Any progress between MLB and E*?

[chikagobnd]

Just wondering if anyone has heard anything regarding the possibility of any movement between MLB and E* regarding MLB EI and/or MLB Network for 2010? I suspect I know the answer, and you don't need to tell me all your reasons why E* shouldn't offer it...just curious if anything has progressed.

 

[--sexy-warlock--]

I doubt the MLB will ever be fair in their terms.

 

[TigerpounceTN]

Their terms seem fair enough to everyone else.

 

[STEELERSRULE]

It has progressed as far as the NFL Network becoming available to people with Cablevision and Time Warner Cable.

Meaning it has gone nowhere, and will not move anywhere in the near future until the deal ends in 2014.

 

[SpaethCo]

Their terms seem fair enough to everyone else.

Just to be clear, in this case "everyone else" is only DirecTV and InDemand (who represents all of the major cable companies). Both paid an estimated $700 million for MLB:EI for 7 seasons.

 

[bschulte]

Just to be clear, in this case "everyone else" is only DirecTV and InDemand (who represents all of the major cable companies). Both paid an estimated $700 million for MLB:EI for 7 seasons.

So who else is there? DISH and minor cable companies? If you look at the customers served by DirecTV and the major cable companies, I'd suspect it dwarfs the number served by DISH and minor cable companies. If anyone has some estimated numbers, I'd love to see them.

 

[TigerpounceTN]

I am not 100% sure, but I believe Dish is the largest television provider without the MLB Extra Innings package or MLB Network. If a deal was coming then it would have already come. Both parties are stubborn. I don't really care because I only care about the Atlanta Braves and I am in their market. For other teams, which I do watch at times, mlb.tv offers better quality than the SD found on cable. You just need broadband.

 

[Curtis0620]

I am not 100% sure, but I believe Dish is the largest television provider without the MLB Extra Innings package or MLB Network. If a deal was coming then it would have already come. Both parties are stubborn. I don't really care because I only care about the Atlanta Braves and I am in their market. For other teams, which I do watch at times, mlb.tv offers better quality than the SD found on cable. You just need broadband.

DISH cannot get the MLB Network or Package until the current contract with MLB is up.

 

[Juan]

14 miilion customers aint chump change

 

[Juan]

DISH cannot get the MLB Network or Package until the current contract with MLB is up.

says who? its not an exclusive contract

 

[Curtis0620]

says who? its not an exclusive contract

For Satellite, yes it is.

 

[--sexy-warlock--]

I am not 100% sure, but I believe Dish is the largest television provider without the MLB Extra Innings package or MLB Network. If a deal was coming then it would have already come. Both parties are stubborn. I don't really care because I only care about the Atlanta Braves and I am in their market. For other teams, which I do watch at times, mlb.tv offers better quality than the SD found on cable. You just need broadband.

If it was anything like this past season. You need infinite patience to view games in HD. I, along with thousands of others, constantly had our feeds skip, and revert to SD no matter what measure was taken, and no matter how good the internet connection was.

I do agree though, mlb.tv is a stroke of genius, and if it is fixed, I will be a subscriber for life.

 

[TigerpounceTN]

If it was anything like this past season. You need infinite patience to view games in HD. I, along with thousands of others, constantly had our feeds skip, and revert to SD no matter what measure was taken, and no matter how good the internet connection was.

I do agree though, mlb.tv is a stroke of genius, and if it is fixed, I will be a subscriber for life.

I tried it for a month and liked it a lot. I didn't have many issues, but I mostly used it to watch the Tigers and flip around to different games every few days. I guess I would have seen more problems if I used it more and for the entire season. That type of distribution is eventually going to be very common.

 

[chikagobnd]

If it was anything like this past season. You need infinite patience to view games in HD. I, along with thousands of others, constantly had our feeds skip, and revert to SD no matter what measure was taken, and no matter how good the internet connection was.

I do agree though, mlb.tv is a stroke of genius, and if it is fixed, I will be a subscriber for life.

Yeah, I had MLB.TV last year and it was terrible! I just went ahead with the Gameday Audio broadcasts. If they get those problems straightened out though, I suppose Roku would be a nice alternative as it streams MLB.TV and goes straight to the TV rather than the computer.

 

[ReconPJ]

Dish won't add a network that is out of season. Maybe next April...

 

[Juan]

For Satellite, yes it is.

link please

 

[Curtis0620]

link please

Article: UPDATE 1-DirecTV, MLB extend, expand 'Extra Innings' deal. | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy

 

[jrp]

Article: UPDATE 1-DirecTV, MLB extend, expand 'Extra Innings' deal. | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy

Nothing in the article say the agreement is exclusive, just that it would be if no other company chooses to proportionally match the terms.

 

[Curtis0620]

Nothing in the article say the agreement is exclusive, just that it would be if no other company chooses to proportionally match the terms.

MLB, DIRECTV expand multi-year agreement | MLB.com: Official Info

No MLB on DISH for 7 Years

 

[SpaethCo]

It's not a DirecTV exclusive -- just any provider that comes in has to match the current buy-in rate to get the package. I misspoke earlier about there being only 2 companies in contract; Verizon recently bought into the contract to get MLB:EI for their FiOS TV offering, but Verizon is also fiercely competing with cable providers who offer MLB:EI thanks to the collective bargaining they did under the InDemand name. Dish already offered MLB:EI in the past, so they know about what their subscriber buy-in rate would be, and they probably know it would be a money losing effort to sign up for the deal.

DirecTV has been marketing itself as the leader in sports for a few years now; the majority of the people who would sign up for MLB:EI have already gone over to the dark side.