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D'backs management: Want our games? Fork it over.

They're going to continue the deal with MLB, only offering games online, with cable and satellite carriage TBD. Unlike the free OTA Suns and Coyotes games, the D'backs will cost $99.95 for the season, or $19.95/month.

This is not a shock whatsoever, given that managing owner Ken Kendrick has made it clear for years that he will not allow his team to be seen for free. All this while at the same time he's trying to steal more tax dollars from us to either fix Chase Field or build him a new ballpark. The man is a billionaire. He can build his own ballpark.

 
The price is a slight discount from the single team price from MLB.com. The season price there is $129.

Local RSNs typically charge $10 a month for an entire year. So its not outrageous.

The idea that any team was going to do an entire season on free OTA TV seemed far fetched to me.
 
They're going to continue the deal with MLB, only offering games online, with cable and satellite carriage TBD. Unlike the free OTA Suns and Coyotes games, the D'backs will cost $99.95 for the season, or $19.95/month.

This is not a shock whatsoever, given that managing owner Ken Kendrick has made it clear for years that he will not allow his team to be seen for free. All this while at the same time he's trying to steal more tax dollars from us to either fix Chase Field or build him a new ballpark. The man is a billionaire. He can build his own ballpark.
The Bally Sports RSN here carries our MLB team's games. If one gets the standard sports package from Comcast, Bally is included - otherwise they also charge $19.99/month to stream/watch. Our NBA team is on a different Bally Sports RSN - again included with Comcast, but if that wasn't the case, you'd need to pay $40/month in total if you wanted to stream both major league basketball and baseball.
 
Exactly. Why bother? I don't have cable TV anymore, so Root Sports is out of the question - but I do listen to Rick Rizzs' PBP of the Mariners on the radio and it's just as exciting. The Diamondbacks have affiliates all over AZ from Safford to Lake Havasu.
 
It's been interesting observing in 2023/24 how 3 of Phoenix 4 major sports programs had/are having TV issues. With the NFL being national, most Cardinal games are seen on 'free TV.' Exceptions are Monday and Thursday nights.
 
They're going to continue the deal with MLB, only offering games online, with cable and satellite carriage TBD. Unlike the free OTA Suns and Coyotes games, the D'backs will cost $99.95 for the season, or $19.95/month.

This is not a shock whatsoever, given that managing owner Ken Kendrick has made it clear for years that he will not allow his team to be seen for free. All this while at the same time he's trying to steal more tax dollars from us to either fix Chase Field or build him a new ballpark. The man is a billionaire. He can build his own ballpark.

I think Scripps and Gray we're not responsive enough, San Diego Padres is yet to sign a deal with either Scripps (KGTV), Nexstar (KUSI and KSWB), and Tegna (KFMB) to replace Bally. But SD has 5 commercially licensed stations, but theoratically if KUSI joins CW in a few years, Tegna might have to choose either Fox's MNTV or the Padres rights on channel 8.2.
 
It's been interesting observing in 2023/24 how 3 of Phoenix 4 major sports programs had/are having TV issues. With the NFL being national, most Cardinal games are seen on 'free TV.' Exceptions are Monday and Thursday nights.
Locally ESPN and Amazon games are syndcated to their designated media market, in Phoenix and Tucson the ESPN and Amazon feeds are blocked in favor being shown on a random FTA station mostly outside of of the BIG 4 networks.
 
MLB is the most backwards-thinking sports league, so this is hardly a surprise. They have to prop up their unsustainable business model in the worst way while at the same time wondering why the sport is declining in relevance.

OTA was never an option because there's too many games to carry and the broadcasters could never meet the team's ridiculously high demands. Likewise, any sucker willing to waste $99 a year is not going to physically watch every single game. So it is tacitly gouging the consumer.
 
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Locally ESPN and Amazon games are syndcated to their designated media market, in Phoenix and Tucson the ESPN and Amazon feeds are blocked in favor being shown on a random FTA station mostly outside of of the BIG 4 networks.
Are you sure about ESPN and Amazon being blocked where an NFL game is carried OTA in the home markets? I’m in Houston and the cable or streaming feeds are always available even when one of those games is available OTA.

There was one time the Texans were on both Amazon Prime and simulcast on one of our local stations. Oddly, the OTA broadcast was 25 seconds behind the stream.🤔
 
MLB is the most backwards-thinking sports league, so this is hardly a surprise. They have to prop up their unsustainable business model in the worst way while at the same time wondering why the sport is declining in relevance.

OTA was never an option because there's too many games to carry and the broadcasters could never meet the team's ridiculously high demands. Likewise, any sucker willing to waste $99 a year is not going to physically watch every single game. So it is tacitly gouging the consumer.
If you're a serious fan of a baseball team, and that team has a memorable season (championship, winning, surprising), even 81 of those 162 games for a hundred bucks is a bargain, not a waste of money. Being gouged is paying the NFL/YouTube three times that amount to watch every damn game on 18 Sundays. By the way, MLB will let you watch a couple of thousand games a season from all over the league, every day of the week, from late March through early October, for about $150.

Non-sports fans don't "get" sports fans. The never have, never will. Even if they occasionally dress like mascots.
 
Are you sure about ESPN and Amazon being blocked where an NFL game is carried OTA in the home markets? I’m in Houston and the cable or streaming feeds are always available even when one of those games is available OTA.

There was one time the Texans were on both Amazon Prime and simulcast on one of our local stations. Oddly, the OTA broadcast was 25 seconds behind the stream.🤔
the broadband and the lag have always been the issue especially when u talk about the game on social media as well as stream it into a sports bar, hotel, and restaurants with multiple screens.
 
Apparently Diamondbacks and MLB will most likely announce the Pay TV providers and Channels games will be broadcast on this coming week possibly the day before Opening Day as they are still negotiating. Also, Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall said they looked at Gray TV and Scripps, came close, and they are not ruling out OTA broadcast in the future.
 
With Opening Day today, the Diamondbacks have just announced this morning which Pay TV providers will carry their games and on what Channel Numbers. Apparently it will be COX Channel 34 in Phoenix and Channel 26 in Tucson, DirecTV Channel 686, Spectrum Channels 304 and 444, and Xfinity/Comcast Channel 1261.

 
With Opening Day today, the Diamondbacks have just announced this morning which Pay TV providers will carry their games and on what Channel Numbers.

So basically the team itself has become its own syndicator of content, rather then employing an intermediary.
 
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