While the Chicago Cubs played ‘The Bachelor’ last season, jumping around just about every channel on Chicago’s dial, there were thousands of fans that were left out in the cold. Some fans thought they were being smart buying premium packages like MLB Extra Innings on Directv, or buying the MLB.tv streaming package. All of those plans were for not as they were still subjected to Cubs blackouts even when living in Illinois.
This wasn’t just a pain felt by Cubs fans, albeit a new one, but something that millions of baseball fans felt across the country.
That is what led to the lawsuit, Garber v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. Because of that case, baseball made it a point to ensure that fans that are within the local markets, but are currently unable to view games due to ancient blackout rules, will be able to stream the game through MLB’s streaming services.
What is even more interesting is, MLB will now allow for both; their full league streaming service and individual team packages.
This is a huge win for baseball fans!
What kept fans from buying MLB.tv streaming packages in the past has been the steep price ($130 for the season) and the potential to fall into the strange “in-market” blackouts. With these new revelations, baseball has seemed to fix both as single team packages will be $84.99 for the year, and every team and every game packages will be $109.99 which will remain fixed for the next five years.
This is great news, but there could still be some Cubs fans left in the dark. The blackout changes will help serve fans that are not served games because they live in a blackout region and cannot purchase local games through their cable or satellite provider. With the Cubs weird array of different channels that broadcast their games, there still can be a significant amount of fans, who we would logically assume are local, that could very well be blacked out with no real blame towards the MLB or the Chicago Cubs.
Here are more details on the lawsuit and baseball’s settlement. While there is a chance that you can still be blacked out, these streaming packages are still the best route to go if you want to watch all of the Cubs games this next season, and you live in one of those out skirt areas that were majorly effected last season. Additionally, here you can check and see if your zip code is blacked out of any team’s games. Also, this link will take you to the MLB.tv site to find out more information or sign up for their streaming service.
Here is the old MLB blackout map, and the reason you couldn’t watch a Cubs game in 2015.
Here’s to more Cubs games for all my friends living in areas susceptible to Cubs blackouts.
