Senseless blackout policy to keep fans from Harvey-Strasburg battle

Matt Harvey versus Stephen Strasburg – the pitching matchup of the year so far. I can’t wait to see it! Unfortunately, I’m going to have to wait to see it because I’m an mlb.tv user and for reasons known only to themselves, they’ve determined that I reside in Orioles/Nationals territory and games involving those teams are blacked out to me.

Now, this seems like a good time to mention that I live over 334 miles away from Washington DC and 372 miles from Baltimore. There is no chance on earth that I am going to drive that far to pay $200 to see a baseball game.

I could understand the blackout if regular television coverage was available in my area. I get FSS, which shows the majority of Braves games, on Time Warner – my cable provider. But MASN, which broadcasts the Nationals games, is not available from my cable system. Not only is it not on regular cable, it is not available on any digital/sports tier. It’s simply not an option.

The back story of MASN and Time Warner Cable is pretty interesting, with several lawsuits going back and forth. Essentially, TWC balked at carrying MASN, saying it was not going to make its customers pay extra for a channel that most of them don’t want. It’s hard to argue with that logic, as most people in this area are Braves fans.

Still, that didn’t prevent the lawsuits, which made it all the way to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in May of 2012 upheld an order from the FCC allowing TWC to leave MASN off its basic cable package. And, as noted earlier, TWC has not carried it on premium packages either.

So, in order to watch Nationals games live, citizens in my area have two choices – both of which are against the law. You can find an illegal stream and risk viruses or you can consult a programmer and establish a proxy into tricking MLB into thinking that you live outside the blackout area.

This area hardly has the worst of it. There are areas in Iowa and Nevada which are claimed as territory for six different teams, which is just crazy.

The blackouts are a 20th Century solution to what was then a 20th Century problem. It’s only a matter of time until a more rational blackout policy is put into effect here in the 21st Century. Few people would object to having local broadcasts get preference over national ones. But it’s crazy to exempt people in Nevada from watching Padres games or people in North Carolina from watching the Nationals.

Right now the ball is in MLB’s court, as it has the option to revise its own rules into a more sensible policy. But if it continues to drag its heels much longer, the decision may fall into the hands of the courts. Wendy Thurm of FanGraphs had an excellent article about an upcoming lawsuit over the blackout policy. She goes into great detail about what’s currently on tap and this is a must-read for anyone interested in the subject.

But a decision through the courts will undoubtedly take years to come to fruition. And that will do little to help with tonight’s must-see matchup between Harvey and Strasburg. I’ll have to be content with the radio call. At least Wayne Hagin’s no longer around.