TV Answer Man, I am a Dish customer who has suffered through nearly 2 years of the Fox/Sinclair RSN contract dispute. My team is the Cincinnati Reds, and tonight’s game vs. the Giants will air on MLB Network. However, due to MLB’s local blackout rules, the game will not air in my area. Why is the game on MLBN blacked out when I don’t even receive the channel on which it would normally air? This is super frustrating! I hope you can provide a clear answer. — Travis, Huntington, West Virginia.
Travis, Major League Baseball’s blackout rules are so arcane and seemingly arbitrary that they could test the patience of the Dalai Lama! But let me try to explain why you couldn’t watch last night’s game on Dish to help ease your inner torment.
As you know, Major League Baseball blackouts a game on the MLB Network if it’s available on a local channel, such as your regional sports channel. But in your case, Dish does not carry Bally Sports Ohio (or any Bally Sports channel owned by Sinclair Broadcasting), the TV home of the Cincinnati Reds. So it would seem reasonable to argue that the MLB Network broadcast should not be blacked out, right?
Click Amazon: See Today’s 1-Day-Only Deals!
Well, it may be reasonable, but it’s not how the blackouts work. MLB still requires the game to be blacked out on Dish’s MLB Network broadcast even though you can’t get Bally Sports Ohio. The rational is to help Sinclair/Bally Sports pressure Dish to carry their channels. If you could watch the Reds on the MLB Network channel, or via the Extra Innings package, there would be less cause for the satcaster to add Bally; it could simply tell subscribers to watch their home team on other channels, or its pay TV package.
But because the game is blacked out on those other channels/plans, Dish subscribers get angry and urge their TV provider to add the regional sports channel that carries it. This is how the MLB Network blackout is designed to help Bally Sports.
And why does the league side with Bally over Dish, and its subscribers? Because Sinclair, the owner of the Bally Sports channels, pays the league a handsome sum for the rights to carry their games. MLB executives will always put their financial partners ahead of the fans. The league’s position is that fans should switch to a TV provider that does carry the regional sports channel if they want to watch their home team.
Travis, hope that makes sense. Happy viewing, and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
I live in N.C. We don’t have a baseball team. Even S.C. doesn’t have a baseball team. Yet I am considered to be in the territory of the Orioles, Nationals, Reds, Braves, and sometimes, for some reason, the Cardinals, who are half a continent away.
Because of this, depending on who they’re playing, I’m blacked out from watching 10 teams on any given day. I’m sick and tired of watching the Tigers and the White Sox. The only TV provider who carries the Bally RSN’s right now is ATT TV, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna pay them $94.00 a month just to watch the Braves. I just got rid of Youtube TV and subscribed to all the + apps. I have MLB.TV, they show the games on the respective Bally RSN’s, so why can’t I watch them? Their commercials are still being shown.
Another reason why I’ve had it with baseball. And I love how they were all up in arms over Draft Kings and the other betting site, until they realized they could make money too. Now they actually promote gambling. Greedy…..
Find a friend who has Direct TV or cable. Watch the games. Dish seems to be only ones blacked out.
Agree with commenter above… I live in NC & my team is in SF. WHY is this game blacked out for me? If I pay for a premium subscription, I should get to watch all the games. COVID-19 ruined last season, the fans want baseball… with all of MLB’s shenanigans, they’re about to find themselves back where they were after the strike… irrelevant and unwatched. Grrrr.
Meg, it was blacked out because they played the Reds, whose territory we are in. Don’t ask me why. There’s quite a few teams in between us and Cincinnati like the Phillies, Pirates and Indians, whose territories we are NOT in. Go figure.
MLB has some of the strongest blackout rules of all sports. MLB Network during the regular season does not have exclusive rights to any baseball game that is scheduled to be broadcasted. They do sometimes offer an alternative game on the alternative MLB Network channel for satellite & streaming services for any blacked out game. On cable you would get the alternative game automatically for any blacked out game. However MLB Tonight & MLB Strike Zone live look ins are blackout free in that your local team could be a part of the live look ins. MLB Audio which is a slimmed down version of MLB TV for $19.99 a season is blackout free for the radio broadcasts. Any blacked out game on MLB TV is available on demand 90 minutes after the game ends. Since MLB Audio is included with the full version of MLB TV, you can listen to the live radio broadcasts for any blacked out game.
MLB is slowly slipping the noose around their own neck. One day they will jump off the stool. I thought the NFL was greedy, but MLB is right there too!
I am living in St. Louis. I am unable to watch the Red Sox/Yankees game due to blackout. I just purchased a month of MLB.com that apparently is useless. But why?