User:SeaCalChiSperky/Major League Baseball blackout policy

United States
Almost every part of the Contiguous United States, has at least one team they are blacked out from watching. Some even have two or more teams they cannot watch. As the map shows, every teams has its local area blackout. However they also have, sometimes, several surrounding states that are also blacked out. For example, Kansas City Royals are blacked out from view in the state of Missouri (except in the St. Louis metro area), Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Iowa.

Outside of the "home" market most teams also impose blackout restrictions and the worse reciever of this is the state of Iowa, who is blocked from six teams; Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Royals, Twins, and the White Sox. Even though they are all a multi-hour drive to see any of the game is person. Local broadcasts are not necessarily available in the whole blackout territory. For example, Bally Sports Wisconsin is unavailable in Iowa, so Milwaukee Brewers games are unavailable in the state. So not only can Iowa not get the Brewers on local channels, they also can't get them on streaming due to being "in the market".

Due to the fact that they play in Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays do not have any part of their blackout territory in the United States.

ESPN Deal
A new contract between ESPN and Major League Baseball in 2012 virtually eliminated local blackouts involving the network's Monday and Wednesday night games, allowing ESPN coverage to co-exist with that of the local broadcasters in home markets. The agreement took effect at the start of the 2014 season and lasted until 2021

A contract extension between ESPN/MLB was struck in 2021, lasting until 2028.

Apple TV Deal
In March of 2022 MLB and Apple signed a sever streaming deal worth $85 million annually. Through this streaming deal, Apple will broadcast a doubleheader every Friday, during the regular season on their streaming platform Apple TV+.

Bally Sports bankruptcy (new)
Due to the parent company of the Bally Regional Sports network, Diamond Sports Group, applying for bankruptcy, there have been calls to end the blackout rule so the local fans can no longer rely on only cable providers to watch their teams games.