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April 7, 2009 Latest Mets News Joe Janish

Saturday’s Game Blacked Out

Unless you are in Miami this weekend, you won’t be able to watch the first hour of the Mets-Marlins game on Saturday.

That’s because the Marlins have scheduled a start time of 6:10 PM, to accommodate a post-game concert. Why is this an issue? Because FOX has dibs on all MLB broadcasts from 4pm to 7pm on every Saturday during the season, and the game won’t be carried by FOX. (If you’re interested, FOX will be showing the Red Sox-Angels, White Sox-Twins, and Cardinals-Astros.) There is no indication from FOX that they will be showing the first hour of the Mets-Marlins game, nor that they are ready to waive their rights to the New York market from 6 PM – 7 PM on Saturday night.

Makes sense, doesn’t it?

As of now, SNY will broadcast the game, but won’t be able to do so until 7 PM — likely around the fourth inning. Further, the blackout covers MLB.com as well, so don’t try watching it on your computer. Unless the Marlins change the start time, your only chance to see the game in its entirety will be by traveling to Florida and buying a ticket. But hey, the Fish are throwing in a concert as well, so there’s that.

Genius.

Some day, someone is going to have to explain to me the logic behind many of these blackout restrictions. In particular, why local games are blacked out on MLB.com.

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Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. ChicagoMetsFan April 7, 2009 at 12:24 pm
    These blackout rules are crazy. How MLB agreed to this with Fox is beyond me. It is business after all, so I get that. It sucks to those who work all week and can’t catch many games, and then when you have a Saturday off, you’re screwed. I just hate it!
  2. Byron Brewer April 7, 2009 at 12:48 pm
    I thought that the Fox exclusivity rights only applied to out of market games? I could swear that I’ve watched Saturday Mets games locally on SNY while Fox had their ‘exclusive’ game going.
  3. ChicagoMetsFan April 7, 2009 at 12:50 pm
    I think you are right Byron, so it sucks for us out-of-towners who order the Extra Innings package and can’t catch a Saturday game. Plain ole sucks.
  4. joe April 7, 2009 at 12:56 pm
    Byron, I don’t know about that SNY on Saturday thing, because most Mets games on Saturdays start at either 1pm or 7pm. The FOX restriction does not apply to games that begin before 4pm.
  5. Maggie April 7, 2009 at 1:02 pm
    Will WFAN be airing audio starting at 6 or does this knock them out, too?
  6. joe April 7, 2009 at 1:13 pm
    The game should be heard on WFAN and XM … FOX only holds exclusivity over the viewing of the game.
  7. Byron Brewer April 7, 2009 at 1:56 pm
    The really lame part about all of this is that the Marlins don’t give a sh1t because this game isn’t even being broadcast in their home market, so they don’t care if the game is blacked out for us Mets fans in New York. I checked their TV schedule and they have 11 games this year that will not be broadcast to their local market!!! That’s insane. There would be an uprising if that happened in New York. I guess that speaks volumes about how lame their fan base is…. they don’t even bother to televise a nice chunk of games.
  8. Kerel Cooper April 7, 2009 at 2:19 pm
    I know that MLB Network can do “Look Ins” on games in progress. I’m wondering if maybe they’ll do some “Look Ins” during the first hour of this game?
  9. Andrew Vazzano April 7, 2009 at 2:37 pm
    An archaic rule that hasn’t even considered for change under Selig.

    These rules need to be abolished.

    FOX owns *FULL* ownership over the 4-7 slot. SNY or MLB.TV can do nothing until the clock strikes 7 p.m.

  10. Walnutz15 April 8, 2009 at 6:29 am
    Most importantly: will the Flo Rida post-game performance be televised as compensation?

    Who the eff is Flo Rida, by the way……sounds like the “perfect reason” to miss out on an hour’s-worth of baseball.

  11. Ahh…. BLACKOUT! : Mets Today April 18, 2009 at 6:15 pm
    […] So far, this 3pm blackout game idea isn’t going so well for Fox or MLB. Last week, the Red Sox/Angels game was shoved down the nation’s throat while here in New York, Mets fans couldn’t watch the start of the Mets/Marlins game until 7pm. Joe wrote about that here. […]