The Good, The Bad About MLB Communication
Baseball fans across the nation have had over week now to sit and stew over the announcement that Major League Baseball is going to be moving it's Extra Innings package from cable/DirectTV to DirectTV, exclusively. That means thousands of fans currently subscribing to the cable version of the package need to either switch to DirectTV, or do their best to get by on newspaper stories and box scores in USA Today.
The uproar has been noticeable in print and across the airwaves, most noticeably from the cantankerous bunch that is Red Sox Nation. John Kerry, a member of said Nation by default, puffedly announced that he was going to question the representatives of the FCC at a hearing last week, championing the cause of fans everywhere. Instead, Kerry managed to leave the hearing early and fax a letter of concern to the head of the FCC. Attaboy, Johnny.
Really, what's the problem here? It's simple: not everyone can get DirectTV. For some reason or other, cable is far more universal, and DTV has a number of limitations including, but not limited to trees and other immovable objects obstructing dish installation. Baseball, in the interests of picking up the paycheck from signing such an exclusive deal, is betting on the fact that it's loyal fans, who have sworn time and time again to never return to the game, will, in fact, return. And though I hate to say it, they always do.
Additionally, in the eyes of MLB there are two other ways to stay abreast of a distant team: XM satellite radio, which is also subscription based but totally worth the money if you drive a lot, and MLB.com's MLB.tv. Of the two, XM is best, in my humble opinion, due to the 24 hour baseball network and all the great music and news. MLB.tv is pretty poor and full of glitches that make watching a game, any game, a lot of effort.
There's little chance that the protestations of the fans and the misguided posturing of Senator Kerry are going to have any effect. All that remains is to find hope in the little things, like the fact that WTIC 1080 AM Hartford, Connecticut has agreed on a multi-year contract with the Red Sox, keeping them on one of the most recognizeable radio stations in the Northeast. You can get WTIC anywhere from upstate New York, to Ohio, to southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania when the wind and sky are right. That is most definitely a good thing.
The uproar has been noticeable in print and across the airwaves, most noticeably from the cantankerous bunch that is Red Sox Nation. John Kerry, a member of said Nation by default, puffedly announced that he was going to question the representatives of the FCC at a hearing last week, championing the cause of fans everywhere. Instead, Kerry managed to leave the hearing early and fax a letter of concern to the head of the FCC. Attaboy, Johnny.
Really, what's the problem here? It's simple: not everyone can get DirectTV. For some reason or other, cable is far more universal, and DTV has a number of limitations including, but not limited to trees and other immovable objects obstructing dish installation. Baseball, in the interests of picking up the paycheck from signing such an exclusive deal, is betting on the fact that it's loyal fans, who have sworn time and time again to never return to the game, will, in fact, return. And though I hate to say it, they always do.
Additionally, in the eyes of MLB there are two other ways to stay abreast of a distant team: XM satellite radio, which is also subscription based but totally worth the money if you drive a lot, and MLB.com's MLB.tv. Of the two, XM is best, in my humble opinion, due to the 24 hour baseball network and all the great music and news. MLB.tv is pretty poor and full of glitches that make watching a game, any game, a lot of effort.
There's little chance that the protestations of the fans and the misguided posturing of Senator Kerry are going to have any effect. All that remains is to find hope in the little things, like the fact that WTIC 1080 AM Hartford, Connecticut has agreed on a multi-year contract with the Red Sox, keeping them on one of the most recognizeable radio stations in the Northeast. You can get WTIC anywhere from upstate New York, to Ohio, to southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania when the wind and sky are right. That is most definitely a good thing.
Labels: 2006 Offseason
Ryan Brodeur at 10:58 PM
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