for a DirecTV call center, and I have heard every single complaint from folks like you. The packages are jacked up. It all depends on some arbitrary map that some schmo drew up that will determine what market you're in. It makes no sense sometimes. It also depends on who you want to watch. Folks in Wyoming would be in good shape since they don't have a home-market team anywhere close to them, but if you get closer to Pro-team markets, you're screwed, especially if you fall into more than one home market. I hated explaining this to folks that dropped a few hundred bucks on a package that ended up being worthless to them.

 

[Covar]

They blocked out a game that was not televised in my market because it was "Nationally Broadcasted." NO IT WASN'T!!

Same thing with the Orioles games. 1) it is not feasible for me to drive to Baltimore or NY for 3 days in order to see them play the Yankees and 2) I can't just turn on my TV every night to watch the Orioles. THEY ARE NOT ON MY TELEVISION!!!! What is funny is that there is no way to get them on my Television, because they're "in" my market and thus not available in the only plan that will let me get their channel.