for fans of one specific team and not the whole league, you should be able to purchase just certain team's games. For instance, I would buy Cubs, Twins and Blue Jays games for a season. I don't have time to watch that much baseball, but when they are on, it pisses me off I have to watch gameday on a saturday afternoon

I like to think of the way MLB treats Iowa as the Treaty of Utrecht, where the Pope negotiated a treaty dividing up the new world between Portugal and Spain. No one asked the people of Iowa, it was just assumed that we wanted to speak Portugese.

You're not going to find 5 Twins or Brewers fans in Des Moines, but the fandom probably goes like this:
1. Cubs (obvious reasons)
2. Cards (who knows why?)
3. White Sox (AAA farm team used to be for the Sox)
4. Royals (proximity)
5. Twins (proximity)

It only makes sense for the revenue needs of each team and the abundance of future revenue sharing that the digital age drives a breakdown of these boundaries.

What is the idea behind the Baseball Channel?

Is it supposed to replace EI and MLB.TV? Or supplement it?

If it is just going to supplement the existing packages, what/how is the Baseball Channel going to be different and wouldn't that decrease the amount of subscribers to EI or MLB.TV and therefore lower MLB's revenue?

...so don't have to suffer through any blackout problems. The MLB.com tv package gets me every game of Baseball all year as they are all "out of market" to me. Its hard to imagine a better deal than that.

I sympathise with the troubles of all fans stateside though. Its hard to see who really benefits from the current set-up.

if I am willing to pay for it, that I will be able to watch whatever game I want, whenever I want, regardless of where I am. The technology is there. The desire is there. It's simply a matter of the people with power making it happen.

This may be the hardest undertaking MLB has ever done because of all the various technologies (Cable/Sat/Web/mobile devices) and all the big companies and small markets wanting a piece of the pie.

I just hope it finally gets its due attention THIS year.

I'm a long time Cub fan who moved to a town about an hour's drive north of Tampa late in 2006.
In 2007, I did not pay for Extra Innings. The only Cub games that I was able to watch were the WGN games and a handful of Fox or ESPN matches.
This year I purchased the EI package -- $160. So now I can see just about every Cub game except the Fox Saturday blackouts (like last Saturday's game against the Astros).
In my basic cable package, I also get the Marlins and Rays. The Marlins are of no interest to me; the Rays are starting to show signs of life and with some luck might finish close to .500 this year. So I will watch them if the Cubs are playing at a different time. The really great thing is that the Cubs play them here in mid-June.
When the WGN problem arose yesterday, I switched over to the EI telecast which was the feed from Fox in Pittsburgh. It saved the day.
The thing that I find interesting is this -- when the Rays or Marlins are on local cable, EI does not show them. Like last night's Yankee-Rays game. The game was on local cable but was not on EI.
Final comment -- in the last couple of games, I have noticed something that either I have totally missed in the past or the player himself has changed. Derek Lee has shown emotion after plays or ABs that I have not seen from him in the past. Has anyone else noticed this or have I just missed it?
One more -- in one week, I have seen more talent and use of same in Fukudome than I have witnessed in any Cub player in a very long time.

Well, yes and no. It all depends on how they redraw this map. Example: there are, as you likely have already figured, more Cubs fans scattered across the country than, say, Tampa Bay Rays fans. Thus, the Rays want to "protect" their "territory" in Florida so they get their games watched.

The reality, however, is that if you're a Cubs fan living in Tampa and you can't watch the Cubs, you're more likely to not watch ANY game, not watch the Rays just because they're on. The reasons for this should be obvious (well, obvious to any intelligent person, but that phrase -- "intelligent person" -- seems to be totally absent from MLB management): first, just because you live in a certain area doesn't mean you want to watch the games of that team, if you are loyal to another; and second, the simple fact that you are being forced to do so angers you enough so that even though you may love baseball, you might not watch the local game simply out of spite.

Now, if you live in part of the Cubs rather expansive territory, if the game is on WGN, you're probably alright. If it's on Comcast Sports or WCIU, unless you're actually in Chicagoland, you're probably SOL because you can't watch it over cable, or satellite, or over the internet, because Cairo, IL is considered a part of Cubs territory, despite being hundreds of miles away from Chicago.

So, paradoxically, living within a team's "home territory" actually restricts access to that team's game.

we are claimed by the Diamondbacks and the Rockies. While the Dbacks and Rockies are blacked out on EI, we still get the Rockies on FSN Rocky Mountain. However there is NO channel where we get the Dbacks games. It is a fundamentally stupid plan and, with all the $$ grabbing, I'm sure there will be no sensible solution.

n/t

If someone just wants to watch a baseball game and has no team allegiance, watching any game on any channel is probably okay for him.
What MLB fails to recognize is that most fans do have a favorite team and want to watch that team on TV no matter what. Most of those fans consider themselves fortunate if they can get to a game or two a year. Some for a myriad of reasons cannot even do that.
It does not make a difference if the ballpark is 5 miles from your home or 200 miles away, the EI or MLB blackout makes no sense. Restricting the viewing audience in the hope of increasing attendance is ridiculous.
If your attendance is low, consider the following solutions --
Lower the cost to the fan who wants to come or
Improve your ballclub so fans will want to come.
Paying exhorbitant prices for a poor product and blacking out local viewing is not the answer.
Invest in your product and show it so more people will be interested in coming to the games.

...puts me in the Astros/Rangers market according to MLB. The funny thing is, most people who are baseball fans are more likley to be Braves fans. I may have met a few Astros fans and never once met a Rangers fan around here.

Blackouts really frustrated me when I got the extended sports package with DirecTV to get CSN Chicago. Games not against the Astros or Rangers were being blacked out so it wasn't the extra $10 a month.

So far I've had better luck with MLB.tv. The only games that I get a blackout is when the Cubs play the Astros. Now only if DirecTV starts carrying WGN in HD, I'd be happy.

as I'd love to watch more Cubs games, I just can't risk the cash to buy into EI or MLB.TV and then get hosed. It'd piss me off too much, and really, MLB doesn't deserve ANY of our money with the way they've treated us - the true fans of their sport - for years. I guess I can content myself with listening to Pat and Ron via WGN. Luckily, I live just close enough in MI to receive it clearly most days.

I bought the MLB package for the Mosaic feature...... does'nt work and they could care less... when you could contact them they'd say it will be fixed tomorrow....... it's been weeks now.... very, very poor customer service..... trying to get my money back....

And got EI

Why is Texas all one color even though they have two teams?

Also, can anyone explain why I get Mets game broadcasts on my CW channel in Charlottesville, VA?

How do they know where you are? Is it by credit card billing address or IP location? If it's by IP, I wonder if you can route it through a proxy to get access to the game you want to see.

...out of some sense of obligation (hey, it's highlights of teams I don't get to watch) and - I just want to punch E.Y. in the face. Am I alone?

all of canada is blacked out for the toronto blue jays. i live in manitoba and am closer to seattle, minneapolis, milwaukee, kc, chicago, etc. i pay for mlb.tv for the cubs so i get all the games but i do follow the jays because most of the baseball fans i know are jays fans. mlb EI is now available on bell expressvu, one of our satellite tv companies so once i buy my new tv thats what i am doing. this policy is total bs and they are screwing themselves out of an untapped market.

I know it's only the 1st week. But it's funny to see Baltimore in 1st and Detroit in last. Funny stuff.

Hello,

Any idea as to the logic between today being an off-day, and not yesterday? I am sure there is some reason, and I’d appreciate the enlightenment. Thanks!

Dave

Back in the late '70s, in the pre-cable era, Denver didn't have a ML team, and the nearest team (the Royals) was 600 miles away. We got Saturday Afternoon Baseball and Monday Night Baseball.

A local independent TV station decided to broadcast a few ML games (about twice a month). They chose the Yankees for the very practical reason that they were a sister station to the NY station that carried the Yankees and so got the games cheaply.

The Royals protested that Denver was their turf, and MLB forced the station to stop carrying the Yankees. When the station tried to broadcast a few Royals games, the Royals wanted them to pay "full price" -- why not? they had a monopoly -- and the Denver station couldn't afford it, so we got no MLB at all except on Mon. and Sat.

The Denver station started televising some of the AAA games -- not exactly the same, but much better than nothing.

It sounds like MLB is still doing the same thing 30 years later.

I would argue that all of the United States can now lay claim to being the territory of all 30 teams, what with there being fans of teams spread out across the country. Regional interest is from a bygone era, along with 8-track tapes and affordable gasoline.

Sure seems like MLB only cares about their own interests, and tolerates fans as an unfortunate presence to be dealt with in as minimal a manner as possible.

The Red Sox are beating the Tigers 2-0. If the Tigers drop to 0-7 . . .well, I guess Dick Enberg would just say "Oh my."

Having multiple teams claim the territory of any place more than 150 miles from the nearest MLB team is ridiculous! You people in Des Moines are getting jobbed!
In Memphis, we are 470 miles away from Cincinnati and are still considered to be in Reds territory. There are hardly any Reds fans around here. That means the Cubs-Reds games are blacked out on Extra Innings, and the Reds play the Cubs a lot being division rivals. We hardly get any Reds games on Fox Sports Ohio in this market. We only get Cardinals games on Fox Sports Midwest here, when the Braves are not playing at the same time on Fox Sports South. The Cardinals are another division rival. The Cardinals are blacked out on Extra Innings here. Because of the Reds almost never being on cable in this market and the Cardinals only being on cable for the minority of their games, and both division rivals having all of their games blacked out on Extra Innings, I'm missing out on a lot of Cubs games.

Thanks Al! So does this "unique scheduling" (to me) only apply to opening series, then?

Dave

Except is this really all one sentence - "The reasons for this should be obvious (well, obvious to any intelligent person, but that phrase -- "intelligent person" -- seems to be totally absent from MLB management): first, just because you live in a certain area doesn't mean you want to watch the games of that team, if you are loyal to another; and second, the simple fact that you are being forced to do so angers you enough so that even though you may love baseball, you might not watch the local game simply out of spite."

The grammar police are not happy. I get the gist though. Also, did the price of an mlb.tv subscription go up this year? I think it's something like 90 bucks, where I can remember paying 20 in the past.

It seems to me all of this would make too much sense. Why on earth would they want to change their silly system? Seems in baseballs best interest to remain a stupid mess.

Didn't you know that MLB and their minions at ESPN & FOX have decided that all we need are more NY - Boston games and nothing more?

Unsatisfied ingrates all!

I live in Arkansas and we have 4 teams that are declared "home" town teams. St. Louis is the dominant team, but KC and Texas is close, 5 hours from the house. The thing I can't understand is how Houston is a "hometown" team 8 hours away. There is no way. I am just lucky that the Cubs are out of market and I get every game. When they play the Cardinals they are either on local cable or WGN. The only time I can't watch a Cubs game is when they play Houston and is not carried by Fox Sports Southwest or WGN.

I was down there fishing (Norfork Lake) and seem to remember not being able to see a Cubs game due to the Cards playing...

The most clever way to see your favorite team is to have a friend that gets all of the home market TV games put a "Slingbox" on their cable/computer system. You can use it to watch every game shown in the home market on the computer (as well as every other channel on that cable system). It is completely legal. Visit http://www.slingmedia.com for details on the technology.

Here's an example. I live in beautiful southern Illinois where we only get the Cubs on WGN, but we get every Cardinal game. My nephew moved to San Diego (great kid with a nasty Cardinal habit). His Slingbox is on my cable/computer system. He can watch every Cardinal game in San Diego via streaming video. In return for letting him install the Slingbox in my house, I use it to watch TV on my computer at work and on my laptop anywhere I have an internet connection.

If I knew someone that got all of the non-WGN Cub telecasts (CSN, CSN+, etc.) I'd be willing to provide a Slingbox for their installation. Anyone in Chicagoland interested?

But suffice to say, this is the first year I haven't renewed my MLB.tv service since they began offering it.

They got a shot of Cory in the dugout after hitting his game saving homer sitting back resting his head on the back wall giving off an air of total disinterest in the game........ I could be wrong.......

Are some of the really bizarro aspects of the map. Doesn't the Grand Canyon have the ability to have a 'home team?' There's a big 'white spot' in the general area of the Canyon.

And, what's with that area of Nevada that claims ARZ, OAK, SDP and SFG? It's just a tiny spot. You'd almost think it was Area 51, that's so strange. What market is THAT? Fallon AFB?? Why not claim ALL the Cal teams, plus AZ? The LA market is closer to that strange land than SD?

Anybody have an idea so I don't have to pull out my AAA map of Nevada??

using a Mac to watch MLB TV? I have a Powerbook G4 with OSX 10.3.9 and it won't let me install the SIlverlight plugin because it says I need OS X 4 or later? Can someone help? I'm in Columbia, MO right now, then going to be overseas in June, so I desperately need MLB TV...

They will not be there all year. Their starters are just not good.

Are Alaska and Hawaii in a market? I didn't see them on the map

is no HD telecasts on MLB EI. I think they have some on Directv but none here on comcast in Nashville. If they had more HD and got rid of the Braves and Red blackouts here I would be happy. Maybe even willing to shell out more $$. I wanted to watch the Brewers and Reds last night and couldn't. How does that make any sense when my Fox Sports Net station was not carrying the game?