MLB-DirecTV deal whiffs diehard fans

[moonman]

DISH Cries Foul Over DIRECTV/MLB Deal
As of press time late Wednesday, the scuttlebutt was that DIRECTV and Major League Baseball were close to announcing a deal that would give the satellite TV giant exclusive access to the game's out-of-market games.

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More here....... http://www.skyreport.com/archives/view/index.cfm?publication_id=1&release_id=129#Story1

 

[charper1]

If D* pulls this off 85% of the subscribers and possible subscribers they had last year, will not be eligible to subscribe this year.

Why not? Can't they just add/switch to DirecTV?

 

[lou_do]

Why not? Can't they just add/switch to DirecTV?

Many people live in areas where trees prevent them from getting either D* or E*, or live in condo or apartment buildings where dishes will not work and have to rely on cable. These people should have a way to receive MLB also. Half of my street has a nature preserve behind the houses and can't see satellites through the trees. Several of them had MLB last year, via cable, and their revenues will be lost, along with many others across the country.

With D* subscribers representing only 15% of the satellite and cable market, someone is going to have to make up for those loss revenues from the other 85% they are loosing from last year.

Saying switch to D* is easy to say, if you have a clear view of the satellites, but unfortunately that luxury doesn't exist for millions of people around the country.

 

[jpn]

Sen. Kerry in a statement said he continues to be concerned.

"I have serious problems with any mega-deal that makes it harder for people across the country to follow their favorite baseball team," he said.

It's not mega-deals making it hard for fans to follow their teams. It's the blackout rules, which are championed by people like Sen Kerry.

Let's not forget: out-of-market packages are a luxury that only became available in the last decade. It's not like retirees grew-up watching out-of-market baseball only to have it yanked by the greed of D* and MLB. It's not like anybody had their right to vote revoked or their electricity arbitrarily turned-off.

Axe the blackout rules, allow distant folks to subscribe to out-of-market RSN's, and there will be no controversy.

 

[charper1]

It's not mega-deals making it hard for fans to follow their teams. It's the blackout rules, which are championed by people like Sen Kerry.

Let's not forget: out-of-market packages are a luxury that only became available in the last decade. It's not like retirees grew-up watching out-of-market baseball only to have it yanked by the greed of D* and MLB. It's not like anybody had their right to vote revoked or their electricity arbitrarily turned-off.

Axe the blackout rules, allow distant folks to subscribe to out-of-market RSN's, and there will be no controversy.

That was not my comment, but inside a quote of what another user posted that Sen. Kerry said; I in-turn replied to and said almost the exact same this you just said about BOs, the NAB/affiliates and "cable only" programming he seems not to care to complain about.

 

[charper1]

Many people live in areas where trees prevent them from getting either D* or E*, or live in condo or apartment buildings where dishes will not work and have to rely on cable. These people should have a way to receive MLB also. Half of my street has a nature preserve behind the houses and can't see satellites through the trees. Several of them had MLB last year, via cable, and their revenues will be lost, along with many others across the country.

With D* subscribers representing only 15% of the satellite and cable market, someone is going to have to make up for those loss revenues from the other 85% they are loosing from last year.

Saying switch to D* is easy to say, if you have a clear view of the satellites, but unfortunately that luxury doesn't exist for millions of people around the country.

Then that also means they can't even get ANY Dish or DirecTV signal. So should we sue the apartment complex mgmt, nature preserves and/or cities because they don't accommodate them and allow them to have a choice of all providers to begin with? Surely not!

Maybe the lawsuits or congress complaints need to be directed there FIRST!

 

[jpn]

That was not my comment, but inside a quote of what another user posted that Sen. Kerry said; I in-turn replied to and said almost the exact same this you just said about BOs, the NAB/affiliates and "cable only" programming he seems not to care to complain about.

We are on the same page. I take issue with Sen Kerry and not necessarily the comments of Satellite Guys' subscribers. I would think that our elected officials have more important issues to fix. We've got some major gov't money-wasters in Sen Kerry and Sen Mitchesll (steroids investigation).

 

[lou_do]

So should we sue the apartment complex mgmt, nature preserves and/or cities because they don't accommodate them and allow them to have a choice of all providers to begin with? Surely not!

No, the fair answer would be to contact our legislators and ask them to support legislation that will stop ANY satellite or cable provider from monopolizing the distribution rights of ANY programing or packages.

That is what I have done, as well as letting the management offices of several MLB teams know my concerns over the situation.

 

[charper1]

and FIRST ... they should force apartments and the like to provide MDU units for a sat provider of their choosing along with cable. Not just one!

 

[jpn]

So should we sue the apartment complex mgmt, nature preserves and/or cities because they don't accommodate them and allow them to have a choice of all providers to begin with? Surely not!

No, the fair answer would be to contact our legislators and ask them to support legislation that will stop ANY satellite or cable provider from monopolizing the distribution rights of ANY programing or packages.

As much as DirecTV wants to leverage exclusive packages into new subscribers, this is more about MLB selling its product. If you aren't asking Congress to regulate sports programming, then you're chasing the wrong target.

This is all about MLB greed. They get guaranteed money from DirecTV, and then more income as some portion of disenfranchised distant fans subscribe to MLB.TV.

Blame your team's ownership, all teams' ownerships; don't blame D* on this one. Your favorite owner wants to penalize you. And your favorite Congressmen are just grandstanding, with their hands in their pants, not focusing on the real issues of government.

This whole debate is whiny Bullsh!t.

 

[Jimbo]

Many people live in areas where trees prevent them from getting either D* or E*, or live in condo or apartment buildings where dishes will not work and have to rely on cable. These people should have a way to receive MLB also. Half of my street has a nature preserve behind the houses and can't see satellites through the trees. Several of them had MLB last year, via cable, and their revenues will be lost, along with many others across the country.

With D* subscribers representing only 15% of the satellite and cable market, someone is going to have to make up for those loss revenues from the other 85% they are loosing from last year.

Saying switch to D* is easy to say, if you have a clear view of the satellites, but unfortunately that luxury doesn't exist for millions of people around the country.

Hey Lou,
It sounds like you and others are blaming D* for this .....

Problem is, D*'s not to blame, the MLB is to blame .....

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

As much as DirecTV wants to leverage exclusive packages into new subscribers, this is more about MLB selling its product. If you aren't asking Congress to regulate sports programming, then you're chasing the wrong target.

This is all about MLB greed. They get guaranteed money from DirecTV, and then more income as some portion of disenfranchised distant fans subscribe to MLB.TV.

Blame your team's ownership, all teams' ownerships; don't blame D* on this one. Your favorite owner wants to penalize you. And your favorite Congressmen are just grandstanding, with their hands in their pants, not focusing on the real issues of government.

Exactly,
Kinda what I was getting at in my last post , but you went into detail ...

Thank you

Jimbo

 

[lou_do]

Hey Lou,
It sounds like you and others are blaming D* for this .....

Problem is, D*'s not to blame, the MLB is to blame .....

Jimbo

I am not totally blaming D* for this at all. Most of the blame goes to the poor marketing of MLB. Why would they NOT want their product exposed to 100% of the possible subscribers, instead of only 15%? It just doesn't make any more sense than the NFL teaming up with D* in monopolizing ST.

My point is I just don't want to see it happen. I know it will turn out just like the ST package if you only have one source for the programing. When I had C-Band, we used to get the ST package for about $119 a year, look how much that has gone up since it has been monopolized. I see the same happening to the MLB package. You know if they take away 85% of the possible subscribers, those subscribers from 15% that are left, will pay the price.

I have had the MLB package for a long time, but if the price starts going up outrageously, like the ST package did, I will drop it, like I did ST. I sure wish my wages would have gone up the same percentage rate as the increases of ST over the past few years.

 

[whitewolf8214]

lou_do you and everybody else wishes there wages would go up like the NFLSTand MLBEI.The NFLST and MLBEI or any other sport should not be able to have a monopoly or be able to go with just one provider.What's next the NBA,NHL OR NASCAR or any other premium service or other channel be allowed to one provider.They need to pull the anti-trust laws on MLB and pull the NFLST from Direct TV and let every provider have access whether satellite or cable and customer have access to them.Alot of people can't have access to satellite because of dma or because they live in apartment complexes or have line of sight issues.Open up these to everybody.Let everybody be able to order these channels.Everybody write MLB,NFL,FCC and your congress person to let them know your feelings and help everybody whether your a fan of sports or not.Any channel could be next.This could be the start of things to come if we don't stand up and fight.I have already contacted MLB,NHL and am writing my congressman on this and the fcc.I agree direct tv is not to blame but MLB and the NFL are to blame on this.I remembered Direct TV does have Nascar pass.So what sport is next the NHL or NBA or any other channel.Call Bob Bowman at (212)931-7800 or write mlb at bob.bowman@mlb.com

 

[Jimbo]

I am not totally blaming D* for this at all. Most of the blame goes to the poor marketing of MLB. Why would they NOT want their product exposed to 100% of the possible subscribers, instead of only 15%? It just doesn't make any more sense than the NFL teaming up with D* in monopolizing ST.

My point is I just don't want to see it happen. I know it will turn out just like the ST package if you only have one source for the programing. When I had C-Band, we used to get the ST package for about $119 a year, look how much that has gone up since it has been monopolized. I see the same happening to the MLB package. You know if they take away 85% of the possible subscribers, those subscribers from 15% that are left, will pay the price.

I have had the MLB package for a long time, but if the price starts going up outrageously, like the ST package did, I will drop it, like I did ST. I sure wish my wages would have gone up the same percentage rate as the increases of ST over the past few years.

Lou,
I agree with you, and I hope it doesn't go thru for the same reasons, I don't want to end up paying extra for the HD content on top of the E.I. package.

I just didn't want people to think that D* was the one to blame in this, MLB had to inquire about it,or it would not be being changed.

I too had the old C-Band back in the day. When I first started getting the NFL ST it was available for $79 p/y and we all thought that was high..... yikes, look what has happened to it now.

I have never bought the E.I. package and thought about it last year and was (and) very much considering it this year.

Does anyone know what price it was going for last year ? and has anyone seen any prices for this year yet ?
It is getting close to the time when they need to be doing something quickly, Pitchers and catchers have reported already !

Jimbo

 

[loki23]

Huh????

lou_do you and everybody else wishes there wages would go up like the NFLSTand MLBEI.The NFLST and MLBEI or any other sport should not be able to have a monopoly or be able to go with just one provider.What's next the NBA,NHL OR NASCAR or any other premium service or other channel be allowed to one provider.They need to pull the anti-trust laws on MLB and pull the NFLST from Direct TV and let every provider have access whether satellite or cable and customer have access to them.Alot of people can't have access to satellite because of dma or because they live in apartment complexes or have line of sight issues.Open up these to everybody.Let everybody be able to order these channels.Everybody write MLB,NFL,FCC and your congress person to let them know your feelings and help everybody whether your a fan of sports or not.Any channel could be next.This could be the start of things to come if we don't stand up and fight.I have already contacted MLB,NHL and am writing my congressman on this and the fcc.I agree direct tv is not to blame but MLB and the NFL are to blame on this.I remembered Direct TV does have Nascar pass.So what sport is next the NHL or NBA or any other channel.Call Bob Bowman at (212)931-7800 or write mlb at bob.bowman@mlb.com

I agree, and I should be able to buy a Bigmac at Burger King, a Dell at Best Buy, and a Sony movie on HD-DVD.

 

[Jimbo]

I agree, and I should be able to buy a Bigmac at Burger King, a Dell at Best Buy, and a Sony movie on HD-DVD.

At the right times of the year, you can probably get all of them at Mc Donalds !!!

While your at Mc Donalds, you can now pay for your purchases with your CREDIT CARD !!!!

When the food stores start taking credit cards, you know the food is tooooo expensive.

Jimbo

 

[Ramy]

Don't they still black out some games even on MLB EI? Like being a Reds fan and living in their area let's say that the Reds are on the road and not on the FSN here, only on in say LA. Can I see that game?

 

[jpn]

Don't they still black out some games even on MLB EI? Like being a Reds fan and living in their area let's say that the Reds are on the road and not on the FSN here, only on in say LA. Can I see that game?

Any games shown nationally or by your local RSN/OTA channel will be blacked-out on the corresponding EI channel. So you expect to be blacked-out when the Reds play the Dodgers or Angels, or when they are on ESPN/ESPN2 or FOX.



Aside from that, EI does not carry 100% of the games played. MLB.com states:

The MLB EXTRA INNINGS package offers up to 60 regular season, out-of-market games a week. The available games that make up this package are in addition to those seen on FOX, ESPN, ESPN2, your regional sports network(s), and/or your home team's television station affiliate.​

Assume for simplicity that each team has one off-day per week. So the average week has 30 teams playing 15 games on six days: 90 games/week. Subtract the games from ESPN/ESPN2, FOX, and your local OTA's and RSN's (you prob. have 1 each for Dodgers & Angels, covering 12 games/week). That still leaves more than 60 games available to EI; but they're showing at-most 60.

So there is no way to guarantee that you'll see every Reds' game, living in LA.

 

[Ramy]

I don't live in LA. I said I live in the Reds area. I was wanting to know if they don't show the game locally, would I be able to view the game if they played in LA.