I rather like the concept of Major League Baseball’s mlb.tv. It lets you view baseball games on your computer. The service actually works pretty well and it’s neat to watch some games you won’t be able to see on regular TV, especially if you quietly follow an out of town team (like those lovable losers from the North Side). My only real complaint about the thing is that they insist on blacking out games that fall in your media market. That means I can’t watch Yankee games on the computer when I’m in the tri-state area. I more or less understand why this is (or at least I think I do… I imagine the owners and media folk don’t want to lose ad dollars by having people watch the games on anything other than the cable channels they worked out expensive deals for and that ad money) but it’s missing the point. Sometimes you’re just in a place where you can’t watch the game on TV but you could online. I’d love to be able to do this. If they’re worried about losing out on ad money, why not just show all the commercials and be done with it? Makes perfect sense to me. Then again, what do I know, I’m not a baseball team owner.
At least the rules aren’t as crazy and draconian as the NFL’s blackout rules (you can’t see your team’s game in the home market unless the game is sold out. What sort of nonsense is that?). Still, it’s time that baseball fully embraces this modern century and gives us the full online baseball experience.
