Play Ball!
The baseball season is winding down, as we get ready for the annual fall classic. This year the World Series will feature the New York Yankees taking on the Philadelphia Phillies.
For many Dish Network customers it will be one of the few times this season that they can see the New York Yankees in all their glory.
Dish Network is the only major satellite or cable provider in the New York area who does not carry the YES Network in its lineup. The YES Network fired up in 2002 but has never been carried by Dish Network due to its higher costs. Yes Network while wanting to be on Dish Network is not willing to lower its price as it would trigger its “most favored nation” clause in it’s contract with other providers.
And while I understand why Dish does not carry the YES Network it still seems strange to me that the next Major League Baseball World Champions can’t be seen on Dish Network. Of course maybe just maybe the Phillies will beat the Yankees and take that title, which is ok with me since I am a Red Sox fan anyways.
Speaking on Major League Baseball, this year the much-touted MLB Network made its debut and surprisingly didn’t really make the splash on the baseball world as I expected it would. Sure the launch of the network was met by lots of fanfare by sports fans, but by the end of the season you didn’t hear anything about the new network. Like the Yankees YES Network, MLB Network was also a channel passed on by Dish Network. And while it might have cost Dish some customers at the beginning of the season I don’t think most of the folks who stuck with Dish even thought about it when the regular season came to a close.
And while I consider the MLB Network to be a flop, I have to admit that the MLB.TV application for the iPhone and Blackberry was a home run. When the season started you could listen to any game as it happened, and by Mid Season you could actually watch most games live as they happened on your phone for a small fee. This was an amazing well thought out application that worked extremely well. One thing I don’t understand about this is how come I can watch live MLB games on my iPhone on AT&T’s network, but still can’t watch my Slingbox on AT&T’s Network? Something seems wrong with that.
As we wind down the MLB season for the year now all eyes will be focused in the upcoming series that should be a very interesting series to watch. Play Ball!
KenEsq commented:
MLB Network was far from a flop. While DirecTV's Brrrriiiip problems made it unwatchable at times it was a great resource for baseball fans. Good hosts, and great coverage of games in progress. Far better than ESPN's Baseball Tonight.
RhodySTL commented:
Thank goodness for DirecTV. I no longer live in metro NY, but can watch every Yankees and Jets game in beautiful HD. What Dish does not understand is price sometimes is not the overriding issue, - providing choice and customer service is
RobertS. commented:
DISH didn't pass on MLB Network, so to speak. MLB Network was thrown in with the negotiations for MLB Extra Innings that DISH didn't get an agreement to carry when it was up for renewal last time. By my calculations, MLB Network might not have a chance to be on DISH Network until 2013 when the Extra Innings package comes back up for bids. Even if DISH does not reobtain EI, I think MLB Network will be unbundled from EI negotiations at that time becaseu of MLB Network's decent carriage they have.
mrxisalive commented:
I usually don't chime in on the critics side of things but the Yankees are on ESPN every chance they could to put them on, they were the FOX Saturday afternoon game of the week several times as well as appearing on the Sunday national game TBS was showing. The Yankees are seen plenty by everyone, even those who don't want to see them get to see them. You swung and missed badly on this one.
Julio commented:
Agree with TomCat, another lame editorial.
CSN Philly Sucks commented:
And it's the Phillies and their fans that are the victims in the case, unlike the other teams on CSN Philly, they're NOT owned by Comcast. But since Comcast is the dominant provider in the market, they can't leave and go launch their own network that would be available on satellite since the chances are Comcast would refuse to carry it out of spite.
LancPhilsPhan commented:
Can say the same thing about the Phillies on Dish Network (actually same is true with DirecTv); no CSN Philly on satellite. 'course that issue is with the provider rather than the carriers.
MrC commented:
With this all going on is there any chance we may be seeing mlb network on dish in the near future , is there any negotiations taking place at all
TomCat4680 commented:
What are you talking about they'll finally get to see them? The Yankees are the national media's favorite team. Whenever the Yankees play the Red Sox its automatically on national TV. And all of the Yanks' playoff games were on national TV too. And you of all people should know that Dish doesn't carry MLB Network because of the dispute over MLB Extra Innings. You should be ashamed of this ridiculous editorial Scott.