DISQUS

doogald · 4 months ago

I know that these are the rules, but they are still BS. If I do not subscribe to cable or satellite in my market, and instead watch only broadcast TV, this means (by using my location) I cannot watch almost every Red Sox game (I am in their market), as the only broadcast games are occasionally on Saturday afternoons on Fox (and, technically, I could not watch this, as I cannot get that affiliate's signal at my house.) I think that MLB should instead assign a value to my local team and allow me to watch them for a fee (which would pass on to the local network that has the rights for that game - NESN for most games, as well as Fox and ESPN for others.)

Dave · 4 months ago

There is a problem with the blackout policy. I am a Mets fan who lives in Boston. If the Mets and Boston are both playing on Saturday afternoon, Fox has exclusive rights to both games, but will only brodcast the Boston game here. There is no way for me to see the Mets games, even if I subscribe to MLB.TV. This is a ridiculous setup.

Adam Wyss · 4 months ago

Yeah I don't really agree with it either but unfortunately we are stuck with them. My situation is that I don't get Comcast SportsNet and thats what most of the Cubs games are on so despite that fact I can't watch the video for the Cubs just because I'm located in their market. However, since the app uses Core Location to find you, if you are a Cubs fan, living in NE Indiana like I do and lets just say you are visiting family in New York City, I would get to watch that game since it goes off your current location.


While we may not like the rules, we have to live with them and yeah the fans who only get OTA TV are kind of screwed just like I am but unfortunately there's nothing we can do about it right now. Now that 3.0 has support for in game purchases and subscriptions, I don't see why they couldn't offer an in app purchase for an in market subscription. However for them to do this, they would first need to get video for all the games as opposed to just 1 or 2.

lozipan · 4 months ago

I found a way to get by the mlb.tv blackouts in case anyone is interested.


You use a proxy server and I found out how to do it here: http://mlbtvblackout.blogger.com/

lozipan · 4 months ago

Oops! I meant http://mlbtvblackout.blogspot.com/

a · 4 months ago

Unfortunately, that's not quite always true. Take the San Diego Padres for example. I have DirecTV. The Padres are owned by Cox Cable. Cox will not give the rights to view the games to anyone other than cable companies; no satellites can get the Padres games.


And I am blacked out on my computer as well.



So I live near San Diego (25 miles away), I am blacked out on my computer, and I am blacked out on my television. And by blacked out, I mean it's not even an option. Sure, if I switch to cable I can get it. But who my television provider is shouldn't dictate not being able to see a game.



If it's not available to me, and it's not unless I go with the inferior Time Warner cable, it shouldn't be blacked out on the computer.

rcjeff · 2 months ago

I do have a question. I live in Ohio and I recently had DirectTV installed. One of the reasons is that they carry the New England Sports Network and I am a Boston/New England fan. I discovered, after signing the agreement and having it installed, that all of the Red Sox games (and I assume the same will be true for the Celtics and Bruins) are blacked out. DirectTV originally said it was NESN's doing but I called them (NESN) and they said it wasn't them. DirectTV next told me it is MLB but reading about the blackout rules, and there are many versions, I don't see anything about out of market blackouts. Could you shed any light on this. I know if it is MLB trying to force me to purchase their Extra Innings package there isn't much I can do about it but I will be very upset if it is DirectTV trying to make me purchase it. Appreciate any light you can shed on this.
Thanks

Jeff