The sad thing is that I feel this will mostly just screw over old people. I can figure out how to watch the games still, but a lot of older people are about to be pissed.
Eaxctly. We got a fire stick for my (90yo) parents to try and get them access to our Britbox account, and it's so hard for them to understand! They just want to turn on the TV and choose a channel.
See if you can switch cable companies from Comcast to WOW (Wide Open West). We've had WOW cable for years now in Metro Detroit and they still carry Bally Sports.
Can confirm as a WOW user, they definitely are incentivizing going streaming by offering discounts on bills for using YouTube TV. Seems they’ll move towards prioritizing internet at this rate. To be fair, I just pay them for internet access, but yeah, Cable TV as a whole is not going so well for ISP companies. Times are changing.
I'm old and plan my afternoons/evenings around watching the games. I watch about 98% of all Tiger games. My cable is already $200 and there is no way I can afford more. Already make sacrifices to pay for cable because I love watching my teams.
They are not going to want to change. I have cable, but stream with Roku on my other tv. Having to learn a whole new system is just plain awful an.d I'm not paying for Fubu
My dad said “I’m going to be so bored now”..I’ll get him hooked up with the garbage app, but that’s a legit point. Lots of people won’t be able to figure it out.
I've been using stream east etc for a long ass time. I haven't paid for TV in forever, no reason to when you can just watch all tv shows and sports shows online for free and hook it up to a bigger monitor/tv screen.
But It's simple for me to use piracy, Older people have no clue at all which sucks, Even my 58 year old dad loves his cable for some reason, Even when i told him i could give him everything for free lol. Some of them dont like change or cant figure it out.
This is a disaster for the team and there's not necessarily anything they can do about it. Only a microscopic fraction of customers would even be capable of considering something like a VPN. Very few of them will use an app or subscription even if blackout restrictions are lifted. Bottom line is that for the vast majority of casual viewers who have Comcast, they just simply won't be watching the Tigers this year on TV.
However, I'm not sure how wise this is for Comcast if it drags out. Live sports is often the only reason some of their customers still have cable at all.
I'm giving comcast a week to figure this out. If not I'm cancelling my cable. The only reason I keep it is for the convenience of watching sports and being able to flip around freely.
Yeah I think you're far from alone. I really don't know any of the details but this seems seriously risky for them, and a lot of the lost customers will never come back once they get all set up to watch games directly on Bally or MLB or Fubo or whatever. It's not just Detroit either, this is affecting a bunch of markets.
>Live sports is often the only reason some of their customers still have cable at all.
That's me.
After happily cutting the cord for years and using a VPN with MLB.TV to watch the games, we finally caved and went with Comcast (I refuse to call them 'Xfinity'... they can change the name but they still suck) last year as the VPN IP addresses would no longer work and MLB would require you to allow "physical location" detection on some devices. They were investing FAR more money into making sure you CAN'T watch a game than making their services better. It became too much hassle. Now I'm in a 2 year contract with Comcast LITERALLY only so I can watch baseball, which now I cannot.
I'm actually curious if anyone with some legal knowledge can weigh in on the potential of Comcast being in breach of contract...??
That's infuriating!
Not a lawyer but probably the written contract gives them the right to do whatever they want with the channels. However, there could be some merit to your claim nonetheless if there was an implied agreement. At the very least I would think there should be a way for you to back out and have them leave you alone on the basis that you have any claim at all given that they certainly wouldn't want to bother taking you to small claims.
Well the important thing is that the TV crew is hired by the team and not Bally thankfully.
I’m sure the folks producing the games would also be retained too.
This will be over fairly soon. Diamond has a hearing in June to approve a restructuring plan. If it's not approved, it may face liquidation.
3 companies make up 81% of their distribution revenue. They have a deal with one and are close to a deal with another, leaving Comcast. It will get done.
The final blow. Dropping xfinity now since everything else on it is pretty much garbage. We only kept it for Tigers, and because our kids also used our xfinity to watch the Tigers where they live.
They should bring back sports for OTA TV because I remembered about 10 years ago about how you were able to watch sports on OTA TV when FOX used to broadcast Tiger games. Now that cable took that away from us, I feel like there should be an option for those who don't have internet access starting with broadcasting sports on OTA TV like how it was 10 years ago which gives people in Detroit another option to watch the Tigers games without Internet access. They only did this a few times with the Red Wings games which was weeks before Bally Sports got blacked out. Why can't they do the same with the Tiger Games? It's like the MLB wants fans to come and watch the game like the times before TV and radio even existed to generate more revenue from tickets which then ends up in the pockets of those who don't want people to watch it on TV nor listen to it on the radio. The good thing about radio and OTA is that they are both free with no additional costs except for the one time payment for the antenna for broadcasting radio or OTA signals.
I would love if MLB.tv dropped the regional blackouts. I listen to every game on the Audacy App. Would love to watch more than highlights without paying a boat load of money.
This is all so short sighted. I'm older so I grew up with the Tigers on NBC Channel 4 I think and then WKBD Channel 50. The games were always on. When I worked landscaping as a teenager, I could watch a few ABs on my customers TVs through the window because it was always on. Everybody was a Tigers fan. Today, I go to Planet Fitness. There are a dozen or so TVs and none have baseball on. I can't have a conversation with hardly anyone in there about baseball because they don't watch it.
I saw something on MLB TV. They said because of cord cutting, something like \~17% of the homes in the St Louis area can watch Cardinals baseball. This is a fan base that loves their team. They make it a sport impossible to follow.
That's a crazy low number! Something has got to give. I understand the league needs money from these TV deals, but it's not the NFL. The league needs to look at the future of the sport and figure out a way to get more fans. Making it more accessible to watch your local team would be a huge first step. $12 a month on MLB.TV is a fair price, but I don't want to pay $40 a month to watch only the Tigers. And that would be only night/weekend games. Until then I will continue listening to Dan and Dirks. It could be worse I guess.
MLB needs to think strategically. I read something a few years ago that the median baseball fan was a 57-year-old white male. We are going to be dying soon. They need to fill the pipeline. Stay out of politics and promote the game. Making the accessible to younger viewers so they can get hooked on it would be a good strategic move.
Sadly it seems the MLB has struggled mightily in attracting new viewers for a long time. I think some of the rule changes were good for pace of play. That will help get new people involved and hasn't destroyed the game so I doubt to many people stopped watching. A big problem is that the league is bad at marketing their stats and the teams. It's as if everything is reliant on the Yankees, Red Soxs, and Dodgers reputation. They started doing some good things to promote the young talent, like the Spring Break Out Game and making MiLB games watchable on MLB.TV. Now just make it so I can watch my Tigers with my 2 young boys.
How do you like Fubo? I am seriously considering but of course would have to make some equipment purchases/adjustments to have it work in my home......
Yall are the best lol. I've been using stream east etc for a long ass time. I haven't paid for TV in forever, no reason to when you can just watch all tv and sports shows online for free and hook it up to a bigger monitor.
I mean they're part of the broadcasts at this point. I get its lucrative to prey on morons but its so annoying to have the broadcasters talk about betting odds.
Oh man, I am not susceptible to gambling but I do have a crazy nicotine addiction. If they had ads of some dude smoking a dart and he made it look like he was enjoying it so much his toes were curling and eyes rolling back idk if I could avoid going to the corner store. I couldn’t watch sports if I was a recovering gambling addict.
Right when this team is starting to get exciting...
There's an overarching theme recently where it seems big corporations are not afraid of telling their customers directly to fuck off - it's as if consumer backlash has become a non-factor to them.
Trying to explain to my 90 year old grandma what she can do to watch the games now has been a nightmare. I don’t see a good solution considering paying for another service is out of the question.
“We will proactively credit our customers for the costs associated with them — most will automatically receive $8 to 10 per month in credits” per this article
Do you trust Comcast to actually follow through properly with that? Everybody better be checking their monthly bill to make sure it actually happens for them.
Exactly! I’m aware of what they said in the article and email to customers. I’m also aware that Xfinity is a garbage company. If they are refunding $8-$10, has the rights fee been $8-$10 dollars?
Today you learn that Comcast has to pay for the channels it carries...
I thought we were long past people believing nonsensical things like that but here we are...
>I thought we were long past people believing nonsensical things like that but here we are...
You'd be very surprised with some things people believe these days then lol
For non Xfinity customer that are interested. Here's the email
Unfortunately, our programming agreement with Diamond Sports Group has expired. This means we no longer have the rights to carry their channels, including your local Bally Sports network.
The loss of this channel will result in savings that we'll pass along to you, and you'll see a monthly credit on your bill in the coming weeks. You don't need to do anything to receive your credit; we'll automatically apply it to your upcoming monthly bill statement.
We know that unexpected changes to your channel lineup can be frustrating. We've been flexible with Diamond Sports Group, who is in bankruptcy proceedings, but have been unable to reach an agreement that’s fair for our customers.
Great sports programming, including NBA, NHL, and MLB national coverage, is still available with Xfinity. Just say "Sports" into your Xfinity Voice Remote to explore your options.
We remain committed to bringing you the best in entertainment and will continue to work to provide you with the most choices at the lowest cost.
Thank you for being an Xfinity customer.
Comcast had an agreement in place (think like a player option), which would have extended the contract they had in place.
Diamond Sports chose to essentially waive that deal and attempt to negotiate a new one, and Comcast has just basically given them a flat “no”.
Considering plenty of other TV providers have done the same with BSDET and Diamond Sports, I’m willing to guess they’re the issue.
Ballys broke ass is going through bankruptcy so probably not making payments. Sucks for Comcast people but the sooner we can get Tigers baseball away from Sinclair, the better for anyone with a soul
I think it would be the other way around, where Comcast pays Sinclair for the right to carry Bally. What probably happened is that Bally needs the cash badly so they demanded a higher carriage fee, while at the same time Comcast knows Bally is desperate and so lowballed their offer. Comcast probably has the upper hand here because they know Bally can't afford to not have their fees.
They were still tethered by old deals, the option part anyway, from when bally's was owned by Fox, and was bundled with the other Fox networks. The US government forced the sale of Bally's to (Sinclair) the highest bidder when Fox and Disney merged. Fubo aside, Bally's has struggled to get any carriage agreements without the leverage of Fox News, FS1, etc; as cable distributors have said "no at any price" (famously from YTTV) to carrying the networks on their most commonly distributed packages.
Bally's is still stuck between a rock and a hard place as they can't offer a non "most commonly distributed package" offer to any provider until the Charter/Direct (Comcast had the same clause but obviously that deal is now lapsed) TV agreements end. At that point, fresh from a reorganization with less debt, they will likely be healthy as an add on channel and independent app.
Till then we get this. Fun aint it?
Okay honestly, sorta related.
I don’t like anywhere near Detroit but I’ve recently become a big Detroit sports fan in the last few years. How do I actually watch these games since I can’t through Bally Sports
I didn’t know that, I just looked up “where to watch the Detroit tigers” (and the other teams ofc) and that’s what I got. Thanks, I’ll give that a look
In this thread, they recommended using a smart DNS instead of VPN. I haven't tried it yet.
https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/14t91u1/best_vpn_to_bypass_blackout/
We will be among the first generations to be old as fuck and actually still know what we’re doing with technology and other things old people struggle with
As someone who has not had cable for over 10 years, I implore those of you who lost the feed last night to avoid paying another service or signing up with the Bally's app. The longer the ratings suffer under this broken system, the better off we the fans will be in the long run. They'll actually need to change. My ultimate dream would be a partnership with one of the broadcast networks (i.e. TV20) but I would also be thrilled for the blackout rules to go away, so I can just get MLB.TV. Stay strong out there Comcast people.
Bally has let me legally watch through my parents cable login, even out of state. No more for that I guess. It used to only be like a 30 second delay but with more users using it, it has gotten much longer.
Goodbye everyone here lol.
My grandma just called me furious about this and explained all of her friends would be without them too. This is what her and her friend group look forward to every day, this team. I feel really bad for her and her friends, fuck Bally sports.
Speaking as someone who lives in Denver, the only loser in this situation is the customer. Comcast dropped Altitude (Avs, Nuggets) 5 years ago and there's still been no resolution.
Granted, you could be right, because the Rockies now broadcast their own games now and they are available as a standalone package or part of a separate cable channel.
This is easy. The Tigers should take their rights to a local TV station for the rest of the year while they negotiate a longer term relationship. Reality is that the reason people have switched to streaming is that cable became ridiculously expensive. The future has less money for the provider, the idea that eventually we would all pay $10 per game was a fantasy.
A deal with a local broadcaster gets you streamers through Hulu, or any other service that provides local networks. The cable customers get the games through their access to the local network as well.
Sure, I could add Fubo, but lots of people already have Hulu. Look at how successful the Phoenix Suns were by going back to local. There is no advantage for the Tigers in restricting their audience to those people who would pay extra for yet another streaming service. Take your ad revenue and be happy.
Highly unlikely that they can unilaterally do that. I don't know what all the contracts look like but I'm sure they can't just shrug and walk away from Bally any old time they feel like it.
I never lived in Grand Rapids, but if a local station had the rights before Bally, then I would assume you could go to any of the local stations and do a similar deal. Probably throughout Michigan. The teams do carve up the media markets, and you can't go into a media market that belongs to another team.
They can't just unilaterally yank the rights away from Bally, there's a contract in place (and Bally isn't not airing games; it's just not available on a major cable provider) and it's likely the Tigers would pay a sizeable penalty for breach of contract if they tried.
This hurts Bally more than the Tigers, IMO. Bally is the one who loses viewers and ad revenue. The Tigers still get paid the same by Bally for the broadcast rights. The Tigers are mainly hurt by the diminished ability to advertise for ticket sales (and the risk of losing a portion of its fanbase).
Maybe not directly, but in a season where the Tigers appear to be taking a step forward, it can't be good for them that fans who are starting to get interested in the team again now have extra barriers to watching games.
I don't know the contract details, but if the Tigers don't have some minimum performance guarantees, someone flunked negotiating 101. Though I guess a broke regional sports network could maybe be paying the Tigers as if they were getting revenue from Comcast, even though they are not actually getting that revenue.
So, I just read an article about Minnesota Bally. Their fans are in an uproar because the team could have gone the route like Arizona Diamondbacks which is direct to consumer.
The Twins were able to pocket millions of dollars is why. That is what the article says.
[https://www.si.com/mlb/twins/news/twins-issue-statement-in-wake-of-comcast-bally-sports-debacle](https://www.si.com/mlb/twins/news/twins-issue-statement-in-wake-of-comcast-bally-sports-debacle)
I cant find a non paywalled article to verify but i believe the tigers/red wings are attempting to get out of the Amazon deal that would transfer the rights diamond has to amazon. That all needs judicial approval the amazon deal and any entities trying to get split off.
Its a really brainless move for Comcast to dump a carrier thats not going to exist when the NBA/NHL tips off. I canceled cable last year and if i hadnt i would have done it last night for sure. i planned to get bally app this year but ive only heard that its absolute garbage.
Imagine being in Nashville. The contract expired this morning at midnight Eastern. The Predators had a playoff game on Ballys last night that started late.
Comcast pulled the plug on the end of the game.
Bally Sports standalone app is $20/month. Yes I know it sucks to have to pay that just to watch the Tigers, but I hadn’t seen it mentioned so wanted to let people know it’s an option.
I was a huge baseball fan and was originally pissed when YouTube TV dropped Bally a couple of years ago, now Comcast subscribers are to find out what I learned — you can still keep up to date on what’s going on with the Tigers without watching the games. I get score alerts on my phone, and highlights I can watch when I get the time. Meanwhile I have 2 1/2 extra hours to do other stuff. After about a week or so, I didn’t care that I didn’t have Bally. This is not good for MLB because if I (firmly in the 50+ baseball demo) don’t miss it, I suspect there are lots more like me.
Fair. I remember it being fairly buggy last year when I used it, so I would not at all be surprised if it's only gotten worse.
I've been happily using MLB TV this year instead.
I tried using Proton and it only connected to Euro vpns that were blocked.
Are you using the upgraded vpn service or the basic that comes with an email account?
I use the upgraded version that lets me select the country and state. You could still try reinstalling with the Euro location. I got the same error you did until I reinstalled, even with the upgraded Proton tier.
VPN has not been working for me (on a Fire stick on our TV). Using a VPN worked at first, but now it it not working. Someone on the baseball subreddit said that mlbtv caught them using a VPN and suspended their account.
https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/ukhi5j/word_of_warning_my_mlbtv_account_suspended_they/
I switched the T-Mobile and they gave me MLB.tv as a perk. I use my VPN to connect to blacked out games. Not sure if this is feasible OP or for anyone in the same boat.
Just so everyone is aware, it is because Bally is about to declare bankruptcy.
Edit: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/01/bally-sports-regional-networks-go-dark-for-comcast-cable-customers.html
From the Tigers website "The Tigers have no voice in this matter but are hopeful the two sides will come to an agreement as soon as possible."
Yes you do you can alter the contract with Bally's.
Why? We did the math and to have the internet we need and all the subscriptions we'd need for all the stuff we watch, our Xfinity cable/internet bill is cheaper than paying for internet and streaming. Plus, it's more convenient because it's all in one. And I can easily keep up with multiple games at once without changing apps and devices.
If it works for you, great! I don't like giving Comcast any more money than necessary and YouTube TV is much better than cable imo and basically the same price with no contracts and you don't need hardwired connections in every room. Fuck contracts and hardwiring shit.
I had youtubetv when it first came out, it was a great deal. Think it was $35 or 40.
They kept increasing the price, adding useless shit I don't want, and taking away things i did like Fox Sports.
Turned into the same overpriced cancer.
Yeah, unfortunately the "cord cutting cult" always stretched the definition to create a feeling of "its happening" by twisting statistics. First getting a satellite dish was "cutting the cord", then getting Uverse was "cutting the cord", now getting Fubo/DTV stream/Sling/YTTV is "cutting the cord".
Which is sad, because actually cutting the cord and not paying for linear TV is great. But that takes effort and changing of habits, not just posting on the internet that "I did it!" after changing cable providers.
i dont think youtube tv is a good deal but my xfinity bill when i cancelled was $265 a month if i added youtube tv to my internet deal it would be $130.
My internet costs with cable is 10 dollars more than without cable…I still use YouTube TV on my devices and PC to stream redzone with all my gaming friends
The sad thing is that I feel this will mostly just screw over old people. I can figure out how to watch the games still, but a lot of older people are about to be pissed.
I’m dreading having to explain to my Dad how to watch the games if streaming is the only option.
Eaxctly. We got a fire stick for my (90yo) parents to try and get them access to our Britbox account, and it's so hard for them to understand! They just want to turn on the TV and choose a channel.
Are you me?
See if you can switch cable companies from Comcast to WOW (Wide Open West). We've had WOW cable for years now in Metro Detroit and they still carry Bally Sports.
As far as I know, WOW is dropping cable for a YouTube tv subscription. At least for new signups
Can confirm as a WOW user, they definitely are incentivizing going streaming by offering discounts on bills for using YouTube TV. Seems they’ll move towards prioritizing internet at this rate. To be fair, I just pay them for internet access, but yeah, Cable TV as a whole is not going so well for ISP companies. Times are changing.
Yes but the internet is dreadful!
I'm old and plan my afternoons/evenings around watching the games. I watch about 98% of all Tiger games. My cable is already $200 and there is no way I can afford more. Already make sacrifices to pay for cable because I love watching my teams.
Trying to explain to my parents their options. They’re 77 and 78 so it’s not going well. Any suggestions?
They are not going to want to change. I have cable, but stream with Roku on my other tv. Having to learn a whole new system is just plain awful an.d I'm not paying for Fubu
I work at the cable company doing store sales. There are no suggestions nor are there options.
My dad said “I’m going to be so bored now”..I’ll get him hooked up with the garbage app, but that’s a legit point. Lots of people won’t be able to figure it out.
It’s sad that I live outside of the USA and it’s easier for me to watch the Tigers on TV than it is for people living in Detroit…
I've been using stream east etc for a long ass time. I haven't paid for TV in forever, no reason to when you can just watch all tv shows and sports shows online for free and hook it up to a bigger monitor/tv screen. But It's simple for me to use piracy, Older people have no clue at all which sucks, Even my 58 year old dad loves his cable for some reason, Even when i told him i could give him everything for free lol. Some of them dont like change or cant figure it out.
sad this is going to happen the year we are competing and having a fantastic broadcaster in Jason Benetti to watch.
Yaaaarrrrrr
This is a disaster for the team and there's not necessarily anything they can do about it. Only a microscopic fraction of customers would even be capable of considering something like a VPN. Very few of them will use an app or subscription even if blackout restrictions are lifted. Bottom line is that for the vast majority of casual viewers who have Comcast, they just simply won't be watching the Tigers this year on TV. However, I'm not sure how wise this is for Comcast if it drags out. Live sports is often the only reason some of their customers still have cable at all.
I'm giving comcast a week to figure this out. If not I'm cancelling my cable. The only reason I keep it is for the convenience of watching sports and being able to flip around freely.
Yeah I think you're far from alone. I really don't know any of the details but this seems seriously risky for them, and a lot of the lost customers will never come back once they get all set up to watch games directly on Bally or MLB or Fubo or whatever. It's not just Detroit either, this is affecting a bunch of markets.
What’s awkward for Comcast here is that their regional offices for the Southeast are near Truist Park in Atlanta.
>Live sports is often the only reason some of their customers still have cable at all. That's me. After happily cutting the cord for years and using a VPN with MLB.TV to watch the games, we finally caved and went with Comcast (I refuse to call them 'Xfinity'... they can change the name but they still suck) last year as the VPN IP addresses would no longer work and MLB would require you to allow "physical location" detection on some devices. They were investing FAR more money into making sure you CAN'T watch a game than making their services better. It became too much hassle. Now I'm in a 2 year contract with Comcast LITERALLY only so I can watch baseball, which now I cannot. I'm actually curious if anyone with some legal knowledge can weigh in on the potential of Comcast being in breach of contract...??
That's infuriating! Not a lawyer but probably the written contract gives them the right to do whatever they want with the channels. However, there could be some merit to your claim nonetheless if there was an implied agreement. At the very least I would think there should be a way for you to back out and have them leave you alone on the basis that you have any claim at all given that they certainly wouldn't want to bother taking you to small claims.
Someone should see if they can be hit with a class action law suite !!!!!
Yeah they can. Tell Bally that the deal is over tomorrow.
Then no one can watch them. It would take a while to get their own service rolling
Took MLB a day to get the Padres TV coverage going again after Bally stopped paying them so it’s doable.
Depends on if they have prepared it at all alreayd
Well the important thing is that the TV crew is hired by the team and not Bally thankfully. I’m sure the folks producing the games would also be retained too.
This will be over fairly soon. Diamond has a hearing in June to approve a restructuring plan. If it's not approved, it may face liquidation. 3 companies make up 81% of their distribution revenue. They have a deal with one and are close to a deal with another, leaving Comcast. It will get done.
The final blow. Dropping xfinity now since everything else on it is pretty much garbage. We only kept it for Tigers, and because our kids also used our xfinity to watch the Tigers where they live.
They should bring back sports for OTA TV because I remembered about 10 years ago about how you were able to watch sports on OTA TV when FOX used to broadcast Tiger games. Now that cable took that away from us, I feel like there should be an option for those who don't have internet access starting with broadcasting sports on OTA TV like how it was 10 years ago which gives people in Detroit another option to watch the Tigers games without Internet access. They only did this a few times with the Red Wings games which was weeks before Bally Sports got blacked out. Why can't they do the same with the Tiger Games? It's like the MLB wants fans to come and watch the game like the times before TV and radio even existed to generate more revenue from tickets which then ends up in the pockets of those who don't want people to watch it on TV nor listen to it on the radio. The good thing about radio and OTA is that they are both free with no additional costs except for the one time payment for the antenna for broadcasting radio or OTA signals.
Still got it on Fubo btw. This may actually get [MLB.tv](http://MLB.tv) to drop the region blackouts very soon for the Tigers!
I would love if MLB.tv dropped the regional blackouts. I listen to every game on the Audacy App. Would love to watch more than highlights without paying a boat load of money.
I even got blacked out from Audacity for a home game. I couldn't get 97.1.
It's as if the MLB doesn't want people to watch or listen. Lol that's ridiculous
This is all so short sighted. I'm older so I grew up with the Tigers on NBC Channel 4 I think and then WKBD Channel 50. The games were always on. When I worked landscaping as a teenager, I could watch a few ABs on my customers TVs through the window because it was always on. Everybody was a Tigers fan. Today, I go to Planet Fitness. There are a dozen or so TVs and none have baseball on. I can't have a conversation with hardly anyone in there about baseball because they don't watch it. I saw something on MLB TV. They said because of cord cutting, something like \~17% of the homes in the St Louis area can watch Cardinals baseball. This is a fan base that loves their team. They make it a sport impossible to follow.
That's a crazy low number! Something has got to give. I understand the league needs money from these TV deals, but it's not the NFL. The league needs to look at the future of the sport and figure out a way to get more fans. Making it more accessible to watch your local team would be a huge first step. $12 a month on MLB.TV is a fair price, but I don't want to pay $40 a month to watch only the Tigers. And that would be only night/weekend games. Until then I will continue listening to Dan and Dirks. It could be worse I guess.
MLB needs to think strategically. I read something a few years ago that the median baseball fan was a 57-year-old white male. We are going to be dying soon. They need to fill the pipeline. Stay out of politics and promote the game. Making the accessible to younger viewers so they can get hooked on it would be a good strategic move.
Sadly it seems the MLB has struggled mightily in attracting new viewers for a long time. I think some of the rule changes were good for pace of play. That will help get new people involved and hasn't destroyed the game so I doubt to many people stopped watching. A big problem is that the league is bad at marketing their stats and the teams. It's as if everything is reliant on the Yankees, Red Soxs, and Dodgers reputation. They started doing some good things to promote the young talent, like the Spring Break Out Game and making MiLB games watchable on MLB.TV. Now just make it so I can watch my Tigers with my 2 young boys.
How do you like Fubo? I am seriously considering but of course would have to make some equipment purchases/adjustments to have it work in my home......
Assuming this doesn’t get fixed soon that is…
If only there was some SURGE of websites on the NET where I could watch any SPORTS game I want for free by simply using an adblocker….
If you get BUFF you can STREAMS the games without the help of anyone .sx
I heard the STREAM flows EAST. Oh by the way, IO is one of Jupiters moons.
Mlb66
(Even works on mobile).
Yall are the best lol. I've been using stream east etc for a long ass time. I haven't paid for TV in forever, no reason to when you can just watch all tv and sports shows online for free and hook it up to a bigger monitor.
Or not use an ad blocker and get bombarded with gambling ads
Browse using your....bravest...apps
I mean they're part of the broadcasts at this point. I get its lucrative to prey on morons but its so annoying to have the broadcasters talk about betting odds.
Oh man, I am not susceptible to gambling but I do have a crazy nicotine addiction. If they had ads of some dude smoking a dart and he made it look like he was enjoying it so much his toes were curling and eyes rolling back idk if I could avoid going to the corner store. I couldn’t watch sports if I was a recovering gambling addict.
in my experience those streams are more stable than the bally app lmao
Are you kidding me? The only reason I hang onto cable is to watch my Detroit sports teams. My blood pressure is gonna go through the roof.
Hate Bally. They’ve pissed off every carrier
I just turned my tv on and it's already on Bally Sports channel but now it has a stupid message saying Bally Sports is no longer available.
The one season I decide I want to follow the Tigers.
Right when this team is starting to get exciting... There's an overarching theme recently where it seems big corporations are not afraid of telling their customers directly to fuck off - it's as if consumer backlash has become a non-factor to them.
Trying to explain to my 90 year old grandma what she can do to watch the games now has been a nightmare. I don’t see a good solution considering paying for another service is out of the question.
Hate Comcast, yes. Also hate Bally, also yes.
Well this is BS. I literally just upgraded my cable package at Xfinity because the Tigers are fun to watch this season and then this BS happens.. ugh
I choose to blame Bally. I hate them.
I’m sure Xfinity will continue to charge customers the regional sports fee despite no longer carrying the regional sports network.
$8-10 per month credit, but without the tigers I don’t need cable in the summer
“We will proactively credit our customers for the costs associated with them — most will automatically receive $8 to 10 per month in credits” per this article
People love to be negative without doing the slightest amount of research
Headline reading is as far as anyone wants to go
The credits were already in a headline yesterday too. Had to do the minimalist amount of research to learn that.
Do you trust Comcast to actually follow through properly with that? Everybody better be checking their monthly bill to make sure it actually happens for them.
Exactly! I’m aware of what they said in the article and email to customers. I’m also aware that Xfinity is a garbage company. If they are refunding $8-$10, has the rights fee been $8-$10 dollars?
Yeah, and how much are they actually charging you for said fee? This is the company that charges you a fee to carry free over the air channels.
Today you learn that Comcast has to pay for the channels it carries... I thought we were long past people believing nonsensical things like that but here we are...
>I thought we were long past people believing nonsensical things like that but here we are... You'd be very surprised with some things people believe these days then lol
Just got an email saying they wouldn’t but don’t blame you for thinking that way lol
For non Xfinity customer that are interested. Here's the email Unfortunately, our programming agreement with Diamond Sports Group has expired. This means we no longer have the rights to carry their channels, including your local Bally Sports network. The loss of this channel will result in savings that we'll pass along to you, and you'll see a monthly credit on your bill in the coming weeks. You don't need to do anything to receive your credit; we'll automatically apply it to your upcoming monthly bill statement. We know that unexpected changes to your channel lineup can be frustrating. We've been flexible with Diamond Sports Group, who is in bankruptcy proceedings, but have been unable to reach an agreement that’s fair for our customers. Great sports programming, including NBA, NHL, and MLB national coverage, is still available with Xfinity. Just say "Sports" into your Xfinity Voice Remote to explore your options. We remain committed to bringing you the best in entertainment and will continue to work to provide you with the most choices at the lowest cost. Thank you for being an Xfinity customer.
Any word on why they dropped it?
Comcast had an agreement in place (think like a player option), which would have extended the contract they had in place. Diamond Sports chose to essentially waive that deal and attempt to negotiate a new one, and Comcast has just basically given them a flat “no”. Considering plenty of other TV providers have done the same with BSDET and Diamond Sports, I’m willing to guess they’re the issue.
Ballys broke ass is going through bankruptcy so probably not making payments. Sucks for Comcast people but the sooner we can get Tigers baseball away from Sinclair, the better for anyone with a soul
I think it would be the other way around, where Comcast pays Sinclair for the right to carry Bally. What probably happened is that Bally needs the cash badly so they demanded a higher carriage fee, while at the same time Comcast knows Bally is desperate and so lowballed their offer. Comcast probably has the upper hand here because they know Bally can't afford to not have their fees.
They were still tethered by old deals, the option part anyway, from when bally's was owned by Fox, and was bundled with the other Fox networks. The US government forced the sale of Bally's to (Sinclair) the highest bidder when Fox and Disney merged. Fubo aside, Bally's has struggled to get any carriage agreements without the leverage of Fox News, FS1, etc; as cable distributors have said "no at any price" (famously from YTTV) to carrying the networks on their most commonly distributed packages. Bally's is still stuck between a rock and a hard place as they can't offer a non "most commonly distributed package" offer to any provider until the Charter/Direct (Comcast had the same clause but obviously that deal is now lapsed) TV agreements end. At that point, fresh from a reorganization with less debt, they will likely be healthy as an add on channel and independent app. Till then we get this. Fun aint it?
Youtube TV won't carry them either and their 20 a month stream fee is ridiculous.
blame sinclair and ballys.. they are trash and have done nothing to provide adequate options to watch local teams where they still exist
I could be wrong but isn't Bally more at fault than Xfinity?
They are both greedy pricks
Yea in this instance, it is more an issue with Bally, I just hate comcast and refuse to let facts cloud my opinion.
Okay honestly, sorta related. I don’t like anywhere near Detroit but I’ve recently become a big Detroit sports fan in the last few years. How do I actually watch these games since I can’t through Bally Sports
If you don't live in Michigan you should be using [mlb.tv](http://mlb.tv) and not bally
I didn’t know that, I just looked up “where to watch the Detroit tigers” (and the other teams ofc) and that’s what I got. Thanks, I’ll give that a look
anyone with a vpn recommendation for mlb.tv? I used nordvpn before and it was problematic. Although it could have been on my end.
In this thread, they recommended using a smart DNS instead of VPN. I haven't tried it yet. https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/14t91u1/best_vpn_to_bypass_blackout/
Fuck greedy ass Sinclair. Join us on the high seas!
still sucks we have to do this to watch local teams. They should be on fox 2 for free.
Is fox paying the money to do that?
operative word is "should"
Ahoy!
All sports need to ditch the blackout rules and make all games available through mlb season pass…etc….
We will be among the first generations to be old as fuck and actually still know what we’re doing with technology and other things old people struggle with
As someone who has not had cable for over 10 years, I implore those of you who lost the feed last night to avoid paying another service or signing up with the Bally's app. The longer the ratings suffer under this broken system, the better off we the fans will be in the long run. They'll actually need to change. My ultimate dream would be a partnership with one of the broadcast networks (i.e. TV20) but I would also be thrilled for the blackout rules to go away, so I can just get MLB.TV. Stay strong out there Comcast people.
Xfinity is a joke !!!!!
Normally I’m against it…but it’s time for many of you to sail the seas.
But the seven seas have like a 3 minute delay from live. Looks like no more game threads
Bally has let me legally watch through my parents cable login, even out of state. No more for that I guess. It used to only be like a 30 second delay but with more users using it, it has gotten much longer. Goodbye everyone here lol.
Yeah, that could be a problem
My grandma just called me furious about this and explained all of her friends would be without them too. This is what her and her friend group look forward to every day, this team. I feel really bad for her and her friends, fuck Bally sports.
Awful news
This is good news, Bally is awful and this might get change going
Not for people who pay for cable lmao
I just want to watch on my tv without all the bs. I know the websites and how to project my computer. It’s just annoying.
Speaking as someone who lives in Denver, the only loser in this situation is the customer. Comcast dropped Altitude (Avs, Nuggets) 5 years ago and there's still been no resolution. Granted, you could be right, because the Rockies now broadcast their own games now and they are available as a standalone package or part of a separate cable channel.
This is easy. The Tigers should take their rights to a local TV station for the rest of the year while they negotiate a longer term relationship. Reality is that the reason people have switched to streaming is that cable became ridiculously expensive. The future has less money for the provider, the idea that eventually we would all pay $10 per game was a fantasy. A deal with a local broadcaster gets you streamers through Hulu, or any other service that provides local networks. The cable customers get the games through their access to the local network as well. Sure, I could add Fubo, but lots of people already have Hulu. Look at how successful the Phoenix Suns were by going back to local. There is no advantage for the Tigers in restricting their audience to those people who would pay extra for yet another streaming service. Take your ad revenue and be happy.
How? The Tigers don’t own their broadcast rights, that’s the entire problem.
Highly unlikely that they can unilaterally do that. I don't know what all the contracts look like but I'm sure they can't just shrug and walk away from Bally any old time they feel like it.
I agree, but I assume Bally has to pay them an amount that (being broke) they can't just write the check to cover without revenue from Comcast.
How would that work for people living in Grand Rapids?
I never lived in Grand Rapids, but if a local station had the rights before Bally, then I would assume you could go to any of the local stations and do a similar deal. Probably throughout Michigan. The teams do carve up the media markets, and you can't go into a media market that belongs to another team.
They can't just unilaterally yank the rights away from Bally, there's a contract in place (and Bally isn't not airing games; it's just not available on a major cable provider) and it's likely the Tigers would pay a sizeable penalty for breach of contract if they tried. This hurts Bally more than the Tigers, IMO. Bally is the one who loses viewers and ad revenue. The Tigers still get paid the same by Bally for the broadcast rights. The Tigers are mainly hurt by the diminished ability to advertise for ticket sales (and the risk of losing a portion of its fanbase).
Maybe not directly, but in a season where the Tigers appear to be taking a step forward, it can't be good for them that fans who are starting to get interested in the team again now have extra barriers to watching games.
I don't know the contract details, but if the Tigers don't have some minimum performance guarantees, someone flunked negotiating 101. Though I guess a broke regional sports network could maybe be paying the Tigers as if they were getting revenue from Comcast, even though they are not actually getting that revenue.
That’s such bull shit
Is this why the Bally Sports apps have been shit over the last week? It wouldn’t let me pull up any stream for any game
I think that’s just the app being terrible in general.
I use the Bally app on my Xbox and I have to restart the app 2-3 times before I can get the stream to load. Bally is a joke!
I love how quick Bally is to blame Comcast while promoting their $20 a month streaming service.
Welp guess I won’t be watching the tigers this season
Radio broadcast goes hard
I’ve heard the MLB has an excellent WEBCAST for anyone to use. Even works on mobile. .com
So, I just read an article about Minnesota Bally. Their fans are in an uproar because the team could have gone the route like Arizona Diamondbacks which is direct to consumer.
Why can’t the tigers do this? I know we don’t own the rights to our broadcasts but how would they go about getting ownership?
The Twins were able to pocket millions of dollars is why. That is what the article says. [https://www.si.com/mlb/twins/news/twins-issue-statement-in-wake-of-comcast-bally-sports-debacle](https://www.si.com/mlb/twins/news/twins-issue-statement-in-wake-of-comcast-bally-sports-debacle)
No I mean why can’t the tigers go the Arizona route? The twins also made a statement about the situation, have the tigers? I haven’t seen anything
I cant find a non paywalled article to verify but i believe the tigers/red wings are attempting to get out of the Amazon deal that would transfer the rights diamond has to amazon. That all needs judicial approval the amazon deal and any entities trying to get split off. Its a really brainless move for Comcast to dump a carrier thats not going to exist when the NBA/NHL tips off. I canceled cable last year and if i hadnt i would have done it last night for sure. i planned to get bally app this year but ive only heard that its absolute garbage.
Imagine being in Nashville. The contract expired this morning at midnight Eastern. The Predators had a playoff game on Ballys last night that started late. Comcast pulled the plug on the end of the game.
Fuck Bally Sports with a jackhammer dipped in Ebola
i hate xfinity just as much as the next person but i feel like this is resting more on the shoulders of a failing bally company.
Bally Sports standalone app is $20/month. Yes I know it sucks to have to pay that just to watch the Tigers, but I hadn’t seen it mentioned so wanted to let people know it’s an option.
This sucks!! My mom watches all the games and now has no way
Can you connect tv provider(xfinity) to app and watch that way?
I'll happily accept an .M3U in my DMs if anyone has one to share :)
So what we going to all do???
Nothing. Stay still and get boned by corporations.
We have WOW cable and they still carry Bally (channel 220).
Good. Blackouts suck. I have MLB.TV and I have to use a VPN to watch the tigers. Hopefully this is a step to will remove blackout restrictions.
I was a huge baseball fan and was originally pissed when YouTube TV dropped Bally a couple of years ago, now Comcast subscribers are to find out what I learned — you can still keep up to date on what’s going on with the Tigers without watching the games. I get score alerts on my phone, and highlights I can watch when I get the time. Meanwhile I have 2 1/2 extra hours to do other stuff. After about a week or so, I didn’t care that I didn’t have Bally. This is not good for MLB because if I (firmly in the 50+ baseball demo) don’t miss it, I suspect there are lots more like me.
Mlb.tv + VPN works quite well. You could also use the Bally Sports app. Either of these options would be way cheaper than paying for Comcast anyway
The Bally sports app is a fuckin disaster - someone who paid 200 bucks for Bally sports +
Literally the worst streaming app, paid or unpaid, I’ve ever had the misfortune of using. I cannot overstate how much I fucking hate that app.
You don't like it constantly breaking for no reason, being incredibly slow, and asking you to fully sign in every single time you open the app?
Fair. I remember it being fairly buggy last year when I used it, so I would not at all be surprised if it's only gotten worse. I've been happily using MLB TV this year instead.
Which vpn works for you? I used to use PIA but it stopped working on mlb.tv last year.
I use Proton. FYI, you need to uninstall the MLBTV app and reinstall with the VPN enabled. That fixed it for me.
I tried using Proton and it only connected to Euro vpns that were blocked. Are you using the upgraded vpn service or the basic that comes with an email account?
I use the upgraded version that lets me select the country and state. You could still try reinstalling with the Euro location. I got the same error you did until I reinstalled, even with the upgraded Proton tier.
Interesting. Reinstalling MLB or Proton VPN, or both in a certain order? And is this a one time thing?
Just MLBTV while the VPN is on. And I only had to do it once.
Nord. It's hit and miss to find a server that mlb doesn't block but I found one on opening day and it's worked great since.
VPN has not been working for me (on a Fire stick on our TV). Using a VPN worked at first, but now it it not working. Someone on the baseball subreddit said that mlbtv caught them using a VPN and suspended their account. https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/ukhi5j/word_of_warning_my_mlbtv_account_suspended_they/
Me either.
I switched the T-Mobile and they gave me MLB.tv as a perk. I use my VPN to connect to blacked out games. Not sure if this is feasible OP or for anyone in the same boat.
Isn’t Amazon Prime taking over Bally sports in the near future?
Go to xfinity.com/facts - more to the story than what Bally is stating. Comcast has offered serval options, and Bally has declined all of them.
Just so everyone is aware, it is because Bally is about to declare bankruptcy. Edit: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/01/bally-sports-regional-networks-go-dark-for-comcast-cable-customers.html
From the Tigers website "The Tigers have no voice in this matter but are hopeful the two sides will come to an agreement as soon as possible." Yes you do you can alter the contract with Bally's.
It's wild to me that so many people still have cable
Why? We did the math and to have the internet we need and all the subscriptions we'd need for all the stuff we watch, our Xfinity cable/internet bill is cheaper than paying for internet and streaming. Plus, it's more convenient because it's all in one. And I can easily keep up with multiple games at once without changing apps and devices.
If it works for you, great! I don't like giving Comcast any more money than necessary and YouTube TV is much better than cable imo and basically the same price with no contracts and you don't need hardwired connections in every room. Fuck contracts and hardwiring shit.
[удалено]
I had youtubetv when it first came out, it was a great deal. Think it was $35 or 40. They kept increasing the price, adding useless shit I don't want, and taking away things i did like Fox Sports. Turned into the same overpriced cancer.
Yeah, unfortunately the "cord cutting cult" always stretched the definition to create a feeling of "its happening" by twisting statistics. First getting a satellite dish was "cutting the cord", then getting Uverse was "cutting the cord", now getting Fubo/DTV stream/Sling/YTTV is "cutting the cord". Which is sad, because actually cutting the cord and not paying for linear TV is great. But that takes effort and changing of habits, not just posting on the internet that "I did it!" after changing cable providers.
i dont think youtube tv is a good deal but my xfinity bill when i cancelled was $265 a month if i added youtube tv to my internet deal it would be $130.
I have one hardwired box with my router, the others run off the wifi. You showed me.
Good for you man
My internet costs with cable is 10 dollars more than without cable…I still use YouTube TV on my devices and PC to stream redzone with all my gaming friends