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Monday, May 14, 2012

Hollywood Reporter: Meet the Baseball Fans Suing to Change the Business of Televising Games

On Wednesday, several baseball fans filed a class-action lawsuit against Major League Baseball and some of the league’s broadcast partners, including Comcast and DirecTV. The plaintiffs object to the way that the league has carved up TV rights into different territories, how consumers must pay a lot for “out of market” games and how local “in market” telecasts are blacked out when consumers sign up for MLB’s digital service.

Gold Star - just Gold Star Posted: May 14, 2012 at 04:05 PM | 14 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
  Tags: angels, business, media, television

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   1. Don Geovany Soto (chris h.) Posted: May 14, 2012 at 05:43 PM (#4131312)
Won't go anywhere, I expect, but I do wish MLB would modernize its territorial framework, particularly for those areas that are prevented from getting much of anything thanks to goofy territory geographies.
   2. silhouetted by the sea Posted: May 14, 2012 at 07:02 PM (#4131367)
Where I live, Extra Innings and TBN black out Reds, Indians and Pirates games, plus TBN blacks out some that seem to be random.. I have no problem with them blacking out the Reds or Indians since those are available on the teams cable network, but Pirates games are not available at all. I am still not over them blacking out Stephen Strasburg's debut last year.
   3. the legend of Fenderbelly is ongoing Posted: May 14, 2012 at 07:04 PM (#4131368)
Hell, 42% of San Diego County can't even watch a Padres game right now. Time Warner isn't showing them due to a dispute with Fox, and yet they are still blacked out on MLB.tv.

Union Tribune story
   4. Downtown Bookie Posted: May 14, 2012 at 07:17 PM (#4131372)
On Wednesday, several baseball fans filed a class-action lawsuit against Major League Baseball and some of the league’s broadcast partners, including Comcast and DirecTV.


Good luck.

DB
   5. David Nieporent (now, with children) Posted: May 14, 2012 at 08:08 PM (#4131412)
On Wednesday, several <strike>baseball fans</strike> lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit
Virtually all class-action suits are lawyer-driven, not plaintiff driven.

This is a big fail. Not only does baseball have an antitrust exemption, but the Sports Broadcasting Act expressly allows the things they're complaining about.
   6. The Yankee Clapper Posted: May 14, 2012 at 08:15 PM (#4131416)
Extra Innings is a great deal for those that are just blacked out of a local team that they can watch on the team's cable network (or "free" TV). It's a shame that MLB has extended the blackout territories into areas that do not actually receive those games and/or are too distant for many to actually attend the games. MLB surely loses revenue with these policies.
   7. McCoy Posted: May 14, 2012 at 08:21 PM (#4131420)
Who was our resident defender of MLB that could tell us we were wrong when we said we couldn't see X in Y?
   8. bobm Posted: May 14, 2012 at 08:32 PM (#4131426)
[7] Fly?
   9. Crispix Attacks 2: Swag Airlines Posted: May 14, 2012 at 08:39 PM (#4131434)
Virtually all class-action suits are lawyer-driven, not plaintiff driven.

This is a big fail. Not only does baseball have an antitrust exemption, but the Sports Broadcasting Act expressly allows the things they're complaining about.


I'm confused, are these lawyers pretending to be baseball fans (class-action suits are lawyer-driven), or baseball fans pretending to be lawyers (a real lawyer would realize this case will never succeed)?
   10. FancyPantsHandle glistening with foreign substance Posted: May 14, 2012 at 08:49 PM (#4131447)
I'm confused, are these lawyers pretending to be baseball fans (class-action suits are lawyer-driven), or baseball fans pretending to be lawyers (a real lawyer would realize this case will never succeed)?

Lawyers who are using baseball fans to get a paycheck.
   11. bobm Posted: May 14, 2012 at 09:04 PM (#4131457)
[9], [10]

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/uploadedFiles/Reuters_Content/2012/05_-_May/Garber_MLB_Suit.pdf


2012 WL 1609215 (S.D.N.Y.) (Trial Pleading)
United States District Court, S.D. New York.

Fernanda GARBER, Marc Lerner, Derek Rasmussen, and Robert Silver, representing themselves and
all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs,
v.
OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF BASEBALL, Major League Baseball Enterprises Inc., MLB Advanced
Media L.P., Directv LLC, Directv Sports Networks LLC, Root Sports Pittsburgh, Root Sports Rocky
Mountain, Root Sports Northwest, Comcast Corp., Comcast Sportsnet Philly, L.P., Comcast Sportsnet
Bay Area, L.P., Comcast Sportsnet Chicago, L.P., Yankees Entertainment and Sports Networks, LLC,
Athletics Investment Group, LLC, The Baseball Club of Seattle, L.P., Chicago National League Ball Club,
LLC, Chicago White Sox, Ltd., Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, Ltd., New York Yankees Partnership,
The Phillies, L.P., Pittsburgh Baseball, Inc., and San Francisco Baseball Associates, L.P., Defendants.

No. 12 CIV 3704.
May 9, 2012.

Jury Trial Demanded

Class Action Complaint

Pomerantz Haudek Grossman & Gross LLP, Michael M. Buchman, 100 Park Avenue, 26th Floor, New York, NY 10017,
Telephone: (212) 661-1100, Facsimile: (212) 661-8665.

Edward Diver, Howard Langer, Peter Leckman, Langer, Grogan & Diver, P.C., 1717 Arch Street, Suite 4130, Philadelphia, PA
19103, Telephone: (215) 320-5660, Facsimile: (215) 320-5703, Attorneys for Plaintiffs Fernanda Garber, Marc Lerner, Derek
Rasmussen, and Robert Silver.

Plaintiffs Fernanda Garber, Marc Lerner, Derek Rasmussen, and Robert Silver, by and through their attorneys, file this
Complaint against Defendants and allege as follows:
   12. Rennie's Tenet Posted: May 14, 2012 at 10:30 PM (#4131578)
   13. boteman Posted: May 15, 2012 at 02:53 AM (#4131626)
Attorneys for Plaintiffs...Marc Lerner

What would the owner of the Washington Nationals gain by joining this class???

Oh, OK. :-) There.

I agree that this is tilting at windmills, but I agree with their sentiment and wish them at least some publicity to push the immovable object that is MLBAM a micrometer off their intransigent position, at least.
   14. Dangerous Dean Posted: May 15, 2012 at 09:09 AM (#4131687)
I have wanted this to happen for years. Don't pee in my cornflakes with your logic that it won't. Let me have this fantasy.

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