Baseball Blackout?????

[inazsully]

So I click on the MLB Network to watch the Tigers and the Red Sox only to get a message that it's blacked out in my area. Now since I live in Phoenix it highly unlikely that the blackout is going to entice me to go see the game live. Edit: I just called Dish and a very nice youg lady checked and discovered that the MLB Network is showing "blacked out" all across the country for the Tigers and Red Sox. I bet that just thrills the advertisers.

 

[JerryDowning]

I've got it here in the Chicago area.

 

[dwarren2]

Could be because Phoenix is playing Toronto tonight.

 

[king3pj]

This is common. MLB Network has 2 games at a time. They show their games regionally. They give you the one they think your region wants and black out the other. If the Tigers and Red Sox are blacked out in your region like they are in mine you get the Cardinals and Reds on the MLB Network Alternate channel. This channel is 478 on the Hopper. It may be different on older receivers.

On cable they don't use an alternate channel because cable is regional. The cable company for your region just puts the correct game on the main MLB Network channel. Dish could make this easier by putting MLB Network and MLB Network alternate next to each other in the guide. I bet most people don't even know the alternate on 478 exists.

They do the same thing with ESPN college football. Games will either be on ESPN 2 or ABC depending on which region you are in. Dish and Directv have to use alternate ESPN channels to show the correct game on ESPN2 while cable just puts it on the main ESPN2 channel. One problem with this is that Dish doesn't offer the ESPN Alts in HD. If the main ESPN2 game is on ABC in your area you have to watch your region's ESPN2 game in SD.

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[cashcobra]

So I click on the MLB Network to watch the Tigers and the Red Sox only to get a message that it's blacked out in my area. Now since I live in Phoenix it highly unlikely that the blackout is going to entice me to go see the game live. Edit: I just called Dish and a very nice youg lady checked and discovered that the MLB Network is showing "blacked out" all across the country for the Tigers and Red Sox. I bet that just thrills the advertisers.

To check on such things without calling in you can use the game finder to see if your game is televised and if so what channel http://www.mydish.com/gamefinder/?WT.svl=myaccountsubnav

 

[david_jr]

I've watched a half dozen Mets games on MLB Network this season and tonight planned to watch Mets vs. Blue Jays with Matt Harvey on the mound but the game is blacked out!!!! Why now are we blacked out when I've been able to watch all the other Mets games they've carried? Of course Nats vs. Rays is available on MLB alternate.

 

[dishcomm]

I've watched a half dozen Mets games on MLB Network this season and tonight planned to watch Mets vs. Blue Jays with Matt Harvey on the mound but the game is blacked out!!!! Why now are we blacked out when I've been able to watch all the other Mets games they've carried? Of course Nats vs. Rays is available on MLB alternate.

The game was on here in the Charlotte, NC market.....MLB network picked up the SNY Feed.
Not sure what happened. Could have been a glitch

 

[Deadlocked]

I've watched a half dozen Mets games on MLB Network this season and tonight planned to watch Mets vs. Blue Jays with Matt Harvey on the mound but the game is blacked out!!!! Why now are we blacked out when I've been able to watch all the other Mets games they've carried? Of course Nats vs. Rays is available on MLB alternate.

Maybe because it involved the Blue Jays the whole Northeast was given the blackout?


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[david_jr]

Maybe, but they're from CANADA!! Give me a break!! Mets games aren't normally blacked out here and they're a lot closer than the Blue Jays. The problem is no one can ever figure out how the blackout rules actually work.

 

[Tampa8]

I've watched a half dozen Mets games on MLB Network this season and tonight planned to watch Mets vs. Blue Jays with Matt Harvey on the mound but the game is blacked out!!!! Why now are we blacked out when I've been able to watch all the other Mets games they've carried? Of course Nats vs. Rays is available on MLB alternate.

You answered your own question. The game picked for your area was the Rays game. If you are thinking it is based on a game from a close market, it isn't. That is how FOX often does it.

 

[zippyfrog]

One problem with this is that Dish doesn't offer the ESPN Alts in HD. If the main ESPN2 game is on ABC in your area you have to watch your region's ESPN2 game in SD.

This drives me nuts...here in Chicago we are in Big 10 territory, and quite often the Big 10 game is the one that is on ESPN2, thus I have to watch the other game in SD since the HD Big 10 game in on ABC.

But with MLB Network, I have noticed, at least in Chicago, that if the game on 152 involves nationally popular teams (such as the Yankees, Braves, Dodgers, or Red Sox) or teams that could pull away from local viewership (other NL or AL Central teams) when the Cubs/White Sox are playing at the same time as the MLB Network game, the game on 152 is blacked out and 478 is the one available. If the Cubs or Sox aren't playing, then we always get the game on the main MLB network channel. No idea how these regional blackouts are determined, but that is the pattern I see.

 

[Deadlocked]

You answered your own question. The game picked for your area was the Rays game. If you are thinking it is based on a game from a close market, it isn't. That is how FOX often does it.

It's basically the 3:30 PM ABC/ESPN thing.


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[david_jr]

You answered your own question. The game picked for your area was the Rays game. If you are thinking it is based on a game from a close market, it isn't. That is how FOX often does it.

I guess it is not picked by close market, but there seems to be no clear pattern as to how it IS picked is my point.