Fox Saturday Baseball "exclusive" blacking out MLBEI games.

[paule123]

No games on MLBEI until 7pm ET. It's 2009 and this nonsense is still going on? This is not acceptable.

I thought I read that MLB was going to ease up on the blackout rules to stop this insanity?

[dcowboy7]

nope.

[trackmannn]

even funnier.. MLB Fox Saturday's is sponsored exclusively by.. you guessed it.. DirecTV.

[Jimmy 440]

It's been like this for years and it's not going to change any time soon.

[PicaKing]

While we may not like the blackout rules, they are the rules and have been for some time. They are clearly explained on directv.com, so if you find them "not acceptable" you should not have signed up for MLB EI

[teebeebee1]

MLBTV on mlb.com is your friend on Sat mornings, no blackouts

[CUDAHY]

It's the one difference between MLB EI and MLBtv. I've never read any explanation for the difference.

[mreposter]

That giant sucking sound is the sports monopolies extracting every last dime out of your wallet.

[b00stedeg]

And to make it even worse the marlins moved their sat. games to 6pm due to post game concerts now making these games unavailable

[davidatl14]

While Bud and Cronies MAY address the blackout situation before the end of the 2009 season(more than likely though it will be before the 2010 season) any forthcoming solutions will not be concerning the Fox saturday game which is in place and contracted for through the 2013 season.

The blackout situation would have been addressed already if the economy hadn't tanked. It's called haircut provisions and was on the agenda multiple meetings but always tabled.

Teams changing the market claimed area is not as simple as just redrawing boundaries.

The boundaries can be redrawn and the claiming of multiple markets can be addressed, but if you do that while under an existing TV contract(Locallly) you will be changing the terms of the contract and more than likely your local TV provider will be asking for some type of rebate since in almost all cases the new adjusted market will be smaller thus affecting ad rates determined by populations and TV's in use in said market.

There is a better chance of MLB prohibiting Saturday afternoon start times for non Fox games than lifting the blackout on Saturday for Fox or Sunday for ESPN.

[paule123]

MLBTV on mlb.com is your friend on Sat mornings, no blackouts

Pay MLB.TV another $79 - $109 a year on top of the MLB EI subscription? No thanks.

[socal404]

even funnier.. MLB Fox Saturday's is sponsored exclusively by.. you guessed it.. DirecTV.

The blackouts have nothing to do with Directv. It's to protect Fox's investment in MLB.

[ncxcstud]

lots of teams try to get by the 'rule' by starting their games at 7:30EST on Saturdays...hopefully the further into the season we get (thus the warmer it gets) we'll see more of those...

Right now, the Rangers have to play the Tigers at 1:05 EST because it's too cold at night to start these games at 7:30...

[teebeebee1]

Pay MLB.TV another $79 - $109 a year on top of the MLB EI subscription? No thanks.

Cheapskate :)

[DiSH Defector]

lots of teams try to get by the 'rule' by starting their games at 7:30EST on Saturdays...hopefully the further into the season we get (thus the warmer it gets) we'll see more of those...

Right now, the Rangers have to play the Tigers at 1:05 EST because it's too cold at night to start these games at 7:30...

Weather wouldn't have anything to do with the start times. Most teams have a normal saturday start time of about 7pm local time. The afternoon games are put there specifically for the FOX broadcasts. It's not uncommon midseason to see games moved from their normal nighttime start to an afternoon slot because FOX wants to broadcast it either nationally or regionally.

A quick glance down the schedules for each of those teams for April & May shows that they play all night games every saturday except for the games on FOX.

[GlennDio]

hey I subscribe to both EI for D* and also MLB.TV (for when on road for work or vacation) and I have to admit I hadn't had a ton of luck with the new player (on MLB.TV) until today ...I watched the Rangers/Tigers game and it was just spectacular ... I used a PC connection to my 32 inch Sony 720p set and using my home Fios 20mb/sec connection the picture from FS Southwest was HD quality ...only the audio was a hair off (and I mean a hair) I think it stopped (slowed down) only once all game ... if D* doesn't add Padres/Phillies/Jays games this year I am going to watch the MLB.TV HD feeds from home when an HD feed isn't available on EI ....

[bill buckner]

And to make it even worse the marlins moved their sat. games to 6pm due to post game concerts now making these games unavailable

That's such BS. SNY can't come on the air until 7:05 to show the Mets tonight. So we have to miss the first hour. Stupid rule.

[thestaton]

hey I subscribe to both EI for D* and also MLB.TV (for when on road for work or vacation) and I have to admit I hadn't had a ton of luck with the new player (on MLB.TV) until today ...I watched the Rangers/Tigers game and it was just spectacular ... I used a PC connection to my 32 inch Sony 720p set and using my home Fios 20mb/sec connection the picture from FS Southwest was HD quality ...only the audio was a hair off (and I mean a hair) I think it stopped (slowed down) only once all game ... if D* doesn't add Padres/Phillies/Jays games this year I am going to watch the MLB.TV HD feeds from home when an HD feed isn't available on EI ....

Thanks for the feedback. I've been thinking about getting this over the EI, being FSN Ohio is beyond pathetic, and all the crazy blackout restrictions.

Now I just need to investigate the easiest way to stream video to my tele wirelessly. I think you can do with the airport expresses and a little 3rd party software.

[ncxcstud]

Weather wouldn't have anything to do with the start times. Most teams have a normal saturday start time of about 7pm local time. The afternoon games are put there specifically for the FOX broadcasts. It's not uncommon midseason to see games moved from their normal nighttime start to an afternoon slot because FOX wants to broadcast it either nationally or regionally.

A quick glance down the schedules for each of those teams for April & May shows that they play all night games every saturday except for the games on FOX.

Well, talk to the Rangers broadcasters then who said that the only reason this weekends games in Detroit are at 1:05 each day is because of the cold weather... Other than that, seems kind of odd for a non Fox game to be at 1:05 on Saturday correct? I'm not saying EVERY team schedules according to the weather, but for this weekend, the Rangers-Tigers series is...

[mike558]

Double check before you order MLB TV. The site says there will be blackouts on Saturdays between 1-7pm. If I remember correctly, they didn't enforce the blackout for the 1st month or 2 last year, but by June the games were blacked out just like the MLB EI package.

From MLB TV: "Regular Season Weekend U.S. National Live Blackout: Due to Major League Baseball exclusivities, live games occurring each Saturday with a scheduled start time after 1:10 PM ET or before 7:05 PM ET and each Sunday with a scheduled start time after 5:00 PM ET, will be blacked out in the United States (including the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands)."

It might cost you a few more bucks in the long run, but I'd suggest doing the monthly sub plan for MLB TV, so you can cancel if they start blacking games out.

[b00stedeg]

That's such BS. SNY can't come on the air until 7:05 to show the Mets tonight. So we have to miss the first hour. Stupid rule.

yep, really stupid decision by the marlins. At least you're not in Florida, we don't get the game at all, sny will be blacked out for us once the game comes on the air at 7:(

[GlennDio]

Thanks for the feedback. I've been thinking about getting this over the EI, being FSN Ohio is beyond pathetic, and all the crazy blackout restrictions.

Now I just need to investigate the easiest way to stream video to my tele wirelessly. I think you can do with the airport expresses and a little 3rd party software.

seriously if you want you laptop wireless no problem but make a hard connection to your TV ..preferably through a PC connection (Monoprice.com has cheap good quality cables of every length imaginable) but if not through an SVideo connection ... personally I was amazed at the high quality of the PC cable solution ... just outstanding...

[thestaton]

seriously if you want you laptop wireless no problem but make a hard connection to your TV ..preferably through a PC connection (Monoprice.com has cheap good quality cables of every length imaginable) but if not through an SVideo connection ... personally I was amazed at the high quality of the PC cable solution ... just outstanding...

I gathered my parts list and it came out to around 60 dollars. Apple charges 30 bucks for a mini-dvi to dvi adapter after you add 10 dollar shipping.

Then the HDMI cable, DVI to HDMI converter and optical cable where another 30 dollars.

Then I go check out MLB.TV and what do you know they blackout your home team as well, and it looks like it's based upon your IP Address. I could always connect via VPN to a few places not in my area to avoid the IP restriction.

But you know, at the end of the day it's just not worth all this hassle. All the rules / regulations, FSN Ohios lack of reds HD coverage, have just killed my desire to even watch baseball this year.

So instead of MLB getting a few of my dollars as well as those associated with the parts I was going to need, have lost what's to them a few dollars, but to me it's a big deal.

Maybe next season MLB will get it's head on straight, and get it's act together. Instead of treating paying customers like thieves.

[paule123]

Double check before you order MLB TV. The site says there will be blackouts on Saturdays between 1-7pm. If I remember correctly, they didn't enforce the blackout for the 1st month or 2 last year, but by June the games were blacked out just like the MLB EI package.

From MLB TV: "Regular Season Weekend U.S. National Live Blackout: Due to Major League Baseball exclusivities, live games occurring each Saturday with a scheduled start time after 1:10 PM ET or before 7:05 PM ET and each Sunday with a scheduled start time after 5:00 PM ET, will be blacked out in the United States (including the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands)."

It might cost you a few more bucks in the long run, but I'd suggest doing the monthly sub plan for MLB TV, so you can cancel if they start blacking games out.

If MLB.TV is still doing this blackout routine, then that's really sad. I dropped MLB.TV a couple years ago because they blacked out the postseason playoff games televised on Fox.

[colebert]

The only way to get Saturday afternoon games on MLB.tv is to have an IP address outside the Continential US. So that means either live outside the US or get a proxy/tunnel provider that will show a non-US IP to MLB.tv.

[Msguy]

Wow there are alot of replies to this topic. I've been upset about the FOX Exclusive late Saturday afternoon broadcast window for years now. Why in the hell can't this stupid rule be reversed and the contract restructured. If MLB Was Smart they would reverse this stupid rule and end the Saturday monopoly it has on FOX. Maybe if every fan who cared would send Bud Selig a letter and flood his desk with requests to end this stupid rule maybe something could get done this season. They need to put all of the other FOX Regional games on the MLB EI Package as well. Every game should be available.

[zimm7778]

Wow there are alot of replies to this topic. I've been upset about the FOX Exclusive late Saturday afternoon broadcast window for years now. Why in the hell can't this stupid rule be reversed and the contract restructured. If MLB Was Smart they would reverse this stupid rule and end the Saturday monopoly it has on FOX. Maybe if every fan who cared would send Bud Selig a letter and flood his desk with requests to end this stupid rule maybe something could get done this season. They need to put all of the other FOX Regional games on the MLB EI Package as well. Every game should be available.

Unfortunately, as much as we can complain, the truth of the matter is we as MLB EI subs don't give MLB nearly the revenue they get from the broadcasters such as Fox and ESPN. We are not going to be anywhere near the top of their TV priority list.

[Jestr40]

Unfortunately, as much as we can complain, the truth of the matter is we as MLB EI subs don't give MLB nearly the revenue they get from the broadcasters such as Fox and ESPN. We are not going to be anywhere near the top of their TV priority list.

Not to mention it gets "us" riled up, BUT the other 99% of the baseball watching population pays no attention to it.

[GlennDio]

The only way to get Saturday afternoon games on MLB.tv is to have an IP address outside the Continential US. So that means either live outside the US or get a proxy/tunnel provider that will show a non-US IP to MLB.tv.

for the 4pm/6pm games yes ... the 1pm games are shown on MLB.TV but not available in EI

[nitty316]

I understand all the rules, but it is really stupid that these games are blacked out for people that have MLBEI. I don't see how that hurts Fox at all. People will watch their broadcast and see their advertisers.

[xzi]

for the 4pm/6pm games yes ... the 1pm games are shown on MLB.TV but not available in EI

That's because there was only a 4PM game this week on FOX.

Once they start doing 1PM and 4PM games depending on where you are in the country, the MLB.tv stuff will be blacked out too. Trust me, they aren't excempt, those feeds are for outside the US and that's all.

[davidatl14]

All Fox Saturday Games are 4:00PM starts.


Made this time change last season.

No 1:00PM games were broadcast by Fox last season, nor are there any 1:00PM games scheduled for this season.

[DodgerKing]

All Fox Saturday Games are 4:00PM starts.


Made this time change last season.

No 1:00PM games were broadcast by Fox last season, nor are there any 1:00PM games scheduled for this season.

That depends on the time zone. Here on the left coast, it is 1:00pm :p

[Satelliteracer]

If MLB.TV is still doing this blackout routine, then that's really sad. I dropped MLB.TV a couple years ago because they blacked out the postseason playoff games televised on Fox.

Yes, mlbtv.com is required to enforce the same blackouts that DIRECTV and InDemand are. They are the same on Saturday for everyone.

[machavez00]

The Saturday blackout, as mentioned above, predates FOX and was in place when NBC had "Game of the Week" When cable came to Phoenix in the late '70's, the Braves(WTBS), Mets(then WOR), and Cub's(WGN) games were blacked out on Saturdays. ESPN was showing Ping Pong.

[Jestr40]

Yes, mlbtv.com is required to enforce the same blackouts that DIRECTV and InDemand are. They are the same on Saturday for everyone.

Thanks, great to hear from you.:)

...anything different this year than last year on the SD4 feeds?

[wilsonc]

And to make it even worse the marlins moved their sat. games to 6pm due to post game concerts now making these games unavailable

But being in Orlando, that should not be a problem for you.

[GlennDio]

Yes, mlbtv.com is required to enforce the same blackouts that DIRECTV and InDemand are. They are the same on Saturday for everyone.

yes but this saturday (and all of last season?) MLB.TV showed the 1pm games meanwhile both D* and CableEI didn't show anything but local games and WGN games ...

[davidatl14]

That depends on the time zone. Here on the left coast, it is 1:00pm :p

You are correct DodgerKing.

My mistake in not specifying East Coast Time.:lol:

[Chilcoot]

MLB has no interest in catering to us. Why? Because we're the baseball kooks. We're already customers, 100%, we're not going anywhere. They can charge us anything, make our teams wear pink, and punch our mothers in the face. Doesn't matter to us. Oh sure, we'll gripe like crazy. But we'll do it in line to get back into the stadium, or while ordering more game broadcasts from yet another provider. We're baseball kooks.

Everything MLB does is to appeal to casual fans. That's where there's potential growth. And so every decision they make, such as kowtowing to Fox, is with the goal of attracting people who aren't already crazed zombies for baseball.

Here, I'll prove my point: Go A's!

[Pete K.]

GlennDio is correct. MLB.TV does not black out any Saturday MLB game starting before 1:10 p.m. Last season, the Yankees, Cubs, Blue Jays and Mets had numerous 1:05 p. starts, all of which were available to MLB.TV subscribers. As far as I know, the same rules are in effect for 2009. Games starting around 4 p.m. EDT were blacked out on MLB.TV as well as MLB EI.

[JAYPB]

With MLB.TV can you watch a replay of a Saturday game after it ends...i.e it's blacked out for a 1:10pm start but it's available at 9pm that Saturday night if you want to throw it on and watch it. I guess archived viewing would be the term?

:confused:

[Sori4Mvp]

You know these blackouts on Saturday really drive me crazy. Now that Fox only has a 4:10 PM ET start time, why the hell are we blacked out of games that start prior to 1:10 PM ET? If the game starts at 1:05 we should be allowed to watch that game. So let me get this straight, instead we just have to sit there on a Saturday afternoon and not watch any baseball at 1 PM??? How is this a good business practice? Especially after shelling out close to 200 bucks for the EI Package. I just don't get it, that has to be fixed! You know if Fox had a 1PM ET and 4 PM ET I could understand it more, I still wouldn't be happy, but I would understand it. Right now it just makes ZERO sense to blackout the 1 PM ET games when their coverage doesn't start till 4:10 PM ET! Ridiculous!

Anyway, on to another blackout topic. Do you guys remember back in the day, Oh, I guess late 90's maybe on into the early 00's when ESPN had Wednesday Night double headers at 7PMET and 10 PMET? Remember when in addition to being blacked out all afternoon on Saturdays we were also blacked out on Wed nights on all games that started at 7PM and later? That freaking sucked!!!! I remember this first happening like in '97 or '98 maybe on my old C Band dish. Then I remember it still occurring on DTV when I first switched to that back in '99. Eventually it was dropped and then later on Wed Night baseball ceased to exist. That **** really pissed me off. I think in '01 or '02 would have been when they finally cut that **** out with the Wed Night blackouts. That used to suck!

[blackhawkzone]

just to piss off some people who dont want to get a canadian dish

Extra innings up in Canada has all of the other games on saturday afternoons plus the other fox games. in other words, you get to see it all

[teebeebee1]

You know these blackouts on Saturday really drive me crazy. Now that Fox only has a 4:10 PM ET start time, why the hell are we blacked out of games that start prior to 1:10 PM ET? If the game starts at 1:05 we should be allowed to watch that game. So let me get this straight, instead we just have to sit there on a Saturday afternoon and not watch any baseball at 1 PM??? How is this a good business practice? Especially after shelling out close to 200 bucks for the EI Package. I just don't get it, that has to be fixed! You know if Fox had a 1PM ET and 4 PM ET I could understand it more, I still wouldn't be happy, but I would understand it. Right now it just makes ZERO sense to blackout the 1 PM ET games when their coverage doesn't start till 4:10 PM ET! Ridiculous!

Anyway, on to another blackout topic. Do you guys remember back in the day, Oh, I guess late 90's maybe on into the early 00's when ESPN had Wednesday Night double headers at 7PMET and 10 PMET? Remember when in addition to being blacked out all afternoon on Saturdays we were also blacked out on Wed nights on all games that started at 7PM and later? That freaking sucked!!!! I remember this first happening like in '97 or '98 maybe on my old C Band dish. Then I remember it still occurring on DTV when I first switched to that back in '99. Eventually it was dropped and then later on Wed Night baseball ceased to exist. That **** really pissed me off. I think in '01 or '02 would have been when they finally cut that **** out with the Wed Night blackouts. That used to suck!

Ya i made that point about 5 pages ago, it still irks me

[BarryS14]

just to piss off some people who dont want to get a canadian dish

Extra innings up in Canada has all of the other games on saturday afternoons plus the other fox games. in other words, you get to see it all

Check out the MLB EI schedule from Bell TV in Canada. No Saturday afternoon blackouts at all:

http://www.bell.ca/web/tv/en/all_regions/pdfs/MLBschedule_April.pdf

Thanks MLB.

[tbpb3]

Wow there are alot of replies to this topic. I've been upset about the FOX Exclusive late Saturday afternoon broadcast window for years now. Why in the hell can't this stupid rule be reversed and the contract restructured. If MLB Was Smart they would reverse this stupid rule and end the Saturday monopoly it has on FOX. Maybe if every fan who cared would send Bud Selig a letter and flood his desk with requests to end this stupid rule maybe something could get done this season. They need to put all of the other FOX Regional games on the MLB EI Package as well. Every game should be available.

Still better than the old days when we had one choice The NBC game of the week,a long time ago

[PhilipDC]

I wish FOX at least provided Directv with alternate game feeds for the regional broadcasts. CBS has always done this for college basketball, etc.

[Unknown]

I thought FOX has the right to afternoon and games that started at 3:05 PM cannot be shown on TV at all. will today a Toronto vs Oakland game was shown live on Rogers sportsnet. i thought that was againist the rules.

[BarryS14]

I thought FOX has the right to afternoon and games that started at 3:05 PM cannot be shown on TV at all. will today a Toronto vs Oakland game was shown live on Rogers sportsnet. i thought that was againist the rules.

It was shown in Canada since they do not ahere to the FOX blackout rules. Did anyone in the Oakland area able to see the game on CSN California or was it blacked out?

[Msguy]

Yeah Canada has different broadcast rules than we do here in the United States. They can show Saturday Afternoon games.

[ziggy29]

Still better than the old days when we had one choice The NBC game of the week,a long time ago
Of course, we weren't paying close to $200 a year for MLBEI so we wouldn't be held hostage to one game in particular.

And once again the Fox Saturday game was crappy, so instead of keeping us watching by switching to a better game, I turned it off.

[Msguy]

Of course, we weren't paying close to $200 a year for MLBEI so we wouldn't be held hostage to one game in particular.

And once again the Fox Saturday game was crappy, so instead of keeping us watching by switching to a better game, I turned it off.

The best alternative is to get an XM Satellite Radio and listen to your teams broadcast that way. I've listened to XM Many Times on Saturdays instead of watching FOX's Saturday Baseball game of the week. If My Cubs are on FOX i'll watch FOX. If not. I listen to the radio call.

[Eksynyt]

I don't understand why MLB is not on Sirius yet...Sirius and XM merged, so all of the games should be on Sirius too

[JoeS]

This may sound childish - but as an XM subscriber I'm kinda glad Sirius dosent get MLB.


"They" (SIRI) hijacked all XM's music channels in favor of their crappier repetitive music stations. So now in return XM keeps MLB exclusive to even the playing field.

This makes no sense but it helps me sleep at night.

[JoeS]

To get back on topic that we beat to death - I know nothing is going to change coverage wise with the blackouts, I just wish teams would simply avoid scheduling Sat afternoon games that are non-Fox. I can deal with missing maybe a game or 2 at most, but it seems this year - so far- 1/3rd of the Saturday schedule seems to be during the blackout window.

[davidatl14]

To get back on topic that we beat to death - I know nothing is going to change coverage wise with the blackouts, I just wish teams would simply avoid scheduling Sat afternoon games that are non-Fox. I can deal with missing maybe a game or 2 at most, but it seems this year - so far- 1/3rd of the Saturday schedule seems to be during the blackout window.


Exactly, whining about the Fox Saturday blackout situation is pointless.

What TPTB at MLB can control for the rest of the Saturday's that are under the length of the Fox Contract are the Saturday Schedules.

Simple fix- All Saturday baseball games are prohibited from being scheduled before 7:00PM East Coast Time no exceptions other than possible Doubleheaders resulting from weather postponements.

Then let Fox select two games (weather) to be placed in the 3:30ish slot every week.

Every other game gets a 7PM east coast start time or later.

[coolyman]

MLBTV on mlb.com is your friend on Sat mornings, no blackouts

Not true. Even with MLB.TV you cannot not watch any of the Fox games, including the one in your market. OTOH, I can just wait until that evening and watch the whole game after it's over. It's not the same but it's better than getting screwed completely.

[JAYPB]

Not true. Even with MLB.TV you cannot not watch any of the Fox games, including the one in your market. OTOH, I can just wait until that evening and watch the whole game after it's over. It's not the same but it's better than getting screwed completely.

And that's my annoyance factor with the MLB EI package. I record EVERY Indians game off of STO and watch them---sometimes a week later sometimes that night...but I always watch them. Having said that, there are times where my D* DVR misses the end of a game because it runs long, there was a rain delay, Rafael Betancourt has pitched to 5 batters...or just doesn't record for one reason or another (rain/storms cause the signal to go out, the power is out so it doesn't catch the start/middle/end of a game) and I'd LOVE to be able to record the replay (which is on multiple times after the game is over overnight/into the AM/afternoon on the following day)....yet I'm blacked out from STO b/c I'm out of market on replays....even though I"m paying for the right to watch a "live" game.

The fact that MLB.TV allows you to watch replays seems just a wee bit inconsistent in the grand scheme of things as far as pay services go. Add to that the fact that MLB.TV subs can watch the Saturday games a few hours after they end (after the blackout window is "over") and I can't....and I'm even MORE annoyed.

I understand that RSN/TV/Network rules come into play on D*...but c'mon. What's good for the goose should be good for the gander....or some crap like that.

:nono:

[alevine1986]

To get back on topic that we beat to death - I know nothing is going to change coverage wise with the blackouts, I just wish teams would simply avoid scheduling Sat afternoon games that are non-Fox. I can deal with missing maybe a game or 2 at most, but it seems this year - so far- 1/3rd of the Saturday schedule seems to be during the blackout window.

As a Mets fan, I really like this idea. The Mets have played every Saturday game during the day this year. The one time they were on Fox, there were constant inneruptions for local weather updates on the storm we were having and then the Cowboys practice bubble collapsed and that was the end of Dallas' Fox coverage of the Mets/Phillies.