MLB Postseason games without a paid cable subscription

fish 2022-10-09 04:27:31 UTC #1

Words cannot explain how cheezed I am at MLB tonight. I live in New England and don't have a paid cable subscription. What I do have is a subscription to MLB.TV...that I watched last night for game 1, but apparently can no longer watch for future games without additional cable subscriptions. Am I wrong about that? Has anyone figured out how do deal with this? Geez, i even have a subscription to ESPN plus and can't watch the game live because I don't have a cable provider. That has to be the case for most everyone out of market. and when i tried to work around Comcast isn't even an option to select from in the drop down. How MLB figured out streaming but never figured out functionality in delivering an app is beyond me. The app is different on every type of device I have.

they didn't event send me an email to alert me to the change, or even try to upcharge me.

el-pietro 2022-10-09 04:30:16 UTC #2

THey did the same thing to international fans. We've always been able to watch post season games on MLB.tv, but this year they updated the blackout noticies to include the rest of the world some time in the last couple of weeks and it only became apparent the day before game 1. They sent out a notice saying they would allow the rest of the wild card series to be shown on MLB TV but the division series on we have to find alternatives. I'm lucky enough that I was able to get a relatively reasonable package and pay month to month but in a lot of places there is no legitimate option.

Aquapong 2022-10-09 04:41:28 UTC #3

You could get Hulu tv for a month.

julio 2022-10-09 04:45:40 UTC #4

There's also this. It's not TV, but you can listen to Scott Franzke's game call:

fish 2022-10-09 04:50:18 UTC #5

I have Hulu, but i'd have to upgrade to get hulu live..and the mlb.tv add on? for the aforementioned $75 plus it seems extra for mlb.tv. post season subscription.

they seem to have set it up that the customer will pay nearly 10x more for a few days or a few weeks of playoffs than what they were charging for a month subscription, while making it way harder by forcing the customer off their platform to figure it out..

Sabin 2022-10-09 05:10:45 UTC #6

You can always ride free trials with FuboTV and YouTube Live. Both have all the major networks, including the ESPN/ESPN2 channels. The former's trial is seven days; the latter fourteen. That'll get you most of the way way through October. From there a Sling trial would close out the season. (I checked, and it doesn't appear Hulu offers a free trial of Hulu+Live.)

zambonir 2022-10-09 05:14:02 UTC #7

Didn't we do this earlier this season? Pretty sure games are blacked on Audacy (though they are not blacked out on MLB.TV's audio-only package, I listened tonight).

I don't think there is anything new about this though. Playoffs (international aside) have not been part of MLB.TV, you gotta be able to have a way to watch TBS or FS1 (or now, ESPN) directly. Fox games are still over-the-air free of course, but not many of those.

If you get Hulu or other services you don't need MLB.TV though (and would be wasting your money). You just literally watch it on the channels (or their own apps).

julio 2022-10-09 05:24:01 UTC #8

I can assure you that tonight's game (and yesterday's) was not blacked out on WIP/Audacy - at least not here (Bucks County, PA). Don't click the orange "Play" button at the bottom of the screen; click the blue "Listen" button top center. It's been working for me, all season, and still working as of tonight's game.

zambonir 2022-10-09 05:37:35 UTC #9

It is blacked out if you're not local though. MLB.TV is a product for out-of-market fans (which you are not, you just refuse to pay for NBC Sports!), both video and audio. Audacy is for in-market fans. They are happy for you to get their broadcast and hear WIP's ads. They don't own the rights to to let me hear it in Oregon (or Fish in New England) though. Nor would we be useful to their advertisers.

julio 2022-10-09 13:25:51 UTC #10

Gotcha.

Just for the record, I would pay for NBC Sports; I have paid for MLB (Roku user). But I refuse to pay for cable bundles that include funding for anything owned by News Corp. (FOX), or for a bunch of other channels that carry garbage. I’ve been a long (voice in the desert, as it were) proponent of a la carte cable — but the powers that be profit from bundling, so that never happened (and likely never will on “cable”). I’ve taken advantage of various streaming options, where I’m paying for things I want, and not subsidizing things I don’t want — or things that are, IMHO at least, actually destructive of our common society.

But yeah, video access to Phils’ games has been one of the costs. Some things are just more important, to me at least.

zambonir 2022-10-09 14:13:59 UTC #11

Yup, fair enough. It appears the trend towards unbundling may be be trending back the other way, alas. Not in a way that will force someone like you to pay for channels you don't want (or loathe) but at some point there is going to be an ESPN product, or league products, or whatever replaces RSN, that might make some us off miss the bundle.

Personally, my abhorrence of Fox News still doesn't keep me from watching FX or Fox Sports (or the Simpsons). And I'm not even sure NBC is any better (they helped make our last president, their political coverage is just another version of the same theater) so I actually would have to not buy the Phillies channel (or Xfinity cable) if I didn't want to pay for (or subsidize) anything I have issues with. I stopped my annual Amazon Prime several years ago but am a slave to Google and not sure either is truly better. We all gotta pick our spots.

As sports fans, of course, most of us used to benefit from the bundle, and are being subsidized by other subscribers (including the Fox-lovers) more than vice-versa.

As to the original subject, the blackouts and the lack of better standalone digital options locally remain a thing MLB needs to get better at. But I still get it that when ESPN and MLB sign a new playoff deal (and literally create a playoff round for it) they get to dictate how they sell it to viewers.

BostonRoss 2022-10-09 14:37:46 UTC #12

This is certainly true for TV, but I can't remember ever having any issues no the MLB audio side no matter where I was (except when I had no cell or wi-fi coverage, like when I was driving in northern Maine last weekend and missed a few innings of one of the Washington games). I've listened to Phillies games on the app while in the Philly area.

Last night I watched most of the game at a bar. When it was closing before the game was going to end, I hopped in my car for the 10 minute ride home and listened to Scott and LA, and I also listened to some on Friday while working at home. (Of course, before Friday, it had been so long before I had any Phillies postseason to listen to I can't remember whether I could listen to the games.)

zambonir 2022-10-09 15:35:08 UTC #13

I guess they just don't care that much about enforcing blackouts on the audio product. But I definitely could not listen to WIP on Audacy the one time i tried this season (I can listen to its talk shows to my heart's content, but once a game starts, no.)

BostonRoss 2022-10-09 15:51:22 UTC #14

During this season MLB Audio switched from Philly commercials to local (Boston) commercials.

fish 2022-10-10 15:37:11 UTC #15

So based on what I see, FUBO and YouTube is the thing to do to take advantage of their free trials.
Does anyone use YouTube tv to watch games? My question there is that, while they carry all the broadcast networks for post season games, they also have a $27 add on for the mlb.tv. Am I correct that the mlb.tv is just for the local broadcast of in-season games and wouldn't be necessary to watch the post season?

zambonir 2022-10-10 15:48:14 UTC #16

right. no need to have MLB.TV. not sure what you'd even be buying - I guess alternate feeds, but they'd still require log-ins from the rightsholder (I actually do have MLB.TV but haven't tried to use it since the playoffs ended. and I don't buy it via YouTube).

andyb 2022-10-10 15:54:39 UTC #17

I have youtube TV. They have all the national sports networks (and a great DVR where they automatically record all of your team's game on any channel or even all of a sport's games like MLB or the World Cup coming up).

The MLB.TV is an add-on where I assume the price is just a monthly version of the national price. I get MLB through my Tmobile so just use the MLB.TV app. I think the only thing you get with postseason is the continued local radio and that can't be synced up correctly so I watch on Youtube TV.