[Msguy]

Someone please explain this to me. I'm going to explain very carefully how this situation is. Tonight on ESPN The Cardinals are starting a huge 4 game series against Milwaukee. Sometimes I get blacked out from ESPN Games when the Cardinals are on ESPN. But Sometimes the Game is on ESPN for me. I Do Not Live In Cardinals Territory. I live in Atlanta and Cincinnati Territory But I live fairly Close to St. Louis Cardinals Territory but I am not in it. Sometimes it is litterally a toss up. Tonight ESPN is on for me on channel 206 and I am also getting the game from FSN Wisconsin which of course is Brewers Feed and also I can get FSN Midwest which is the Cardinals Feed. I Cannot Receive KSDK from St. Louis when the Cardinals are on that channel. Someone shed some light for me on this. Sometimes the Cardinals are on ESPN like tonight and i can see it but sometimes they are blacked out on ESPN. It just so happens that tonight's game is on ESPN for me. Why does it do that? Why am i able to see tonight's game on ESPN? and Sometimes I cannot. WHY? I'm not in St. Louis boadcast territory at all. my Zip Code is 38834. Also a few Weeks ago the Cardinals had a game on TBS on Sunday Afternoon and I was blacked out from the TBS Feed.

 

[tftc22]

Looking at this map (which was linked to in TBS thread), it looks like you are just outside of Cardinals territory. As far as I can tell, ESPN and TBS are slightly off on their blackouts. I know TBS is off with their blackouts (or at least using a different blackout method other than zip codes such as DMA) because I was able to view a Cubs game on there even though I am on the very edge of Cubs territory. (I'm not a Cubs fan but I'm just using that as an example). Since you could view both feeds during the Extra Innings preview, it seems as though you are indeed not in Cardinals territory. Check channel 664 tonight. If you can get that game, then you actually ARE in Cardinals territory. (It should be blacked out if you are out-of-market even with the free preview). Honestly I'm not quite sure what's going on with your situation.

Edit: Also, ESPN has non-exclusive rights on Monday nights so there were no blackouts at all for ESPN tonight.

 

[jazzyd971fm]

From what I understand, ESPN has the option to lift the blackout in the home market (can't remember where I heard this, maybe another thread ?) 2 to 3 times a year. They usually announce this before the broadcast. They did lift the blackout June 30 for the Cards/Mets game in St.Louis. With this week being the free week for MLB Extra Innings, maybe that had something to do with it, I'm not sure. Otherwise we are blackout on ESPN for the FSN Midwest broadcast.