National blackouts today
Some of you may be wondering why you’re seeing so many games blacked out today, so i thought i would put up a quick note to explain. Due to FOX’s deal with MLB, they own national rights to saturday day games up through 7pm and then we’re un-blacked out. We know theyre not all available to you via the FOX broadcasts in your various local markets and I understand it’s frustrating (as a MLB.TV fan i share your frustration, i was looking forward to watching the cubs today on Mosaic in the office while i answer your emails).
For future reference, this happens on saturdays until the post-season, and the other national blackout that will affect you on MLB.TV is the ESPN sunday night game (on some occasions they take two Sunday night games) at 8:05 PM.
Also – this is the same with the Extra Innings product – no difference from any other way you would watch baseball out of market. In addition, Gameday Audio (which you have as MLB.TV Premium subscribers) is not blacked out, so you all can listen to the games online, if you’re not able to watch them.
Thanks,
Justin
MLB.TV Mosaic Blog 
So 7 games are blacked out and I am able to watch one game locally on Fox…that makes ZERO sense…
Can you elaborate? Does Fox own the online broadcast rights? Will this happen tomorrow? Is this going to happen every weekend? Will it impact weekday games in the future? Why did you not let people know that 50% of the games will be blacked out BEFORE everyone’s 5-day trial expired? Is MLB trying to have horrible fan relations in order to increase Arena Football fan base?
z
This makes zero sense as well. Fox is broadcasting the games, but only to certain regions. So, if I want to watch the Giants play the Dodgers, there’s zero chance that would even be on the local Chicago Fox station. Moreover, I don’t have a TV, nor any cable hookups in my building.
When I signed up for this, I assumed only NATIONAL broadcasts would be blacked out. I would think most of the broadcasts this weekend would fall under regional categories. While the games today might technically be categorized as national, in actuality they are anything but. If I’m essentially losing the right to watch baseball on the weekend, I may need to rethink the whole mlb.tv package.
This is a bit ridiculous. I purchased his package so I could watch my favorite team play. I could care less about the other games. A national blackout makes no sense. There probably should have been more warning about this NATIONAL BLACKOUT. I probably could have planned accordingly. It already hurts because my favorite team is located in another state and so I can’t watch on T.V. This is absolutely pathetic. I remember canceling my subscription last year b/c of error problems on mlb.com’s part and not mine. I figured another year a different story (thinking this year they finally would get it right). I guess I am wrong on that one. Everyone should be credited for this so called Blackout date. MLB.com I HATE you right now!
On the Left Coast we are only getting the SF – LAD game. If these blackouts continue, I’m cancelling after the 1st month. Fox’s games today are regional, not national!!
You’re making any friends with this policy! Hope you reconsider.
Blackouts apply no matter where you watch your games. They are clearly mentioned in the MLB advertising too.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/premium.jsp?c_id=mlb
For anyone who had extra innings via cable, black outs applied there as well.
Your free to listen to any games via audio though, no blackouts there..:)
Just to reiterate, Mosaic is showing SEVEN upcoming games subject to blackout. Now, legally they may be considered national broadcasts, but in practice, they are regional broadcasts.
If anything, this needs to be made more clear before purchase of mlb.tv. Because logically, one would assume that because they are essentially regional broadcasts, they wouldn’t be subject to national blackout. Disappointing to say the least. Is the Extra Innings package on TV subject to the same restrictions?
It seems like if these were considered national broadcasts, it would be easier to negotiate something with Fox, to allow for national rebroadcast on the internet.
This is total BS MLB TV people. I live in Las Vegas and am a Detroit Tiger fan. So I bought MLB TV so I could watch all of the Tigers games. Its bad enough that I get blacked out of 6 MLB markets when there is not one baseball team in my market. NOW I CAN’T EVEN WATCH MY TIGERS PLAY ON THE WEEKENDS!!! I want my money back NOW!!
I’m gonna go ahead and chime in here too. I’m in middle Tennessee. I can’t watch the Reds or Braves, who are each a 5 hour drive away. I can understand with the Braves, since many of their games are on TBS or Fox Sports. The Reds though?! I’ve never seen a Reds games on tv here in all of my 25 years! Why are they being blacked out?!
As for today’s blackouts, this is UNREAL! I have 7 games blacked out and there are absolutly NO games on FOX for me. A lame movie just came on, that’s it!
I have no problem with being blacked out of games being broadcasted in my area. When I pay $120.00 though, I expect to see the ones that are not! I’ve been patient with the subpar software and tried to give feedback that might help, but the blackout situation is not making me too happy!
eitelberg, Extra Innings was the same, it’s normally a Saturday thing, in the afternoon. They show no baseball either. I have it myself right now and they are picking up nothing until tonight. Sunday night is ESPN, but that is usually the only game on the schedule.
Hope that helps..:)
Who is determining the local live broadcast market? Why are we in Virginia blocked out of Oriole/Yankee games when we are not in either market and there is an even closer team (the Nationals) that would be considered our local market?
These games were not blacked out last year. What greedy MLB exec or team owners made that decision? It is making this MLB Premium expense a ripoff.
just updated the post with some better information for you all.
Then why the @#$^ am i paying for this ****!!! the only available is the cubs on wgn, ONE game on FOX and the devil rays. this BS.
Ok..I have a question. The Yankee/Baltimore game is not a nationally broadcasted game…in fact Fox is only broadcasting 3 games today. Why are all the other games (which are not nationally boradcasted) blacked out????
Thanks Justin, you said it much better then I…LOL
This policy has NOT been “clearly stated.” Typical bait and switch. The MLB.TV site states,
“National Live Blackout (Regular Season): Due to Major League Baseball national exclusivities, scheduled webcasts of certain games during the regular season (including nationally televised games) will be blacked out. Please be sure to visit the Multimedia Guide during the 2007 MLB season for complete and updated schedule information.”
I just called the phone number and here is the deal…ALL SATURDAY GAMES PRIOR TO 7:00 EST AND ALL SUNDAY GAMES AFTER 5:00PM ARE BLACKED OUT. Even though Fox is only broadcasting three games today, they obviously have something in their contract for exclusive content rights for all games during their broadcast on Saturday mornings.
The funny thing is I don’t care so much I don’t get the games (it will help my marriage). What I care about is being told the policy is clearly stated and that it is “Due to FOX covering so many games today nationally.” Do you think we are 12 years old? Hey MLB, you are dealing with a pretty sophisticated customer base. Try just telling us the truth up front so we can make informed decisions.
I think the funniest part is that Fox isn’t even airing a game in my local market – the movie Blank Check is on instead – and I still can’t watch the Yankees. Justin, would I be able to get this game on MLB Premium, is that service above “blackout rights”? The most time I’ll ever have to watch Yankee games is on Saturday, if this is the way it’s going to be then MLB is about to lose a customer. Ridiculous.
You’re preaching to the choir here people. Instead of posting on this blog, why don’t you write, call or email the appropriate people? Nothing will change if you simply post your frustration here. Nobody who can do anything about this is going to be reading this blog.
If all of you complain to the right people enough, something might get done.
The good news is even though I want to, I don’t have to look at arod et al today – for that I am thankful.
This is where that XM Radio subscription comes in handy. No blackouts ever…
But at least we get to watch the same continuous loop of BaseballChannel.TV
The Fox affiliate in Portland, Maine is running the award-winning film “Most Extreme Primate.” And our regional Fox Sports Net (New England) is showing snowboarding. So no baseball for us until 7pm period. Even those of us who love baseball so much we shelled out the $120 in order to watch it intermittently on our computers.
When is the next round of network contracts scheduled to be negotiated? Black outs for games on-line serves what purpose?
Here’s a tip, you don’t have to pay extra for XM.
Gameday Audio is NEVER blacked out here at MLB.TV.
That’s right…even though I can’t watch ARod and the Yankees, I can at least listen to it.
Why don’t you all know this!? You did pay a hefty subscription fee. It seems like you would at least check out all the available features!
guys, my mistake on the initial post, i’ve since updated it. just trying to get you as much information as i can, quickly.
THIS IS A HUGE SCAM AND FRAUD!!!!!!
THERE WAS NOT MENTION AT ALL ABOUT WEEKEND BLOCKOUT FOR FOX OR ESPN…
THE ADVERSTISMENT WAS CLEAR.. YOU WERE GOING TO BE BLOCKUP ONLY FOR THOSE “IN MARKET” GAMES.
NOW.. NOW NATIONAL GAMES ALL SEASON?????? IT SHOULD BE DISCOUNT AND REFUND THE FAIR PORTION FOR ALL THOSE GAMES
WONDER.. IS THERE ANY OTHER SURPRISE THAT MLB HAVENT TOLD TO THE NOW TIRED AND ANGRY FANS????
i should clarify a typo
I meant to say “NOW ALL SATURDAYs GAMES ALL SEASON???”
That’s it!! Cancellation email is being sent today!
This was NOT clearly stated when I signed up. All it asked me to do was enter my zip code to see which games would be blacked out. As expected, the Mets and Yankees are blacked out because I live in the NY area. I thought that would be it which is no big deal because I can watch them on YES or SNY.
I can’t believe MLB would sign that ridiculous deal with Fox. Get some balls MLB! You own the league and should dictate how games are viewed.
So….instead of watching a plethora of games on MLB.TV, I’m relegated to watching the only game on cable right now which is the Yankees? TERRIBLE!!
I’m done!!! Later guys! Good Luck!
http://www.freesoccer.biz, TVU Player, and Sopcast
HEY Justin.. on the website.. you state at the bottom of the MLB Premium page…
MLB.TV LIVE BLACKOUT RESTRICTIONS
All live and archive games are subject to blackout and other restrictions. Please read the below information before you sign up.
? Local Live Blackout: ALL LIVE MLB.TV games will be blacked out in each applicable Club’s home television territory (except for certain home television territories for which MLB.com may offer in-market subscription services) or in Japan
…………………….
Does it says anything about NO SATURDAY GAMES EVER !!!!!???
Guys, i understand your frustration, however – cancelling your sub isnt going to get you any more baseball. That said, you’re free to do whatever you’d like to do, of course.
All of this is addressed on our product pages, take a look here: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?c_id=mlb#blackout
I’m going to move back to product focused updates and troubleshooting for the afternoon, just thought you all might like an update on this, as it was the first weekend.
Thanks,
Justin
You are right Justin… the website says
………………..
“National Live Blackout (Regular Season): Due to Major League Baseball national exclusivities, scheduled webcasts of certain games during the regular season (including nationally televised games) will be blacked out. Please be sure to visit the Multimedia Guide during the 2007 MLB season for complete and updated schedule information.”
………………
I should remark the words “CERTAIN GAMES”, which is total undertandable… but NOWHERE says “ALL SATURDAY GAMES”…. that kinda big difference dont you think???
It’s not all saturday games jprato, the window extends through 7pm. You’ll be able to watch games on MLB.TV this evening. In the meantime, you can listen to them on Gameday Audio.
This is just plain ********!!!!. Another way to give it to the fans. At least warn us, before bending us over, without the K-Y Jelly. The reason people sign up for all this is to watch THEIR favorite team, not other God forsaken games, that nobody cares about. This is worst, than MLB Extra Innings. At least it was only once in a while they pulled this ********. This means that I’m going to have to wait another 45 minutes to an hour to talk to the brightest at MLB.TV, to vent out my frustrations. They are useless in getting you what you want or giving you the right information. Emails just get thrown into a black hole without replies.
Looks like this whole fiasco has been an after thought. Is this **** going to be every weekend? I’m sure glad that I only payed for one month only to try and see what you greedy ******** would do. You surely didn’t disappoint me in showing your true colors.
To all subscribers, I suggest demand your money back. I see a class action lawsuit on the horizon. At least that’s what I’m hoping for.
A fan with a sore behind.
It would be refreshing if MLB stood up for the fans – it’s all about the fans right? – and let them watch all the games they want. Not pander to FOX/ESPN so they can shove Lowes commercials down my throat ad nauseum.
Filthy double talk from MLB while their coffers brim.
My kids have lost all interest in baseball the past few years for just this very reason. It’s a prohibitive $port for fans to follow.
It’s amazing that you pitch this service as a pay-per-view for MLB, and then leave me with nothing but a AAA game an no MLB to watch.
Bent over once again.
Hey guys i want to help, go to http://www.freesoccer.biz, register, download their players, such as PPStream or Sopcast, and they will give you links to games. They maybe in japenese, but you can still witch them.
The black out thing does’nt bother me cause I have a cable tv to watch the indians games on STO (sportstime ohio) and wkyc channel 3 in my computer room also I subscribe to the mlb.tv permium package. So I’m not conserind with the blackout thing.
Some angry people here! Geez. This FOX Saturday thing has been in effect for YEARS so it’s not a suprise. Keep your subscriptions, you’ll get over it it’s not that bad. I’ve had MLB Extra Innings for 3 years runnings and it’s the same thing. Watch FOX now, and watch mlb.tv at 7PM.
As for local teams, the blackout doesn’t apply, The Yankees are on YES and YES-HD right now in our market if you’re in the Yankees DMA so while it appears to be pretty unfair on the surface, it DOESN’T affect any local in-market games, and it’s ONLY affects until 7PM for games FOX is actually covering (which is NOT every team, either).
Just a couple of things to point out regarding the blackouts
1) This policy has to do with Fox’s deal with MLB and nothing at all to do with MLB.TV, Mosaic of Extra Innings. Sure, it ***** but go complain to MLB about their contract with Fox; there’s nothing MLB.TV or the Mosaic team can do about it.
2) This policy (blacking out Saturday games before 7 PM) has been in effect for 5 years (or since MLB.TV’s existence). This isn’t something new this year.
3) It only affects Saturday games before 7 PM and Sunday night games (which are usually on ESPN). Nothing on Sunday will be blacked out (ex. the ESPN game). Nothing on Saturday night will be blacked out.
4) Fox has a “national” telecast for Saturday baseball games. While they choose to show different games in different regions, it is a NATIONAL telecast since it is on all FOX affiliates and the programming is done by Fox Sports, NOT by your local Fox station. Same exact situation as ABC having national telecasts of College Football Saturdays at 3:30 in the fall. Does every ABC affiliate show the same game?? No of course not, but they are national telecasts handled by ABC Sports, not your local ABC channel.
5) That being said, I believe the website should be clearer in stating which particular games are blacked out (i.e Saturday before 7 PM and Sunday night), rather than its vague “scheduled webcasts of certain games during the regular season (including nationally televised games) will be blacked out.” It should explicitly state which games are subject to the blackout restrictions so people know up front.
Overall, this isn’t a policy that can be changed unless someone here knows the Fox Sports president and gets him to change the terms of their contract with MLB.
@ALL
you’re barking up the wrong tree. you need to email the executives of FOX and MLB. this is nothing new. no matter what service you get to watch out of market games, fox will screw you on saturdays.
Hey folks, chill out! I am missing Glavine-Smoltz today.
Go outside and get some fresh air during the daytime. No one should be watching tv during the day! Tune into the archive later tonight…
consider yourself lucky to not have to watch fox and all their propaganda!
Why is this the wrong tree to bark up? This is who I bought the product from, It is up to MLB.TV to get permission from Fox and MLB(who is MLB.TV). They carry a lot more weight than you and I and as long as they are getting my $120.00, I want them to give me what I paid for. I can understand the local black out or 1 game being nationally blacked out. Having this many games blacked out is B-S-. and I believe that MLB.TV can and should do something about it.
It is kind of ridiculous that I can listen to hockey and football for free, but have to pay for baseball, since I am paying for it, I think it should be my right to watch the feed on my computer weather it be from Fox,FSN, or whomever. Let MLB.TV work out the details to make it work. If enough of us feel the same way, they will make it work-TRUST ME!
>>
I do not think clearly means that 6 games will be blacked out!
This policy had been in effect for several years for EI and MLB.tv. It is due to FOX having national rights – rights which I believe they obtained before mlb.tv ever started. Hopefully, next time MLB’s national TV contract is up for negotiation, they will change it to allow us to watch other games on Saturday afternoons (much like NHL and college sports allow Center Ice, GamePlan, and Full Court to show the games that are being televised regionally to other parts of the nation). Does anyone know when MLB’s current contract with FOX expires?
I just think it is ridiculous that there is not one single baseball game currently being aired on any of my television channels, yet I am blocked out of all available games on MLBTV. Fantastic.
I just canceled. It is a shame that the fans have, and always will come second in baseball. I couldn’t get Direct TV either and only because of Kerry’s intervention is it back on cable. This dumb fan will be purchasing that instead and continuing to support the MLB money making machine. Sorry
This is awful. In my area there is no game on Fox. Not one right now. MLB needs to fix this. If Fox has one National Game like ESPN on Sundays, then fine they can blackout but if they do regional broadcasts then my region should only be blacked out of the game shown by Fox in my region.
Amen, faucher!
I have no televised baseball available to me whatsoever. This is insane! KER-iste, I would settle any single game anywhere. I have to believe this is an unintentional consequence of MLB pushing the limits of new technology while at the same time squeezing cash out of old media. I doesn’t make the feelings of frustration any less for me, however.
MLB reps are always talking about its partnerships but I think the tendency is for the league to forget that its first and most important partner is you and me…the dedicated fan. MLB overlooks us ’cause they can. They take us for granted and we let them.
For those of us that use mosaic, would it be to much to ask that if the game is blacked out, we could still use the mosaic to automatically listen to the audio portion of games that are blacked out? That way we could watch some games and then click over and listen to those others if we wanted with out having to open another window and sign in.
@joxman
mlb.tv doesn’t equal mlb. do you think the people from mlb.tv were in the meetings that negotiated the mlb/fox deal?
complaining about it here won’t do much good. i agree it’s ridiculous, but you are talking to the wrong part of the company.
REPEAT.. THIS HAS BEEN THE WAY IT IS FOR YEARS.
if this $120 means so much to you guys, i would think you would have done a little research before purchasing the product.
i have been pissed at mlb and fox about this for 5 years now. i’m also pissed off at my cable, electric, car, maid, insurance and movie rental companies. but you know what, thats just the way the world turns. if you want to make a difference, you need to contact the executives of the companies. even that probably won’t do much, which goes back to my comment on “thats just the way the world turns”.
@joxman
thats a great idea about having audio available for games that are blacked out. i was thinking of implementing “live stats”, but i like the audio even better.
Is this where we should send our complaints?
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/help/contact_us.jsp
By Mail:
MLB Advanced Media, L.P.
75 Ninth Avenue, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10011 USA
By Phone:
Customer Support toll-free number: 866-800-1275
Hours of Operation (in season):
Monday – Friday 9am – 12:30am
Saturday 12 Noon – 12:30am
Sunday 12pm – 10pm
Mon – Sat close at 12:00am
MLB has caved into FOXs demands on the start times for playoff games and blackouts. It’s obviously absurd to blackout games that aren’t on FOX. We’re among the most ardent fans out there and yet, we’re prevented from watching the games we’ve paid to see. I live in the DC area and 2 years ago, the Nats were playing a meaningless game against the Braves while the Yankees were playing the Red Sox. I was prevented from seeing the best rivalry in baseball. I’m a Mets fan and last year, the Mets had a twi-night DH against SF that started AFTER the FOX game was off the air but within the 7 PM window. As a result, NEITHER game was available. MLB should grow some stones and tell FOX that it’s a privilege to show these games and that if they want to, they’ll have to play by more fan-friendly rules. Oh wait: that might mean less money so that would never happen.
But RMCC…MLB.TV and MLB are ostensibly part of the same company. Perhaps complaining here can provide data for the MLB.TV portion of the company to approach the decision makers in the larger organization to prevent the core user of their service from feeling jilted in the future. As I stated before this mess could be an unintended consequence of new technology bumping up against old media. Sounding off here is entirely appropriate in my opinion.
i would start here:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/executives.jsp
@maineale
i understand they are part of the same company. think about your job. if someone complains to you about decisions that were made by a department you have nothing to do with, how likely are you able to get that resolved?
i do tend to agree with the old media/new technology reasoning.
I am new to this kind of thing but why don’t they show the commercials? Fox could then charge more from their advertisers and make money and we still get to watch SOME of the games. Between work and school, saturday is the only time I have to watch multiple games at the same time and just now I find I out that I cannot.
Whether or not this policy has been in effect for years is irrelevant. What IS relevant is I signed up, read the fine print, paid my money, and the first time I hear about not being able to watch any early Saturday games is the first Saturday of the year and the day after my free trial expired.
I think the Fox deal actually makes sense. They are paying hundreds of millions of dollars, they should have some say on exclusivity. I just wish I was told about it as opposed to getting a vague reference to “nationally televised games,” when I signed up.
“Nationally televised games” to me does not mean every game before 7:00pm on Saturday. Why not say something like, “All games before 7:00pm on every Saturday will be blacked out?” Just a thought.
@rmcc4444
I agree I would probably not be able to get an individual problem resolved outside of my department at my organization. But I would certainly pass the info along. Especially if I the number of complaints I was hearing started to accumulate.
You can watch any game you want, as long as it’s the one being televised on Fox.
Wow, I’m glad I only bought 1 month of this ******* **** service. Saturday is the one day where can actually relax and watch games on mlb.tv.
Good luck keeping subscribers MLB.
I am furious. I have had this service for two days and haven’t been able to watch ONE game.
Absolutely F*cking rediculous. Peice of shi*t service.
It’s surprised that local games are blacked out when ppl are travelling. MLB.tv was always promoted as a way to watch your team when you were on the road.
Well, I am not going to cancel my subscription yet. I am enough of a baseball nut to stick this thing out for a while to see if and what improvements can be made. I probably would not have jumped in to a premium package had I thought that this would be the case on every Saturday. I am glad that you all as administartors of MLB.TV understand our frustration as customers and I hope you can and will help to ease the pain. We will file our complaints to the powers that be and see if it does any good. Thanks for the help and I for one, look forward to all the games that I can get and to any improvements that can be made.
How can I watch my Yankees play when I am on the road if all my local games are blacked out to me? Then I try to watch other teams and I cant even do that on saturdays no. Thanks for nothing MLB, you really know how he make your fans hate you. Ill be canceling my service right away because of you false advertising…MLB tv a way to watch you team when one the road, what a lie!
Quote:”We know theyre not all available to you via the FOX broadcasts in your various local markets and I understand it’s frustrating (as a MLB.TV fan i share your frustration.”
If you know and you’re frustrated, how about forwarding the comments on this blog to the Commissioner? I understand that Fox, or other networks, is enttitled to a blackout IF they are televising the game in my market. But if their affiliate is playing a movie, the blackout makes no sense whatsoever. Do we have to get John Kerry to hold another hearing before the Commissioner fixes this problem?
@maineale
i’m sure they are passing the information a long, but imagine being in justins shoes. he’s not going to blog about internal company business.
@zanderd
you make a good point. being that all games before 7pm will be blacked out, they should explicitly say this in their TOS.
i was under the impression most everyone knew that and maybe they were too.
i second the comments made by hogan_disciple:
“It’s surprised that local games are blacked out when ppl are travelling. MLB.tv was always promoted as a way to watch your team when you were on the road.”
even though the mosaic should have been advertised as beta in the promotion, at least the premium package gives us 700k streaming of games rather than 400k.
that alone is worth $30 to me.
Here’s something we can all do. Watch the FOX game. Write down who the advertisers are. Write to them and express your displeasure.
It’s obvious that MLB doesn’t care about the fans as long as big corporations are willing to pay for broadcast contracts. The media outlets don’t care about the fans as long as advertisers are willing to buy ads. The advertisers want you to buy their products, so they are the first entity to even notice that you’re there.
It’s the same as going to the game. The most passionate fans aren’t in rows 1-30, they are in the upper deck or at home. The first rows are corporate owned tickets used for tax write-offs. I stopped paying the big bucks for tickets because I got tired of people arriving in the 2nd inning and leaving in the 8th inning and just basically being not into the game whatsoever. That is why I am more upset about all these exclusive tv deals, that is my only chance to actually enjoy my favorite team. And I don’t have to be told when to cheer š
I doubt seriously that anyone reads this comment this far down but… This will not be a problem later in the season. The only reason that teams are playing during the say is because the teams assumed (correctly) that the weather would be cold. Later in the year the games will either be on Fox or they will be scheduled later than 7. Check out the team schedules. There will never again be a 7 game blackout.
Ok. After having the service for 2 days. I was finally able to succefully install mosaic. But guess what now I’m getting a message saying the service is down. It’s 10:30 eastern so I’m asumming that this is not because of the 7pm eastern rule. Why am I still not able to use mosaic. Again I’m getting a message saying that the service is unavailable. This ***** b/c I got the service last year since it said mosaic would be available in April and I as I recall it never was available in April and I never continued the subscription after that month. Whats Up???
For those of you who want proof about where the buck stops on this issue, read some comments from Selig here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-blackouts071106&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
The Saturday blackouts are locked in for seven years since that was left into Fox’s contract before last year’s fan complaints swelled to a peak. All other blackout issues were ones that Selig was going address last summer, but as usual he has taken his own sweet time on the issue. Fans need to to start harassing him again since he was going to “figure it out” nine months ago.
What is the blackout telephone number? I have emailed customer service several times and I am still blacked out from New York games even though I live in the Philly black out zone.
Can anyone from MLB.com help me out??? Please! It should be very easy to fix, my zip code is 18944. I can watch the Phillies games on standard TV, please help.
Thank you very much Justin for this very important clarification.
Personnally, as I am a foreign suscriber, I am not impacted by such blackout policies, but I really understand the situation where you stand about this topic.
But I would like to stress another issue, maybe concerning TV rights… Why does MLB.TV cut local and national (for those overseas who can watch blacked out games) pregame shows and TV commercials ? It would be kind if I could finally have the true answer from Justin or any other MLB or MLB Advanced Media executives.
Many thanks in advance.
There have been several people posting that this blackout has been in effect for a number of years. That’s not really true. Under the old contract, Fox had a blackout from 1-4 pm local time. This has been extended effectively to 6 or 7 pm. In the east, a lot of teams used to schedule 4 pm games which were not subject to the blackout.
That being said, I don’t think there will be that many more games blacked out this year due to this policy, because what will happen is that games that Fox isn’t covering – and Fox doesn’t usually do more than 2 games every Saturday – will all be at night. The only exception will be Cubs games at Wrigley, since the Cubs are still limited in the number of night games they can schedule.
On a different matter, I’ll answer the last poster’s question. MLB doesn’t own the rights to broadcast pregame (or postgame) shows nationally. You’ve heard the broadcasters say the game is copyrighted by major league baseball – well, the pregame isn’t.
MLB and Fox new agreement allows Fox to broadcast games in the mid afternoon on the East Coast — so instead of starting at 1:05, they can start at 3 or 4pm, and the blackout isn’t lifted until 7pm.
Actually now that I think about it I think the blackout was the same as last year — games weren’t on until 7pm…
Like someone else said you get GameDay audio included, and unlike with XM, you can choose the audio feed, so while XM has ONLY the Yankees audio feed, I can listen to the Orioles audio feed on MLB Premium. Which is much better. Even if you’re crying at the umpteenth A Rod homer.
And of course, since I had the account last year, I paid for MLB.TV “basic” but got “premium” š
happy easter,
NO REFUNDS AFTER 5DAYS….SAY GOODBYE TO MY 120 DOLLARS, NO MOSAIC,NO HIGH QUALITY VIDEO,NO CUSTOMER SERVICE,BLOG TECHS WHO THINK WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIX OUR OWN COMPUTERS WHY THEY COULDN’T EVEN DESIGN A WORKING PRODUCT,OH BY THE WAY JUSTIN LOVED THE WAY YOU CHANGED THE PC REQUIREMENTS TO COVER YOUR BUTT.HERES HOPING YOUR IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE SOON.
JUST SO YOU DON’T THINK I AM WASTING YOUR VALUABLE BLOG SPACE THE REASON I AM WRITING IS BECAUSE
700K IS NOT WORKING AND MOSAIC HAS NEVER WORKED!!!!!!
Somebody please tell me how a Mosaic tech blog guru is supposed to help you folks?
Justin is a tech guy – he doesn’t make the rules. He follows orders.
The front office at BAM isn’t going to read these comments. And even if they do, it won’t matter that 100 people out of hundreds of thousands are pe’od.
Get off his back.
Geez.
I’ve had MLB video for 3 straight years and I have yet to watch a Saturday game before 7 am Sunday morning. This year it’s 12 hours earlier at 7 PM Saturday.
Whoopie! Progress inches forward.
Big dang deal. Take your family out for a picnic on Saturdays. Do some honey-dos. Visit the grand kids.
Better yet, buy a ticket and go to a game.
I mean, like many of you, I could go back to the stupid dish that reboots every 20 minutes while I miss my team’s home run. But.. there’s no replay. No archive.
Oh what fun.
Having started up many an online business I can agree with all of you that MLBAM did a very poor job in rolling out Mosaic this year.
Very poor.
Perhaps everyone who paid the $120 should get something next year as a freebie, like a 20% discount?
But you already spent your money. If you don’t like it, call customer service and ask for a refund or charge back the cost on your credit card.
I mean, how hard is that? Why sit in here and whine like spoiled rotten brats?
But leave Justin alone. He’s just the messenger. Take your case to the right place – BAM.
and danclark – what’s this about paying for basic and getting premium free? I wasn’t offered that option or I would have taken it.
Perhaps I need to write a letter too?
Please email me. Mosaic is not working for me; I’ve posted several times, I think, with no response.
maybe next year MLB will do something diffrent with fox that will benefit the consumer. if u live where i live u would be happy to just see 2 games a year that involve your team. so if i cant watch over half the games and saturday but i can watch all of them sun-fri i am happy. 120.00 well payed. MLB needs to rethink there deal with Fox though….
I wish the Faux Sports Game of the Week would just go away. Like everyone else has said, I get one game, not the game I want to watch. I would rather have MLB Extra Innings all day Saturday! And the announcers – Tim ‘Belabor a point’ McCarver and Joe ‘The most athletic thing I ever did was jump to a conclusion’ Buck…The advertising for MLB.TV is deceiving at best. Watch out-of-market games? If you live in a corner of New Mexico or Montana maybe.
I agree that Fox’s policy is foolish.
Another possibility: MLB.TV does archive the game. So you can watch the Saturday afternoon game that you missed with a three hour delay. With care, you can use the video screen to avoid learning the score in advance. This works well on the West Coast, where the Fox game that might have begun at 10am or 1pm is available at 1pm or 4pm instead.
It’s all about the dollar. What is crazy about the whole thing is MLB could care less about fans or what is fair to them.
1) They blackout FSN televised games so you have to buy Extra Innings or MLB.com.
2) They make it next to impossible to contact tech support.
3) They make it extremely difficult to cancel and then renew with out a way to not renew.
You have to go through a blog to get any one’s attention.
Just like boxing, they are for the $$$$$. And think the fan base is constantly going to be there.
Boxing earned their way to mediocrity. One more player’s strike, MLB will hit the dust. I can’t wait!!!!!
True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.
http://www.nicetick.com
– Air Jordan