Baseball in two months...will PA fans still suffer?

[doublek97]

Is it safe to assume that when the 2015 baseball season opens in April that all satellite tv customers in PA will STILL be without CSN Philadelphia? I can't believe there is still no agreement after all this time. The only ones suffering are the fans that want to watch the games on television. MLB Extra Innings won't even allow the road team's signal to come through, so there is no way to watch the Phils on satellite.

I have read time and again about the $3.50 price tag that Comtrash wants per subscriber. If that is too high, why won't they allow people who want the channel to subscribe a la carte for it? I would pay $8-10 per month for that channel.

 

[raoul5788]

Comcast is apparently only offering CSN if it's in a tier, not ala carte.

 

[dishcomm]

Is it safe to assume that when the 2015 baseball season opens in April that all satellite tv customers in PA will STILL be without CSN Philadelphia? I can't believe there is still no agreement after all this time. The only ones suffering are the fans that want to watch the games on television. MLB Extra Innings won't even allow the road team's signal to come through, so there is no way to watch the Phils on satellite.

I have read time and again about the $3.50 price tag that Comtrash wants per subscriber. If that is too high, why won't they allow people who want the channel to subscribe a la carte for it? I would pay $8-10 per month for that channel.

Buy MLB.tv and use a resident zip code outside the Phila coverage area. Such as one from Northern NJ( All start with 07XXX)

 

[bruin95]

Buy MLB.tv and use a resident zip code outside the Phila coverage area. Such as one from Northern NJ( All start with 07XXX)

Don't even need to do that if you watch via the Roku. I've been able to watch all my "local" teams (all 6 of them), without any blackouts, for several years now, as long as I watch via the Roku.

 

[dishcomm]

Don't even need to do that if you watch via the Roku. I've been able to watch all my "local" teams (all 6 of them), without any blackouts, for several years now, as long as I watch via the Roku.

Thanks...Never thought of that.....So how does it work?....I have seen these things in stores and on line, but I have not made a purchase because I simply do not understand how they work..Looking at the package for info is useless.

 

[ejb1980]

Thanks...Never thought of that.....So how does it work?....I have seen these things in stores and on line, but I have not made a purchase because I simply do not understand how they work..Looking at the package for info is useless.

Me, too!

 

[Jimbo]

Hi guys, anyone been watching the MLB Network yet ? (this year)
I have had it on of late and from time to time I'll get a 771 error, it will go away after a few minute and might come back , might not .. I haven't noticed this happening on any other channels.

I checked the Signal Strength, it should be on the 103 sat and trnspndr 20 from what I looked at, I checked and I have a solid 92 on it.

Any thoughts ?

 

[bruin95]

Thanks...Never thought of that.....So how does it work?....I have seen these things in stores and on line, but I have not made a purchase because I simply do not understand how they work..Looking at the package for info is useless.

All the info you need is on the website: https://www.roku.com/. Trust me, it's very easy to setup and use. You'll wonder how you got along with one.

 

[ejb1980]

All the info you need is on the website: https://www.roku.com/. Trust me, it's very easy to setup and use. You'll wonder how you got along with one.

Thanks for posting that. I still have some questions. I see mentions of cable and Dishworld - how does it work with Directv? Does it add stuff to the guide like an AM21 or does it use an annoying Netflix-type interface? Can you post some screen shots of different menus, etc?

 

[Aridon]

Can you-"move" out of the blackout area while still remaining in your local news bubble?

 

[jcrandall]

Can you-"move" out of the blackout area while still remaining in your local news bubble?

Unlikely, any move changes your local stations, and the RSNs have wide areas, so safe to say you would have to be out of any close local market to get different RSN home teams.

 

[doublek97]

All the info you need is on the website: https://www.roku.com/. Trust me, it's very easy to setup and use. You'll wonder how you got along with one.

How do you get around the blackout with ROKU? Doesn't it pick up your zip code or IP address and black you out from the local team?

 

[bruin95]

How do you get around the blackout with ROKU? Doesn't it pick up your zip code or IP address and black you out from the local team?

I don't know why it doesn't black out the games. I didn't do anything to it. It's been that way with the two boxes I've had. The Sunday night ESPN game is blacked out, but nothing else.

 

[bruin95]

Thanks for posting that. I still have some questions. I see mentions of cable and Dishworld - how does it work with Directv? Does it add stuff to the guide like an AM21 or does it use an annoying Netflix-type interface? Can you post some screen shots of different menus, etc?

The Roku has nothing to do with Directv, Dish, or your cable receivers. It's a stand alone box. Just like Apple TV, and the Amazon Fire TV. It's sole purpose is for streaming internet content to your TV.

Sorry, I don't have the setup to capture screen shots. May I suggest checking Youtube. There's probably 1000's of videos about the Roku on there. You can see how it looks "in action".

 

[king3pj]

How do you get around the blackout with ROKU? Doesn't it pick up your zip code or IP address and black you out from the local team?

MLB.tv figures out blackouts by looking at your IP information. I have been a subscriber for years now. Changing your zip code won't help and they will still black you out on Roku. I have one. The person who said that is lucky. Somehow MLB.tv is getting his location info wrong. The Zip code isn't used for blackouts. They do it based on where you are at any given time. When you are in PA the Phillies will be blacked out but if you traveled to Michigan you would be able to watch the Phillies and you would lose the Tigers. It's all IP based and they check every time you try to watch something.

That being said, I used MLB.tv all summer without cable/Dish to watch my local teams. I used a service called Unblock-US. They give you a DNS to use instead of the default your ISP gives you. Then when they detect traffic to a service they support like MLB.tv they automatically change your location data to somewhere outside the blackout area. This costs $5 per month.

The reason I used that instead of a VPN is because it doesn't slow your internet speeds down. I also like the fact that it still shows the correct location for everything except the specific services it supports. That means I can still use anything else that requires location data correctly.

 

[ejb1980]

The Roku has nothing to do with Directv, Dish, or your cable receivers. It's a stand alone box. Just like Apple TV, and the Amazon Fire TV. It's sole purpose is for streaming internet content to your TV.

Sorry, I don't have the setup to capture screen shots. May I suggest checking Youtube. There's probably 1000's of videos about the Roku on there. You can see how it looks "in action".

I see. Someone once suggested a Roku to watch Direcv programming on a computer. Was that bad advice?

 

[bruin95]

I see. Someone once suggested a Roku to watch Direcv programming on a computer. Was that bad advice?

Pretty much.

 

[bruin95]

The person who said that is lucky.

Me and every friend who has one.

 

[king3pj]

Me and every friend who has one.

That means your ISPs local network isn't in MLB.tv's location database or their database is coming back with incorrect location data for that specific ISP in your town. When I first signed up 5 or 6 years ago the Tigers were blacked out at my house but at my office in the same town they were in the clear. The only difference was that I had Charter at home and AT&T at work. As soon as we switched to Charter at work it was blacked out there too.

I can assure you that Rokus don't automatically get around blackouts with MLB.tv. I have one at my house and one at my parents house that I use my MLB.tv subscription on. In both locations the Tigers are blacked out unless I use that Unblock-US service.

You're getting by because of a glitch in MLB.tv's system. That doesn't mean that anyone who has a Roku will get the same result.

 

[king3pj]

I see. Someone once suggested a Roku to watch Direcv programming on a computer. Was that bad advice?

Yeah, a roku doesn't really have anything to do with your computer and you don't even need to own a computer to use it. It's a set top box just like your Directv receiver. The only difference is that it takes content from the internet like MLB.tv and puts it on your TV instead of cable or satellite programming.