More MLB blackout nonsense (ESPN Radio and Sirius)

[youtalkfunny]

(I thought this was interesting. If you don't think so, then I'm sorry for a crappy post.)

While getting ready for work last night, I turn on ESPN2 to check the Bottom Line scoreboard update. Next to the Giants/Sawx score is a note that the game is on ESPN Radio.

"Great!", I think. "I can listen to the game in the car on the way to work."

Once in the car, I tune my Sirius receiver to ESPN Radio. No Red Sox game, just a call-in show.

Strange, I thought.

On a hunch, I flipped my radio over to AM (something I haven't done in months--God, I love satellite radio), and sure enough, the local ESPN Radio affiliate is carrying the SF/BOS game.

Of course, MLB has a deal with XM, Sirius' competitor. But they can black out games on Sirius??? That just seems so strange to me.

Does ESPN radio provide play-by-play coverage of other sports, such as NBA or NHL? Are these broadcasts blacked out on XM?

[wh1t3bread]

Well Sirius doesn't have the rights to air baseball games. XM pays MLB a lot of money to have those rights to themselves. So yeah, you are out of luck if you want to listen to baseball games on Sirius. Or football games on XM, etc.

If/When that merger goes through you won't have to worry about this...

[youtalkfunny]

[ QUOTE ]
If/When that merger goes through you won't have to worry about this...

[/ QUOTE ]

My fingers have been crossed for quite some time.

Howard Stern read an article that compared the XM/Sirius merger with other mergers that required government approval. No merger in the history of the US has taken so long to get approval.

The government's review of the Sirius/XM merger is still in the preliminary stages as of Day 76--the mergers of both Cingular/AT&T and AOL/TimeWarner COMBINED sailed through the approval process in less time than that.

[Sluss]

[ QUOTE ]
Does ESPN radio provide play-by-play coverage of other sports, such as NBA or NHL? Are these broadcasts blacked out on XM?

[/ QUOTE ]

These are not blackouts persay. The way that ESPN radio play-by-play works is that it is the station's decision. ESPN radio runs sports talk 24/7 and gives the affiliate stations the opportunity to run play-by-play for the sports they run play-by-play for (MLB,NBA,BCS) of course for an extra fee. So if Sirius wanted to run the play-by-play they would have to pay extra for the broadcast and because of the deal with XM I'm pretty sure MLB & ESPN would not allow the deal.

So your local ESPN station paid a fee for the game and paid somebody to come in and flip a switch and run the baseball game. My guess is that Sirius never runs any of the available play-by-play and just let's the ESPN Radio talk feed run 24/7.

[youtalkfunny]

Awesome post, thanks.

[MicroBob]

ESPN Radio does do the NBA finals I think.
But as Sluss said, ESPN radio sports-talk is 24/7 and the special game-broadcasts are a different deal.

Not sure of the NHL, perhaps that's on Westwood One.

i know people who were frustrated and confused that they couldn't listen to certain MLB playoff games locally.
"It said on the screen that it's on ESPN-radio. I tuned to 730 but they just had some other talk on."


I need to get satellite radio pretty quick.
Got a couple long road-trips from Memphis to Destin, FL coming up which includes lots of time driving through the middle of nowhere.

Sirius still is offering that 'life-long' plan thing, right?
I need to get that.
I really want the MLB package from XM too but for the life-long package I would just get XM and hope that the MLB games make it over there soon enough.

[Sluss]

FWIW to the best of my knowledge the national radio play-by-play providers are:

MLB (World Series, All-Star game, MLB playoffs, game of the week): ESPN Radio
NFL (Playoffs & Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, Monday and Sunday Night football and games of the week): Westwood One
NBA (playoffs & games of the week): ESPN Radio
NHL (playoffs & Games of the week): Westwood One
NCAA Basketball (tourney & game of the week): Westwood One
NCAA Football (Notre Dame & game of the week): Westwood One
BCS Championship: ESPN Radio
Olympics: Westwood One


All of these can be purchased by any station to run, though right of first refusal still stands for ESPN affliates and CBS stations.

The satellite rights have been negotiated seperately.

[youtalkfunny]

SIRIUS: NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, NCAA (hoops and football, some major conferences), CFL.

XM: MLB, PGA, Indy car.

If you're looking for play-by-play, then it's Sirius in a landslide, right?

Not so fast.

I bought Sirius because it the sports coverage was so lopsided. But it turns out that baseball is the only sport that doesn't suck on the radio.

I'm still glad I chose Sirius (Howard Stern, NFL 24/7 channel, Nascar 24/7 channel, Sinatra channel). I'm just saying, if play-by-play is the most important factor, it's not a lopsided as it looks--baseball is king of Sports On Radio.

Hopefully, the Feds take out their thumbs, and get this merger approved quickly--like before baseball season is over.

[youtalkfunny]

[ QUOTE ]

Sirius still is offering that 'life-long' plan thing, right?
I need to get that.

[/ QUOTE ]

A quick check on the website indicates that yes, the $500 "lifetime" plan is still available.

Note that this subcription is for the life of the radio, not the life of the listener. If you upgrade your radio, you can switch the plan over to the new unit for $75.

I've got the annual plan for my car's radio. I put a second radio in my mini-van, which sets me back an extra $6.99/mo. I'm too chicken to write that $500 check, because if this merger doesn't go through, it seems unlikely to me that either company will stay afloat.

(I can't believe the Feds haven't approved this deal yet. Not only that, but they're still in the preliminary stages of the approval process. It's been almost 90 days since the merger was submitted for approval--the Feds approved the AT&T/Cingular and AOL/TimeWarner mergers in much less than 90 days COMBINED, from start to finish, from submission to final approval. It's criminal that some politicians and lobbying interest groups are holding the satellite radio industry hostage.)

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
because if this merger doesn't go through, it seems unlikely to me that either company will stay afloat.

[/ QUOTE ]


really? had no idea. haven't been following this stuff at all?