[bonds20001]

So, I have MLB Extra Innings for my Giants' games.  BUT..tonight it is on Apple TV +..means it will be blackout again..Friday night baseball..I already pay to see the game..but now..more $$ more $$.  Not a happy camper here..

[Simpleton]

Here in Toronto, We have the Toronto FC Soccer club which Used to be Broadcast on TSN now its on Apple TV which is kind of Stupid Since i am In Toronto and i Cant even be able to watch my home team play. MLS is a money hungry cash grab. Looks like MLB is doing the same thing. As being in the local area should not be blacked out. This better not happen for the NHL.

[chevy man 22]

not baseball related but WWE is moving Raw to Netflix next year so now you have to pay regular tv plus a monthly Netflix charge to watch wrestling. And Netflix has already announced a price increase in anticipation and if I was a betting man I'd say they will have another right at the end of the year.

People thought they were so smart with the whole " Cutting The Cord "  bit but now the vast majority pay more across all of their subscription services than they ever did for basic cable tv.

[jbissell]

Good point regarding cutting the cord Chevy Man.

I havent been able to watch a Twins game in years.

[Simpleton]

If all you want is basic cable, try getting an antenna. I have one and getting over 40 local stations. Now, im not sure where you're located but if your near the city and its the best thing for basic. Only reason i have cable is because i get the sports package which i can watch baseball and hockey games which are still available on the Sports Channels.

[ZSDOne]

Unfortunately, this is the wave of the future - there have already been "streaming exclusive" NFL playoff games (I very gladly did not watch) and of course, the NFL has the Thursday games on Amazon Prime which I almost never watch even though I have Amazon Prime Video included in my Amazon subscription because the streaming quality just isn't as good as the quality available on fiber optics cable - I also dislike not being able to check out other games during the commercials (ESPN/NBC/CBS/Fox etc. want to push streaming because its a captive audience for the commercials - you can't easily turn the channel when the ads come on like you can with broadcast or cable - as such, you can be certain that more and more games are going into streaming).

The fact is that streaming is near worthless unless you are spending tons of money on the fastest possible internet and equipment - even with a very good and expensive home high speed internet, streaming still is far behind what I get over cable and even far behind what I'd get with over the air television

[hempick]

I have YouTubeTV so that I don't have to have 2 different cable providers when I go from NJ to FL during the year.
I can use YTTV in both places without paying extra and that is really nice.

Unfortunately for me, YouTubeTV doesn't carry the Yankees channel and they also don't carry the Rays channel so regardless of where I am, I am unable to get local games.

[ZSDOne]

The streaming "services" add sports to attract subscribers for their services even if the subscribers only care about the sports

The cable companies charge their customers more for the sports channels with a substantial portion of your cable bill being the rights to broadcast the sports channels - if you have cable in the Washington/Baltimore area, you're paying for local broadcasts of the Orioles, Nationals, Capitals, and Wizards whether you want them or not

In theory, streaming could solve these issues by having customers who want to pay for the sports programming just pay for the sports programming while the customers who don't want to pay for sports don't have to - in reality, it makes things much worse - the prices of the sports streaming is so much higher than the price of movies because the networks and now the streaming services have been bidding each other for the sports broadcasts - and often that has led to deals that are way beyond any rational value (this is especially an issue with college sports and is why the networks trying to force their conference partners to make college football most appealing is essentially destroying all college sports) - but in the real world, the cost of just sports streaming would almost certainly be prohibitive since you no longer have the audience who doesn't care about the sports channels subsidizing the inflated broadcast deals for the sports broadcasts and you no longer have the "only cares about sports" audiences inflating the numbers of subscribers thus making everything more expensive since the programming the "not care about sports" crowd is watching is less expensive to provide (especially the people who use streaming to watch old movies and shows)

And since live sports (besides being expensive to produce and expensive to secure rights to) is driving the costs, it is going to get much worse - remember the old days of pay per view where you'd have to pay like $100 to watch a Mike Tyson boxing match? Now imagine that for the World Series and Super Bowl. That is likely where all of this is going

[bonds20001]

Yes, MASN has a hold on the O's and Nats.  I pay for the extra channels through COX..but I pay for them..as well as ESPN multiple channels and MLBTV.."the sports bundle"..so when the game I want to see is on another pay site.it makes me a little mad...it is the way it is going to be..$$ talks and BS walks..understood..but I do not have to like it..