Big Changes to MLB Game Streaming in 2016 and Other Bullets

mlb tv featureThe Little Girl had a book for me when I picked her up from school yesterday, and it was freaking awesome. For a kid who hasn’t actually seen any of the ‘Star Wars’ movies, she is super into ‘Star Wars.’ And it makes her nerdy dad both happy and proud.

  • The official settlement to the MLB blackout lawsuit (discussed here, here, and here) is now available here in full. One big thing I’d now add to those previous three posts: MLB will now have to make MLB.tv available, without blackouts, to “unserved fans” – i.e., fans who live in a blackout region but who *genuinely cannot* purchase “local” games on their cable/satellite system. In other words, if you live in the Cubs’ large blackout region, but the cable/satellite operators in your area will not carry CSN Chicago, you can now get those games on MLB.tv (you have to go through an application process to tell MLB that you can’t otherwise get the games). If you can get CSN Chicago, though, you’re gonna still be blacked out, because the full blackout regions appear to be unchanged by this settlement. The full details are in the settlement document, but I’m expecting MLB.tv will have an official, more-user-friendly description as the season approaches.
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  • I suspect this has the potential to become very complicated for MLB with respect to the Cubs, in particular, because not all of their games are on CSN. Instead, almost half are split between local WGN and local ABC, and, as you no doubt recall, many of those games were flat out not available in cities outside of Chicago (but within the blackout region). Some of the games were picked up in syndication deals by local stations in those cities, but many were not. It’s incredibly complicated, and unlike any other team’s TV situation. Long story short: you folks in the blackout region should now be able to get games on MLB.tv that you couldn’t previously get, but only after showing MLB that you don’t otherwise have any access to those games. And that part’s going to be further complicated by the fact that the local syndication deals might not come out until just before the season starts.
  • Important note for existing MLB.tv subscribers: because the price of MLB.tv has been cut in this settlement, and because there will now be an even cheaper single-team option for 2016, you may want to check your current subscription to make sure it doesn’t automatically renew at a higher price or for a package you don’t want. Then, of course, when the season approaches, you can sign back up for whatever different package you want (using the links at BN to support the site in the process! win win!). You should be able to check your subscription status here (manage Audio/Visual Subscriptions in your MLB account).
  • Some of you may have seen that there’s a newly-filed federal lawsuit in Florida involving Phillies pitcher Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez and the process by which he came to the United States from Cuba (El Nuevo Herald). Although not directly implicated in the suit, Jorge Soler and Armando Rivero are mentioned in the allegations as part of the broader story. I’ve reached out to the Cubs for comment on the suit, so I don’t want to get too deeply into the issues that it presents until I hear back. But, since I know many of you would ask why I wasn’t mentioning it, I wanted to at least drop in a Bullet here for now.
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  • Billy McKinney (knee) is healthy and ready for Spring Training (Tribune).
  • Over at Baseball is Fun, Michael recalls one of Derek Jeter’s most iconic plays.
  • And if you missed it this morning, Munenori Kawasaki has signed a minor league deal with the Cubs. If that name sounds vaguely familiar, and/or you don’t know why I’m so excited, you’re going to want to read the signing post.
  • Thanks for passing this on, Julio:
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    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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