Baseball's Media Blackout Crisis
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- čas přidán 14. 05. 2024
- As Regional Sports Networks continue to go under, baseball is now facing a major media crisis. Will we finally see the end of monopolistic pricing and ridiculous geographic media blackouts? What do you think?
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So in a nutshell: baseball tried to monopolize the rights to view their games, didn’t see streaming coming in the future, and now their money is tied into a dying investment.
Precisely
Excellent information presented in a way that makes it easy to understand what’s going on. Thanks Daniel!!!
Thanks a ton for the support!
Awesome video! Why do I get the feeling that MLB will eliminate Blackouts by going 100% on-line and then the fan will have to pay per game to watch. Since it seems that it is something that Today's MLB would implement.
Yeah - and that's my biggest worry.
There absolutely are fans of the sport that would pay for this. But there aren't many - and they are decreasing in numbers.
Baseball needs to decide what the actual product is. If it wants people interested in the sport again, it needs to make sure the sport is where the people are.
As someone who lives in Georgia, I've only been able to watch a single Atlanta Braves game this year because I used my free three months of Apple TV. Do you have any idea how expensive it would be to watch all of the games this season? I would have to buy at least three different streaming service. Instead I've been watching the Texas Rangers and the Las Angeles Dodgers (except when they are playing the Braves or when they get blacked out for special broadcasts). If for some reason there are no Dodgers or Rangers games on, I'll usually watch the Cubs. If the Braves make it to the World Series I'll be banned from watching just because of where I live.
I see by another post your name is Daniel. Very interesting, informative, and a great video Daniel! Enjoy watching your baseball history lessons.
Your right, actually at my age enjoy playing my baseball sim versuses watching a game on TV or even watching TV. I'm a cable cord cutter, directtv, way over priced and first thing to go on a tighter budget. Of course, the fast food and restaurants are also taking a hit.
If I watch TV it's free streaming TV or even CZcams channels on TV through my internet.
Your video is right on, thanks!
MLB has is often judge by their national and WS TV ratings, but in today's landscape that is mistake. Baseball popularity has always been more regional based. I think the biggest danger to baseball now is the pay only access to local games. Boxing went this way in the 1990s, and look where it is today. Of course the TV landscape is so much different so hard to predict.
I agree with you, but only partially.
Baseball did have a national following up until the 1990s. The "baseball has always been a regional sport" argument seems to have come up after the 1994 strike, when baseball did indeed become more of a regional sport.
I was looking through newspapers from December 1899 the other day. Rochester, New York had extensive coverage of National League rumors and trades, even though there was no major league team in the area. You could find similar coverage in other cities, including cities with minor league teams.
The radio broadcasts were also not limited to region. Mutual had a program called Game of the Day that served major league baseball broadcasts to non-MLB markets on a regular basis.
Even in the newspaper era, cities without big league teams still covered the Major Leagues, but usually focused more on local minor league teams. Time investment for listeners viewers is always a factor; during the radio days, local games often drew more listeners than national games, a trend that persists today.
The TV landscape has dramatically changed since the 1980s and early 1990s, with a significant increase in broadcast options and methods. While I won’t argue that it is better , it's clear that baseball understands its primary audience, which differs from where the bulk of NFL's audience is.
As far as apartments requiring you to pay for cable, at the complex I’m living at, I can opt out of the $50… but if I do, no internet. So even though I never watch cable, I pay for it because I need to have internet.
There's a reason why the companies that offer cable television are the same companies that offer internet services.
MLB and the NFL are also going to be in for a shock if they keep trying to push the product in Europe (as they're trying to do in recent years). I have several friends in the UK who follow US sports and all of them stream things illegally because for the last decade or two it was literally the only way to watch most of it. Most US sports fans in Europe have grown up knowing nothing other than than pirate streaming and there's zero chance they're going to now swap to £50/month subscription services.
Just one little thing. Regarding the manchester teams the other thing is the league sells the rights for all games as a whole. There is no local exclusivity. Basically it would be like if MLB sold the TV rights to JUST Fox sports and let Fox broadcast all games nationally or sold a handful of games to Apple TV alongside the rest of the games.
Yep - you're right. Thank you!
I have great hope that one day we can be able to see all of MLB teams play wherever and whenever. MLB is even thinking about an all-30 team streaming service.
the cardinals don't even offer a streaming-only option. i'd have happily paid $20/month just for their games. unfortunately years of being unable to watch games has killed any interest i have in baseball. which is sad, because i grew up with baseball in my blood. i'm not sure that any change now will bring me back to anything more than a casual interest.
(for reference, bally midwest does do streaming-only for the blues, and i subscribe to that as well as apple's mls season pass. the mls/apple deal has it's downsides but i think it's by far the best model for sports broadcasting in the current environment)
Thank you for saying this. I do hope the future gets better, so the life of baseball can continue. I have moved around the country many times over the last 20 years. Living in four different cities in that time. I have given up on trying to watch baseball during that time. I would love to follow my favorite team, but there are way too many situations that get blacked out on any package that I try to sign up for. Leaving a life long baseball fan out of luck. I cut the cord for good about 6 years ago. If there is ever a way for me to watch all of my team's games, including the playoff, I would be the first in line. And baseball would get a true fan back. But till then, I will just read and get the quiet updates on my phone. Sucks that MLB does't see the writing on the wall.
Im an Orioles fan but live north of Toronto so I watch the O's games on the mlb app. So, anytime they Orioles play the jays, I cant watch despite paying for the games because rogers media wants their money which of course I'm not going to pay for 13 games a year. It pisses me off i cant see local games because local media thinks I will give them that money for 13 games. If I could refuse them more money, I would.
I'm from Michigan and blackouts/inaccessibility is why my interest in the Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings has plummeted over the last decade (rather than poor form recently). I'm still a lions fan mostly because I could watch them every week and don't have to pay Bailey sports for access.
I want to be a Michigan sports fan, I really do. The lions are my team and I want to be a fan of the other city teams, but it’s hard when you live in the south and can’t access Bally Sports or whatever it is. Major pita
Great video, great topic. They are putting out a low quality broadcast product as well
No way; you lived in Vienna, VA! A Nova native myself, that’s so cool!
Yeah - we're still in the area, too. We're further out in the suburbs now - it's a bit less hectic than the Tyson's Corner area, lol.
So glad I don't suffer from these blackouts here in Germany; the teams don't seem to have carved up the abroad yet.
I do not, however, understand why MLB Radio adverts get replaced by some generic crowd noise, or that one single annoying London Series ad over and over and over again. Last year we still got to listen to ads from the portaloo rental guy in Kansas City, or some ambulance chasing lawyer from San Francisco, but now I get this noise the moment TV switches to ads (the radio doesn't necessarily, leading to hall of fame announcers getting cut off mid-sentence by some pickly faced intern in Secaucas). I really don't get it
Interesting to hear that the radio adverts are different in Europe.
MLB's online video streams still suffer from blank screens that say something like "the game will return shortly." This is an indication that MLB continues to struggle to sell advertising space for its online streams - likely because advertisers don't see it as lucrative as slots during television broadcasts, for whatever reason.
You'd think there would be an easy solution to this issue, but I guess not. It confuses me.
The video stresmx here get those "ad ongoing" screens to, and when they display, the radio plays the applause
I am 57-years old living in Toronto. Grew up a huge Blue Jays fan. Every single Jays game is available over regular cable. No blackouts. Unfortunately, baseball has become unwatchable due to rule changes, strategy, and every pitcher throwing 100 mph unhittable pitches. In the last 3 years I have not watched a single inning of baseball.
RSNs are the very definition of a monopoly that says “you must buy my product, and you are forbidden from purchasing any other competing product.”
Essentially RSNs are “given” my viewing rights and charging me for them! You hit the nail on the head- Viewers are the product!
Yeah - and the worst part about the monopoly is that you wind up paying for the privilege of watching advertising messages.
That's not to say that commercials are bad; I know they're necessary. It just feels wrong to cover something with ads when people are paying extra for it already.
@@baseballreplayjournal Exactly. I flat out refuse to pay for a service that shows commercials.
as a kid in the 80s in Baltimore i always thought it was because of low tickets sales.. not wanting mostly empty seats on t.v. we didnt have cable in Baltimore until the late 80's to early 90's...
I live in South Florida. Recently, Xfinity dropped Marlins telecasts and all other local sports telecasts after regional provider Bally Sports filed for bankruptcy.
Stumbled on this - good insights👍
Also the quality of the umpires. I’m not aware of any sports league on this planet that has worse officiating.
MLB umpires assert themselves too much into the game.
Forget TV. Sophisticated Fans listen to the audio stream. $20 a year gets you EVERY SINGLE GAME. Use the imagination, not just the eyeballs.
Listening to a game is fun! I had a nice experience as a kid, listening to the radio to a game while in my dad's big rig.
I can watch any game anytime with a Google search. Lol I didn’t even know they still did black outs
Edit: for free.99
It's 30 this year or u can listen on sirus if you have that
The east stream
Reminds me of my childhood best friends dad living in 3099 who would listen on the radio but have the tv in the his garage on, the radio was like 9 seconds ahead so if something cool happened he could shuffle to the garage lol legend
MLB priced themselves out of my home somewhere around 2007. So now my kids, under 10, have probably only seen a dozen legal Mariner games on TV. Baseball has given up the most powerful draw it has held for generations; nostalgia for the game and the joy of passing it on to your kids. Give us the games for free over the air or this game will continue it's slide into obscurity. I promise I don't have adblock on my digital antenna.
I feel like baseball has been growing a lot the last few years and becoming popular again organically. But these blackout restrictions are probably the biggest thing holding back any real growth. Your comments about two team markets have me real worried about the White Sox relocating though
I seriously hope that you're right about the sport growing. It feels like it's been shrinking for my whole life.
I really hope the White Sox don't leave Chicago. It's bad enough seeing the A's leave Oakland.
@@baseballreplayjournal it might only be a temporary resurgence since the pandemic honestly. But yeah it’s sad what happened to the A’s and it feels like the Sox are trending in that direction just based on the vibe around the team and at the stadium. I’m starting to worry it will get louder soon when the stadium plans and die stall due to lack of public funding and a cheap owner
One of your best videos. 💯
Thanks! I appreciate the kind words.
Of course, what I really wish is that they'd fix this problem instead... but I don't think that will happen anytime soon, sadly.
This is great info! Subscribed! YOu may want t work on your "gaze" towards the camera. Maybe a different angle?
I lived in Wilkes-Barre PA and as you would expect, the yankees, mets and phillies were blacked out. The other team was the Pirates. Ok so pittsburgh is in pa but its six hours from WB. Also, in the time i lived there, no pirate game was ever on local tv or the cable service. MLB had no viable explanation except well the pirates claim your zip code.
The guardians didn't claim my zip code so I've been able to tune into their games through audio. The pirates claimed it, though, and I'm pretty sure that the regional networks have been pulled from direcTV and Dish. I don't know how people are able to watch their team when the only option in an area with horrid internet infrastructure doesn't carry the games.
I love the footy references
Glad you appreciated them! There's more where that came from.
It’s especially even more maddening when you don’t live in the area of your favorite team but when the Mariners play the twins guess what? Blackout. I live 8 hours away from Minneapolis. Because the game is blacked out does the opposite for me than the intention of the Black out. I’ve got no desire to drive 8 hours away to see the mariners play the twins. And I don’t want to watch a Twins feed ether if I watch it on local TV. But that’s baseball not understanding their fans for ya. Kids now don’t understand what it was like growing up with the infancy of ESPN. You stayed up until 11:30 just to see a score and maybe a 5-10 sec clip of the game. Now? You could live on the other side of the world and be so connected to your favorite team. Between the team’s website, social media and leagues putting up 8-10 minute highlight videos, it’s so easy to be a fan of any team.
MASN defines how awful this is.
I would say the Pirates are worse. They claim almost all of PA and have for decades. Even places that have never had pirate games on local TV or cable.
Oh, I would say Bally is much worse
Ever since they snatched away what was once very good in the Fox Sports regional networks, their product has been by far more inferior and absolute hot garbage
To make matters worse, at least in terms of the market I am in (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) while we can watch the Timberwolves, Wild, and Lynx without the need for a cable subscription via Bally Sports Plus, in order to watch the Twins, for some inexplicable reason, those bozos at Diamond Sports Group/Sinclair (the owner of the Bally networks) decided that enough was enough and have forced you into needing a cable or satellite subscription if you want to watch the Twins along with those aforementioned teams
And on top of that, there’s a whole brouhaha ongoing between DSG and Comcast/Xfinity, which means that a good chunk of people either at home or at bars still are currently unable to watch the games because of the ongoing contract dispute they’re having
So all in all, the whole regional sports network landscape is quite a mess right now, and I sure hope in the near future we finally get away from this whole mess and instead can just go right through the leagues with whatever subscriptions they offer without this stupid, silly, blackout thing that they are still doing
Rob Manfred does want to nationalize the broadcasting of the sport. Hopefully he’s successful on this.
Great video
Great job. I used to love following baseball but ever since WGN dropped the Cubs and the Sox and the CSN took over, I have very very little access to any games and have zero interest now in the teams any rarely go to a game. Yes i am a cord cutter, which i value as a principle higher than sports entertainment. Not only that, but you cannot subscribe to Sling or Hulu or whatever streaming service without paying the regional sports fee. So i am more than a cord cutter, i am a non subscriber to any of those TV packages. I do CZcams and I have a TV antenna but dont bother switching to the antenna anymore. News same thing. All online now. Only thing i really can afford is the outrageous internet service cost. All my $ goes to a 5G internet service that as I said has no TV.
The MLB, NBA and NHL charge their local markets the most to watch their product as the NFL on the other hand sees to it. The local market gets the game for free. I really think this is why they’ve become the most popular sports league they could easily charged their local fans to watch their yes they are leaving a lot of money on the table but I think they’re making more in the long-term
I have T mobile and is included every year.
You are spot on. I was the hardcore fan that made hardcore fans say "Whoa dude... chill out" I have 3 rooms FULL of memorabilia including bats, game used bases, walls of jerseys, helmets, and probably 1200 autographed baseballs. The rule changes most definitely played a big part in my fandom deteriorating but the first and biggest hole in that boat has been Rob Manfred and specifically his handling and actions around the Astros Cheating Scandal. He took all meaning of the title and the trophy away for me and seriously I found myself asking why TF should I care if this is what it's worth now. I have tried to force myself back in because it is honestly heartbreaking and I miss it. But I can't see it the same. I don't mean I sit there and think about Manfred or the Astros while watching and get all pissed off.. It's like it turned a switch off. I still watch all the all time highlight reels and content on YT. Hell I have even watched full games from the 90s-2010s. I don't know what it is but it just isn't there. And honestly... for that.. for taking away something that I loved so much and most likely ruining it for me for life.. .I will FOREVER HATE Manfred and the Astros franchise. I see nothing but disdain when I see them at all.
So you tell me paying for all games, does not give me the chance to see all games? Wtf.... where is the lawyer....
i gave up on MLB. I was sick of TTO baseball and millionaires yelling and screaming at each other. now i was low level college programs and independent professional baseball. So much better than the product the MLB puts out. That is the thing about baseball. It is beautiful at any level....until you mess with what makes it great.
Either a pirate(s) stream or VPN does the trick
Apple TV ruined MLB and MLS games for me
I've watched less soccer this year than any point in the past 15 years...
I will NEVER buy Apple TV
baseball so elite no one can watch it.
Brilliant concept really.
I have found myself gravitating more toward baseball with the NFLs set of ridiculous rule changes
🟦🟥🟦🟥🟦Go Guardians!!!🟥🟦🟥🟦🟥
MLBTv is crap. Why would I pay over $150 to not be able to watch my team? Why would I do that? Why MLBtv? Why bro? What were you thinking MLBtv. Why did you think it? Why ?
Is the most stupid shit MLB tv have. I live in MD and when the Marlins are here I can see the Marlins team broadcast. I don’t have Cable tv because is just garbage.