MLB.TV And The Outdated Blackout Restriction.
I have been a subscriber of MLB.TV for the past 4 seasons and the service is uncontested by any of the other major North American sports in content and accessibility. That is until it comes to playoff time. The MLB postseason is the most exciting part of the season. It is the culmination of a marathon 162 regular season games and about 30 Spring Training games that precede the season. Fans are taken for an emotional roller coaster ride through a long and taxing season, sticking with their favorite teams or players through the hard times, and celebrating the good ones.
Those fortunate enough to have their team make the postseason are rewarded for their loyalty as they get to continue to cheer for their teams on brisk October nights while many others who have seen their teams fade and fail to qualify, watch with a guarded optimism about how maybe that will be their team next year.
I have not had a team of my own to cheer for since the Montreal Expos left town at the end of the 2004 season, but like many of my fellow die hard Expos fans, we are also die hard baseball fans. Many of my friends have subscriptions the MLB.TV Premium package, which gives the viewer access to MLB content on over 400 devices, access to archived games, highlights and interviews, the companion MLB At Bat mobile app and so much more. Again, that is except for postseason coverage.
I have seen countless stories of MLB.TV customers in certain markets in the United States who have to contend with blackout restrictions throughout most of, if not the entire regular season due to local broadcasting restrictions or any number of excuses. Many games that are blacked out are not even close to their own teams market, however they are mysteriously unavailable. I am fortunate that, save a small number of regular season games over 4 years, I have enjoyed no blackouts, as I live outside of any MLB teams direct market.
So why the Playoffs? Fox and TBS pay Major League Baseball handsomely for the rights to broadcast playoff games to the tune of $800M annually combined through the 2021 season. Viewership has dropped dramatically for the World Series since the 1980’s and 90’s with 2014 being the third least viewed World Series since 1984 at an average of 13.8M viewers. Despite the decline in viewership, Major League Baseball is enjoying its greatest period of revenue earnings, topping $9 Billion, thanks in part to its TV deals with FOX and TBS.
It is understandable then that the MLB would want to protect the interests of FOX and TBS, however, blackouts are such an archaic practice for such an innovative team running Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media department, who are responsible for MLB.TV. There are 3.7M subscribers annually to MLB.TV, and until this season, I also had a cable package that included FOX and other channels that allowed me to watch the postseason. I do not have the figures, however, from talking with people i know who also have the service, it appears to be a 50/50 split of those who subscribe to MLB.TV and have a cable package. Having access to every single MLB regular season game is an incredible experience, why take that away from your subscribers come playoff time?
Of course, FOX and TBS have advertisers that pay them dearly to air their ads during the playoffs and want assurance that they will have a certain amount of viewers when committing so much money. MLB.TV currently does nothing with the time between innings and during pitching changes on the MLB.TV platform. They display a screen that says “Commercial break in progress.” Fill that space! For a company like the MLB that loves money so much, one would think they would use every opportunity to earn a bit more revenue.
I called MLB customer service today and was told that, as a Canadian, because Major League baseball does not have a broadcast partner in Canada, that NO games would be available. I just cannot wrap my head around this. If I lived in Toronto, or even Ontario, I could understand the Blue Jays games being blacked out for me, but I don’t. Even if I lived in Toronto, it would be silly to black out the games. The Rogers Centre will be sold out, bars will be packed and people will be watching from home. What about those who cannot get tickets to the game, or afford to go to a bar or even get a seat at the bar? Too bad, go find someone who still has basic cable in 2015?As an Expos fan in the 90’s, and early 2000’s, the few games that were televised were almost always blacked out in Montreal, but this was because no one was showing up to the big O. This is not the case anymore. Blackouts are certainly not driving more fans to Tampa Bay.
I was told by the customer service agent I spoke to at MLB that the archived games would be available 90 minutes after the games aired, which is fine, except that I would have to throw my phone away until the game is over because of the massive social media presence of Major League Baseball. Following the game while also checking out Twitter, Instagram or Facebook are now part of the experience, but they want to take that away because FOX and TBS might be worried over the audience watching on cable? MLB.TV still has a long way to come as a platform for broadcasting MLB games, but this is an easy fix. They are only alienating fans who may have no other way of watching the playoffs. Allowing all postseason games on MLB.TV is inevitable for the service to thrive, so make it happen already.
