By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –@tvanswerman
TV Answer Man, I live in Sioux City, Iowa and I am a Padres fan. I have Extra Innings on DIRECTV. Will I still be able to watch the Padres? — Jeff, Sioux City, Iowa.
Jeff, Diamond Sports’ decision yesterday to stop making its regular payments to the San Diego Padres and return the team’s broadcast rights back to Major League Baseball has prompted numerous reader questions regarding the Padres’ future TV plans.
For starters, under the new MLB management, the Padres games will continue to be available on DIRECTV, Cox, Spectrum, Fubo and AT&T U-verse. But in a new wrinkle, MLB TV will offer the Padres games in the San Diego market for $74.99 for the full season or $19.99 a month.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said repeatedly that if MLB is forced to take back the broadcast rights of any team, there would be no blackouts in market. And true to his word, there will be no MLB TV blackouts in the Padres area, except for games that are exclusives to Peacock, ESPN and Apple TV+.
But what about MLB Extra Innings, the cable/satellite package of out-of-market games? We asked a DIRECTV spokesman today and he confirmed that the Padres contests will still be available to out-of-market fans on Extra Innings.
In addition, for DIRECTV subscribers in the San Diego market, the games will be on a new channel (channel number 694-3) called, MLB San Diego Padres. It will appear in the programming guide as Padres. DIRECTV Stream will have the MLB-produced games on channel 694 while AT&T’s U-verse will show them on channel 1781.
The MLB broadcasts of the Padres begin tonight with the 6:40 p.m. ET matchup against the Miami Marlins.
Jeff, 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
