MLB Playoffs & TV

[pacopete4]

How do we get the MLB playoffs to be on network TV? I feel that we are missing the boat on getting more fans involved with the game when we have to put these games on channels like Fox Sports 1 and TBS. To me, it is crazy that the MLB hasn't made this change to get FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS to carry their games.

[Baldkin]

MLB gives the TV rights to who pays the most money for the TV rights.

 

If the networks don't want them, they can't sell them there.

[Thurston Fluff]

MLB gives the TV rights to who pays the most money for the TV rights.

 

If the networks don't want them, they can't sell them there.

 

I agree that is why they are going to cable route but I think it is short sighted. It is hard to grow the sport when fewer people can watch the post season. There are a lot of sports fans who really don't follow baseball as much as they do other sports. How else do you get a sports fan who isn't all that into baseball if they can never see the best the sport has to offer?

[Bombers]

MLB gives the TV rights to who pays the most money for the TV rights.

 

If the networks don't want them, they can't sell them there.

 

I agree that is why they are going to cable route but I think it is short sighted. It is hard to grow the sport when fewer people can watch the post season. There are a lot of sports fans who really don't follow baseball as much as they do other sports. How else do you get a sports fan who isn't all that into baseball if they can never see the best the sport has to offer?

I agree with this. I think it is ridiculous that the first "free" game will be game 1 of the ALCS. And only game 1. The next game will be game 1 of the world series. I agree with fluff, baseball is missing out on the casual fan. I am 33 and many of my friends do not have cable anymore. Cable is really starting to go to the way side. With all the other offerings, Netflix, hulu, etc, many people are starting to opt out of cable. Just wait until Netflix purchases the rights to a game or you tube. That time is coming.

[Bombers]

The other thing is, with 3 of the 4 series going to a game 5 in the divisional round, they missed out on a ton of ratings being on TBS and FS1

[1992casey]

TBS isn't so bad because almost all cable subscribers have it. I don't know where FS1 fits into the scheme of things. TNT and MLB Network are on higher tiers, and that isn't good.

 

I think that one issue that can be addressed immediately is communicating how overlapping games will be handled. This year, that was a mystery until the overlaps actually occurred. To find those games, viewers had to tune into the originally scheduled channel and catch an announcement from the broadcasters. And once you find the game, something's wrong with cutting off coverage and forcing the viewer to change channels again.

 

I'd love to see games made available on the Internet without requiring a cable subscription. As Bombers says, people are cutting the cord. Right now, access to sports is a big reason not to do that. But with channels like HBO now offering stand-alone access, other channels will be following. It'd be nice to see baseball being ahead of the curve.

[jerichoholicninja]

Stop starting the games so late and having them take 4 hours. That would draw more people in then what channel they are on. I don't blame network stations for not wanting to pay so much. The playoffs force you to not air your primetime shows which just started a few weeks ago. I imagine the ratings and revenue is better for those shows than playoff baseball.

[tmwiese55]

NBA is the same for the playoffs. Only weekend games are on ABC and still not all weekend games. Of course until the Finals when all are on ABC.

[DuWayne Steurer]

It's a shame, because this has been a fantastic playoffs so far. Great games, great series, high drama, and awesome bat flips.

[1992casey]

tmwiese55, I moved the message you posted in this spot over to the game thread.

[DocLuna7]

MLB gives the TV rights to who pays the most money for the TV rights.

 

If the networks don't want them, they can't sell them there.

 

I agree that is why they are going to cable route but I think it is short sighted. It is hard to grow the sport when fewer people can watch the post season. There are a lot of sports fans who really don't follow baseball as much as they do other sports. How else do you get a sports fan who isn't all that into baseball if they can never see the best the sport has to offer?

I agree with this. I think it is ridiculous that the first "free" game will be game 1 of the ALCS. And only game 1. The next game will be game 1 of the world series. I agree with fluff, baseball is missing out on the casual fan. I am 33 and many of my friends do not have cable anymore. Cable is really starting to go to the way side. With all the other offerings, Netflix, hulu, etc, many people are starting to opt out of cable. Just wait until Netflix purchases the rights to a game or you tube. That time is coming.

 

We are the same age Bombers and you make a great point about cable. I know a number of people within the same age demographic who go and watch games at bars if there is one that they really care about and who otherwise are missing great baseball.

[Patrick425]

If you are trying to save money by not having cable or satellite, then you have to realize that there are some programs and events that you will not be able to watch in the comfort of your home. You get what you pay for. That's the sacrifice of trying to save money. Maybe some day that will change, but for now that's reality.

[1992casey]

If the games were to be offered over the Internet without being tied to a cable subscription, I'd expect to pay for them. But I'd be paying for something I'd be taking advantage of vs. paying for numerous channels I care nothing about in order to see the much lesser number of channels that I'm interested in.

[Polish Falcons]

Hate to sound like an advertisement but I have watched every NL playoff game on tbs via sling TV, for $20, and found it to be of great value. While I just subscribed to sling to watch the NL playoffs (mets are my #2 team), I have been pleased to be watching some ESPN and Cnn amongst other major cable networks and will probably keep my subscription after the playoffs, unexpectedly.

 

I like this low cost option better than "free tv" because my digital antenna has unreliable reception. Usually when I watch games on fox I get frustrated with lack of reception, and other channels don't come in at all.

 

I have found no good answer for FS1.

 

I haven't subscribed to regular cable for ages and suspect I never will again. Too many other better options.

[Thurston Fluff]

If you are trying to save money by not having cable or satellite, then you have to realize that there are some programs and events that you will not be able to watch in the comfort of your home. You get what you pay for. That's the sacrifice of trying to save money. Maybe some day that will change, but for now that's reality.

 

While that may be true how does that help MLB create a larger fan base? It may help cable keep a few customers which is good for them but I don't see how that helps baseball. I also think the avid fans would just listen to the games. Unlike most sports, especially football, baseball is as entertaining to listen to as to watch. So I am not even sure cable is getting much customer retention based on having the games.

[Funketown]

I wonder too if this is somewhat myopic from MLB's standpoint. The Hardball Times paper brought up in the expansion thread touched on the demographics of baseball viewers, and something like 50% of MLB viewers are over age 55. If I didn't have access to these games on mobile applications, I wouldn't make much of an effort to watch.

[owbc]

The current model has resulted in record viewership numbers (thank Canada as well...):

 

http://lastwordonsports.com/2015/10/20/mlb-viewership-numbers/

[Bombers]

The current model has resulted in record viewership numbers (thank Canada as well...):

 

http://lastwordonsports.com/2015/10/20/mlb-viewership-numbers/

That is good to hear numbers are up but A game 5 of Texas vs Toronto drew 4.8 million viewers. Where Sunday night football earlier this year drew 26 million+ on NBC when it was Seattle vs Packers.

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/weekly-ratings-nbc-football-americas-got-talent-1201599794/

 

That is good to hear the numbers are up, but they could be better on standard tv

[pacopete4]

The current model has resulted in record viewership numbers (thank Canada as well...):

 

http://lastwordonsports.com/2015/10/20/mlb-viewership-numbers/

That is good to hear numbers are up but A game 5 of Texas vs Toronto drew 4.8 million viewers. Where Sunday night football earlier this year drew 26 million+ on NBC when it was Seattle vs Packers.

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/weekly-ratings-nbc-football-americas-got-talent-1201599794/

 

That is good to hear the numbers are up, but they could be better on standard tv

 

 

This was my overall point when creating this thread. Baseball seems to be growing but putting them on second tier channels is not helping that. Get them on your standard TV stations and let people be exposed to exciting, awesome baseball.

[monty57]

While that may be true how does that help MLB create a larger fan base? It may help cable keep a few customers which is good for them but I don't see how that helps baseball. I also think the avid fans would just listen to the games. Unlike most sports, especially football, baseball is as entertaining to listen to as to watch. So I am not even sure cable is getting much customer retention based on having the games.

 

Just making up numbers, but if Fox offers $1M to air on network and $100M to air on FS1, why would baseball take the $1M offer?

 

Fox wants to get "bundles" to add FS1, and having the MLB playoffs is a good bargaining chip for them. They don't have that concern for their major network, so they pay more from FS1 to get it there.

 

Eventually, i'd guess everything will be done on MLB.tv and MLB Network, but until the numbers make sense for MLB, they will sell the rights to the highest bidder.

[I Heart Brewers]

Monty make sense to me. It's all about money. To go further, if the advertising dollars were there then the networks would show the games on the their flagships? Simple as that. But since they can market content based on a channel's theme they maximize their advertising dollars. Why would they throw something on a flagship channel that makes less money? It will be a long time before all of this is exclusively on MLB network or just MLB.tv. There just isn't the appetite for it. Casual fans don't care about playoff baseball until the WS and if it's not on Fox they aren't going to pay extra to watch it.

[Bombers]

You guys are right as they probably did take the best deal out there. I guess my issue is, that idea is short sighted as you are taking away your product from an extremely large market. If you look at the NFL, they used to offer so much free football, that they went the other route and took their largest (at the time) game of the week (MNF) and sold the rights to ESPN. However, the NFL still offers free football all day on Sunday. Free. Anyone can watch it. The casual fan / the person with nothing to do / anyone. The NFL had 1 playoff game on cable television last year. A wild card game that aired at 3:30 on Saturday. Before we get to the World Series baseball will have had 1 game on "free" TV. (Game 1 of the ALCS)

 

Looking at MLB, there is almost no free baseball. And I just don't get that. The only free baseball they offer is Saturday afternoon games on fox during the summer (I am sure their ratings are awesome for that.) and then all of a sudden the world series is available on "free" tv. Then baseball wonders why they are losing their fan base. Well maybe because no one is able to watch your league unless they pay for cable. I think baseball would be in a much better spot if they sold something like Wednesday night baseball to NBC/CBS/Fox/ABC throughout the year. So someone has a chance at catching a baseball game and you know actually enjoying it. They could then start selling playoff games or series to someone other than cable tv.

 

The NFL also has just a better "NFL" package vs MLB. MLB needs a "Men on base" channel (like the red zone) or a "9th inning close game" channel.

 

Back in 2004, game 7 of the ALCS was on Fox and drew a whopping 11.7 rating. Baseball is missing out on drawing in fans by putting the best of their product on paid TV. To me, I find that disappointing.

[Bikeage77]

I only watched game one of the Cards and the Cubs this season, at a bar.

 

We haven't had cable in years because for $16 we can have both Netflix and Hulu to watch whatever we want at our disposal. I thought about getting the MLB package, but then you can't watch Brewers games, and the playoff package is a separate fee. Oh well, I've listened to a handful of them on the radio, and watched highlights the next day. It is what it is, even if I'm not happy about it.

 

I'll at least get to see the World Series.

[tmwiese55]

When most of these deals were made they were probably looking at the old statistics where something like 92% of Americans had cable TV. So as long as all the games are major networks like ESPN and TBS, and now FS1 (which is on all packages I think) then everyone will be able to have them still. Now, that cable % number has to be dropping big time so they might have to re-think it a little bit.

[I Heart Brewers]

 

The NFL also has just a better "NFL" package vs MLB. MLB needs a "Men on base" channel (like the red zone) or a "9th inning close game" channel.

 

Back in 2004, game 7 of the ALCS was on Fox and drew a whopping 11.7 rating. Baseball is missing out on drawing in fans by putting the best of their product on paid TV. To me, I find that disappointing.

 

MLB and NFL are completely different beasts. Also, MLB has too many games to have a red zone like channel. It's just too saturated.

 

Also, if you flip your argument you can say the reason Fox drew an 11.7 rating was because it was on broadcast TV. If people had to pay to watch game 7 of the ALCS now, there is no way it would draw an 11.7 rating.