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MLB Blackout Rules Will Be Challenged - Class Action Lawsuit Filed

K

KeithE4

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Unfortunately, it'll probably be "later" rather than "sooner," given the court system.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin (no relation to Judge Judy or her husband, AFAIK) has already ruled that the policy is anti-competitive and allowed the lawsuit to go on. But I can see MLB settling since I doubt that Kennesaw Molehill Selig will want their arrangements with the RSNs exposed in open court.

About.com - Scott Kendrick
 
Like all class actions, the attorneys filing it will walk away with several million dollars.
We baseball fans will each get a voucher for a free hot dog the next time we go to the ballpark.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
Like all class actions, the attorneys filing it will walk away with several million dollars.
We baseball fans will each get a voucher for a free hot dog the next time we go to the ballpark.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and it'll only be good on Dollar Hot Dog Day.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
Like all class actions, the attorneys filing it will walk away with several million dollars.
Click to expand...

Which will, of course, come from an increase in ticket prices and/or TV rights fees.

We baseball fans will each get a voucher for a free hot dog the next time we go to the ballpark.
Click to expand...

I'd prefer a free beer. Ballpark hot dogs are horrible (at least those sold at Chase Field are). ;D

But as long as the blackouts are lifted, it's fine by me. And I have it better than most, being in Phoenix where only the D'backs are blacked out - except for the western suburbs (853xx ZIP codes), where they also black out the Padres.
 
The Rockies are NEVER blacked out unless they're (And they're always one of THE WORST teams in all of MLB). This of course doesn't include games on MLB Network as well as ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain (In this event, MLB Network always blacks out the game on MLB Network either by replacing it with a blank screen or usually with alternate programming)

Cheers & 73 :D
 
As a satellite customer in the Philadelphia market, I hope the blackout rules will be ended, or atleast modify where anybody has access to their local team. Comcast for years blocked directv, & dish from picking up comcast sports net, and now that the fcc has closed the loophole that allowed them to straight up deny the channel, they now are asking for a outrageous carriage fee.

Despite MLB knowing this, they still blackout all Phillies games on MLB extra innings, and mlb.tv
 
All Miami Marlins games could be blacked out, and nobody would notice. :D

cd
 
I still don't understand the concept behind blacking out a game in the home market. Do these baseball multimillionaires really believe that by not allowing me to watch a game, I will be more likely to go to the game? I could go with that if they dropped ticket prices to 10 bucks and every day was dollar dog day and so on. Show all the games on TV,, you get plenty of advertising dollars,, isn't that enough?
 
Pat Cook said:
The Rockies are NEVER blacked out unless they're (And they're always one of THE WORST teams in all of MLB). This of course doesn't include games on MLB Network as well as ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain (In this event, MLB Network always blacks out the game on MLB Network either by replacing it with a blank screen or usually with alternate programming)

Cheers & 73 :D
Click to expand...


The same can be said for the Chicago Cubs--in spite of being the worst team in the history of MLB I don't think we'll ever see a time where they don't sell out. ;D

(FWIW, I'm a St. Louis Cardinals fan--another team that won't have to worry about blackouts for good reason).
 
MLB blackouts, are, to my knowledge unrelated to attendance at the home ballpark. There are many many games that do not sell out in MLB.

The blackouts that MLB does have are related to geography, because MLB clubs claim geography as "theirs," and they give exclusive cable rights in that region to their partner RSN. But, even if someone doesn't receive that particular RSN on their cable or dish service, they are blacked out of any other means to watch the game such as the MLB TV app, or the otherwise-national broadcast of ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball.
 
For example the Cleveland Indians are always blacked out at my house, even though I'm over
130 miles from Progressive Field.
 
Pat Cook said:
The Rockies are NEVER blacked out unless they're (And they're always one of THE WORST teams in all of MLB).
Click to expand...


The Rockies are blacked out from MLB Extra Innings and MLB.TV (which is what we're talking about here, not Fox, ESPN or your RSN and/or OTA affiliate) in all of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, & New Mexico, plus parts of Nebraska, Idaho, and South Dakota.
 
KeithE4 said:
Pat Cook said:
The Rockies are NEVER blacked out unless they're (And they're always one of THE WORST teams in all of MLB).
Click to expand...


The Rockies are blacked out from MLB Extra Innings and MLB.TV (which is what we're talking about here, not Fox, ESPN or your RSN and/or OTA affiliate) in all of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, & New Mexico, plus parts of Nebraska, Idaho, and South Dakota.
Click to expand...


IIRC the whole state of Iowa has games from 6 MLB teams blacked out from Extra Innings and MLB.TV: Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Brewers, Royals, and Twins.
 
sack said:
I still don't understand the concept behind blacking out a game in the home market. Do these baseball multimillionaires really believe that by not allowing me to watch a game, I will be more likely to go to the game? I could go with that if they dropped ticket prices to 10 bucks and every day was dollar dog day and so on. Show all the games on TV,, you get plenty of advertising dollars,, isn't that enough?
Click to expand...

you can usually pick up the game in the home market, problem is places where several teams claim but only one is on locally like in Iowa
 
The MLB.TV blackout rules are a crazy to say the least. Last time I checked, the Las Vegas area is blacked out from the Dodgers, Angels, Padres, D-Backs, Giants, and A's.
Thankfully, living in Arizona only has the D-Backs games blacked out. And the only games of theirs I would care about would be the 19 games against the Giants.
I also think the Saturday afternoon Fox blackout is dumb as well.
 
It doesn't make sense to me why MLB blacks out local market games on MLB.TV, given the sheer number of people who are cutting cable/satellite service altogether. I don't have any kind of TV subscription — I stream everything on a Roku — and I would gladly pay the $125 to get MLB.TV if they wouldn't black out the Braves where I live in northeast Alabama.

I wonder how much business MLB could be denying itself by enforcing the blackout on its streaming service, though there's no doubt that the bulk of their money comes by way of the TV agreements.
 
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