22 replies to this topic

[ifmanis5]

http://www.hollywood...baseball-326158

TBS has gained exclusive television rights to the new American League and National League wild card playoff games this year and next, and the MLB Network will air postseason games for the first time, it was announced Thursday.

MLB’s new postseason format, which was unveiled in Marchand brings two additional wild card teams into the playoff mix, will feature the two wild card qualifiers in both leagues playing in a single-elimination game. The winners advance to compete with the three division champions from its league in the division series round, followed by the two league championship series and then the World Series.
The cable network also will continue to televise any necessary regular-season tie-breaker games.

Meanwhile, two division series games this year and in 2013 will shift from TBS to the MLB Network. It will mark the first time that the MLB-owned cable network — distributed in about 69 million homes throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico — will air a postseason contest.

[glennhoffmania]

Wait, does this mean if you don't get MLBN you can't see those games? Are they serious?

[JohntheBaptist]

This is a bummer. I know I'm lame for going rabbit-ears Netflix and MLB.tv, but it kills me when they move these games to the Turner channels and MLB network. Its the reality of so many more playoff games but not nationally televising them just feels sucky. I'll have to leave the house!

[mabrowndog]

Moving playoff games to MLBN is one of the stupidest things they could possibly consider. It smacks of the NFLN and their idiotic Thursday Night games that nobody watches.

What, do they expect this will prompt some massive wave of outcry from baseball fans who'll beg and plead with their cable & satellite providers to "Please, PLEASE add MLBN to our package and don't charge them or us nearly as high a fee"? How the fuck does this benefit the marketing of the sport or its revenue generation?

[Corsi]

Moving playoff games to MLBN is one of the stupidest things they could possibly consider. It smacks of the NFLN and their idiotic Thursday Night games that nobody watches.

What, do they expect this will prompt some massive wave of outcry from baseball fans who'll beg and plead with their cable & satellite providers to "Please, PLEASE add MLBN to our package and don't charge them or us nearly as high a fee"? How the fuck does this benefit the marketing of the sport or its revenue generation?

I've never understood this line of thinking. If you have a new product that you want people to buy/subscribe to (MLB Network), doesn't it follow that you'd give that product some sense of exclusivity, so that people will be compelled to purchase it?

I know it sucks and will cost people money, but MLBN has a viewership goal and this is one way to accomplish it.

[glennhoffmania]

The problem with your theory is that people can't choose to purchase MLBN unless they have the option of switching cable companies to one that carries it. This isn't like coming up with a new product to sell in a store that people can walk in and buy.

[Corsi]

The problem with your theory is that people can't choose to purchase MLBN unless they have the option of switching cable companies to one that carries it. This isn't like coming up with a new product to sell in a store that people can walk in and buy.

This is a good point and my apologies for overlooking it. Which cable providers don't carry MLBN?

[Bucknahs Bum Ankle]

Are the playoffs going to be made available on mlb.tv as well?

[Dogman2]

When I was a Dish Network subscriber they did not carry it. Optimum Cable, the pacific NW carrier, carries the channel but you have to purchase the preferred package to get it.

Edited by Dogman2, 17 May 2012 - 01:49 PM.

[OttoC]

When I was a Dish Network subscriber they did not carry it. Optimum Cable, the pacific NW carrier, carries the channel but you have to purchase the preferred package to get it.

Its the same with Comcast where I live.

[NickEsasky]

When I was a Dish Network subscriber they did not carry it. Optimum Cable, the pacific NW carrier, carries the channel but you have to purchase the preferred package to get it.

Dish has it now. You need their premium sports package to get it though I believe.

[RGREELEY33]

The problem with your theory is that people can't choose to purchase MLBN unless they have the option of switching cable companies to one that carries it. This isn't like coming up with a new product to sell in a store that people can walk in and buy.

Yes, but the bigger picture is MLBN also wants the cable/satelite companies to carry them. Having exclusivity on events like this gets subscribers to piss and moan to their providers about not having whatever channel, and gives the channel leverage. It is a slow process, but long term should prove effective.

[Dehere]

That's the thinking but everything I've always been told is that if you want to pressure cable providers you have to have programming that will cause them sustained discomfort, like an entire regular season of a local team. One game of a playoff series is going to cause 48 hours of teeth-gnashing but in the end nobody is going to add MLBN because of one playoff game, particularly when nobody will even know what teams are playing in the MLBN games until just a few days out. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Piss a lot of people off and do a miserable rating for two playoff games, while probably not adding any new distribution.

[minischwab]

Yes, but the bigger picture is MLBN also wants the cable/satelite companies to carry them. Having exclusivity on events like this gets subscribers to piss and moan to their providers about not having whatever channel, and gives the channel leverage. It is a slow process, but long term should prove effective.

This is good for the Network's ability to make money (and by extension, MLB itself), it's how you get viewers to force a cable carrier to add a channel, but its not good for the sport of baseball. MLB needs as many people watching as possible for the long-term health of the sport. MLB Network right now maxes out at about 69 million homes. NBC Sports (i.e. NHL playoffs) by comparison is around 8 million more. MLB needs playoff games going to over 100M homes, they need ESPN and TBS and TNT to carry the games, along with the FOX package on basic. When NFL Network first started putting games on, they didn't jump in with playoff games, and I'd be stunned to see it happen any time soon. MLB devalues its product by limiting viewers, making growth in national ratings nearly impossible and thus not giving major networks like ESPN or NBC reason to want to up their offer when FOX's deal expires.

[glennhoffmania]

Yes, but the bigger picture is MLBN also wants the cable/satelite companies to carry them. Having exclusivity on events like this gets subscribers to piss and moan to their providers about not having whatever channel, and gives the channel leverage. It is a slow process, but long term should prove effective.

This hasn't worked too well in my efforts to get NFLN.

[RGREELEY33]

This is good for the Network's ability to make money (and by extension, MLB itself), it's how you get viewers to force a cable carrier to add a channel, but its not good for the sport of baseball. MLB needs as many people watching as possible for the long-term health of the sport. MLB Network right now maxes out at about 69 million homes. NBC Sports (i.e. NHL playoffs) by comparison is around 8 million more. MLB needs playoff games going to over 100M homes, they need ESPN and TBS and TNT to carry the games, along with the FOX package on basic. When NFL Network first started putting games on, they didn't jump in with playoff games, and I'd be stunned to see it happen any time soon. MLB devalues its product by limiting viewers, making growth in national ratings nearly impossible and thus not giving major networks like ESPN or NBC reason to want to up their offer when FOX's deal expires.

They are trying to get a network off the ground and get it to be mainstream. They are most likely willing to take a hitin the short term from a viewership perspective. They obviously have the leverage, and undoubtedly know the uphill battle they have. But, it will more than likely pay off in the long term. And regardless of how you feel about MLB or Bud or expansion or wildcards, you cant argue with the results over the last 20 years. MLB has never been popular and never made more money. They're gonna use that to their advantage in this situation, and they obviously are.

[pedro1918]

Are the playoffs going to be made available on mlb.tv as well?

I'm going to go with a big "no" on that one.

[the1andonly3003]

If the cable providers do decide to add MLBN, it just gives them another excuse to raise monthly fees.

[rmurph3]

Are the playoffs going to be made available on mlb.tv as well?

I'm going to go with a big "no" on that one.

On the contrary, I think the postseason games have been available on mlb.tv for the past couple of years. It's a separate charge from the regular season package, but it is available.

[pedro1918]

On the contrary, I think the postseason games have been available on mlb.tv for the past couple of years. It's a separate charge from the regular season package, but it is available.

I don't think you can get the actual live broadcast with postseason.tv. You can get "alternative" views, which if I remember correctly, were quite annoying.

Regular Season Play-In Game: Due to Major League Baseball exclusivities, any play-in game to determine the final team(s) to reach the MLB Postseason, i.e. a 163rd game, will be blacked out in the United States (including the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands).


Postseason Live Blackout: Due to Major League Baseball exclusivities, during the MLB Postseason, all live games will be blacked out in the United States (including the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and Canada. If you are an MLB.TV Premium Subscriber outside of the United States and Canada, each of these games will be available as an archived game as soon as possible after the conclusion of the applicable game. If you are an MLB.TV Premium Subscriber within the United States or Canada or an MLB.TV subscriber in any territory, each of these games will be available as an archived game approximately 90 minutes after the conclusion of the applicable game. Archived games are not available through MLB.com At Bat.

Postseason.TV: Subscribers to Postseason.TV, available only during the MLB Postseason, will be able to view live alternative video feeds (excluding the broadcast feed) from MLB Postseason games without blackout restrictions.

[URI]

Remember, one big difference between MLBTV and NFLN is that Comcast, DirectTV, TimeWarner, and Cox all own significant shares in the network...so those companies should carry the network without much fighting/fees rape that you saw with the NFLN.

[swyman18]

This is a bummer. I know I'm lame for going rabbit-ears Netflix and MLB.tv, but it kills me when they move these games to the Turner channels and MLB network. Its the reality of so many more playoff games but not nationally televising them just feels sucky. I'll have to leave the house!

But with rabbit ears only, haven't you been only able to get one league championship series and the world series on FOX the last several years anyway? I thought everything else has pretty much been on ESPN (prior to TBS picking up a series or two).

I could be wrong, but it seems like this move doesn't help or hurt you as far as watching playoff games over-the-air.

[YTF]

If I read correctly it looks as though just two Divsional Series games this year and next are going to be on MLBN, so what's the point in that? Most will get over it fairly quickly and if that's the case, I'm not overly pissed, unless of course the Red Sox make it there in which case I'm guessing the game will be broadcast somehow locally like they do if the Pats play a Thursday night NFLN game. The whole thing makes little sense to me, but if it's just 2 Divisional games a year (that's just 2 games out of 4 series being played, two days of one less game to watch) it's just going to be a minor inconvenience. Probably less so than some of the in season blackouts due to regional coverage and network exclusivity.