MLB.tv blackout policy

[Lateral Quicks]

I think I'm taking the plunge this year for mlb.tv, mostly to watch Jays game (got rid of my cable).

I've read that Jays games have not been blacked out in the GTA in past years (unlike NBA League Pass... ugghh). Can anyone confirm? And any indication this will be changing this year?

I might just go with a month subscription to start to verify.

[COY0607]

I think they are blacked out. I use mlb.tv to watch the jays, but I live in the US. Overall its a great product, you might need VPN thou

[pierro]

not blacked out

[Skin Blues]

They haven't been blacked out the past few years, but they could start doing it at any time without notice. I wouldn't be surprised to see them start requiring a Rogers Cable account in order to avoid the blackout, which is what they're now doing in a lot of US markets.

[CrookedJ]

There was a lawsuit about this: Garber VS MLB... it would have settled whether the current blackout scheme was permissible if it had gone to trial, but it was settled in January. The settlement confirms the right to blackout local and national games on MLB.tv

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/mlb-settles-tv-lawsuit-preserves-blackouts/

[satyr9]

The part that would scare me is Rogers new Sportsnet NOW 24.99/mth no cable subscription. I would imagine one of the things that will follow shortly now that there's a legal way to pay them to watch the games is they'll take away the mlb.tv cheaper way.

[Lateral Quicks]

Thanks for the feedback. So it appears they have the authority to blackout games whenever they want, but haven't in the past.

I've heard that VPNs may not work anymore because MLB is using geolocation to compare the location of the consumer and the consumer's billing information.

I've also read that Rogers internet subscribers have had free access to Jays games through onDemand in the past. I'm one of their subscribers, and I don't seem to have access to it.

It sure would be nice to be able to purchase a team pass without the risk of having games blacked out. And that goes for all major sports. I'm willing to pay, and I'm pretty sure a lot of other people are too. I'm just not willing to pay for a zillion channels I don't want just to get the sports I do.

[duppyy]

Thanks for the feedback. So it appears they have the authority to blackout games whenever they want, but haven't in the past.

I've heard that VPNs may not work anymore because MLB is using geolocation to compare the location of the consumer and the consumer's billing information.

I've also read that Rogers internet subscribers have had free access to Jays games through onDemand in the past. I'm one of their subscribers, and I don't seem to have access to it.

It sure would be nice to be able to purchase a team pass without the risk of having games blacked out. And that goes for all major sports. I'm willing to pay, and I'm pretty sure a lot of other people are too. I'm just not willing to pay for a zillion channels I don't want just to get the sports I do.

I think only cable subscribers get access to Jays games on rogersondemand.com

[Brew666]

I have the MLB.tv package and so far this year none of the spring training games I've watched have been blacked out. That said, I definitely share the same concerns as satyr9.

I'll be watching the games this weekend so I can keep the board posted.

IMO it's now only matter of time before the games will be blacked out, I'm just hoping it doesn't kick in until next year so I can get my money's worth with the MLB package. Seems like unnecessary competition for Rogers to have the game available on two platforms unless they receive a larger share of the MLB package revenues by making the games available in the local region, but I`m not holding my breath

[CrookedJ]

You have to be a cable AND rogers internet subscriber to get the on demand sports. Well you have have to be a Rogers cable subscriber to get the login in , AND must be accessing it on a Rogers internet connection. My office building has Rogers internet so Im good here....However when I tried it at the cottage with Bell internet it says this connection is blocked or something like that. Its so crazy that they can get away with that.

[Lateral Quicks]

You have to be a cable AND rogers internet subscriber to get the on demand sports. Well you have have to be a Rogers cable subscriber to get the login in , AND must be accessing it on a Rogers internet connection. My office building has Rogers internet so Im good here....However when I tried it at the cottage with Bell internet it says this connection is blocked or something like that. Its so crazy that they can get away with that.

I can login to rogersondemand, but there's a key symbol beside the games. Apparently I don't have a key

[Lateral Quicks]

I have the MLB.tv package and so far this year none of the spring training games I've watched have been blacked out. That said, I definitely share the same concerns as satyr9.

I'll be watching the games this weekend so I can keep the board posted.

IMO it's now only matter of time before the games will be blacked out, I'm just hoping it doesn't kick in until next year so I can get my money's worth with the MLB package. Seems like unnecessary competition for Rogers to have the game available on two platforms unless they receive a larger share of the MLB package revenues by making the games available in the local region, but I`m not holding my breath

Thanks.

I wish all the leagues would figure this out. There's lots of money to be made from cord-cutters who still want to watch sports online.

[Brew666]

I wish all the leagues would figure this out. There's lots of money to be made from cord-cutters who still want to watch sports online.

Good to go for this game.

Agreed. I will get sportsnet NOW but not until August when the epl starts back up. If Bell follows suit, I'm fine with paying $50/month for access to both networks.

[RalphWiggum]

If I were to order the season pass of mlbtv would I also get access to all the radio broadcasts?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Skin Blues]

I wish all the leagues would figure this out. There's lots of money to be made from cord-cutters who still want to watch sports online.

There's a lot more money to be made from TV networks. The Dodgers alone get $334M per year in a TV deal plus $28M from MLB's own TV deal. Sports are one of the only remaining reasons people bother to still pay $100/month for a cable package.

[CrookedJ]

I wish all the leagues would figure this out. There's lots of money to be made from cord-cutters who still want to watch sports online.

There's a lot more money to be made from TV networks. The Dodgers alone get $334M per year in a TV deal plus $28M from MLB's own TV deal. Sports are one of the only remaining reasons people bother to still pay $100/month for a cable package.

Totally. Its all about sports now. Even if ratings go down, the % of TV viewers watching sports at any given moment is Yuuuge compared to people watching any other single program ( aside from "events" like the Oscars)

I wonder what Jays local ratings would be worth on the open market.

Here's a good piece comparing to US markets - I suspect that we'd be in first by quite a bit, although comparing Canada and US ratings is not always easy.

http://andrewstoeten.com/2015/08/10/the-jays-tv-ratings-are-skyrocketing-but-what-does-that-mean/

The highest average number of households watching any team in prime time in the local market are those watching the New York Yankees, at 206,000, according to the data at Forbes. Households and straight-up viewers — which is what Canadian ratings are measured in — are not the same thing, of course. We can’t really compare those numbers with the ones we see the Jays pulling in. Still, when we see numbers like that, things certainly seem out of whack when we think of the Jays having 1.43-million people watching a game this weekend — even if we remember that these are just prime time numbers, or that we’re talking national versus local, or that, as the release noted, the Jays’ average number of viewers per game this season is 684,000.

[Brew666]

Games haven't been blacked out to this point.

If I were to order the season pass of mlbtv would I also get access to all the radio broadcasts?

You get access to all radio broadcasts and they've synced the audio with the video so you can watch the tv broadcast with the radio coverage.

As much as I know, they're has never been black outs for radio broadcasts. At one point you could subscribe strictly to radio broadcasts but not sure if that's available any longer.

[CrookedJ]

Games haven't been blacked out to this point.

If I were to order the season pass of mlbtv would I also get access to all the radio broadcasts?

You get access to all radio broadcasts and they've synced the audio with the video so you can watch the tv broadcast with the radio coverage.

As much as I know, they're has never been black outs for radio broadcasts. At one point you could subscribe strictly to radio broadcasts but not sure if that's available any longer.

You can still get the "Gameday Audio" package, I just bought it last week for this season. $20 for the season, and it plays on the MLB At Bat app. Home and away audio for each game. No blackouts. I tested last night during the game. The audio is on a delay - about 1.5 minutes behind the TV broadcast, but a good feed.

Handy for when I'm at the cottage, no tv there and there is no Jays radio affiliate that you can reliably tune into in many places in Ontario.

[ldnk]

I don't use cable so I buy MLB.tv. I used to use a proxy server but don't anymore and I don't have any issues with blackouts on Jays games. I love that I can sync the radio broadcast with the TV feed. I don't hate Buck but I like the Radio feed much more.

[Susp3ct]

If you have Kodi try the ProSport add on. I was able to watch Jays 720p without much lag