Perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel for viewers of live sports streaming that are understandably frustrated with blackout restrictions. The biggest example is MLB.TV, which continues to enforce blackout restrictions intended for "over the air" viewing even in distant locations. Although blacking out a telecast within a local market is tolerable (based on the reasoning that it could prevent fans from buying tickets and attending), but beyond that is not. The most glaring examples include parts of Nevada, more than a four hour drive away, black out Dodgers games, and that Mariners telecasts are blacked out in Alaska.
The word that MLB has hired Billy Chambers, an executive with Sinclair Broadcasting (which owns a large number of the regional networks which carry MLB teams) to reportedly work with local and regional networks. With overall cable TV subscriptions dropping at a rate of roughly 5% per year since 2019, it appears that MLB recognizes that there are fewer consumers able to watch the local team than in the past. As encouraging as this sounds, the possibility remains that a separate streaming package to watch the local team could keep the blackout restrictions currently in place for MLB.TV.
Meanwhile, it appears that Al Michaels is not planning on an explanation as to why his call of the amazing Jacksonville comeback vs. Los Angeles in last Saturday's (1/14) NFL playoff game was incredibly tame. It would not have come under fire if his calmness was typical of how Michaels has been calling games over the past 50 years. But it was not. The feeling from here is that, unfortunately, age has caught up with Michaels and the voice we all knew for such a long time simply wasn't there when he needed it. Looks like NBC made the right decision by having moved Mike Torico in to its lead role when they did.
DETROIT - Word is that Jack Morris is off the Tigers telecasts all together. We may never know if it was due to his occasional controversial comments over the past couple of seasons, or it was because he lacked enthusiasm and a broadcast knack throughout his tenure. Reportedly, no one else will be added to the roster of analysts, and that Craig Monroe will be assigned additional telecasts instead.
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