MLB Strike Zone to Launch

[Scott Greczkowski]

Launch of MLB Network Strike Zone on Ch. 153

Effective Wednesday, April 4, 2012, by 5 p.m. ET, DISH will launch MLB Network Strike Zone, a new service from MLB Network, in both SD and HD. It will be offered as a part of the MultiSport package, Also available to subscribers as an add-on package with a qualifying programming package.

(No mention of what are the qualifying packages are yet)

Starting April 10, the service will broadcast in a live, whip-around fashion on Tuesdays and Fridays during the MLB regular season, beginning at 7 p.m. ET,

Note: On Sat, Sun, Mon, Wed and Thu this channel will display a slate.

 

[Tampa8]

Great that Dish will have it, wish MLB would do more nights.

 

[king3pj]

Great that Dish will have it, wish MLB would do more nights.

Exactly. I'm glad that Dish is getting better about adding sports programing. My only gripe is with the channel itself. It's pretty lame that they are only doing it on Tuesdays and Fridays but that isn't Dish's fault.

Even though I already have an MLB.TV subscription and I usually only get it in the fall for RedZone I was still thinking about adding the sports pack for baseball season. I'm not sure it would be worth it for 2 nights a week though.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Exactly. I'm glad that Dish is getting better about adding sports programing. My only gripe is with the channel itself. It's pretty lame that they are only doing it on Tuesdays and Fridays but that isn't Dish's fault.

ESPN broadcasts national games on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays, Fox on Saturdays, and MLBN on Thursdays. That leaves two days of the week open....

 

[R0ss]

Also dish is adding an alternete channel for MLBN, got an email today. Its lsted on the 5000 range maybe they will map it down since thwy made some room above MLBN in the channel line up

Ross

Sent from my rooted DROIDX (Liberty Gingerbread) using SatelliteGuys

 

[king3pj]

ESPN broadcasts national games on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays, Fox on Saturdays, and MLBN on Thursdays. That leaves two days of the week open....

Yes but only the Sunday night and Saturday day games are exclusive. During those 2 time frames none of the RSNs can show live games.

ESPN's Monday and Wednesday games as well as MLBN's Thursday games are not exclusive. Those games are usually also carried on their respective teams RSNs. The rest of the RSNs are also allowed to show live games during this time.

Basically there are lots of other games on RSNs every day except for Sunday night and Saturday afternoon. They could have just left those two days off or show only the day games on Sunday like RedZone does.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

Also dish is adding an alternete channel for MLBN, got an email today. Its lsted on the 5000 range maybe they will map it down since thwy made some room above MLBN in the channel line up

Ross

Sent from my rooted DROIDX (Liberty Gingerbread) using SatelliteGuys

Are you talking about 5450 & 5451,or are they adding new channels besides those 2 for baseball?

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Yes but only the Sunday night and Saturday day games are exclusive. During those 2 time frames none of the RSNs can show live games.

ESPN's Monday and Wednesday games as well as MLBN's Thursday games are not exclusive. Those games are usually also carried on their respective teams RSNs. The rest of the RSNs are also allowed to show live games during this time.

Basically there are lots of other games on RSNs every day except for Sunday night and Saturday afternoon. They could have just left those two days off or show only the day games on Sunday like RedZone does.

That's correct, they are not exclusive in that the RSNs still show the games and the ESPN broadcasts would be blacked out locally, but the deal with ESPN for Monday and Wednesday nights means that they are paying for national game broadcasts and no other national provider can show games during these times.

 

[king3pj]

That's correct, they are not exclusive in that the RSNs still show the games and the ESPN broadcasts would be blacked out locally, but the deal with ESPN for Monday and Wednesday nights means that they are paying for national game broadcasts and no other national provider can show games during these times.

I see several White Sox and Cubs games listed on WGN's 2012 TV schedule for Wednesday and Thursday nights this season. You seem to be right about Monday nights though. This Strike Zone channel is being run by MLBN though so they wouldn't be stepping on anybody's toes on Thursday nights.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

I see several White Sox and Cubs games listed on WGN's 2012 TV schedule for Wednesday and Thursday nights this season. You seem to be right about Monday nights though. This Strike Zone channel is being run by MLBN though so they wouldn't be stepping on anybody's toes on Thursday nights.

Just their own I guess....

 

[king3pj]

Just their own I guess....

True... and don't get me wrong I'm glad the MLB is trying to keep up or stay ahead of the other sports in terms of accessibility with products like this, MLB.TV, and their great MLB At Bat app. I'm also glad Dish is actually going to have a new sports channel available on day 1.

If I didn't have MLB.TV I would subscribe without a doubt and I might do it anyways. It would just be a much better deal if it covered everything except for the ESPN and Fox exclusive games.

 

[DodgerKing]

It is interesting that they are offering this channel on the two days where you will need it the least; the two days were the fewest games are played.

 

[DodgerKing]

This channel used to be a DirecTV exclusive and part of their EI package. It was on most evenings. I watched this channel more than any other channel on the EI package. I wish they never dropped it.

But, now that it is taken over by MLB and only offered on the two days were the least number of games are played makes me wonder how good it can actually be.

 

[king3pj]

It is interesting that they are offering this channel on the two days where you will need it the least; the two days were the fewest games are played.

Tuesdays might be a little weak but Friday is definitely not in that category. As far as I know every team has a 3 game weekend series practically every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all season except for a lot of the teams that have opening games on Thursday this week. Friday should be a great day for this channel all season once we get past the first week.

 

[DodgerKing]

Tuesdays might be a little weak but Friday is definitely not in that category. As far as I know every team has a 3 game weekend series practically every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all season except for a lot of the teams that have opening games on Thursday this week. Friday should be a great day for this channel all season once we get past the first week.

The days it will be broadcasting on Tuesday's and Thursday's (that is what Scott said in the post I quoted below), not Friday's. If it was Friday it would be nice since every team plays on Friday, but Thursday is even weaker than Tuesday.

Just FYI DISH will be adding it this Wednesday (although it will only be active on Tuesdays and Thursdays). Dish also carried MLB Network as well.

 

[king3pj]

Starting April 10, the service will broadcast in a live, whip-around fashion on Tuesdays and Fridays during the MLB regular season, beginning at 7 p.m. ET,

Note: On Sat, Sun, Mon, Wed and Thu this channel will display a slate.

That's where the confusion came from. The first post on this thread says Tuesdays and Fridays.

 

[DodgerKing]

Thursday and Friday does make a world of difference. If it is Friday, then that alone will make this channel very appealing as every team plays on Friday. If it is Thursday, then it won't be as big of a deal (although many Dish baseball fans may find it appealing enough and a good replacement for EI or supplement to MLB.TV).

 

[Tampa8]

Scott did post Friday.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Scott did post Friday.

I believe DK quoted Scott's post in a D* thread....

 

[fhsucade07]

It would be wonderful if this were in Dish America Silver but I'm guessing I'll have to get Multi-Sport to try this.