Loving the pace of the games

This is fun

I subscribed to Bally sports app. Free trial right now. Will the Rangers game show up on there when it's time? I figured tomorrow nights game will be on there but I don't see it anywhere on the upcoming slate.

Job314 said:

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I subscribed to Bally sports app. Free trial right now. Will the Rangers game show up on there when it's time? I figured tomorrow nights game will be on there but I don't see it anywhere on the upcoming slate.

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I think it only shows up for DirectTV users.

Grab a seat ....Welcome to Ranger fan want to watch hell....

I got the app for Stars and Rangers but the Rangers weren't on opening day.

Rangers are up 1.5 games over the WS champs. That's something.

Look at the top of this screenshot

Thanks for info. This really sucks. I used to have Directv and could watch them but have cut the cord. This should not be an issue in todays world. I wish mlb.tv didn't have stupid blackouts.

Managaged to secure DTV stream access to piggyback on... now realizing said stream's home market is likely Houston

Job314 said:

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I subscribed to Bally sports app. Free trial right now. Will the Rangers game show up on there when it's time? I figured tomorrow nights game will be on there but I don't see it anywhere on the upcoming slate.

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The Ballys app can't show the Rangers because they don't hold streaming rights or something like that. It's really ridiculous that MLB hasn't fixed this by now.

Shouldnt matter as long as it gets bssw. I could be mistaken but since the stros are on rootsports I don't thing bally has any issues broadcasting Rangers down there.

AgBQ-00 said:

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Shouldnt matter as long as it gets bssw. I could be mistaken but since the stros are on rootsports I don't thing bally has any issues broadcasting Rangers down there.

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That is my hope, but haven't actually been able to test it until tonight since it was Fox on Saturday and ESPN last night.

Fingers crossed.

You are correct, but, Rootsports/AT&T Network or whatever they are called are also going out of business. The Astros will no longer be broadcast on that network come 2024 or 2025, I do not know which.

People keep saying this is an MLB problem or that the MLB dropped the ball on this, but this isn't completely true. This is more a regional sports network issue than a league issue because this also affects the NHL and the NBA. Now, baseball is front and center with these issues because their season just started, but the issues with this run deeper than just the MLB. This is a RSN issue that needs to be solved with the teams and the RSN. The MLB can't do much until the rights to these teams are for the taking.

Yes, it's lazy to suggest MLB is somehow at fault here. The regional sports network was originally the only way to get every telecast of these teams.

There is no national market for the random Tuesday night Rangers-A's game. Thus, the RSN was born to broadcast these games to just a local market. When the RSN could be included in a basic cable package, the carriage rights were quite valuable. Which is why Fox tried so hard to assemble their network of RSNs. The Rangers were getting about $40 MM a year for these rights.

But with the advent of cable cutting, the business model fell apart. And now, MLB has a vehicle for local broadcasts the dovetails nicely into the streaming world.

But it will take time to disentangle the RSNs and get to some type of streaming alternative. The great hope of DSG's bankruptcy is that it will speed along this process.

The bigger element that remains to be seen is how this impacts player salaries and franchise values. If the RSN's aren't overpaying for these rights (or networks paying $$$ for tv rights in general) then that will eventually waterfall down to player salaries.

I live in BCS, cut the cord and switched to Hulu tv during the pandemic. I refuse to give Suddenlink anymore money than absolutely necessary (still my only option for internet). Overall Hulu has been great but I miss my Rangers and Stars games.

I'd even be willing to just listen on the radio...except BCS no longer has a radio affiliate broadcasting the games, have to hope I can pick up the Waco station.

And I'd even be willing to pay for MLB tv except I live in Texas so my zip code is blocked out from all Rangers games. It's 2023, things shouldn't be this difficult.

BTW - any word on Taveras? He can come off 10 day IL this weekend and Jankowski can go back to teaching PE at Pleasant Run Elementary.

They wonder why the sport is dying but don't realize half the locals can't watch their favorite team. Such a joke.

I actually think the streaming rights would still be pretty valuable too. It's not that people are deciding they don't care about baseball, we literally can't pay to watch it.
Unless you want to cancel out whatever service you currently have as a setup for the rest of your watching needs.

But the real value is all of the people who don't care to watch baseball continuing to pay for it with their cable bundle.

Michael Cera Palin said:

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I live in BCS, cut the cord and switched to Hulu tv during the pandemic. I refuse to give Suddenlink anymore money than absolutely necessary (still my only option for internet). Overall Hulu has been great but I miss my Rangers and Stars games.

I'd even be willing to just listen on the radio...except BCS no longer has a radio affiliate broadcasting the games, have to hope I can pick up the Waco station.

And I'd even be willing to pay for MLB tv except I live in Texas so my zip code is blocked out from all Rangers games. It's 2023, things shouldn't be this difficult.

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Would a $40 VPN connection solve this issue?

I have no knowledge of this situation, just spitballing in case I need to find a new way to watch the games in the future.

StoneCold99 said:

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Michael Cera Palin said:

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I live in BCS, cut the cord and switched to Hulu tv during the pandemic. I refuse to give Suddenlink anymore money than absolutely necessary (still my only option for internet). Overall Hulu has been great but I miss my Rangers and Stars games.

I'd even be willing to just listen on the radio...except BCS no longer has a radio affiliate broadcasting the games, have to hope I can pick up the Waco station.

And I'd even be willing to pay for MLB tv except I live in Texas so my zip code is blocked out from all Rangers games. It's 2023, things shouldn't be this difficult.

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Would a $40 VPN connection solve this issue?

I have no knowledge of this situation, just spitballing in case I need to find a new way to watch the games in the future.

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It can work. It's in a moral/legal gray area, so some might not prefer that route (there's no chance anyone would get in trouble legally, but some still like to take that into consideration).

It's also a pain in the butt. Have to get the VPN set up on multiple devices, and then hope the MLB doesn't blacklist the VPNs IPs, so it's usually a cat and mouse game throughout the season.

The ESPN app now has a 'feature' that will not allow you to watch anything if you are connected at all to a VPN. At least on a iPhone it's this way. I was using a VPN to be able to watch Stars games thru ESPN+. But near the start of the season, Apple came out with an update on their end that will indicate if you are connected to a VPN and I believe the ESPN app feeds that into itself.

You can find VPN's that work with MLB.TV, but they don't get talked about much.

And typically won't last you the whole season. MLB is very militant about going after them.

There has been a huge increase in these rights holders going after the "small time" workarounds. Whether it's VPNs, streaming, etc... Canada has had a number of high profile busts of some of these streaming services.

Not opining on whether or not that's fair or good for the consumer, but it's definitely a different environment than the laissez-faire approach most of them took to piracy the last few decades.

FWIW - Direct TV Stream is actually pretty good and not that much more than Hulu. And when you stream shows on demand on Hulu, you still have to watch commercials whereas you don't on DTV.

Only thing I'll miss out is Hulu originals. But I can sign up for a free trial and binge those when they drop.

Proposition Joe said:

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AgBQ-00 said:

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Shouldnt matter as long as it gets bssw. I could be mistaken but since the stros are on rootsports I don't thing bally has any issues broadcasting Rangers down there.

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That is my hope, but haven't actually been able to test it until tonight since it was Fox on Saturday and ESPN last night.

Fingers crossed.

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I'm in the Houston area and have DirecTV Stream. The Rangers are broadcast on the Bally Network here.

Anyone do Fubo? We are looking at cutting DTV and fubo offers everything we want. Just not sure how it is in user friendliness or anything else about it.

I've used Fubo. I love it. Be aware there is a $13.99 per month fee to have access to RSNs. Still a bit cheaper than D Stream, but not much.

AgBQ-00 said:

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Anyone do Fubo? We are looking at cutting DTV and fubo offers everything we want. Just not sure how it is in user friendliness or anything else about it.

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User friendliness is great, I loved everything about Fubo when we had it. You don't have to pay extra for 4k, you can PiP and multiview any channels you want and it's super efficient and easy to use compared to what YouTubeTV just unveiled during March Madness.

Only issue is price. It's more expensive than YouTubeTV. To get the similar package that I'm paying roughly $80/mo for with YoutubeTV, that same package would cost about $105/mo with Fubo.

If the pricing was similar, or at least within $5-10 I would switch over just because it has BSSW. But I'm not sure if $25 per month is worth it to watch BSSW.

But from a user friendliness factor, I think it blows YouTubeTV out of the water.