Extra Innings (TV)

From Wiki Gonzalez

Extra Innings is a premium television service marketed by Major League Baseball to displaced fans who want to watch a variety of out-of-town teams.

It shows all the games, except the ones it doesn't. "The ones it doesn't" are supposed to include

1. nationally over-the-air broadcast Saturday games on FOX
2. games played during the FOX Saturday window (i.e. played before 7 PM Eastern time)
3. the Sunday night game on ESPN
4. games involving teams from your local area (determined by ZIP code)

Some unlucky Primates have reported more games "blacked out" than expected, presumably because MLB miscalculated their local area. In 2003, Dan Werr produced a series of maps showing territories allocated to the various teams.

In January 2007, MLB announced plans to take Extra Innings off cable and grant exclusive rights to satellite provider DirecTV in exchange for $700 million. This announcement resulted in multiple long discussion threads on Baseball Think Factory debating the ultimate fallout from such a move. One discussion of Senator John Kerry's threat to take on MLB for possible antitrust violations spiraled into a massive political/legal thread.

References

• Extra Innings: official site (http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/official_info/broadcasts/extra_innings.jsp)
• Digging in the AstroDirt: May 13, 2003 (http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/astrodirt/discussion/419/) - Dan Werr's maps
• Richard Sandomir: Extra Innings Exclusively on DirecTV (http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/ny_times_sandomir_extra_innings_exclusively_on_directv_rr/) - January 20, 2007 thread
• Maury Brown: DirecTV Deal Tied to New 24-Hour MLB Channel (http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/the_biz_of_baseball_brown3/) - January 29, 2007 thread
• AP: Kerry plans to raise ‘Extra Innings’ concerns with FCC chairman (http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/ap_kerry_plans_to_raise_extra_innings_concerns_with_fcc_chairman/) - January 31, 2007 thread of over 500 posts