This makes so much sense that I can't begin to understand why baseball (or baseball teams) would ever have wanted the current state of affairs.

Not even the Hadron Collider could open up as big a wormhole in space as the unlikely event of MLB fixing this the correct way.

If they really gave a ####, they'd fix it starting right the #### now.

So as I understand it, the Braves would still be blacked out in Charleston (a short 300+ mile drive from Atlanta), since Fox Sports South, which carries some Braves games, is carried by local cable providers. Way to go, ########. They still won't see a dime from me.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Not even the Hadron Collider could open up as big a wormhole in space as the unlikely event of MLB fixing this the correct way.

This is the same thing I was thinking. The easiest and simplest solution definitely will not be the solution used here

Does this article have anything to do with ian's complaints about the Red Sox over in the Bay thread?

The simplest solution is for everybody who lives in a small town to move to a large city that has an MLB team. Problem solved.

#7 -- and no doubt this will be the logic used by MLB to decide the outcome of this situation.

I would really like to see an end to the restrictions on Fox games (and the odd Texas game that seems to occasionally conflict with ESPN Sunday Night games as well -- too hot to play during the day) for paying customers of Extra Innings or MLB.tv.

Does this article have anything to do with ian's complaints about the Red Sox over in the Bay thread?

He's not complaining. He's just pointing out a trend in pigmentation that only exists if you eliminate the many points that don't fit the trend.

I doubt there's a team in major league baseball that could have better learned the lesson that you should choose players based on ability and not ethnicity than the Boston Red Sox.

When I lived in Nashville, the designated hometeams were Atlanta and the Reds, thus these games were blackouted. Atlanta made some sense but the Reds?

This makes so much sense that I can't begin to understand why baseball (or baseball teams) would ever have wanted the current state of affairs.

Agreed. Honestly, I have no idea why they would want to black out ANYTHING anymore, considering the additional TV and internet revenue they would get would probably still counterbalance any lost stadium revenue.

On the other hand, that's not actually a possibility, since the bonds that financed all these new stadiums depend on stadium revenue streams in order to not have a default. Still, the bare minimum (black out home games that aren't sellouts within about a 50 mile radius of the stadium) seems to make perfect sense for all parties involved.

Edit: I noticed I just contradicted myself. I do have an idea why, I just think it's stupid.

This is all well and good, but can we please get rid of the exclusivity given to Fox for Saturday broadcasts as well? I'm willing to compromise. Fox can still be the only network allowed to televise a Saturday day game, but they have to televise all of them, and they have to make them available via Extra Innings or MLB.TV for the people who want to watch an out of market game.

I'm not sure what they think they're accomplishing. I won't watch the Cubs or Sox regardless of whether the Angels are on TV at the same time or not, while Cubs and Sox fans will still watch the local broadcast regardless of whether they put the Angels on Extra Innings or not.

When I lived in Nashville, the designated hometeams were Atlanta and the Reds, thus these games were blackouted. Atlanta made some sense but the Reds?

Atlanta and Cincinnati are approximately equidistant from Nashville.

Atlanta and Cincinnati are approximately equidistant from Nashville.

Oops. I drove to ATL several times while in Nashville so I guess it "felt" close since TN isn't exactly a "tall" state while you have to drive through KY and OH to reach CIN.

I'm not sure what they think they're accomplishing. I won't watch the Cubs or Sox regardless of whether the Angels are on TV at the same time or not, while Cubs and Sox fans will still watch the local broadcast regardless of whether they put the Angels on Extra Innings or not.

Or if you're married to a Cubs fan, she can watch the Cubs on the living room TV on Extra Innings and I can watch the Angels upstairs on the regional Fox broadcast. (In your case, Shredder, I think it would be the reverse geographically.) It's just not that hard.

Mlbtv should broadcast every game, no blackouts anywhere. Tv stations are not losing viewers. I watch the Angels on my computer because I can't get it on my tv, if a game is available on both then I will choose the 37 inch HDTV every time.

I hope they work this out. Then we can move on to why the Japan leagues black out the rest of the world?

At the owners’ meetings Wednesday, DuPuy said he will propose that if a team is not broadcasting in a geographic location for at least one season, it loses the right to black out games in that area. Gone would be the blackouts that prevent folks in Iowa and Las Vegas from seeing as many as six games each night and have caused viewing havoc throughout the country.

So as I understand it, the Braves would still be blacked out in Charleston (a short 300+ mile drive from Atlanta), since Fox Sports South, which carries some Braves games, is carried by local cable providers. Way to go, ########. They still won't see a dime from me.

I think quote #2 is misreading quote #1. Local cable operators are not broadcasters. If your local ABC or CW station buys a team's games via syndication, then those games would be blacked out. Otherwise, they would be available on MLB.tv and EI.

What I'm unclear about is how RSNs available through sattelite providers will be handled. If I have YES available on DirecTV, does this mean I don't need EI to watch Yankees games in Iowa?

Somehow I doubt it. But I don't see them addressing that issue at all.

This is all well and good, but can we please get rid of the exclusivity given to Fox for Saturday broadcasts as well? I'm willing to compromise. Fox can still be the only network allowed to televise a Saturday day game, but they have to televise all of them, and they have to make them available via Extra Innings or MLB.TV for the people who want to watch an out of market game.

I'm not sure what they think they're accomplishing. I won't watch the Cubs or Sox regardless of whether the Angels are on TV at the same time or not, while Cubs and Sox fans will still watch the local broadcast regardless of whether they put the Angels on Extra Innings or not.

It's absolutely absurd. You wind up hoping that your favorite team schedules all their Saturday games as night games, which is exactly the opposite of what you'd want under any other circumstance. Fox and MLB still don't seem to have figured out that during the regular season 90% of baseball fans follow only one team with any regularity, and they're not particularly interested in watching another game, especially if it's in another division or league. All the blackout does is to cut down on the number of fans who are watching any baseball at all on any given Saturday afternoon.

Then there are the people who complain that FOX always shows their local team, when they're not even a fan of the local team, and would like to see some other team when there's a chance.

Then there are the people who complain that FOX always shows their local team, when they're not even a fan of the local team, and would like to see some other team when there's a chance.

Yeah. If FOX is the millenialversion of The Game of the Week, it should be The Game of the Week--whatever the best matchup is.

The thing is, FOX poisoned the well a while back when they anointed Red Sox/Yankees as the only rivalry that matters and assigned Buck/McCarver to harangue the audience about it at every opportunity.

Even if FOX wanted to put the best game of the week on GOTW now, they'll never get viewers back. They've trained the audience to avoid a broadcast that features neither team.

At this point MLB should relax the MLB.TV/EI blackout rules and make it more of a TBS-style deal, because it certainly isn't helping boost the Saturday GOTW ratings.

Wrong thread.