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.
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..."
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.
I will add that savvy landlords may have included language in the lease agreement that specifically prohibits installing satellites on your exclusive areas.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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")!
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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I guess not.
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.
I might as well just build my own crystal set and try picking up games that way.
I had intended to switch to extra innings this year from mlb.tv... I guess not.
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html
Of course, I should just go and find a better place to live, but I hate moving and like living in my comfortable squalor.
Jerks.
I have the perfect patio for a Muslim.
A) That's not gonna happen
B) I'm just kidding. Please don't burn me in effigy
I don't think I have the slightest ability to figure this out, but I will try.
Don't worry, I've cornered the effigy market out here.
Does this involve me having to speak to Radio Shack employees?
There may even be an easier way to do it.
If not, "Blam!" will also suffice.
Similarly, I have only used my NBA League Pass to watch Lakers-related fare this season.
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.
MLB's response to you would be:
Quit your job to watch us on TV.
On the equipment we choose.
At our price.
between this and the crackdown on offshore sportsbooks, this has not been a happy sports month for me ....
i'll leave the alcohol for detroit lions coaches and the like
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.
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")!
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?
Now, it's fine.
I guess I just have to buy some S-cables and then WHAMMO!
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.
More the merrier!
Krugman or Dowd?
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.
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.
(psssst. I have them too)
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