Blog Reaction to Extra Innings

The baseball blogs are beginning to stir in reaction to the potential move of the MLB Extra Innings package to Direct TV.

This is the latest blogsearch

A few selections:

Sports Guru:
MLB Appears Ready to Further Screw its Fan Base

Major League Baseball and Direct TV appear close to signing an agreement valued at somewhere near $700 million over seven years, with said agreement making Direct TV the exclusive home for the MLB Extra Innings package and eventually (in 2009) the 24-hour MLB channel. This would result in all cable or Dish Network subscribers being left out of the market for the MLB EI package, a move that unquestionably cements baseball’s reputation as money-hungry sport that is repeatedly willing to ditch its fans in search of another dollar.

Red Sox Chick
Cranky Chickie

This business with MLB and Direct TV is another issue that annoys the he11 out of me. Granted, I'm in the correct viewing market for my team, but I've purchased the Extra Innings package from Comcast for three seasons now because I love baseball. Last year, I went to sleep many a night to the sounds of Vin Scully calling Dodgers games. I watched every game that Bronson Arroyo pitched for the Reds (okay, some of them I did while flipping from Sox games). I watched as many Yankees games as I could get in. I love baseball and I want to watch as much of it as possible. I happily paid whatever was asked of me to do so. Not this time. I enjoy my cable and have no issues with my cable company. None that are major enough to switch to Direct TV for four televisions, that's for damn sure.

With all due respect to people like our own Mark Newman who sing the praises of MLB.tv and Direct TV, I'm not paying for MLB.tv so I can watch baseball on my computer. And I don't see all the people losing Extra Innings going that route. Once again, MLB shows the fans how very little they regard us. Time and again people tell me about 'the evils' of MLB. And, admittedly, I've done little in the way of protest. Sure, I won't purchase items from the MLB store, but I WAS paying for that Extra Innings package - and I pay for the space here on MLBLogs. I also buy tickets to ballgames through the Red Sox (most of the time, on occasion I go the 'other' route). So who am I to complain, right? I keep bending over and letting MLB have their way with me so why should I complain now when, truly, this new issue doesn't affect me?

Thank You For Your Time
Dear Major League Baseball

How many Americans have the opportunity to purchase the Extra Innings package from their local cable provider? About 75 million. How many Americans have the opportunity to purchase a DirectTV-fueled baseball package? Only about 15 million.

But I do understand why you want to make this deal: DirectTV will pay you $700 million; InDemand’s bid was but $70 million. But what about alienating fans? Or does counting all your money blind you to this reality?
...
The likely rejoinder from you is that Extra Innings will be available through your Web site, mlb.com. Though this is a terrific service, it does not replace the package’s availability on cable. Being able to watch Major League Baseball games on a computer requires a high-speed Internet connection. If you add the number of DirectTV subscribers to the number of Americans with high-speed Internet, you come nowhere near the number of potential subscribers from cable.

Please take into consideration the feelings of baseball fans. In doing so, consider how important your antitrust exemption is to you. And reconsider your deal with DirectTV.

Cards Fan Union
Go on, take the money and run...

Why am I even surprised by the news that MLB will make the Extra Innings package available only on DirecTV? (registration required for link). The Extra Innings package gives fans up to 60 out of market games per week.

To summarize the article, DirecTV will pay MLB $700 million, or roughly 2.8 “A-Rods,” over seven years for the exclusive rights to carry the Extra Innings Package.

This means that only 15 million of the 75 million families that currently have the option to buy the package will have the option when the deal goes through. If the ratios of current subscribers are equal across mediums (and I don’t have that stat), then the number of subscribers will fall from 750,000 to 150,000 simply due to lack of availability. MLB will have left 600,000 of its diehard fans without the subscription.

Ump Bump
MLB only needs 700 million reasons to tell you to drop dead

The NYT reports Extra Innings as having 750,000 subscribers.

Let’s do the math, 750,000 x $129 = 96,750,000. That’s $96 million a year, about $670 mill for seven years. Sketchy math, I know, since I don’t take into consideration the potential DROP in subscribers.

So does DirecTV absorb the cost in hopes of landing many more subscribers? I mean, MLB Extra Innings was available through DTV before this deal, why would it increase the subscriber-base by restricting the distribution channels?
...
Oh and not only will I NOT buy the MLB Extra Innings package as I have done for the past three years, because obviously I don’t have DirecTV, but I doubt I’ll buy the MLB.TV service.

I dunno. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be thinking about this in January; I thought I was just going to punch in my credit card in March.

The rest of the blogs follow in a similar vein.