O/T Questions for someone in the US or understands the TV market

[MillersTime]

With regional TV stations in the US that show basketball, ice hockey, baseball etc do you get the service from your local area only? I've always wondered if you can get another area, say you live in Arizona but support a team in Wisconsin can you subscribe to their network?

Also, if you live in say Texas where there are multiple teams which network do you get? Say on the basketball front you have Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. What if you live in Texas but not in any of those cities? Do you get a choice?

Cheers in advance

[CAMiller]

I'm not an expert but if you follow a team out of your local market, to see them on TV you either have to wait upon them being on one of the national broadcast channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) to see a game (a bit like waiting for the Millers to be on MOTD) or you can subscribe to a Cable/Satellite package that covers all games in all markets. Every major league sport has it's own offering, last time I looked the MLB package was $199 for about 2,000 games.

In your local market, all major league teams (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS....etc.) are usually covered by one or maybe two channels. I'm not sure how far a market reach is, in the SF Bay area, when I lived there it included all sport/teams from SF, Oakland and San Jose. Due to the NFL teams only having 8 home games per season, some markets won't show the game unless it is sold out or 90% sold out etc.(pre COVID obviously),

[CTMilller]

I'm not an expert but if you follow a team out of your local market, to see them on TV you either have to wait upon them being on one of the national broadcast channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) to see a game (a bit like waiting for the Millers to be on MOTD) or you can subscribe to a Cable/Satellite package that covers all games in all markets. Every major league sport has it's own offering, last time I looked the MLB package was $199 for about 2,000 games.

In your local market, all major league teams (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS....etc.) are usually covered by one or maybe two channels. I'm not sure how far a market reach is, in the SF Bay area, when I lived there it included all sport/teams from SF, Oakland and San Jose. Due to the NFL teams only having 8 home games per season, some markets won't show the game unless it is sold out or 90% sold out etc.(pre COVID obviously),

You sound like an expert to me!

I can only add that my son-in-law who lives here in California is an ardent New York Yankees fan but has a subscription package that allows him to watch every Yankees game in the season on his smart phone. Happy to ask him what the package is and how it works.

[CAMiller]

You sound like an expert to me!

I can only add that my son-in-law who lives here in California is an ardent New York Yankees fan but has a subscription package that allows him to watch every Yankees game in the season on his smart phone. Happy to ask him what the package is and how it works.

That's a good point CT. I think many of the larger franchises with national fan bases like the NYY/LA Dodgers have their own packages that they sell, especially now with the proliferation of streaming.

[MillersTime]

I'm not an expert but if you follow a team out of your local market, to see them on TV you either have to wait upon them being on one of the national broadcast channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) to see a game (a bit like waiting for the Millers to be on MOTD) or you can subscribe to a Cable/Satellite package that covers all games in all markets. Every major league sport has it's own offering, last time I looked the MLB package was $199 for about 2,000 games.

In your local market, all major league teams (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS....etc.) are usually covered by one or maybe two channels. I'm not sure how far a market reach is, in the SF Bay area, when I lived there it included all sport/teams from SF, Oakland and San Jose. Due to the NFL teams only having 8 home games per season, some markets won't show the game unless it is sold out or 90% sold out etc.(pre COVID obviously),

Thanks for getting back to me with such a thorough answer!

I follow the Knicks and see from their forums and just general NBA chat around the league that if there are national TV games it's called a 'blackout' so local stations can't cover the games (apart from Christmas day typically the Knicks don't get picked often anyway because of them being woeful for years, although that is changing). This is often an annoyance for fans who then have to pay for the cable on top whereas because I'm living abroad I get one sub for everything.

I watch the NBA on league pass, basically the same as the MLB package I'm guessing, all teams, all games live and on demand, playoffs etc etc. Am I right in thinking that if you live in the US many of those channels where I can watch via the internet on league pass are actually 'proper' channels on a TV? So if you subscribe to BaySports in California you get an actual channel to watch like a BBC one say. Can those channels be bought across the US or must you live in that area to get that channel?

A bit long winded but hopefully you get what I mean, apologies for the waffle haha

[MillersTime]

You sound like an expert to me!

I can only add that my son-in-law who lives here in California is an ardent New York Yankees fan but has a subscription package that allows him to watch every Yankees game in the season on his smart phone. Happy to ask him what the package is and how it works.

Cheers mate. I understand the concept of the packages and how they work, I'm curious about whether you can buy an 'out of area' TV channel if that doesn't sound silly. The more I say it the more I sound like I'm asking if you can buy BBC Look North from Cornwall 😂. I just wondered if they are different over there as satellite channels

[CAMiller]

No you can't. Your local cable/satellite provider are only able to supply your local sports channel and in fact there is an additional (but not optional much to Mrs. CA's chagrin) monthly fee associated with it. There is also a similar non-optional fee associated with the local TV/news channels (like you getting Calendar/Look North).As you said, the only way to get out of market coverage is to buy a package.

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

I think Jolly Roger is needed

[MillersTime]

No you can't. Your local cable/satellite provider are only able to supply your local sports channel and in fact there is an additional (but not optional much to Mrs. CA's chagrin) monthly fee associated with it. There is also a similar non-optional fee associated with the local TV/news channels (like you getting Calendar/Look North).As you said, the only way to get out of market coverage is to buy a package.

Interesting, still makes me wonder if you live in LA would you get Lakers or Clippers? Or can you choose? Perhaps I should have a little Google. I wonder why the Premier league etc haven't gone down the same route with club channels for games, similar to ifollow but domestically. Perhaps limiting supply keeps up the demand. And the well worn out excuse of 3pm attendances being hurt.

[MillersTime]

I think Jolly Roger is needed

There is always that. That's why some people get the service whilst living in 'India'. Instead of £200 a year it becomes £10 for a yearly subscription. Or so a friend told me....