Why are baseball games blacked out on uverse

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Blackout policies are often misunderstood. Louis Baseball Cardinals. The blackout policy associated with watching Major League Baseball games is a source of constant frustration for fans. But while the frustration persists, the confusion is something we can fix.

This is probably the most pervasive, incorrect idea out there. Brown even suggests this in his Forbes piece:. Unlike other sports that use blackouts to drive fans to games, in many cases across the country, territories can be so far afield as to make blackouts as a means to get fans to games, ridiculous. Baseball blackouts are based on regional television broadcasting rights.

This is the 2nd most pervasive misconception, often manifest in the idea that Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball could simply wave a magic wand and make blackouts go away. Again, even Brown suggests this:. If Manfred is sincere in his comments about baseball being a part of the healing process, the league should lift its arcane blackout policy for As a fan, this meant that those games were available to watch free.

They earn not only the ad revenue during game broadcasts, but a percentage of every single cable subscription in their broadcast area assuming they are on the basic tier. The RSN therefore benefits by drawing itself as large an area as possible, even overlapping with other teams. Here in Des Moines, our local cable provider long featured the Chicago teams in the basic tier. Several years ago, they switched to Fox Sports Midwest and Cubs fans lost their mind. It was a beautiful time.

Those contracts teams sign with RSNs, and the blackout areas associated with them, are negotiated independently. This is the biggest reason why - even if hypothetically MLB retained the right to impose a unilateral blackout policy - doing so would trigger the renegotiation and litigation of 30 separate billion-dollar-contracts.

Their commercials are still being shown. And I love how they were all up in arms over Draft Kings and the other betting site, until they realized they could make money too. Now they actually promote gambling. WHY is this game blacked out for me? If I pay for a premium subscription, I should get to watch all the games. Meg, it was blacked out because they played the Reds, whose territory we are in. Go figure. MLB has some of the strongest blackout rules of all sports.

MLB Network during the regular season does not have exclusive rights to any baseball game that is scheduled to be broadcasted.

On cable you would get the alternative game automatically for any blacked out game. MLB is slowly slipping the noose around their own neck. Log In Become a Member. Dashboard Logout. Share this. The schedule of games that FSM plans withhold this season from U-verse, barring a settlement:. April 10 at Reds p. April 15 vs. Cubs p. April 17 vs. Reds p. April 23 at Cubs p. April 27 vs. Brewers p. May 2 vs.

Pirates p. May 3 vs. May 11 vs. Braves p. May 16 at Giants p. May 17 at Giants p. June 13 vs. White Sox p.