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MLB deserves a special level of scorn for building the technology to bring them in to the digital age and then blocking a majority of users from seeing their fa

MLB deserves a special level of scorn for building the technology to bring them in to the digital age and then blocking a majority of users from seeing their favorite team. Local blackouts are fucking asinine -- especially when the service itself costs $120.

seanp2k2 10y ago
100% agree, NHL does this as well. Living near San Jose, can't watch a local Sharks game when it's happening. Tickets for playoffs games were >$100, and it's $25/month just for NHL.TV. Details of their blackouts: https://subscribe.nhl.com/us#blackouts https://subscribe.nhl.com/us#blackouts It's really just burning the biggest fans. I personally don't care about any sports, but if I did, I'd probably just find some shady streams online instead of trying to deal with all their restrictions, rules, and commercials. It really seems like they have no clue what people want, since they're unwilling to give it to them at any price. Smart business, IMO, would say, OK, you want no ads and no blackouts? $500 a year, or whatever. Figure out what it would cost and show people, so they understand how much they pay with their credit card and how much they pay with their time + eyeballs each month. Edit: I'm sure the hardcore fans would take the more expensive package. You could even offer things like exclusive programming which would happen during times when commercials play for other lower-tier subscribers. Make it even cost twice what you're losing in ad revenue. The good will it would do for the brand, to even offer a no-commercial, no blackout, no contract, no BS option is not a zero-dollar value for the company either.
- ciaranm 10y ago
  I cancelled my NHL.tv subscription because they subjected me to team/region blackouts despite _literally living in another continent_. Was a total waste of money - it could have been great.
- solatic 10y ago
  Take journalism. You can purchase digital only for this much money, or you can purchase a digital + paper subscription for some amount more. Maybe even a premium subscription like the New York Times has with the crossword puzzle. Why can't sports teams do that? Buy paper tickets for individual games for some amount. Buy digital access for individual games for some other amount. Buy digital season passes for another amount. Buy paper ticket season passes, includes digital season passes. Pre-order your digital season pass before the team goes to pre-season training and get a voucher for a free bleachers seat for one of the games. If you have a digital season pass, pay a premium to use an app which lets you decide which camera to watch through, control over rewinds, etc. Pay another premium to get get a version of the game, a week after it happened, with audio commentary tracks from the coaches and players. It's not that hard, and honestly, they'd probably get even more money from the die-hard fans than they're getting now. The executives are just stuck in the stone age.
  - tunap 10y ago
    Stone age and profiting b/c people keep giving them money. Damned if I'm going to spend $hundreds on paper tickets, parking & over-priced junk food when the location of the seats(in said price tier) is determined by someone else to fit their preferences. The capacity for customer service is huge, but TV ratings and ads are all they seem to care about... tired pandering script and contractually required player comments to the 'great fans' notwithstanding.
- colmvp 10y ago
  Tickets for sharks playoff games are perfectly reasonable, especially considering what I'd have to pay in arenas in the east coast or the cost of going to a giants/warriors playoff game. Where I live now, a Sharks playoff game ticket is cheaper than me going to a regular season hockey game.
- tunap 10y ago
  NHL Center Ice was awesome when the commercial break came & you got the static camera image as the guy announced he has to hit the head and additional audio of announcers' goings on in the booth prepping for next segment. Of course, it couldn't last, I can pay AND get commercials; just like ad-free cable & ad-free sat radio.
criddell 10y ago
The MLB service is pretty good, except for the blackouts. I think the issue is that they sell exclusive broadcast rights in team home markets. They need to find a way to fix that and if it means the service is $150 instead of $120, fine.
thirdsun 10y ago
Can someone explain those local and national blackouts to me? As a european this concept sounds very foreign and absurd. Sure, I'll have to subscribe to Pay TV, but not being able to watch my favorite football (as in soccer) team is pretty much unthinkable over here, particularly if I already pay to do exactly that.
- martinald 10y ago
  The UK does this with a lot of games - they're not on TV at all. Idea is to keep the fans going to the physical match.
- omellet 10y ago
  Local tv channels have the broadcast rights for the home team area - like SNY in New York has the rights for the Mets. Their contracts specify that they have exclusive rights to the broadcast for their coverage area, so internet coverage must be blacked out.

seanp2k2 10y ago

100% agree, NHL does this as well. Living near San Jose, can't watch a local Sharks game when it's happening. Tickets for playoffs games were >$100, and it's $25/month just for NHL.TV. Details of their blackouts: https://subscribe.nhl.com/us#blackouts https://subscribe.nhl.com/us#blackouts It's really just burning the biggest fans. I personally don't care about any sports, but if I did, I'd probably just find some shady streams online instead of trying to deal with all their restrictions, rules, and commercials. It really seems like they have no clue what people want, since they're unwilling to give it to them at any price. Smart business, IMO, would say, OK, you want no ads and no blackouts? $500 a year, or whatever. Figure out what it would cost and show people, so they understand how much they pay with their credit card and how much they pay with their time + eyeballs each month. Edit: I'm sure the hardcore fans would take the more expensive package. You could even offer things like exclusive programming which would happen during times when commercials play for other lower-tier subscribers. Make it even cost twice what you're losing in ad revenue. The good will it would do for the brand, to even offer a no-commercial, no blackout, no contract, no BS option is not a zero-dollar value for the company either.

ciaranm 10y ago
I cancelled my NHL.tv subscription because they subjected me to team/region blackouts despite _literally living in another continent_. Was a total waste of money - it could have been great.
solatic 10y ago
Take journalism. You can purchase digital only for this much money, or you can purchase a digital + paper subscription for some amount more. Maybe even a premium subscription like the New York Times has with the crossword puzzle. Why can't sports teams do that? Buy paper tickets for individual games for some amount. Buy digital access for individual games for some other amount. Buy digital season passes for another amount. Buy paper ticket season passes, includes digital season passes. Pre-order your digital season pass before the team goes to pre-season training and get a voucher for a free bleachers seat for one of the games. If you have a digital season pass, pay a premium to use an app which lets you decide which camera to watch through, control over rewinds, etc. Pay another premium to get get a version of the game, a week after it happened, with audio commentary tracks from the coaches and players. It's not that hard, and honestly, they'd probably get even more money from the die-hard fans than they're getting now. The executives are just stuck in the stone age.
- tunap 10y ago
  Stone age and profiting b/c people keep giving them money. Damned if I'm going to spend $hundreds on paper tickets, parking & over-priced junk food when the location of the seats(in said price tier) is determined by someone else to fit their preferences. The capacity for customer service is huge, but TV ratings and ads are all they seem to care about... tired pandering script and contractually required player comments to the 'great fans' notwithstanding.
colmvp 10y ago
Tickets for sharks playoff games are perfectly reasonable, especially considering what I'd have to pay in arenas in the east coast or the cost of going to a giants/warriors playoff game. Where I live now, a Sharks playoff game ticket is cheaper than me going to a regular season hockey game.
tunap 10y ago
NHL Center Ice was awesome when the commercial break came & you got the static camera image as the guy announced he has to hit the head and additional audio of announcers' goings on in the booth prepping for next segment. Of course, it couldn't last, I can pay AND get commercials; just like ad-free cable & ad-free sat radio.

criddell 10y ago

The MLB service is pretty good, except for the blackouts. I think the issue is that they sell exclusive broadcast rights in team home markets. They need to find a way to fix that and if it means the service is $150 instead of $120, fine.

thirdsun 10y ago

Can someone explain those local and national blackouts to me? As a european this concept sounds very foreign and absurd. Sure, I'll have to subscribe to Pay TV, but not being able to watch my favorite football (as in soccer) team is pretty much unthinkable over here, particularly if I already pay to do exactly that.

martinald 10y ago
The UK does this with a lot of games - they're not on TV at all. Idea is to keep the fans going to the physical match.
omellet 10y ago
Local tv channels have the broadcast rights for the home team area - like SNY in New York has the rights for the Mets. Their contracts specify that they have exclusive rights to the broadcast for their coverage area, so internet coverage must be blacked out.