Ion Network and Baseball

[tv_buzz_chick]

Hey all! New poster but a long-time reader of the forum.

Can someone PLEASE explain to me why the ION network out of Daytona and Melbourne have any right at all to carry Tampa Bay Rays games in the Orlando area?

I have MLB Extra Innings for a reason. I live in Longwood and am subject to all the Rays games being blacked out and shown sporatically on ION. They don't have every game and their quality is the worst I have ever seen. The color is totally washed out and the color scale is WAY off. Okay, they are supposedly a tv station, have they ever heard of checking their wave-form vectorscope?

And why is Tampa blacked out on MLB Extra Innings? Since when is Orlando a "local viewing" area when we are only seeing maybe 2 games a week on horrible Ion. So where are the other 4 or 5 games a week we can't see since Ion doesn't broadcast every game?

I called Brighthouse and they can't tell me anything.

Either make it available to paying customers of MLB Extra Innings or make it exclusive on Ion and actually care about the broadcast quality, or don't show them at all because it looks like cable access. Ion claims to be in HD. Not in Central Florida it isn't.

Am I the only one who is highly irritated at this?

[stevenl]

People watch rays games?

But to answer the question I am not sure. I think Orlando would be considerd "Local" for ray games because the next closet team is Miami... It also sucks during NFL time because we have so many teams Miami, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville and Orlando is full of fans from all three so its tough if your a fan of either to find a game in Orlando..

[Iceberg]

Orlando is considered Rays territory so you are blacked out of all games on EI...period

The RSN's have the games (Sunshine Network and FSN Florida) but looking at the Rays site, here is their OTA group of stations that carry the Ion games..wonder if that is their "local" market too...remember...MLB EI is an out of market plan. You wont get any of your "home" team games in it.

I've seen the OTA games via satellite and while they aren't the best picture, its better than what you describe

[tv_buzz_chick]

I actually have MLB EI because I am a life-long Boston fan. I think it's rediculous that they (Boston) can play in our supposed "local market" and are blacked out. Ion only carries certain games and the rest are out in the ether somewhere because of the blackout.

[iceturkee]

sorry, back to the original post........you wouldn't have this problem if you had directv. i get dray games and in hd too.

being able to watch the marlins was one of the main reasons i cancelled my cable sub early in 2007. sorry, but don't expect to watch any tampa or florida games on bhn anytime soon.

they went through the entire orlando magic season and never negotiated adding fsn florida. no need to refresh what the quibbling point is....i'm sure steven will be happy to fill you in!

[stevenl]

Yes Sucks the magic decided to alienate 950k of their potential viewers.

BHN Has been Negotiating with FSN since lord knows when and still are. The fact of the matter is though unless they come down in price, or agree to be on a higher tier then BHN will not add them. Negotiations are two way streets, its not one sides fault nor another's. When they find the common ground then an agreement will be reached..

Look at Local6 and BHN. Both side agreed to some concessions and an agreement was made. I don't see FSN conceded to anything to get on BHN's service. Because BHN is more valuable to FSN then the other way around. Local6 saw that, FSN should to.

[1980ws]

I left BHN after 4 years of waiting for FSN. I enjoy baseball and am thrilled at being able to see Rays & Marlins games. ION is much better on D* than cable. I can't understand now why I waited so long to switch.

[Iceberg]

welcome 1980ws to Satelliteguys

[Geronimo]

It is not really the ION Network carrying the game. it is that that ownership group bought the local rights to some games. Personally I think that it is a good idea for a team--especially a struggling team like the rays---to put some games on OTA to try to recruit new fans.

but then you get issues like whether you can receive those stations and the quality of their broadcasts.

[Iceberg]

I have MLB Extra Innings for a reason. I live in Longwood and am subject to all the Rays games being blacked out and shown sporatically on ION. They don't have every game and their quality is the worst I have ever seen. The color is totally washed out and the color scale is WAY off. Okay, they are supposedly a tv station, have they ever heard of checking their wave-form vectorscope?

it must be something at that station. I'm watching the Rays/O's game right now on WBIF (RTN Panama City via the big C-Band dish) and the picture looks just as good as the feed coming from WXPX and they both look pretty good. Picture isnt washed out at all