Why are shows blocked out in my own house?

[Insomniator]

So I have FIOS, want to check out the yankee game. I'm sitting in my office, only living room and bedroom have TV's. Go onto ESPN online, watch ESPN --> blacked out in my area. FIOS mobile app --> blacked out/showing sportscenter.

Its 20 freaking 16. I pay 150 bucks a month for TV and Internet. In fact the only reason I even have TV is for sports. I have a laptop, desktop, cell phone and tablet in front of me all with beautiful HD screens. I really have to get up and physically sit in front of my TV to watch a baseball game? Its not like I'm asking to stream it on a train in Europe.

I'm on my home wifi... just stream the commercials too if thats the problem... i don't understand...

 

[vi edit]

Sports and broadcast rights. Two of the most most money grubbing, self serving entities that come together in one unholy matrimony. That's why.

Your local team has prevented your provider from broadcasting it unless a certain number of tickets are sold. It's to "encourage" fans to view in person. Or at least that's how football works.

MLB has some sort of licensing agreement between different stations on certain days.

Again...refer to the first sentence in my post.

 

[CraKaJaX]

AFAIK, WatchESPN is only good for.... watching ESPN.

According to Google:

New York Yankees
American League
Live on RTSW, YES
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

Of course there are other.... legal means... of watching sports without sitting in front of your TV.

 

[gorcorps]

Sports licensing is the biggest PITA. I thought the NFL was the worst but I'm finding out all sports have the same issues. Even if you pay for their extended services, you still don't get everything... what in the hell

 

[gorcorps]

Your local team has prevented your provider from broadcasting it unless a certain number of tickets are sold. It's to "encourage" fans to view in person.

It's not even the stadium blackout rules, it's just the local TV thing. If it's broadcast on a local channel then it will be unavailable to stream in your area in any way, regardless of tickets sold at the stadium.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Major League Baseball has a lot of blackout rules. You are running into one of those:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_blackout_policy

Basically another channel in your market has rights to the game. For other sports blackouts are based on attendance- aka a way to get people to go to games.

It is very easy to get around it- sign up for a free VPN outside of your market and login into ESPN through the VPN. I do this all the time.

As to why they do it? Well, they are greedy assholes that are trying to squeeze all of the blood out of the stone called the sports fan before the entire cable model of distribution fails. This sort of thing will get worse before it gets better. Use technology to get what you pay for.

 

[Insomniator]

AFAIK, WatchESPN is only good for.... watching ESPN.

According to Google:

New York Yankees
American League
Live on RTSW, YES
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

Of course there are other.... legal means... of watching sports without sitting in front of your TV.

Well its listed as on ESPN according to the website, and verizon's channel guide. I have it on the YES network now... on the TV... like its 1997 or something. Who the hell watches anything on a TV anymore. I should be able to watch anything on my television package on any device I own without the need for slingbox or mlb premium or other BS. Just stream the commercials with it, boom, same as sitting on the couch. I'm going to mute them regardless.

 

[vi edit]

This sort of thing will get worse before it gets better.

From his first post: "
Its 20 freaking 16. I pay 150 bucks a month for TV and Internet. In fact the only reason I even have TV is for sports."

Only way to win is not to play. Stop paying for something to be a pain.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Well its listed as on ESPN according to the website, and verizon's channel guide. I have it on the YES network now... on the TV... like its 1997 or something. Who the hell watches anything on a TV anymore. I should be able to watch anything on my television package on any device I own without the need for slingbox or mlb premium or other BS. Just stream the commercials with it, boom, same as sitting on the couch. I'm going to mute them regardless.

I agree 100%. I think we are getting closer to that day, but who really knows. As a FiOS customer myself, I signed into mine at work ....

Notice the blackout statement below the headline/picture. That seems to be what you're running into. What a crock of shit.

 

[Linux23]

yeah. it's stupid as shit.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Just stream the commercials with it, boom, same as sitting on the couch. I'm going to mute them regardless.

The decision isn't ESPN's (aka the company that benefits from commercials), its MLBs policy. They do this to increase the value of local sports networks and to maximize the value of television rights sold.

The concept that sports programming is paid for by commericals is dated. Instead what keeps the ship afloat is a percentage of your massive cable bill ($10+) goes directly to the sports networks in question who then buy the rights from the sports leagues. Also everyone on your cable network (even grandma who never watches sports) pays these fees as well, and for ESPN (for example) that makes up the great majority of their revenue. Without the blackouts local sports networks don't have the content to survive, and each one itself takes some of every cable bill in the region. You pay the fee either way (whether you watch it or not) so they benefit from spreading out the content on as many channels as possible.

Basically the whole cable model is a pyramid scheme destined to fail, but between now and the day that grandma stops paying for your sports content we have to deal with them making you the sports fan jump through hoops to maximize how much money they can get from grandma.

 

[zinfamous]

So I have FIOS, want to check out the yankee game. I'm sitting in my office, only living room and bedroom have TV's. Go onto ESPN online, watch ESPN --> blacked out in my area. FIOS mobile app --> blacked out/showing sportscenter.

Its 20 freaking 16. I pay 150 bucks a month for TV and Internet. In fact the only reason I even have TV is for sports. I have a laptop, desktop, cell phone and tablet in front of me all with beautiful HD screens. I really have to get up and physically sit in front of my TV to watch a baseball game? Its not like I'm asking to stream it on a train in Europe.

I'm on my home wifi... just stream the commercials too if thats the problem... i don't understand...

well, you should stop doing that.

 

[Homerboy]

You've never run into a blacked out game before?
You're supposed to watch the local broadcast of it in that case. That's how MLB makes their money -- local markets get the local games.