Chicago stations in St. Louis

[purdone]

First off, I have a Dish 500 and VIP622.

Since I grew up in Chicago, I am a Cubs' fan and hate the Cardinals. But, I live in St. Louis. I'd really like to be able to watch Cubs' games here, but many times they play on Chicago Sports Net. If I were to call Dish and have my address updated to a Chicago ZIP code, I'm thinking I should get all the Chicago locals then. The problem I see coming is I use bunny ears to get my locals in HD. If I try and record these, Dish is going to be sending the receiver Chicago lineup times and channels, correct?

[JBT]

I'm not real sure how it works but I would think Dish is sending the St. Louis locals to your spot beam not both Chicago's and St. Louis...

[purdone]

That's the thing -- I want the Chicago spot beam. But that's going to screw up the DVR when the channel lineups aren't the same, I'm assuming.

[LarryFlowers]

The Chicago "spot beam" is just that... a spot beam pointed at Chicago. You will not receive the Chicago spot beams in St Louis. No physical way that can happen.

[tsmacro]

The ways i'm aware of for you to watch the Cubs where you are is when they are on one of the networks, espn or wgn. Or switch to another television provider that carries the MLB extra innings package and subscribe to that. The MLB also has some kind of online service that lets you watch games that way.

[purdone]

Are the Fox Sports Regional Networks part of the spot beam, or are they limited by your settings/billing records?

[purdone]

Thanks for the tip. I might be in town that weekend, so I'll let you know about the tickets.

[TSR]

First off, I have a Dish 500 and VIP622.

Since I grew up in Chicago, I am a Cubs' fan and hate the Cardinals. But, I live in St. Louis. I'd really like to be able to watch Cubs' games here, but many times they play on Chicago Sports Net. If I were to call Dish and have my address updated to a Chicago ZIP code, I'm thinking I should get all the Chicago locals then. The problem I see coming is I use bunny ears to get my locals in HD. If I try and record these, Dish is going to be sending the receiver Chicago lineup times and channels, correct?

The only problem with this is it is illegal, deemed so by the government, FCC and Nielson Media Research. To add to that Dish Network and possibly you, if caught when audited (or otherwise), will be charged $10,000 per day, per channel, per customer.

If you feel that is worth it go right ahead.

And they can't send you the lineup for your local channels that I'm aware, just the ones they provide, such as Classic Bronze 100, Classic Silver 200 and Classic Gold 250 (Bonus Pak).

[ruffledrooster]

The FSN's I don't believe go over spotbeams, as I believe you can still subscribe to the sports pak and get like all the RSN's for a monthly fee. However, I believe those are still subject to blackout's. My personal recommendation if you have high-speed internet is to get the mlb.com package, which is available in HD and I don't believe has the blackout's. I think you can even listen to the audio from whichever side you want. I haven't tried these out myself yet this year, but that's what I recall reading on their website.

[Michael P]

The $5 "Mega-Sport" pack will get you access to nearly every RSN E* carries, however black-outs will still apply. In the case of Baseball, rain delays will effectively lift the blackouts after the block of time the game was originally scheduled. Additionally, depending on where you live (i.e. the far out-skirts of St. Louis) it may be possible to legally get games from neighboring teams.

For example I know of an area of Ohio where a Mega Sports pack sub can get Indians, Reds, and Tigers games since all 3 teams claim that area in their territory. Unless you are in St. Louis proper, there is a chance that you live in an overlapping area.

BTW spot beams do not apply for RSN's only local stations. Lying about your true location will not help you anyway. If all else fails, get a legal provider to get you the games (i.e. MLB Extra Innings on D* or cable, or via the internet).

[poyzin]

The easiest answer of all is to face reality and watch/root-for/support the better team. Sure the Cardinals can have a bad year now and then but who in the world has heard of a team that has had a bad century (except for the Cubs)? :)