| Comcast of Union, NJ blacked out ESPN 2 Phillies-Braves game On Monday night, I noticed that the Comcast of Union, NJ syatem had wrongfully blacked out the live broadcast of the Opening Day game of the Phillies at Braves on ESPN 2. I live in Summit, NJ which is part of Northern New Jersey (Yankees and Mets country) where Phillies games are not supposed to be blacked out. Does this mean that I am going to also see blackouts of Phillies games on MLB Network, ESPN, TBS and WGN America? Fortunately, I was able to watch the Phillies-Braves game on my subscription to MLB Extra Innings so it wasn't a major loss. |
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 telcodad
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ
kudos:1 | This may have been due to a screw-up, as other out-of-region subscribers located in Northern Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida, also complained about being blacked-out for this game, in this thread on the Comcast Help and Support Forum:
ESPN MLB Blackout?
»forums.comcast.com/t5/Channels-a···/1643821 |
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rody_44Premium
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA Reviews:
 ·Comcast
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If memory serves me correctly comcast of union is in the middle of New York and Philly. Do you not have phl17. If you have phl17 which is probably channel 7 you can expect blackouts. If you dont get phl17 as a local it was probably a mistake. If i remember correctly comcast of union is split between PHILADELPHIA and NEWYORK for locals. The way i read the rules is if you can get it on a local than its blacked out on espn if not it shouldnt be blacked out on espn. FWIW, I watched it on phl17. Never actually tried espn2 but will tonight in case the question remains tomorrow |
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telcodad
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ
kudos:1 | said by rody_44:If memory serves me correctly comcast of union is in the middle of New York and Philly. Do you not have phl17. If you have phl17 which is probably channel 7 you can expect blackouts. If you dont get phl17 as a local it was probably a mistake. If i remember correctly comcast of union is split between PHILADELPHIA and NEWYORK for locals.
Roche1972  will have to confirm this, but from looking back at the »New NJ August 2012 Comcast lineups full list thread and the lineup provided for Union, NJ »www.xfinityhd800s.com/pdf/UNION.pdf it doesn't look like they get any local Philadelphia stations there.
Union is much closer to NYC than Philly, but some central and southern shore area NJ Comcast systems do get both sets of locals, as you said. |
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| reply to Roche1972
Go to »mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/in···blackout, enter your zip code toward the bottom of the page and you'll know which teams should be blacked out for you. QED |
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| reply to Roche1972
I should have made mention that I do not receive any Philadelphia channels like PHL17, Comcast SportsNet Philly or The Comcast Network Philly. However, during Easter weekend, somebody over at Comcast of Union made an error and ran the wrong Comcast Network in my area of Summit, NJ and up to Sunday night, I was able to watch Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers games plus exhibition Phillies games but unfortunately, somebody over there switched me back to the boring version of The Comcast Network on Monday which only shows talk shows, the Heartland Poker Tour, college sports and lots of infomercials. |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to Roche1972
ahh blackouts the most pointless invention in television. Gotta wonder why the league so willingly screws over fans with the invention of the blackout.
I am curious, What would happen if a cable company ignored the blackout? I mean unless it is in their contract with Disney/ESPN they have no legal tie to MLB to pay attention to blackout rules as the MSOs sign contracts with stations not the leagues.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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| reply to Roche1972
Yeah, Union is VERY close to NYC and does not receive any Philly locals. The only places in NJ that receive both full sets of locals are Ocean and Mercer counties, then a small swath of Monmouth and (perhaps, correct me if I'm wrong!) Middlesex.
A blackout, in and of itself, isn't supposed to prevent anyone from watching a game. It is just meant to force you to watch it on your local channel instead of a national simulcast, which makes sense, since there are contracts in place for local coverage. But screw-ups and anomalies do happen, unfortunately.
I recall a few years ago, there was a Mets vs. Marlins game that was pushed up by an hour due to the Marlins stadium hosting a concert the same night as the game. The first hour of the Mets game was blacked out from both the NYC and Miami local feeds because MLB contracts stated the FOX broadcast network had all rights to baseball at the particular time the first hour of the game was being played. I don't know what they did in Miami, but I recall on SNY (NYC's RSN which carries the Mets) the broadcasters just used graphics and basically did a radio-style broadcast with animations and file videos and chyrons. For the novelty of it, it was kinda cool.
SNY has done some pretty cool experimental things over the years, including having all of the broadcasters call the game live from the upper deck with the fans, and at one point they even did a game with no commentary at all, just nat sounds from the stadium.
For the record, my home of Ocean County, NJ is one of the best places to be for sports: all of the Philly RSNs, all of the NYC RSNs, and all of the locals for both. When the Philly and NYC feeds differ for national sports coverage (NCAA, NFL) we get both. Thankfully Comcast has decided to carry both sets in HD too! |
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