DishNet and Cable Subscribers: Say Goodbye to Extra Innings

[HolyCow 143,556]

I posted a thread about the possibility of Direct TV being the exclusive home for Extra Innings and now it looks like it will become a reality. This is from yesterday's NY Times:

 

January 20, 2007

Baseball Roundup

Extra Innings Exclusively on DirecTV

 

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

Major League Baseball is close to announcing a deal that will place its Extra Innings package of out-of-market games exclusively on DirecTV, which will also become the only carrier of a long-planned 24-hour baseball channel.

 

Extra Innings has been available to 75 million cable households and the two satellite services, DirecTV and the Dish Network. But the new agreement will take it off cable and Dish because DirecTV has agreed to pay $700 million over seven years, according to three executives briefed on the details of the contract but not authorized to speak about them publicly.

 

InDemand, which has distributed Extra Innings to the cable television industry since 2002, made an estimated $70 million bid to renew its rights, more than triple what it has been paying. Part of its offer included the right to carry the new baseball channel, but not exclusively.

 

The baseball channel is scheduled to start in 2009.

 

M.L.B., DirecTV and InDemand officials declined to comment.

 

DirecTV is also the exclusive outlet for the N.F.L.’s Sunday Ticket package, for which it pays $700 million annually. Sunday Ticket has about 2 million subscribers; Extra Innings about 750,000, according to The Sports Business Journal.

 

Extra Innings lets subscribers, for a fee, watch about 60 games a week from other local markets except their own.

 

The only other way that fans without DirecTV will be able to see Extra Innings will be on MLB.com’s mlb.tv service, but they must have high-speed broadband service. About 28 million homes have high-speed service, less than half the number of cable homes in the country. The picture quality of streamed games is not as good as what is available on cable or satellite.

 

DirecTV is available to about 15 million subscribers.

 

Last month, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, who was then the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, cited DirecTV’s exclusivity with Sunday Ticket as a reason to strip the N.F.L. of an antitrust exemption to negotiate all TV contracts for its teams. Comcast, which has complained that it cannot carry Sunday Ticket, is a Philadelphia-based company.

 

//

[HolyCow 143,556]

Here's some more info:

 

News

DIRECTV to Get 'MLB Extra' Exclusive; HDTV Expected

The New York Times reports the satcaster will also get an all-baseball channel in 2009.

By Phillip Swann

Washington, D.C. (January 20, 2007) -- DIRECTV is close to landing an exclusive deal to carry Major League Baseball's 'Extra Innings' package.

 

That's according to an article in today's New York Times.

 

The deal is expected to begin this season and will likely allow DIRECTV to air a large number of games in High-Definition TV. The satcaster is planning to expand its high-def capacity in the second half of this year and has been searching for programming partners to fill the space.

 

DIRECTV has offered regional MLB high-def broadcasts in the past as part of its Extra Innings package. However, the greater HD capacity should allow the satcaster to deliver those games nationally.

//

I guess there may be some rumbling by folks about how DTV is the bad guy in this but it is MLB that is choosing to go the "exclusive" route.

HC

[Toby66 5,285]

Here in Virginia Beach I pick up the O's on COMCAST and also on a North Carolina channel that taps into MASN. I will be extremely angry if that gets screwed up. So until then, I will be sticking with the high def cable but I if they force my hand I guess I would go to the dish. I'm hoping since we got the Triple A team here the local cable company will add MASN full time to the channel line up. Hmmm, I'm gonna inquire about that one!

[HolyCow 143,556]

Here in Virginia Beach I pick up the O's on COMCAST and also on a North Carolina channel that taps into MASN. I will be extremely angry if that gets screwed up. So until then, I will be sticking with the high def cable but I if they force my hand I guess I would go to the dish. I'm hoping since we got the Triple A team here the local cable company will add MASN full time to the channel line up. Hmmm, I'm gonna inquire about that one!

 

I don't think it will have any impact on games carried by your RSN (Regional Spots Networks). If you get the Orioles on Comcast because you are within their claimed territory, that shouldn't change. But folks who get the EI package for out of market games (like tjb13 in New England who gets the EI via cable) via Dish or On Demand, will lose that option. So for them it's DTV or MLB.TV.

 

HC

[Toby66 5,285]

I don't think it will have any impact on games carried by your RSN (Regional Spots Networks). If you get the Orioles on Comcast because you are within their claimed territory, that shouldn't change. But folks who get the EI package for out of market games (like tjb13 in New England who gets the EI via cable) via Dish or On Demand, will lose that option. So for them it's DTV or MLB.TV.

 

HC

 

I'd go DTV. My wife says I spend too much time in front of the computer as it is!

[HolyCow 143,556]

The PC is a good fallback. We have MSN and the MLB.TV used to be free with MSN membership. But they dropped it after our first year so I let it expire. One of our sons has the MLB.TV package and I use his account when we're at the beach or on vacation and there is no satellite at the house.

 

HC

[Toby66 5,285]

With technology the way it is today there is probably a way to route the signal from your PC to the TV. Once I found out the price of a digital media server (18.5K !!!) I am looking at turning my cd catalog into lossless format off a terrabyte hard drive and wireless routing it to my home theater. During my studies of that I will see if there is anyway that PC can be routed to the TV.

[kudzu 82,573]

I guess there may be some rumbling by folks about how DTV is the bad guy in this but it is MLB that is choosing to go the "exclusive" route.

 

No doubt about that. DTV is just doing what any business would do, although I question the economic feasability of the deal.

 

What MLB apparently doesn't care about is that not everyone can get satellite tv. I've got line-of-sight issues myself, with a bunch of trees making decent reception questionable.

 

Then there are the millions of apartment dwellers and/or renters, who can't just throw a dish up.

[bronco 285,659]

No doubt about that. DTV is just doing what any business would do, although I question the economic feasability of the deal.

 

What MLB apparently doesn't care about is that not everyone can get satellite tv. I've got line-of-sight issues myself, with a bunch of trees making decent reception questionable.

 

Then there are the millions of apartment dwellers and/or renters, who can't just throw a dish up.

 

 

I have cable and a Direct TV dish.

The only programing I get on the dish is the NFL package and pay per view.No regular channel programing so nothing changes for me..

A O's winning season will bring back the Extra Innings package too.

[helloharv 573,587]

I have cable and a Direct TV dish.

The only programing I get on the dish is the NFL package and pay per view.No regular channel programing so nothing changes for me..

A O's winning season will bring back the Extra Innings package too.

 

I just made the switch to Direct TV. I wanted to keep basic cable and Direct Tv but for some reason it wasn't set up for me to do that ? Did you have to install something special in order to switch back and forth?

[bronco 285,659]

I just made the switch to Direct TV. I wanted to keep basic cable and Direct Tv but for some reason it wasn't set up for me to do that ? Did you have to install something special in order to switch back and forth?

 

 

My tvs have a cable A and cable B and on my LCD both cable imput and HDMI imputs.

If you don't have that option just get a A/B switch at Radio Shack.

 

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2049620&cp=&sr=1&origkw=cable+a%2Fb+switch&kw=cable+a%2Fb+switch&parentPage=search

[pajaroman 152,524]

I'm hoping since we got the Triple A team here the local cable company will add MASN full time to the channel line up. Hmmm, I'm gonna inquire about that one!

 

I thought that the AAA team played in Baltimore!! :D

 

DirecTV is great and very affordable, although the idea of a monopoly isn't the greatest. But they didn't raise the general rates because of Sunday Ticket; they probably won't here, either, since both are spearate packages.

[HolyCow 143,556]

I thought that the AAA team played in Baltimore!! :D

 

DirecTV is great and very affordable, although the idea of a monopoly isn't the greatest. But they didn't raise the general rates because of Sunday Ticket; they probably won't here, either, since both are spearate packages.

 

Correct. Subs shouldn't see any rate increases because of the new EI package. The cost for the NFL ST has gone up in price from where it was years ago. I don't subscribe to it because we get the DC and Baltimore channels on DTV and also via antenna. Plus we get the NYC and LA networks. So it's like having a mini-NFL ST. As long as I get my Jints I'm happy.

 

I fully expect MLB EI to begin doing something along the lines of NFL ST; some sort of "Super-Fan" package.

 

HC

[HolyCow 143,556]

No doubt about that. DTV is just doing what any business would do, although I question the economic feasability of the deal.

 

What MLB apparently doesn't care about is that not everyone can get satellite tv. I've got line-of-sight issues myself, with a bunch of trees making decent reception questionable.

 

Then there are the millions of apartment dwellers and/or renters, who can't just throw a dish up.

 

Hmmmm.....$100M per year for 7 years is not a bad deal for DTV. They will clearly have a head lock on both NFL and MLB fans who want more than just what the local affiliate is offering. I think they expect a big increase in subscribers who will bail from DishNet and cable.

 

Can't help you with line-of-site problems. Sounds like it's time to get out the chain saw!

 

But satellite is not as hard to get as one might think. Multi-switches make it easy to route signals thru office buildings, condos, apartment houses and high rises. My company is wired for DTV.

 

There are also many ways to hook up a dish without nailing it to your roof; using railing mounts on porches or balconies; use a 5 gallon bucket of cement to hold the mast and place it on a patio, porch or balcony by the sliding glass doors. You don't even have to drill holes in your house for the cable if you use a glass mount antenna kit. One piece mounts on the outside of the glass on your sliding glass door, for example, and the other piece is matched up to it on the inside of the glass. Run the cable to the receiver from there.

 

HC

[tjb13 141,197]

I guess I just saved some money. With the Orioles moving from WBAL, my only option will be to sit in my car and listen to MLB on XM. (At least until the police show up.)

 

My ignorance of technology extends to Direct TV. The next time I see you HC, I'll ask for a tutorial.

[kwerty 6,667]

Wow great flippin news. I have cable so now no more extra innings. WBAL actually came in here pretty good but no more O's games there. Thanks for nothing MLB.

 

Go Sabres!

[Lester 91,348]

I guess I just saved some money. With the Orioles moving from WBAL, my only option will be to sit in my car and listen to MLB on XM. (At least until the police show up.)

 

My ignorance of technology extends to Direct TV. The next time I see you HC, I'll ask for a tutorial.

 

It's not the police you will have to worry about, it's the guys with the strait jacket that may be the issue!

[thefitzman1 505,851]

Ok, I'm confused. Is this taking place right away, or will it be a couple of years? I had the understanding that these kind of contracts were signed a couple years in advance and it might be a while until the change takes place.

[kudzu 82,573]

Hmmmm.....$100M per year for 7 years is not a bad deal for DTV. They will clearly have a head lock on both NFL and MLB fans who want more than just what the local affiliate is offering. I think they expect a big increase in subscribers who will bail from DishNet and cable.

 

Can't help you with line-of-site problems. Sounds like it's time to get out the chain saw!

 

But satellite is not as hard to get as one might think. Multi-switches make it easy to route signals thru office buildings, condos, apartment houses and high rises. My company is wired for DTV.

 

There are also many ways to hook up a dish without nailing it to your roof; using railing mounts on porches or balconies; use a 5 gallon bucket of cement to hold the mast and place it on a patio, porch or balcony by the sliding glass doors. You don't even have to drill holes in your house for the cable if you use a glass mount antenna kit. One piece mounts on the outside of the glass on your sliding glass door, for example, and the other piece is matched up to it on the inside of the glass. Run the cable to the receiver from there.

 

HC

 

How much does EI currently cost ? Hopefully tjb or some other subscriber will chime in so we can get the actual $$ amount. It's a yearly fee, right ? Let's say $50 for now.

 

DTV is paying MLB $100 mill per. If everyone who wanted EI went the bronco route (dish for sport subscription only, no monthly programming) then they'd have to get 2 million subscribers. 1 mill, if they charge $100 for EI.

 

But clearly they're hoping that people will make a switch from cable, DISH, etc for their monthly programming. Let's say that the people who do switch opt for a $100 per month package, and that $50 is DTV's cut (they have to pay the networks carriage rights, etc).

 

That's $600 per year per new subscriber. Which would take 167,000 of them to equal the $100 mill they're paying MLB for exclusive EI distribution rights.

 

I think that's a tall order.

 

And as I mentioned before, not everyone has the choice of satellite tv. In my own situation, I don't think my neighbors would appreciate me taking a chainsaw to their trees.

 

Many apartment complexes forbid people to put a dish up. And even in those that allow it, if you've got a north or east facing unit, you're out of luck.

[HolyCow 143,556]

VAnatsfan: EI on Direct TV is $149 (early bird special) or $179 if you wait. As I mentioned already, I expect they will offer an enhanced package with HD broadcasts and a "Super Fan" add-on similar to what the NFL ST offers.

 

They also require a 1 year (maybe more) programming commitment from new subs to cover the costs of the "free" equipment they give new subs.

 

HC

[kudzu 82,573]

VAnatsfan: EI on Direct TV is $149 (early bird special) or $179 if you wait. As I mentioned already, I expect they will offer an enhanced package with HD broadcasts and a "Super Fan" add-on similar to what the NFL ST offers.

 

They also require a 1 year (maybe more) programming commitment from new subs to cover the costs of the "free" equipment they give new subs.

 

HC

 

I'm curious as to what bronco did, if he subscribed to a year's worth of programming to get the free equipment or not. I wonder how many people would do that basically to be able to get EI, then cancel their monthly programming after the year is up.

[HolyCow 143,556]

Not sure what Bronco did. DTV does have a "vacation" program whereby you can suspend your programming for a period of time for a small maintenance fee. Typically it is used by foks who have a DTV system at another home, vacation home, beach house, etc. which they use infrequently. They power up the system and programming when they use the secondary home.

 

We've had satellite for years. Started with Primestar and were switched to DTV when they acquired Primestar. Very happy with the service and quality.

 

The dish is on the back slope of our roof and cannot be seen from the street. Rain fade occurs once in a while prior to a big storm but we can switch over to antenna if necessary. The rain fade is kind of like a personal doppler radar. You know you are about to encounter some pretty serious weather.

 

I doubt we'd ever go back to cable. DTV is cheaper, we like the channel selections and enjoy having the NY and LA network feeds.

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

HC

[Norman 20,881,637]

Guess this means I can't dump DirecTV for the new verizon TV. They claimed they were negotiating to get the baseball package...

[lanaloo 384,922]

Guess this means I can't dump DirecTV for the new verizon TV. They claimed they were negotiating to get the baseball package...

 

norman - directv will ultimately become the verizon tv package.

 

not any time soon though. but it's going to happen/merge.

[bronco 285,659]

I'm curious as to what bronco did, if he subscribed to a year's worth of programming to get the free equipment or not. I wonder how many people would do that basically to be able to get EI, then cancel their monthly programming after the year is up.

 

 

VA,I had dish programming for a while and then went back to cable.

I did buy my own reciever.

For about 3 years I've been able to buy any sports programming and I think I can get Pay-Per-View.

I don't buy any movies,tho.