Files under “Business”, “Media”, “Television”, “Crimes” and “Stupidity”. Maybe “obituaries” too.
But, my hope has faded, and at this stage, if my hope is fading, then consumers, it’s time to pack it in. For more than two years, MLB’s owners, along with Commissioner Selig, have pushed the matter off, tabling the topic in owners meetings after owners meetings.
Optimism for a solution was not given a nudge in the right direction after speaking to Brian Eckhouse of the Las Vegas Sun yesterday and reading his column today (see Major League Baseball: As not seen on TV)
As quoted in Eckhouse’s column, the situation in Las Vegas is the most egregious – seeing the Dodgers, Angels, Giants, Athletics, Padres, and Diamondbacks all claiming that Las Vegas is within their “local” television territory, and therefore, MLB Extra Innings and MLB.TV consumer, subject to blackouts.
I mentioned to Eckhouse that this matter could get worse should MLB Advanced Media ever decide to move forward with streaming games to smartphones through applications such as At Bat, which is now available for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch products. MLBAM has been granted a patent for geolocation that could point to MLBAM looking to such possibilities in the future.
As I said, when reading Eckhouse’s column today, my hope for a solution did not move in the right direction. From his column:
Brown explained that team owners, nervous over the recession, “are scratching for every penny that they can get” — especially from advertisers. Owners fret that reducing the size of their television territories (even markets they don’t televise in) could hurt their draw to advertisers.
“It’s a very complicated issue,” said MLB spokesman Pat Courtney. “There’s still more work to be done” on a revised TV territory policy.
It was Pat Courtney’s comments that should be focused on here.
No one should deny that the issue of the television territories is complicated. But, so was the issue of a drug testing policy in baseball, and look where we are today.
But then, the drug testing policy wasn’t done freely by baseball, it was done so by pressure from Congress and the public. Maybe that’s the component that is missing from the equation. I imagine that if Congress and/or the FCC got involved, that the territories issue in baseball would be addressed in short order.
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That might be what it would take. If nothing else, it should instigate another entertaining Andy/Nieporent argument.
Everyone call your Congressperson!
Manny being voted an All-Star is MUCH worse than this! I mean, if Manny's voted an All-Star, every tv camera will burn like at the end of Raiders of the Lost Arc. Then, the blackout policy won't matter much at all now will it?
None of the other four teams listed are ever shown on TV (unless they're facing the Dodgers or Angels).
don't the teams want to get more fans? don't they understand that the more people who watch the games, the more people to become fans of the team?
i mean the braves were my second favorite team for years bcause of tbs showing their games
so if you live in most of texas, you actually CAN'T see astros games every night even if you do get FSN because they show rangers games sometimes. wouldn't it make sense to allow people to watch the astros on mlb.tv if they aren't available on local tv?
all their policy really does is to make sure a whole lot of people who COULD be fans can't watch games
and that makes the owners more $$$ like HOW???
There's still more work to be done! More teams must be blacked out, in more areas! Some cities only have one team blacked out right now! The entire state of Georgia only has one! The Indians are not blacked out in Buffalo! I propose newer and better blackouts throughout the land!
We get Dodger games, and Cox cable has a special channel (96) that carries Padre games. We get a few Angel games; however, Cox and Fox Sports are in a dispute because Fox Sports increased the number of games they are carrying, and Cox didn't want to pay for more games. No to A's, Giants, and Diamondbacks.
They must be taking marketing lessons from Bill Wirtz's ghost.
Blackouts apply to TV broadcasts only, not radio.
Very likely, if it gets video, MLB at-bat will use your current location to enforce blackout rules, so this is correct.
And if at-bat gets live streaming video, that would be very cool, but I would think you'd be able to see about 15 minutes before your battery dies.
streaming video of highlights is cool, but i wouldn't want to watch a whole game on the phone. they now offer a 10 minute recap of games which is awesome.
I have to point out how funny this post was.
MLB ownership needs to find a cherry wood conference room at a 5 diamond hotel with 5 star service and dining to negotiate an acceptable policy.
Or they can check into a motel 6 where they must remain until an agreement is made. This would take all of 5 minutes.
It's why I moved to New Zealand. Nobody's claiming NZ as their local territory.
yet.
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