Baseball's about to screw the fans again

[Oeditpus Rex]

Disclaimer: This doesn't affect me because I don't have cable (can't get it out here in the burboonies). Even if I did, I wouldn't pay that kind of money to watch ball games. But this still fucking sucks.


Feb. 9, 2007 | You've heard by now of the nearly done deal in which Major League Baseball will sell its Extra Innings package exclusively to DirecTV's 15 million subscribers for $700 million over seven years.

(snip)

Extra Innings customers who can't or don't want to sign up for DirecTV are squawking, though as the hardest of hardcore fans, people willing to pay $179 a year for the right to watch a dozen or so baseball games every day, they should know this is pretty standard behavior for baseball.

That is:

Dear best customers,

Screw you.

Love,
MLB


http://www.salon.com/sports/col/kaufman/2007/02/09/friday/

[sasquatch]

1. Keith Olbermann made the MLB the "Worst Person in the World"-

because of this. I guess this is what happens when you have a former owner in the commissioner seat.

[reyd reid reed]

2. Holy.

Fucking.

Shit.

You're kidding me.

When did you find this? I order the package every year and this year...

DAMMIT

Y'know...after Comcast's been out for three days (which, incidentally, means my internet is out, too) and they're giving me nothing but bullshit answers like they think I don't know they're bullshit answers (like...we're working on it. The hell they are...) and expect me to suck 'em up and believe 'em...and now I can't get my Extra Innings package?

FUCK-ass.

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. Look on the bright side

Your house has southern exposure. :eyes:

[reyd reid reed]

4. Wanna bet?

Well...depends how you look at it. There IS that one wall...

Dammit.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

*sigh*

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Fuck 'em

Streaming audio's worked for me, sort of, and it's $15 per season.

[reyd reid reed]

44. Yeah, but

if I do that, then I'm limited to upstairs where the computer is.

Shit. It's just stupid.

And it makes me

[Oeditpus Rex]

45. Nah

It's cool what you can do with an old, amplified speaker and like 30 feet of speaker wire. :7

[wildhorses]

6. say it ain't so ----

:cry:

[AngryAmish]

7. This is why they are doing this:

1. MLB's online business is printing money. You can watch all the games for about $100 bucks a year online. It is only going to increase as more broadband people get online.

2. Fewer people can get Direct TV, so they are forced online.

3. MLB is thinking of having an IPO of its online business. This means hundreds of millions for baseball owners.

So, they get money from Direct TV and expand their online business - making billions of dollars.

[jakefrep]

15. Honestly,

That sounds like a better deal than Extra Innings ($100 < $179)- assuming you have broadband. I'm not sure how this qualifies as "screwing the fans".

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. You said it yourself

"Assuming you have broadband." Most still don't.

Besides — who wants to sit at their computer to watch a ball game? :shrug:

Any way you cut it, the only fans not affected by this are those who already have DirecTV. Everyone else has to either pay more or suffer.

[jakefrep]

22. I guess I'm having difficulty...

...trying to figure out when we became entitled to televised baseball. Maybe the cable companies got out because it wasn't profitable for them to offer it. I'm not sure if my cable company even offered EI, but then again, my standard cable includes 6 channels that regularly carry baseball (ESPN, TBS, WGN, plus the flagship channels for the Indians, Tigers, and Reds).

[Oeditpus Rex]

23. When they give it to you free for like 40 years

and sponsors pick up the tab, it does give you the feeling that you're entitled to it.

[WCGreen]

8. Fuck Baseball.....

I listen, I'll watch my team but I am too old to get invested in the game anymore when they won't invest anything in me...

[WindRavenX]

9. fuck MLB

They're making me hate the game :(

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. Don't hate the game

Hate the greed. The game is innocent.

[WindRavenX]

12. it's just hard sometime

And dammit, the Yankees better not suck again this year.

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. I know

I stayed away for almost the entire '90s, partly because I was disgusted and partly because I couldn't pick up Dodgers games after they dumped 50,000-watt KDWN for 5,000-watt KABC.

Now I pay $15 per season to listen to 'em via streaming audio. And that's all they'll get outa me.

[WindRavenX]

14. yeah, my SO and I split the 80/yr online mlbTV

We're going to miss Yankee Stadium.

[YDogg]

10. America's pastime, indeed.

Baseball can bite me.

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. Cool - and they're doing it in taxpayer funded stadiums, too!

How sweet is that.

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Damned sweet

if you're an owner or a shareholder, or a player who can now demand even more money because they have more to give you.

[Initech]

18. God damn it.

I swear some times I want to fly to Cooperstown just so I can kick Bud Selig's ass multiple times. :argh:

[Deja Q]

20. If they can pay all their players $xx MILLION and they still need taxpayer help for

a new stadium, they're screwin' ALL OF US. Fans or otherwise.

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. They don't *need* taxpayer help

That's just another $500 million or so they don't have to spend.

The Giants built PacBell/SBC/AT&T Park with no public support.

[sir_captain]

26. The horrible evil Yankees

are building their new stadium without any public money too.

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. The Jankees aren't really any worse

than most other clubs. They have the highest payroll and Steinbrenner's a vocal ass, so they get more than their share of hate.

[sir_captain]

29. Heh. Yeah, I'm a Yankee fan.

Can't disagree about Steinbrenner, though I think he's too sick now to really have anything to do with the every day running of the club.

I know it'll never happen, but I'd really like to see some of the vitriol spread over to the Red Sox who might actually surpass the Yankees in payroll this year if they end up with Clemens.

[jus_the_facts]

24. Ahh well....only gotten to watch games after MAY and only one a weekend....

....on FAUX...who only show Braves and Astros games in this area :puke: ...refuse to buy cable or satellites...haven't for over a decade as I will NOT pay for MORE commercials...OH the memories of gettin' to watch satellite when it was brand new back in the mid to late 80's...on one that had a *chip* in it to get everything free :o and there were NO commercials durin' games but the cameras and audio kept goin' and it was PRICELESS to have that *insider action*...listened to many Sunday night games on the radio last season...but usually only get to see my beloved Yankees in the playoffs and that sure hasn't been too enjoyable for a few years. :cry:

[sir_captain]

25. I already wrote my reps

Schumer, Clinton and Rangel

I know this is a comparatively minor issue, but it's nice to be able to watch my hometown team and escape from grim reality once in a while, you know?

[Zech Marquis]

28. I don't like this deal

and eve though I do have DirecTV, I personally think that the current way of letting anyone subscribe to Extra Innings is better and more fair. Now, ifMLB and DirecTV has something else for Direc customers (like every game in HD or something), I could understand--as long as it's not forcing people into DirecTV.

[fortyfeetunder]

30. Screw them - I can live without TV baseball

Figure MLB will go and broadcast games on satellite radio next, and then I have a chance to say screw them again!

:grr:

[KitchenWitch]

33. They already do broadcast games on XM

[DainBramaged]

31. Doesn't Rupuppet MurDreck own Direct TV?

[regnaD kciN]

43. He sure does...!!!

So, all you MLB fans -- if you want to watch all the games, better be prepared to shell out lots of money to Murdoch and his right-wing noise machine, 'cause if you're buyin', he's the only one sellin'! :puke:

[KitchenWitch]

32. A question:

We have Direct TV, but are not likely to buy the Extra Innings package (waahh). We do have the sports pack, meaning we get all of the Fox Sports affiliates (Fox Sports North, Fox Sports Midwest, etc.) When games air on Fox Sports North, for instance, does this mean they will be blacked out?

[Oeditpus Rex]

34. I'd say that's a question

for MLB and/or Faux Sprots — and a damned good one. It all depends on which broadcast rights DirecTV purchased.

[KitchenWitch]

35. I am afraid I know the answer to that one

Time to set up the XM radio in the house then.

[Oeditpus Rex]

36. I dunno

That'd require Faux to give up a lotta broadcast rights, and thus a lotta ad revenue. And Faux is powerful, since it has the post-season sewn up through like 2049.

I wouldn't assume that's the case.

I'd go for XM radio for Dodgers games, but to get it portable in the house and also in the car would cost more up front than I can afford. :(

[KitchenWitch]

37. When I bought mine last year.

I got the portable for my car, but I also bought the thing that hooks up to my stereo, so I can bring the portable into the house.

I think the whole thing may have cost about $65. It was not the latest model, however.

[Oeditpus Rex]

39. See, I'd want the kind

I could carry with me, like a portable radio, because during baseball season I'm outside a lot.

This would all be moot if the Dodgers would get an affiliate station around here. I've e-mailed them about it and gotten zero response. They've still got their station in Albuquerque, left over from when the Dukes were their Triple-A club. They've got one across the country in Vero Beach because they train there, and they've got one in the freakin' Virgin Islands, but they can't put one 300 miles from LA. :grr:

[KitchenWitch]

40. Sucks ass!

Wish I could help you. You are up in Redding right?

[Oeditpus Rex]

41. Not nearly that far north

I'm inland from Monterey Bay, SSE of San Jose.

[KitchenWitch]

42. Oh, that is closer then

[DainBramaged]

38. Murdick does own Direct TV, so why does he wnt to control MLB viewing?