There is one thing that keeps me from dumping my paid satellite television. Actually, there’s two. First, my family would likely kill me. They live on their loaded DVR’s in the family room and living room. I generally don’t watch television except for the local news, but I am really the reason I won’t get rid of my pay television, and it isn’t about the local news.
It’s about baseball. I’m a huge fan of my St. Louis Team, the Cardinals. Whether it’s a good year or a bad year, I am still a fan, and I hate missing games. I often plan my evenings around whether or not there is a game being televised. I see most of the games on Fox Sports (Midwest for us), and have come to enjoy and appreciate the skill of our local game callers. I could pay for MLB.tv if I wanted, but I would not have my local commentary with the game. And that would be a hard thing for me to give up. On the rare occasions when Cardinals games are broadcast on ESPN, I spend half the game annoyed online announcers, who can’t pronounce things properly, and often are spending commentary time digging up dirt on the winning team so they can talk bad about them. The usual ESPN guy also sounds like he went to the Harry Carey School of Sports Broadcasting, and failed. It makes my baseball-watching much less enjoyable, and I often find myself turning off the volume on the television and turning on the radio where I can hear our regular, local sports announcers broadcast the game through an AM station.
Losing baseball, especially local baseball, would be the hardest thing about giving up pay television. If I could solve this problem easily, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I hate paying that bill every month. Had to pay it this morning and I just bristle every time. I just know I’m not getting $80-worth of enjoyment out of the satellite television every month. Unless it’s baseball. Then, for a couple bucks a day or so, I’m getting something I really enjoy out of it.
How are others feeding their sports addictions yet getting rid of their pay television?
Full disclosure, Non-Corporate Stooge: I work for a college in Missouri. I do not work for pay television and pay television did not pay me to write the article.
I’m wondering how much pay tv paid for that enlightening article?
I am considering the same thing. I am in the process of building a HTPC and have way more channels than I care to even attempt to watch on DISH network. I watch my baseball team on MLB.tv. It isn’t perfect, but it avoids battling over the TV. However, I’m remote from my team, so blackouts may prevent you from doing the same.
MLB At Bat strikes again. I won’t pay for MLB.TV thanks to the last-generation draconian blackout restrictions on video broadcasts. When that changes, and I can watch the Cards in STL on MLB.TV, i’ll be a lifetime subscriber.
In the meantime, without cable, satellite, or an OTA antenna, for that matter, I happily run with my Apple TV and Boxee for my TV-fix needs, and listen to the game online through MLB At Bat. It’s cheap, and all the local commentary is right here. The best thing about that is that I can still get the local games (or any others I want to follow) from wherever I happen to be – so long as I have some kind of Internet access.
Here’s to hoping that the team owners pull their collective heads out and take advantage of the new digital distribution world!
I listen to the Seattle Mariners on the radio. Well, I listen to the radio broadcast on my Android using MLB At Bat. I paid $15 for the entire season and I can listen to any and every game live. I also get short video clips of important plays and a 20 minute quick game video at the end.
Also, I think MLB.tv uses the network feed. So you should still have your local commentary with the game.