MLB To Revisit Blackout Rules?
Posted by Andrew on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Bob DuPay, MLB's president and chief operating officer, wants to look at the league's broadcast blackout rules. The current rules were written back in the 1960s before cable, satellite, and internet TV. The new rules could be in place as early as the 2009 season. From DuPay:
If a market is underserved and a club is not broadcasting, either over the air or through cable, or attempting to do so, it would be opened up to the out-of-market packages.
"Underserved"? Like Iowa, where I can't get Twins, Royals, Cardinals, Cubs, White Sox, or Brewers games? Of course, this isn't out of the goodness of the league's heart. There is big money to be had from satellite packages and MLB.tv that people in blackout markets are more than willing to pay if only they'd acutally get to see their favorite team.
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MLB's blackout rules are by far the strictest. With NBA league pass I often watched out of market broadcasts of Twolves games. Even two years ago when I didn't have it, I once watched a Grizzlies broadcast of the Wolves. Basically, you should always be able to watch a broadcast of your team if there is one, especially if you'e paying an assload of money for it.
the NHL is not as strict too. I can watch out-of-market Wild games when the home broadcast is on channel 45 (which I dont get) or if there is no tv.
May I also say that the NHL Center Ice is a fantastic package to get, just to watch the Saturday 'Hockey Night in Canada'.
If Don Cherry isn't the best dressed man on the Tube I don't know who is.
I understand the premise behind the blackouts, but it has been poorly implemented. It's ridiculous when fans are given zero options to watch their favorite teams.
Also, the Fox blackouts on Saturdays really bug me. They've become regionalized, so even when the Twins are on Fox, I still can't watch it unless they are playing one of the teams out West. These games are supposed to allow me to watch teams outside of my market, but 90 percent of the time the Fox game out here is either the Angels or the Dodgers, who, of course, I can watch every day on one of the FSN channels.
I think all blackout rules are outdated and stupid. They are relics from a past where the majority of income was generated at the ballpark. Now the majority comes from television revenue.
Television is also a great promoter for live sports. Much more a complement than a substitute in my mind.
Blackouts are really frustrating when you're paying for mlb.tv. Do they really think I want to watch the game in crap-O-vision on my 12" laptop monitor instead of in HD on my 61" tv? I'd watch it on my TV every time if I could.
The whole state of Texas is blacked out for both the Rangers and Astros. So when the Twins play the Rangers, I can't watch when games are broadcast only in Dallas or Houston. Austin is about a 3 hour drive to either of them and I don't get whatever channel they broadcast on locally and no Austin station broadcasts them.
So on the days when I'm likely to actually want to watch a Rangers broadcast (i.e. when the Twins are playing them), I often can't watch them on either my TV or mlb.tv.
There was a quote in Moneyball that I think was referencing Bill James' work. It basically said that the baseball guru insiders didn't want the outside to have all their detailed information, and that if they could, they would play in an empty stadium to have all the rights to all the stats and everything. Something along those lines. It's really gettin' to be that way. How soon before playoff games are treated like Pay-Per-View Wrestling events? Sure, you can watch the World Series, just pay 29.95.