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April 12, 2008

Blackout Blues

Not Quite Catching All the Action

by Maury Brown

Nothing is more maddening than feeling like you were buying into a good thing, only to be trapped in the fine print. Take being a baseball fan, for instance. You moved across the country and want to catch your former home team? Here's MLB Extra Innings for television. Traveling and can't get to a TV? Here's MLB.TV for your computer. Want to get video updates, but are away from both? OK, here are near real-time highlights sent to your mobile device. Nowadays, options are plenty if you want to see a game, but can't make it to the ballpark.

Or are they?

When it comes to catching games on Extra Innings or online through MLB.TV, fans are hit in the head with a scorching foul ball. Every person, no matter where they live, is going to get hit with some form of convoluted and arcane blackout restriction. It's just a matter of degree. Everyone gets popped via national blackouts, and some people get nailed due to local restrictions, in some locations by as many as six teams.

So, when providers such as Cox Communications say, "Catch all of the big league action with MLB Extra Innings on Cox Digital Cable," you better scroll down and read, "Blackout and other restrictions apply. Regular Season and Pennant Race packages may not be available in all areas. Programming subject to change." It isn't false advertisement, but as the saying goes, if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

For the uninitiated, the blackout policy that you may think of--the NFL's--is a far-off dream when compared to MLB's. In the NFL, blackouts occur in a 75-mile radius around the stadium where a game will be played if the game is not sold out 72 hours or more before the start of the game. The concept is that by blacking out games in your local market, you're more apt to purchase a ticket to the game than sit back at home and watch on the tube. Such is how a sports league with a centralized television deal can function.