DISH vs FOX Sports and MLB blackout rules

[turftoe]

The Braves were supposed to play ~30 games on free TV this season. Anyone with a set of rabbit ears and close enough to the signal could get them....or they would be available through your normal local channel lineups. FOX comes in and buys those games away from the OTA channel and then turns around and informs the sat and cable providers that if they want these games, they have to pay extra. Dish has not caved like the rest. So, I'm missing out on games this season. I say {bleep} you FOX. Of course, they want us to pressure Dish into caving....and raising our rates.

But what I don't understand is if the game is blacked out only in my area (if I lived a little further south, I'd still be in the Atlanta area but not covered by the blackout) why am I not allowed to watch the same game on the other team's feed if I have it through the Regional Sports Pack? In the NFL, I thought that if your local team was blacked out, you got to watch another game. What gives? Seems like having these extra Regional Sports Networks isn't really much of a deal as the programming is often blacked out.

?Can someone explain this better to me?

 

[Teehar]

Regional sports are based on your zip code.If you were in a zip code outside of the blackout,you could see the other games.

 

[Tampa8]

Good grasp of what happened! I don't follow when you say "if I lived a little further south, I'd still be in the Atlanta area but not covered by the blackout" Not including the MLBN which has it's own set of rules, no one in the DMA that covers the Braves would be getting Braves games living somewhere outside where the OTA was covered other than on the RSN. And blackout rules do not make exceptions if you don't get other games because your provider does not have the RSN's games. Meaning any games you do or do not get via other channels always assume you can get your local RSN's games. Again, with the exception of the MLBN that does not care one way or the other apparently. I get some Red Sox games even when they are on the RSN, I get a Yankee game or two when they are on the RSN on the MLBN or MLBNA. (I am in both DMA's of NYC and Boston)

 

[gdstout]

I think the thread starter means if they lived in a different DMA(Macon for example) they would get the games that were on Peachtree TV in the past. I am north of the Atlanta DMA in Tennessee, but still in the Braves TV area so I get more games with Dish than somebody with Dish living across from Turner Field.

I think if the thread starter really wants to see those games changing providers is the only way it will happen.

 

[Teehar]

I think the thread starter means if they lived in a different DMA(Macon for example) they would get the games that were on Peachtree TV in the past. I am north of the Atlanta DMA in Tennessee, but still in the Braves TV area so I get more games with Dish than somebody with Dish living across from Turner Field.

I think if the thread starter really wants to see those games changing providers is the only way it will happen.

Yea,that's the way I took it.The only other option the op would have is to (move)

 

[dare2be]

MLB and NHL blackouts on RSNs work differently than NFL blackouts on broadcast networks. With the NFL, you get the games in your region decided by the networks and the NFL, and your local team can be blacked out when playing at home based on lack of attendance. With MLB and NHL, only the teams you are designated for in your viewing area (DMA) you are allowed to see, and all other out-of-area games are blacked out, even if you have the sports pack. The thinking is that if you want to watch out-of-market games, you are required to purchase the MLB or NHL subscriptions, but for most that doesn't fly when you have to buy all or nothing, and not just the team or division you are interested in.

With the sports pack, it used to be that you could catch a replay of the out-of-market game overnight or the next day that wasn't blacked out, but lately (over the last few years) even those are blacked out too.

I won't get into the Fox network (not FSN) Saturday blackout rules, only to say that they are way too draconian.