If you are a fan of my column, God bless you, but additionally, you have probably already heard my rants about Major League Baseball blackouts.
Well, it’s that time again.
Most folks know I am a Phillies fan, but I still find myself infuriated that people in Georgia cannot watch the Atlanta Braves without expensive cable or satellite packages.
It boggles my mind why a billionaire owner would allow his team to be blacked out all over his viewing area, which covers multiple states. Bally’s, which purchased the regional Fox Sports networks, is easily the worst sports media company in history.
The Bally’s Sports Plus streaming option only contains the Atlanta Hawks, the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream and selected ACC games. That’s $20 per month plus fees just for that, and it is hardly worth it.
Meanwhile, Bally’s keeps everyone held hostage to DirecTV or Fubo packages and does not allow their product to be consumed by the outside world. I am not talking about giving it away for free, mind you. I am just saying make it available.
If I was the billionaire owner of the Braves, I would sue Bally’s to either provide a pay-per-view streaming option for the team or to surrender the rights so I can sell them to someone who will. Again, there are a lot of people who are fed up with cable and satellite who would pay a monthly fee to watch the Braves across the South.
One wonders why blackouts exist at all. It used to be to encourage people to attend games instead of just watching on television, but these days, even the NFL has given up its local blackout. It is time for MLB to do the same.
Bally’s is hardly unique to Atlanta. There are 42 teams from the MLB, NHL and NBA on Bally’s stations, the ownership group for which is going bankrupt and is being sued because it cannot pay hundreds of millions in rights fees to teams that were promised.
They should just allow the company to go under and divest those broadcast rights to the highest bidder, allowing fans to purchase the packages they want to see the teams they love.
This whole issue came up again last weekend because, for some reason, North Carolina is blacked out on both the Braves and the Cincinnati Reds. You find me one person who gets off work in North Carolina and says, “Well it’s off to the Cincinnati Reds game,” and I’ll find you Bigfoot and the Elephant Man sitting in the same row.
The Reds also are a prisoner of Bally’s, and my father who lives in Asheville, N.C., could not watch last weekend’s Phillies-Reds games – nor this coming weekend’s series – on a service that we pay for (MLB.tv).
“Who do I talk to about this?” Pops asked me a couple of times. I tried to explain to him that this is not a situation where you can speak to the manager and get it settled. This is a company that is running a lot of fan interest in 42 teams into the ground, and the leagues need to step in and rectify this situation.
Sports viewing has changed to an a-la-carte menu, much like streaming television itself. We need to get with the times and remove cancerous networks like Bally’s that are stuck in the past.
It is ridiculous that Georgians cannot watch the Braves without shelling out the highest possible prices for television service. At least the Braves only play the Phillies 12 times a year now instead of 19.
I guess if I can’t watch the games, I will have to try and go to some more games in person.
Dog gonnit, their evil plan worked.
Matthew Osborne is the editor of The Northeast Georgian. Reach him at 706-778-4215 or editor@TheNortheastGeorgian.com.