Baseball Toaster: The Griddle : Extra Innings about to become the exclusive property of DirecTV.

Rank	Team	W	L	PCT	Division
1	Chicago Cubs	97	64	.602	C1
2	Philadelphia	92	70	.568	E1
3	Los Angeles Dodgers	84	78	.519	W1
4	Milwaukee	90	72	.556	C2
5	New York Mets	89	73	.549	E2
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7	St. Louis	86	76	.531	C4
8	Florida	84	77	.522	E3
9	Arizona	82	80	.506	W2
10T	Colorado	74	88	.457	W3
10T	Cincinnati	74	88	.457	C5
12T	Atlanta	72	90	.444	E4
12T	San Francisco	72	90	.444	W4
14	Pittsburgh	67	95	.414	C6
15	San Diego	63	99	.389	W5
16	Washington	59	102	.366	E5

American League

Rank	Team	W	L	PCT	Division
1	Los Angeles Angels	100	62	.617	W1
2	Tampa Bay	97	65	.599	E1
3	Chicago White Sox	89	74	.546	C1
4	Boston	95	67	.586	E2
5	New York Yankees	89	73	.549	E3
6	Minnesota	88	75	.540	C2
7	Toronto	86	76	.531	E4
8	Cleveland	81	81	.500	C3
9	Texas	79	83	.488	W2
10	Oakland	75	86	.466	W3
11	Kansas City	75	87	.463	C4
12	Detroit	74	88	.457	C5
13	Baltimore	68	93	.422	E5
14	Seattle	61	101	.377	W4

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Extra Innings about to become the exclusive property of DirecTV.

2007-01-19 23:50

by Bob Timmermann

For those of you without a satellite dish and a DirecTV subscription, it looks like you will be out of luck when it comes to getting the MLB Extra Innings TV package. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that an announcement about MLB and DirecTV striking an exclusive deal to carry the Extra Innings package is imminent. DirecTV would also carry the channel that MLB hopes to start in 2009 that would no doubt be as big of a hit as the NFL Network and NBA TV.

Earlier story about this via Maury Brown.

Time to break out the Easterbrook columns (check the second paragraph).

Comments (56)

Show/Hide Comments 1-50

2007-01-20 00:27:20

1. Icaros

Looks like I'll be spending the summer staring at my laptop instead of my TV.

2007-01-20 00:32:48

2. Greg Brock

When I lived in Westwood our entire apartment complex went to DirecTV. I was under the impression more apartments were doing that.

I guess not.

2007-01-20 00:33:41

3. Another Tom

That's a shame since that will be the end of me listening to Vin Scully. I left LA 10 years ago and I've able to listen to the man that called games that my old man listened to thanks to Extra Innings. No more, I s'pose. I can justfiy being in front of my tv to my wife, but not my computer for hours every night. "No honey, it's not porn, it's Vinny, I swear..."

2007-01-20 01:50:43

4. Johan

Thankfully, I had already decided to go with MLB.tv this year.

Now, if the NHL goes ahead with a DirecTV only deal like I heard talk of when this MLB news first surfaced, I will be pissed.

2007-01-20 04:51:29

5. Ravenscar

Maybe someday MLB.tv will get their Macintosh engine working. I was testing for them last year and it seriously blew. Hard.

2007-01-20 08:10:28

6. Bob Timmermann

So, I either have to buy my own satellite dish or I have to buy a new Mac with the Intel processor and then make it run both Mac and Windows?

I might as well just build my own crystal set and try picking up games that way.

2007-01-20 09:24:05

7. gpellamjr

2 My apartment will not allow us to have a satelite.

I had intended to switch to extra innings this year from mlb.tv... I guess not.

2007-01-20 09:42:25

8. Greg Brock

7 Legally, you're entitled to install a satellite dish on any portion of the apartment that is for your own exclusive use (patio, deck, etc.). The problem is that if you don't have a southern exposure, you're going to have a bad signal. Where landlords get you is that they can stop you from putting one on the roof.

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

2007-01-20 09:45:27

9. Bob Timmermann

I have a patio! It's got a lot of weeds in it that have grown through the cement.

Of course, I should just go and find a better place to live, but I hate moving and like living in my comfortable squalor.

2007-01-20 09:46:35

10. Greg Brock

I will add that savvy landlords may have included language in the lease agreement that specifically prohibits installing satellites on your exclusive areas.

Jerks.

2007-01-20 09:47:18

11. Greg Brock

9 What direction does it face?

2007-01-20 09:48:31

12. Bob Timmermann

11
I have the perfect patio for a Muslim.

2007-01-20 09:50:14

13. Greg Brock

Well, all we have to do is get them to install a giant transmitter on the Kabba, and you're all set.

A) That's not gonna happen
B) I'm just kidding. Please don't burn me in effigy

2007-01-20 09:51:58

14. Bob Timmermann

I might see if I can get my laptop to display on my TV.

I don't think I have the slightest ability to figure this out, but I will try.

2007-01-20 09:52:08

15. Greg Brock

Err, Kaaba. Whoops. Now I'm really in trouble.

2007-01-20 09:53:13

16. Greg Brock

14 I run video into my TV all the time. I just use a really good S-Video cable from my computer to my television.

2007-01-20 09:53:23

17. Bob Timmermann

15
Don't worry, I've cornered the effigy market out here.

2007-01-20 09:54:00

18. Bob Timmermann

16
Does this involve me having to speak to Radio Shack employees?

2007-01-20 09:55:14

19. Bob Timmermann

There's also the problem that I have a Mac and I don't use the operating system of choice for the National Pastime.

2007-01-20 09:55:46

20. Greg Brock

18 Naw. It's really easy. I just run the S-video cable from computer to television. Then I go into the monitor settings in the computer and change it to television. Whammo! your television is your monitor.

There may even be an easier way to do it.

2007-01-20 09:56:37

21. DXMachina

It's amazing how often MLB seems to manage to shoot themself in the foot, and then reloads and fires again.

2007-01-20 10:06:52

22. Greg Brock

I hope that "Whammo!" properly conveyed the ease of switching your display settings.

If not, "Blam!" will also suffice.

2007-01-20 10:07:09

23. Icaros

All I want is the Dodgers games. I paid for Extra Innings last year and didn't watch one game that didn't include LA, so I guess I really just want Innings, not Extra Innings.

Similarly, I have only used my NBA League Pass to watch Lakers-related fare this season.

2007-01-20 10:08:02

24. Greg Brock

I'm all about onomatopoeia.

2007-01-20 11:05:05

25. ToyCannon

I was unaware that DirectTv had a bigger market share then cable. I think you can count on one hand the number of people who will switch from cable to DirectTv just to get the extra innings package. This seems like a moronic decision but since it is baseball I would have a hard time believing that they could do something moronic so I'm just going to give them the benefit of doubt since they always make the right decisions about what is best for the fans.

2007-01-20 11:08:24

26. Elliot

I'm a Mac user and I've had MLB.tv for two years with little trouble. You have to delete some built in plug-ins (I think Quicktime or ActiveX or something similar), and then when you load MLB.tv instead of playing in the web-based MLB player, it loads in Windows Media Player like a normal streaming video. Sorry I don't have more specifics, but Google around and you'll find explicit instructions. That's what I did and it worked great.

My new problem isn't the technology involved, but that I just started a job with night hours (2pm to 10pm EST) so I won't be able to watch most games anymore. I guess it'll just be a lot of scoreboard-watching and the occasional ESPN/Fox game for me.

2007-01-20 11:32:34

27. Bob Timmermann

26
MLB's response to you would be:

Quit your job to watch us on TV.

On the equipment we choose.

At our price.

2007-01-20 11:58:36

28. Strike4

9 Squalor is a forbidden term in South Pasadena. Maybe you meant splendour. Squalor might justify paving over with a few lanes of concrete.

2007-01-20 12:06:00

29. Bob Timmermann

It's tasteful squalor.

2007-01-20 12:15:12

30. dianagramr

sighing heavily ...

between this and the crackdown on offshore sportsbooks, this has not been a happy sports month for me ....

2007-01-20 12:17:43

31. Bob Timmermann

I guess you picked the wrong month to quit drinking...

2007-01-20 12:39:17

32. dianagramr

well ... i DID stop the zoloft ....

i'll leave the alcohol for detroit lions coaches and the like

2007-01-20 12:51:11

33. Knuckles

Dammit- I just got a Comcast DVR and was looking fwd to recording the Yanks this year on the EI package, so that I could start watching the games around 8pm when I got home from work, skipping commercials?

Is there any way to record on MLB.tv? Can you put on a 7:05 game at 9pm and rewind? I'm betting they make you watch the commercials.

My best computer is a new Mac...but we do have an OK Dell laptop.

2007-01-20 13:10:37

34. dianagramr

http://tinyurl.com/yurwd9

e-mail DirecTV to share your feelings ....

as I did ... here

How incredibly short-sighted can Directv be? How many people who already have cable service do you think are going to shell out bucks for your service (if they CAN do so .... assuming they live in residences which allow dishes).

$100 million PER YEAR???? for 7 YEARS???

No wonder you guys have Jessica Simpson shilling for you ... she has about the IQ of your business developers!

I can't have your service in my building ... what the heck am I supposed to do to enjoy Extra Innings .... (and don't tell me "move")!

2007-01-20 14:10:10

35. Shaun P

34 This isn't even the half of it. If you are new to DirecTV service, you will be stuck with their piece of garbage DVR. Why? Because they let a perfectly fantastic relationship with TiVo die. Unless you want to shell out mucho dinero for a refurbished DirecTivo unit online.

Pardon the rant but - how bad is DirecTV's own DVR? I should know, I have gone through 4 of them in the last month (after my beloved DirecTivo died and I haven't been able to resuscitate it.) When you set the DirecTV DVR to record shows, it only records them some of the time. And many of the times when it does record the show, it records only the first minute. Or only the first 10 minutes. Someimtes it tells you it recorded the whole thing and then BLAM! you go to watch it and there's only the first minute. And othertimes it doesn't record anything at all.

Can you imagine any other company putting out a product that does not perform its most basic, important function? To replace the greatest DVR available? Me neither.

The last straw will be if DirecTV's rates now rise to pay that ridiculous agreement off.

Bob, I suggest going to your Congresspeople, not Mr. Easterbrook. The NFL and its publicly funded staida is allegedly going to be under Congress's heal for their exclusive deal with DirecTV. Why not draw MLB into it?

2007-01-20 14:26:34

36. Bob Timmermann

My Time-Warner DVR used to go out all the time until they switched to a new generation of machine.

Now, it's fine.

I guess I just have to buy some S-cables and then WHAMMO!

2007-01-20 15:27:04

37. Andrew Shimmin

If In Demand had had the foresight to move its HQ to the California 8th, none of this would have happened.

36- That only works if your t.v. has an s-video port. Not all of them do. Plus the video is going to be ugly; anything that's ugly in a tiny little box gets uglier when you blow it up.

2007-01-20 15:31:17

38. Andrew Shimmin

Oh, but your DVR probably will. Never mind.

2007-01-20 15:43:15

39. Bob Timmermann

My TV has an S-Video port as well as the DVR.

2007-01-20 15:50:11

40. Andrew Shimmin

Can your laptop run multiple video displays? Some PCs can; I don't know anything about Macs. If not, your blog commenting will be curtailed. Which would suck for the rest of us. We might end up having to have a fund raiser to buy Bob a second computer. Then you could run it as a media PC, and send your DVR back.

2007-01-20 15:53:56

41. Bob Timmermann

I might just go and buy myself a new Mac laptop.

More the merrier!

2007-01-20 15:57:41

42. Andrew Shimmin

Ah, the $1,800 solution to a $600 dollar problem. Nothing like a Mac guy! And it's not even a solution, if MLB.tv doesn't work with Macs. But the moral superiority, that has to count for something.

2007-01-20 16:36:24

43. Bob Timmermann

Now if I could only find some way to rig together my Prius, my Mac, and my subscription to the New York Times to make one sort of giant machine that would create a moral authority force field that would overwhelm anyone in its path.

2007-01-20 16:42:05

44. Andrew Shimmin

Easy. You hook an FM transmitter into your Mac, and then listen to one of the Times Select podcasts through your car stereo.

2007-01-20 16:47:30

45. Bob Timmermann

44
Krugman or Dowd?

2007-01-20 17:47:43

46. Ali Nagib

41 - We just got my mother a new Macbook and installed Parallels on it to run Windows and it runs beautifully. You can run Windows as a shell within OSX, but when you full-screen it, you can't even tell that it's a Mac.

15 - Since Arabic doesn't really have any specific vowels, there are multiple legitimate spelling for almost every word or name (Remember when people used to also call him "Usama Bin Laden?" It's the same name.) So as long as your spelling is more or less phonetically correct, you can fudge the vowels any way you want.

2007-01-20 18:25:57

47. Andrew Shimmin

45- You're trying to get me in trouble with Linkmeister. I don't fall for that every time. Sure, I often do. But not this time, bub.

2007-01-20 18:31:34

48. Greg Brock

At least Bob understands that if he cannot get DirecTV, a viable alternative exists in the WHAMMO!

2007-01-20 19:14:40

49. Andrew Shimmin

So, poking around a little, it looks like Macs support multiple monitors and virtual desktops handily. Unless the user forums are lying to me. Which is always possible. Stupid users. Anyway, the fund raiser is off.

2007-01-20 19:29:11

50. Bob Timmermann

Remember that I could hook up the laptop to my TV and then post on the blog with my BlackBerry.

Show/Hide Comments 51-100

2007-01-20 19:38:06

51. Andrew Shimmin

Show off.

I actually meant to play that card back when you said your t.v. had an s-video port, too. So, it just goes double, I guess.

2007-01-20 20:21:30

52. Elliot

Seriously, I used MLB.tv on a Mac the last two years. You just have to uninstall some plug-ins. No cords, no monitors, no purchases.

2007-01-20 20:37:10

53. Daniel Zappala

Since I have DirecTV and a Tivo, is it OK if I don't get worked up about this, just this once? As a Linux user, I'm really tired of battling companies to get them to let me do what I want. Plus, I believe all cable companies are evil.

2007-01-20 20:41:31

54. Greg Brock

53 Oh, sure, bask in the glory of your DirecTV and Tivo. Good for you, Daniel!

(psssst. I have them too)

2007-01-20 20:43:39

55. Bob Timmermann

[Scribbles names on to "On Notice" list]

2007-01-20 22:17:55

56. Andrew Shimmin

52- The cables and purchases were about displaying the IP feed on a t.v. I'm pretty sure there aren't any wireless native televisions. But, if there are, and Bob has one, he's going directly to my Dead to Me list. There's only so much a person can be expected to tolerate.