Because we seem to be short on actual discussion...

Major League Baseball's exemption from federal antitrust law may not be secure as we thought.

A federal appeals court in California ruled two weeks ago that MLB's antitrust exemption was alive and well, and broad enough to protect the league from charges by San Jose, Calif., that it violated federal antitrust law by refusing to allow the Oakland A's to move to San Jose.

But across the country, a federal appeals court in New York has left in place a district court decision rejecting MLB's antitrust exemption in a case challenging the way MLB divvies up the U.S. into broadcast territories for each team. MLB, MLB Advanced Media (which owns and operates MLB.tv and the Extra Innings package), cable and satellite operators like Comcast and DirecTV, and several regional sports networks are facing trial in a class action lawsuit brought by fans seeking to upend the high prices and blackouts brought on by the broadcast territory scheme. This decision allows that case to go forward.

The problems with MLB's blackout policy stem from the ways in which it interacts with broadcast and cable providers. The bulk of each team's games are shown on regional sports networks available only through a cable or satellite provider. Just a few games are shown nationally on FOX, TBS, ESPN, and MLB Network, and most of those games are available only with cable or satellite service. At the same time, MLB blacks out in-market games on its subscriptions services—MLB.tv and Extra Innings. That means that even if you have access to a regional sports network that shows your favorite team's games, you cannot watch those games on MLB.tv or Extra Innings if you're in the team's broadcast market.

This is what MLB's broadcast territory map looks like. Look at Iowa. It's within the broadcast territories of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, and Minnesota Twins. If you live in Iowa, you can't watch any of those teams' games on MLB.tv or Extra Innings because those services don't show games within your broadcast territory. So effectively, Iowans are blacked out of watching any of the six "local" teams that baseball's broadcast territory system is designed to make available to them.

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A wonderful step in the right direction!

i have zero bassbawl knowledge

Why would people even do this?

Why do who do what? Why do broadcasts work this way?

Because a network pays a baseball team $X/season to broadcast their games. In order to recoup that money, it costs cable subscribers a couple bucks a month for their local/regional sports channel, which may or many not be built into the cost of the cable subscription.

Unlike NFL blackout rules - which are about getting you to go to the game instead of watching it on TV, MLB is about getting you to pay for TV.

Quote from: Yu on February 04, 2015, 11:30:57 AM

Why would people even do this?

Why do who do what? Why do broadcasts work this way?

Because a network pays a baseball team $X/season to broadcast their games. In order to recoup that money, it costs cable subscribers a couple bucks a month for their local/regional sports channel, which may or many not be built into the cost of the cable subscription.

Unlike NFL blackout rules - which are about getting you to go to the game instead of watching it on TV, MLB is about getting you to pay for TV.

Huh, is there a reason MLB is like that?

Good. I'm tired of not being able to watch my squad when I'm out of the house around 7pm. I've subscribed to mlb.tv for years now. If I can watch the Phillies from it, I may just cancel my cable for the whole baseball season.

Yeah, I subbed to MLBtv for the first time last season since I don't have cable at all. I've was using adfreetime so I could watch Angels games.

I'm glad workarounds exist, but it's stupid that they need to exist in the first place.