MLB Extra Innings free preview unavailable to cable subscribers.
You smell that? That’s the smell of baseball. I got a big ol’ whiff of it last night as my Mets put the hammer down on the dreaded, world champion Cardinals. Yes, baseball is in the air, and we’re all better for it (even if it means some of the lighter TV fare I’ve “enjoyed” this winter will have to take a back seat watching Jose Reyes steal 100 bases).
Unfortunately, there is no joy in Mudville, my cable provider (all cable providers) will not be offering the MLB Extra Innings game package this year unless some last minute talks can work out a compromise.
A few months ago Major League Baseball cut a $700 million exclusive deal with DirectTV to carry the out-of-market game package, much to the chagrin of the 27.6 million digital cable subscribers in America. While In Demand, the cable consortium owned by Comcast, Time Warner and Cox Communications which distributes the package on cable, have offered to match the money, the current sticking point is the new MLB Channel that is suppose to premiere in 2009 and whether the cable companies will get a piece of the action if they agree to carry it.
To me what all of this means is I’m not going to be able to spend the next 7 days watching baseball games from all over the country that I never knew I was interested in watching in the first place. To me, buying Extra Innings always seemed a little crazy given the amount of television I’m currently watching, but the free preview was always so sweet. It was like a fun-sized candy bar. Small, delicious, and yet a reminder that any more will likely make you fat.
Maybe a deal will be made before the day ends.
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Tags: Sports
