Sports pack blackout rules for non-game programming

[LongRufus]

I am really confused about the blackout rules for out of market RSN's. I understand all live games and replays are blacked out and I am fine with it. What I can't figure out is why some of the locally produced non-game programming is being blocked. I am in the Philly area, but I like watching the local coverage of the MLB playoffs on NESN and Yes. It seems like I get most of the news oriented shows, but a lot of the entertainment type shows are blocked. I get Sports Desk and all the pre and post game shows on NESN, but I can't get dopey shows like "Breakfast with the Sox" and "Sox Appeal". I get "Mike and the Maddog" on Yes, but not "Yankeeography" type shows. I honestly don't care that I am missing them, but I just can't see the reasoning behind it. Are there rules posted anywhere for what is or isn't shown? Can anyone shed some light on this for me? TIA.

[bwaldron]

I am really confused about the blackout rules for out of market RSN's. I understand all live games and replays are blacked out and I am fine with it. What I can't figure out is why some of the locally produced non-game programming is being blocked. I am in the Philly area, but I like watching the local coverage of the MLB playoffs on NESN and Yes. It seems like I get most of the news oriented shows, but a lot of the entertainment type shows are blocked. I get Sports Desk and all the pre and post game shows on NESN, but I can't get dopey shows like "Breakfast with the Sox" and "Sox Appeal". I get "Mike and the Maddog" on Yes, but not "Yankeeography" type shows. I honestly don't care that I am missing them, but I just can't see the reasoning behind it. Are there rules posted anywhere for what is or isn't shown? Can anyone shed some light on this for me? TIA.

Lots of MLB non-game programming is blacked out as per MLB edict -- programs that show game highlights are not authorized for national distribution. For a while last year, even pre and post game shows were unavailable on a few RSNs until they got that worked out as OK with MLB.

Generally the other leagues are OK with the non-game programming, highlights or not (except for game replays).

Sometimes things do appear to be randomly blacked out in error. And some things that should be are not blacked out.

While it should be allowed to be shown, blacking out Sox Appeal is a public service :)

[Doug Brott]

The RSN rules have driven me crazy. One of the big reasons I had them originally was so that I could get some East Coast basketball games here on the west coast. Turns out a lot of them were blacked out here even though there was no other outlet that I could see them. Very frustrating. Now I've removed the RSNs because of the unreliable access - I'll just watch games that are on ESPN or another national/local network.

[bwaldron]

The RSN rules have driven me crazy. One of the big reasons I had them originally was so that I could get some East Coast basketball games here on the west coast. Turns out a lot of them were blacked out here even though there was no other outlet that I could see them.

I hear that. It used to be that college games on the RSNs were available to all sports pack subscribers. When Full Court was first offered, games not in that package were available. Now, most of the leagues are enforcing regional rights for their games, so unless you are in their territory, you get blacked out -- even if, as you say, there's no other outlet.

While the NFL attendance-based home blackouts make some sense, other blackouts really don't...other than to the owners and commissioners, but I think that long-term they probably do far more harm than good to the sports involved. Turning away willing/paying customers is nuts.

[celticpride]

I don't understand why they do that, i tried to watch new england tailgate onFSN new england and it was blackedout in so. cal. ,it use to be only the professional game was blacked out not news shows or other programming.

[bonscott87]

There are no single "RSN" rules for all of them. They each have their own rules which DirecTV and Dish must abide by.

For example, the Yankees black out a lot of programming on YES out of market.
The Blackhawks blackout home games *in their own home market of Chicago*.

I could go on but I think you get the point. Certainly every game outside of market will be blacked out unless you have a premium sports subscription (EI, Center Ice, etc.). And each RSN/team sets their own rules on non-game programming.

[n3ntj]

Yeah, Yankeeography is blacked out on YES outside NY? Why would this show that is not a Yankees game or a reply of a Yankees game be blacked out to non-NY DMA customers? The only time we get to see this program is during a rain delay of a Yankees game..assuming the YES feed is what MLB EI is showing.

Dumb blackout rules!

[johnnymac96]

I don't usually watch out of market RSN's - it's just something that I get because I subscribe to Premier - but I was checking out some of the new HD ones last night and I am AMAZED at how much is blocked out on those channels that is not live game action.

How in the world does it help the Chicago Bears (or the Houston Texans, more likely is the specious reasoning involved here) by not letting me watch the Lovey Smith coach's show on CSNCHD? Similarly, "Red Sox Wrapup" or whatever it's called, needs to be blacked out? Why?

I know that 99% of it's not D*'s fault, I am simply amazed at the heavy-handedness of the leagues and teams, literally telling out of market fans that they may only root for and follow the "home" team assigned to whatever region of the country they live in. Amazing.

[Bob Heymann]

The RSN rules have driven me crazy. One of the big reasons I had them originally was so that I could get some East Coast basketball games here on the west coast. Turns out a lot of them were blacked out here even though there was no other outlet that I could see them. Very frustrating. Now I've removed the RSNs because of the unreliable access - I'll just watch games that are on ESPN or another national/local network.

I SHARE your frustration!!!!!

I have posted below the Tar Heels Schedule:

DAY DATE OPPONENT/EVENT SITE TIME TV
Fri. Oct. 12 Late Night with Roy Williams Chapel Hill 7 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 3 Shaw (exhibition) Chapel Hill TBA TarHeelBlue.com
Fri. Nov. 9 Lenoir-Rhyne (exhibition) Chapel Hill 7:30 p.m. TarHeelBlue.com

Wed. Nov. 14 at Davidson (Charlotte Bobcats Arena) Charlotte, N.C. 7 p.m. ESPN

Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational
Sun. Nov. 18 Iona Chapel Hill 6 p.m. ESPNU
Tue. Nov. 20 South Carolina State Chapel Hill 7:30 p.m. TBA
Fri. Nov. 23 vs. Old Dominion (Orleans Arena) Las Vegas, Nev. 11:55 p.m. ESPNU
Sat. Nov. 24 vs. BYU or Louisville (Orleans Arena) Las Vegas, Nev. TBA ESPN

ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Wed. Nov. 28 at Ohio State (Schottenstein Center) Columbus, Ohio 9 p.m. ESPN

Sat. Dec. 1 at Kentucky (Rupp Arena) Lexington, Ky. 2 p.m. ESPN2
Tue. Dec. 4 at Penn (Palestra) Philadelphia, Pa. 7 p.m. ESPN2
Sun. Dec. 16 at Rutgers (Louis Brown Athletic Center) Piscataway, N.J. 8 p.m. ESPN
Wed. Dec. 19 Nicholls State Chapel Hill 9 p.m. ESPNU
Sat. Dec. 22 UC Santa Barbara Chapel Hill 1 p.m. FSNS
Thu. Dec. 27 Nevada Chapel Hill 7 p.m. ESPN2
Sun. Dec. 30 Valparaiso Chapel Hill 7:30 p.m. FSN
Wed. Jan. 2 Kent State Chapel Hill 8 p.m. ESPN
Sun. Jan. 6 at Clemson (Littlejohn Coliseum) Clemson, S.C. 7:30 p.m. FSN
Wed. Jan. 9 UNC Asheville Chapel Hill 7 p.m. ESPNU
Sat. Jan. 12 NC State Chapel Hill Noon ESPN
Wed. Jan. 16 at Georgia Tech (Alexander Memorial Coliseum) Atlanta, Ga. 9 p.m. ESPN
Sat. Jan. 19 Maryland Chapel Hill 3:30 p.m. ABC
Wed. Jan. 23 at Miami (BankUnited Center) Coral Gables, Fla. 9 p.m. Raycom/LF
Thu. Jan. 31 Boston College Chapel Hill 7 p.m. ESPN or ESPN2
Sun. Feb. 3 at Florida State (Donald Tucker Civic Center) Tallahassee, Fla. 2 p.m. FSN
Wed. Feb. 6 Duke Chapel Hill 9 p.m. RLF/ESPN
Sun. Feb. 10 Clemson Chapel Hill 6:30 p.m. FSN
Tue. Feb. 12 at Virginia (John Paul Jones Arena) Charlottesville, Va. 8 p.m. Raycom/LF
Sat. Feb. 16 Virginia Tech Chapel Hill 1 p.m. CBS
Wed. Feb. 20 at NC State (RBC Center) Raleigh, N.C. 7 p.m. ESPN
Sun. Feb. 24 Wake Forest Chapel Hill 6:30 p.m. FSN
Sat. March 1 at Boston College (Conte Forum) Chestnut Hill, Mass. 3:30 p.m. ABC
Tue. March 4 Florida State Chapel Hill 8 p.m. Raycom/LF
Sat. March 8 at Duke (Cameron Indoor Stadium) Durham, N.C. 9 p.m. ESPN

I purchase ESPN Full Court so that I can watch all the Raycom/LF games here in Chicago so I should be able to see EVERY Tar Heel game, right????

Not so fast. Look at December 22. Every year it seems Carolina has 1 or 2 games on FSNS which are blacked out even if you have Sportspack.

I do not understand why on earth The ACC or UNC would dictate to D* that they black out a game to the rest of the nation if it is already being shown in the home market!!!

It's CRAZY!!!!!

[garn9173]

Kansas City is the closet MLB market to Des Moines and the Royals are blacked out, go figure. I needed MLB EI to watch the Royals and even then it was the opposing team's video feed (NESN, SportsTime Ohio, etc.).

[tonyd79]

Oddly enough, right now Yankees Classics is not blacked out. I thought they all were.

[n3ntj]

Oddly enough, right now Yankees Classics is not blacked out. I thought they all were.

I don't think Yankees Classics was every blacked out on YES. I wish they didn't black out Yankeeography, however. No idea why this particular program is blacked out.

[JonSamuels]

I SHARE your frustration!!!!!

I have posted below the Tar Heels Schedule:


It depends a lot on the conference. The SEC does the same thing with college basketball games that air on FSN South and Sun Sports. They are only available in the SEC states.

The Pac-10, for example, is less restrictive. There are a lot of regionally televised games that are only on FSN Arizona, FSN Northwest, etc. that are not blacked out in other parts of the country.

[bwaldron]

Oddly enough, right now Yankees Classics is not blacked out. I thought they all were.

So did I. I know that NESN started blacking out its classic Sox games last year -- and they said that it was because MLB made them do it.

[bwaldron]

I don't think Yankees Classics was every blacked out on YES. I wish they didn't black out Yankeeography, however. No idea why this particular program is blacked out.

It doesn't make any sense to black out one and not the other.

Frankly, it makes no sense to black out either. But that's MLB for you.

[bwaldron]

It depends a lot on the conference. The SEC does the same thing with college basketball games that air on FSN South and Sun Sports. They are only available in the SEC states.

The Pac-10, for example, is less restrictive. There are a lot of regionally televised games that are only on FSN Arizona, FSN Northwest, etc. that are not blacked out in other parts of the country.

Yes, most (but not all, as you note) major conferences these days now restrict their games to their "regions."

[spunkyvision]

It really is frustrating. I am in San Diego, yet LA Lakers and Clippers are my "local" basketball team. Sometimes they are on a channel that we in San Diego don't even get so I can't see them play. What are we supposed to do then?
I have NEVER and will NEVER understand why If I want to PAY (not get it free but PAY) why can't I see what I want...just boggles the mind

[bwaldron]

I have NEVER and will NEVER understand why If I want to PAY (not get it free but PAY) why can't I see what I want...just boggles the mind

You are preaching to the choir. ;)

[Hound]

It really is frustrating. I am in San Diego, yet LA Lakers and Clippers are my "local" basketball team. Sometimes they are on a channel that we in San Diego don't even get so I can't see them play. What are we supposed to do then?
I have NEVER and will NEVER understand why If I want to PAY (not get it free but PAY) why can't I see what I want...just boggles the mind

Are you saying that the Lakers and Clippers are on a regional sports channel (RSN) that is not provided to subs in San Diego? If that is the case, if sports pack
has that channel, you should not be blacked out. This occurs with baseball. The MLB blackout is based on zip code and the county that you live in. Some counties
are allocated to each major league team. If you live in that county, you have to get the RSN without blackout. You may not live in a county allocated to the team,
but your zip code is allocated to the team's territory. Through sports pack, you
may be lucky enough to have your zip code qualify to watch a team. In central NJ,
my zip code is claimed by the Yankees, Mets and Phillies. I can watch all three teams without blackout. I also get the Sixers, Nets and Knicks, and Flyers,
Devils, Rangers and Islanders.

The NBA League Pass feed would probably black you out in San Diego, if San Diego is considered part of the Lakers and Clippers TV territory.

[rcoleman111]

Generally the other leagues are OK with the non-game programming, highlights or not (except for game replays).


The "Rams Talk" program on FSMW is blacked here in Georgia. I was able to watch a similar show a couple of years ago, but not anymore.

[bwaldron]

The "Rams Talk" program on FSMW is blacked here in Georgia. I was able to watch a similar show a couple of years ago, but not anymore.

That's truly absurd. I just don't see what the leagues think they are really accomplishing with this type of thing.

[n3ntj]

Originally Posted by spunkyvision View Post
I have NEVER and will NEVER understand why If I want to PAY (not get it free but PAY) why can't I see what I want...just boggles the mind

You are preaching to the choir. ;)

Right on, Brother!

[rcoleman111]

That's truly absurd. I just don't see what the leagues think they are really accomplishing with this type of thing.

I really don't think it has anything to do with the NFL. When they had "Rams Roundtable" on FSMW a couple of years ago, it was just a bunch of sports writers talking about the Rams. The NFL would have no more legal right to black out that type of program than they would to black out the "Rams Talk" message board or anything else having to do with the games. They only control the rights to the games, not 3rd-party programs about the teams. I think DirecTV is blacking out anything that has the team name in the program description.