August 19, 2015 update – CBS Sports is reporting that the MLB has negotiated with Fox to allow 15 markets to offer local streaming next season. That’s definitely a nice step in the right direction.
If you’re a fan of Major League Baseball (MLB) and enjoy streaming games then you know all about the annoying blackouts. While you can watch your local teams play on television, the same in-market games are blocked through the MLB.tv streaming service. You are free to stream out-of-market games live online but access to your local team is restricted. That completely defeats the purpose and is not in line with how fans want to view games. The chairman of the Cardinals agrees and sees a different future for MLB streaming that allows for in-market viewing.
Let’s start with a little background on streaming Major League Baseball games. You can sign up for MLB.tv to stream out-of-market games live online. The service offers both regular and premium plans. An MLB.tv Premium membership adds features including the ability to stream games from mobile devices and set top boxes. The premium service adds support for over 400 devices. You can also choose between audio from the announcers for the home or away team. Prices start at $19.99/mo. for MLB.tv and $24.99/mo. for the MBL.tv Premium plan.
All in all the MLB.tv service is a very nice addition for baseball fans. The biggest drawback of the service is blackouts. You can not watch local in-market games using MLB.tv without the help of a Smart DNS or VPN service. That may change as the Cardinals chairman, Bill DeWitt, Jr. mentioned in a recent interview with the St. Louis Post. It comes down to broadcast rights and Mr. DeWitt says that fans will be able to stream in-market games sooner rather than later. He says that in-market streaming is a high priority for the new MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred.
While neither Mr. DeWitt or MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is laying out a date for in-market streaming we are hopeful that the league will work out the details in the months to come. It would be great to be able to stream local games next season. Perhaps that’s too soon to hope for but with the the expanding popularity of streaming services the MLB.tv package is sure to be a growing source of revenue for the league in future years.
