MLB.tv issues

I take issue with how MLB.tv provides its content to subscribers. As a Giants fan living in Memphis, I pay $130 a season for the ability to watch my team's games.

Memphis, of course, has no MLB team. But three teams DO claim Memphis as within its broadcasting territory: the Atlanta Braves, the Saint Louis Cardinals, and the Cincinnati Reds. Any games involving any of these three teams are blacked out in Memphis. The problem is that nobody actually broadcasts these games here in Memphis.

MLB.tv claims that someone does own broadcasting rights in Memphis, so they have to honor that and blackout these teams. A Giants fan ends up not being able to see his teams' home opener against the Cardinals. In all we're talking about (if you go by a six-game season series versus each non-division team) eighteen games that are unavailable in the area. That's over one-tenth of a team's games in a season. And what if I want to watch another game? Say the Mets and Reds are in a heated race for the NL wildcard. Cincinnati is 475 miles away from my house, its games are not broadcast here, and this September 28 game would still blacked out.

This is the response I got from MLB.tv, directly copy-pasted:

"there is a local network that owns the rights to those games within your area. even if they choose not to broadcast the games we must still honor that exclusivity."

The other question is why those teams? The Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals are both closer than Cincinnati.

Frankly, I do not believe that this is in the spirit of the service.  I completely understand a blackout if the game is being broadcast in the area, but I feel that the spirit of the MLB.tv service is that it provides you with the opportunity to view games that you otherwise would not be able to view. The service isn't inexpensive, priced at $130 for the package I subscribe to.

Fans are effectively being punished for happening to be in a city where, almost arbitrarily, some teams are blacked out. My proposal would be that, no matter whether a network owns broadcast rights, games not broadcast in an area should be available on MLB.tv.

I actually wonder if there's some legal recourse to be taken.