TV Answer Man, I have MLB Extra Innings on Dish Network and some games are not on. Not my local team’s games, but out of market games which they are supposed to have. I don’t understand. For example, when I want to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers, the other team’s broadcast is available but not SportsNet LA which is the Dodgers home broadcast team. I want to watch the Dodgers home broadcast because I used to live in LA!! Can you explain this? I thought all out of market broadcasts are supposed to be available. — Carl, Deale, Maryland.
Carl, Dish does carry the MLB Extra Innings package for $139.99. The plan, which is also available on pay TV providers such as DIRECTV and Comcast, includes up to 90 out-of-market games a week during the regular season.
However, there is something different about Dish’s Extra Innings coverage when compared to how its rivals offer it. Dish does not always include both the home and road broadcasts of each game as others do. (For example, Comcast confirmed to me this morning that its Extra Innings plan includes the feeds of both teams. MLB.TV, the league’s online package of out-of-market games, also includes both home and away broadcasts.)
In fact, Dish has confirmed to the TV Answer Man that it does not carry any SportsNet LA feeds in Extra Innings. The satcaster said it also does include feeds of some other regional sports channels, but it would not provide a list.
Click Amazon: See 1-Day-Only Deals!
Dish, of course, does not carry any regional sports networks (RSNs) in its regular lineup, but that shouldn’t prevent it from offering their feeds in Extra Innings which is regarded as a separate carriage deal. (MLB provides the Extra Innings games to pay TV providers and the league has carriage pacts with everyone.)
The satcaster says the decision to black out some RSNs is based on capacity, meaning it doesn’t have significant room on its satellites to provide all RSN broadcasts. A Dish spokesman also emphasizes that every game is available on Dish’s Extra Innings plan, but not every broadcast.
“Dish MLB Extra Innings plans to carry every available MLB game so fans can always watch their favorite team,” the spokesman told the TV Answer Man. “Due to capacity limitations, some games may only have the home or away feed available, but this does not mean games are excluded from the package. Dish continues to be the best place to watch MLB games and we look forward to sharing it all with our viewers this season.”
And as for SportsNet LA not being in Extra Innings, the Dish spokesman said: “We are evaluating options to include it in the future.”
Carl, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman
He should be able to use his Dish credentials to log into MLB.TV website or app to get the LA Dodgers home game feeds.
Another perfect reason we have to hope DISH never gets its dirty hands on Directv.
DirecTV has SportsNet LA and Dodgers home games in 4K !!
I have the same problem with the NY Yankees. With Dish, I only get the other team’s broadcast. I have called Dish and their customer service reps are clueless. They don’t know why I can’t get the YES broadcast. Dish is misrepresenting their services.
I had the same problem trying to watch the Yankees. The other issue was I wasn’t able to get MLB.TV either. Dish said it was MLB’s problem and they said it was Dish. After two weeks of talking to both of them and getting no satisfaction I gave up. I browbeat Dish into submission to refund the $139.99 I paid. What a pain.
We get MLB.TV – no problem, but we had the same problem with the “blame” games. Glad you were able to get a refund.
spectrum extra innings isn’t giving the choice of what feed you can watch.weird because they are showing two channels for each game but both games are same team’s broadcast.
Having the same problem w/the Red Sox feed-I get literally every other team’s feeds when playing the Sox but not theirs. About the only NESN broadcast I’ve gotten so far this year is when they were in Toronto (& then the commercials were replaced by a message from MLB saying ‘commercial in progress’, so this is clearly some kind of tiff w/the team’s broadcast network. I agree w/Nancy-Dish AND MLB are misrepresenting their services; this is not what I paid for.