Question on this TBS deal. Does it take away all baseball programming from ESPN? Or just Sunday night baseball and the playoffs?

My pet peeve is the absence of many Phillies games. Unless their opponent is broadcasting it, we're out of luck. I never get the Phillies announcers, which means I get to hear the same stupid stories about our players every series. Why MLB let's the Extra Innings package be so tied into Fox Sports, while allowing Comcast and the Phillies to ignore viewers outside the Philly area is beyond me.

Example: July 4th, Extra Innings carried 14 of the 15 games that day. Phillies-Padres nowhere to be found. It's shameful, yet I keep coming back every year.

The comment about the FOX Saturday blackout window is right on the money. FOX has exclusive rights to the 1-7 Eastern window. I get EI for the Mets. The Mets have had at least 3 games that started at 4 PM and after the FOX game concluded. Yet, I couldn't see them. This is the same even if you're a Red Sox fan in LA and your team is playing at 1 eastern but the Dodgers are the FOX game in your area and that starts at 4.

Plus, because of the blackout, you can't see the other game(s) that FOX is showing. E.g., last Saturday in DC, we got White Sox-Red Sox. FOX's other game was Mets-Marlins. The rules for EI should be the same as Center Ice: whichever games NBC is not airing are on Center Ice with the NBC feed. That way, NBC gets eyeballs on it's games, even if it's not on the local network.

The current blackout rule penalizes the most ardent fans--the ones that are paying $160 to watch as much baseball as possible.

I read somewhere today... I think it was an article where Bud Selig "promised" to "figure out" the regional blackout issues for Extra Innings by next year... That the Sunday afternoon games on TBS would not cause blackouts on EI (except for the two teams playing on TBS).

We balked on EI. Our spring was really busy so by the time I was ready to tune in full-time, it would be a waste of money. There is a half-season package on our cable, but it is a mere $20 less than the full-season price.

As soon as MLB starts charging for Gamecast, home scorers will be out of luck with the pro game.

Baseball's TV package, like the starting times for World Series and All-Star games, must be part of Bud Selig's master plan to prevent children from becoming fans. Is there any other explanation?

Kids on the east coast are in bed long before the big games are over. Between the 8:00 p.m. starts and the extra ads, World Series games routinely go past midnight. From a kid's point of view, if you can't watch the end, why watch the beginning?

The first-round playoff games are almost the only ones with early start times. Putting them on cable-only means pint-sized fans of fully HALF the playoff teams won't get to watch their favorites in post-season action, even in the day games or twilighters, unless their parents made the decision to shell out for cable long in advance of need.

Rabid baseball fans, with their satellite packages and webcasts and whatnot, don't always realize that the rest of the world isn't like that. Many parents of young children don't get cable because it's so expensive, and it tempts their kids to watch too much junk. Why pay $50 month to argue with your kids about getting off the couch?

At some point baseball might recognize its demographic problem. But it's already lost a significant slice of an entire generation. I have two teenaged sons and neither they nor any of their friends are serious baseball fans. No doubt a few baseball fans exist in that age bracket, but I suspect the number is no larger than the number that follows World Cup soccer.

Baseball's TV policies have made the sport a slightly eccentric hobby for people younger than 20. The game is simply not part of their lives, the way it was for those of us who grew up in the Game of the Week / World Series day-game era. This new TV package will just narrow the fan base more.

I don't see this as being much different than the NBA deciding to give all those playoff games to TNT. I wonder what percentage of the basketball-watching demographic has cable compared to that of baseball?

I hate the Fox exclusivity. As a fan of one major market team (BoSox) living in another major market (Chi), I'll only be able to see 50% (5 of 10) remaining saturday games.

By the way, has there been any discussion as to the DirecTv customers that have the EI package as well as the sports networks package? NESN is blacked out for 4/5 of the BoSox away games, but it seems that they're mostly for FSN channels. I've called DTV and they have no idea....

I love that Extra Innings is blocking Orioles games (which I watch to see the Red Sox) because they are a "local" team. However, the don't black out any Nats games at all.

I live 14 miles south of Washington DC.

However, DirecTV won't let me view the Baltimore networks as my local providers.

The flip side is I can go to the Sox games in Baltimore for way cheaper than any game at Fenway.

I agree with the Phillies comment, this whole month of July, there are only 4 games. I called and cancelled my DirecTV MLB Package and even wrote a note to the FCC to complain about it. This baseball TV thing needs some serious work. Its crazy that you can get all the games on the Net, but not Satellite TV.... stupid and very frustrating. Don't the Phillies realize there are die-hards all around the country wanting to see them. I guess it shows by how they have the organization....now that is another vent on another topic.

So many things:

Fox has the means to make the extra Saturday games available on satellite; they can either use the regional channels or Fx as an outlet. When ESPN has multiple games, they create "temporary" ESPN channels on Directv so you can choose which game you want to watch, so the technology exists. It's incredibly annoying to have the game you want to watch blacked out when it's the "primary" (McCarver/Buck) game but because you're in some other team's area (in my case, Atlanta Braves, even though I live 150 miles from Atlanta) it's COMPLETELY unavailable.

Regarding the Phillies: they're broadcasted by Comcast, who are in direct competition with the satellite providers. But it's equally annoying to spend the money on the package and be kept from watching games because they're on local TV (happens in San Diego all the time) which somehow keeps it off the satellite.

Forgot, mid-anti Fox rant:

TBS has rights to air a Sunday game, but it's NOT the ESPN Sunday night game; instead, they will have air a pre-determined game on Sunday afternoon that will not affect access to other games on Directv.

Joe Morgan is not going away that easily...

I hear ya on the Orioles rant, I cant watch any team play the Orioles when they are on local in MD, I live 600 miles away in Greensboro.....part of the Orioles local Market....What a Joke.....

and by DTV EI not providing local games on network channels, and FOX, a weekend of watching your favorite team play is non-exisitant.... Thanks Bud..... Guess I have to watch Arena Football instead....

I agree with all of the comments. I am an Indians fan yet cannot get the Indians on MLB Extra Innings. Comically, Cleveland is 200 miles away from where I live in Ohio. Yet, Pittsburgh is 229 miles away, yet I can get the Pirates. So somewhere on the highway within those 29 miles, MLB decides that I can, or cannot watch specific teams.

With all this technology why can't we just watch the games we want?It's the 21st century let the PC blackout rules apply to the sattelite MLB EI.We are paying for them. I am a Yankee fan living in South Jersey and I can watch games with the MLB EI but I can't see the replay! WHY? Plus most other Yankees programming is blacked out. Again WHY?
FOX is another issue. I hate it on a Saturday afternoon I can't watch a Yankees game it is ridiculous.
I am paying extra for this! I have many friends with Directv in the area and they can't get cable because they live in a remote area. Being Phillies fans they cannot see any games! Now I believe the Phillies are getting our money as a % of the revenue but they are stealing it.