Baseball fans, prepare for more frustration.

MLB owners, yet again, tabled restructuring the local and regional television territories for the league at today's quarterly owners meetings in New York, and in doing so, leaves an arcane and convoluted system in place just before the MLB Network launches on January 1.

The commissioner’s office has proposed an adjustment that will involve clubs losing a territory or market if they do not broadcast within it. Currently, markets such as Las Vegas sees six clubs claiming the television territory, including the A’s, Giants, Padres, Angels, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks.

The issue will not be broached again until the next quarterly meetings by the owners in January.

Unless the league makes a provision, the ranks of those that will be faced with the “blackout blues” will grow exponentially as the new television network for the league reaches 50 million homes next season. MLB Network plans on broadcasting 26 games each season.

MLB should have been more proactive before the economy began its slide.

In waiting on addressing the issue, the club owners are surely pushing to retain television market space as the possibility of local revenue decline looms on the horizon of the 2009 season based on an ever-gloomy economic forecast.

The blackout policy, one of continued consumer frustration since MLB Extra Innings was hatched, has been pushed back year after year, despite a chorus of angry phone calls, letters, and emails to the league asking how, for example, the Seattle Mariners consider all of Montana their “local” broadcast territory.

Now, the chorus will surely raise to an ear-splitting cacophony of confusing calls and aggravated viewers. The old adage, you can pay me now, or pay me later, seems to ring true for the moment based on the owners’ in-action on the blackout issue.

If the owners, yet again, table the issue in January, then the odds will continue to dwindle for a fair and equitable system that allows as many baseball fans as possible to enjoy MLB's product. Limiting your product to the masses is a backward way of thinking.

Comments (9)

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Maddening
written by Frank Dewitt, November 20, 2008

Patently ridiculous. I live in Alaska and the Mariners call it their local market. 30 little owners fighting over their little scraps of turf.

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written by Tom Swift, November 20, 2008

Limiting your product to the ma*ses is a backward way of thinking

Bravo! I could never understand MLB on this. Why is there a blackout policy at all? Are sucky teams such as the Pirates or Royals really going to suffer that much? Would seem to me that if you can get eyeballs on games, those are the ones that grow into fans for the long haul.

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Amen
written by Jason @ IIATMS, November 21, 2008

Amen, brother, amen! This blackout policy is patently absurd. They make it tougher and more expensive for the most loyal of fans to get what they want, instead of EASIER!

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Ugh...
written by JerryG, November 22, 2008

I live in Iowa. I'm blacked out from Royals and Cardinals games. According to Google Maps, Kansas City is a 7 hour drive away and St. Louis is 6 hours away. Meanwhile, i get all the Cubs games, but not the Brewers games, even though Milwaukee is closer than Chicago. Their whole system is screwed up....

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Blackouts
written by John Myers, November 22, 2008

Somehow the NFL has justified this type of policy for years and I don't get it. By cutting off potential TV viewers you are restricting your potential customer base.

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Difference with NFL and MLB
written by Maury Brown, November 22, 2008

I can understand the NFL's policy. In that instance, a 75-mile radius is defined as "local" around the stadium location. If tickets for the game are not sold out within 72 hours of the game (exceptions have been made for 48 hours), the game is blacked out.

In MLB, there are no provisions. Game's sold out? It's blacked out. Live 500 miles away? You can be blacked out, depending on the club territory.

The territories have no regularity. There is no one set rule, such as the 75-mile radius. Clubs also have overlapping broadcast territories (for example, the whole Oklahoma is considered the territory of the Astros, Rangers, Royals, and Cardinals.

The adjustments being proposed the league is like using a band-aid to cure cancer. The whole system needs to be restructured.

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Silly rules
written by Bob W., November 24, 2008

Just as an example of how silly things are. Memphis...almost 1 million people...gets blacked out for Atlanta (400 mi)...St. Louis (300 mi) and Cincinnati 500 mi). I can somewhat understand St. Louis...but not the other two.

New Orleans...gets blacked out for the Astros (350 mi) and the Rangers (550 miles).

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Defies any form of Logic
written by JeffQ, November 27, 2008

Trying living in Las Vegas... I get blacked out of Giants, Angels, Dodgers, Padres and D'Backs... Why I buy the package
is beyond me.

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written by Bill G, December 12, 2008

I am so sick of this. I live in OKC and am able to watch the Royals only by altering my IP address on MLB.TV. Is there anyway we can email or contact Bob Dupay to urge him to get something done. He's the guy that makes promises but fails to deliver. How about some legal action. Barring willing customers access to a product through all possible venues can't be legal, right?

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