Speaking of blackouts, that's what the Honolulu Star-Advertiser is doing to news about the recent NLRB ruling affecting Times Supermarkets. Read about it here.
If you don’t think the infamous “MLB Blackout of Hawaii” is a classic Catch 22, consider this: Hawaii is in the home territory of several West Coast baseball teams even though we’re separated from those teams’ ballparks by more than 2,000 miles of deep blue sea. You can read the details of Major League Baseball’s indifference to the lack of video coverage of those teams in Hawaii in the post immediately below. Today’s post highlights two of the voices crying in our wilderness for justice from Major League Baseball.
Phil Kinnicutt
This Boston Red Sox fan’s blood boils every time his team plays the Oakland A’s because it means he can’t watch the Sox from his home in Hawaii. (Photo shows Phil with daughter Leiana at Fenway Park this month.) Maybe he should move to North Dakota, where he’d have access to all Sox games. Here’s what Phil said in an email to MLB headquarters earlier this week:
"You have an exciting pennant race going on in the National League West between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres, but what does that mean for Hawaii baseball fans? Hawaii fans are out of luck even though both teams claim Hawaii as home TV territory! Thanks to the two-year blackout of Giants games in Hawaii caused by the impasse between the rights owner and Time Warner Cable, even if a major network like FOX or ESPN or TBS or MLB Network decides to carry a Giants - Padres game nationally during the final week of the regular season, the Giants blackout will trump the national network coverage no matter where the game is played. Hawaii is out of luck! Although the Padres have granted a waiver to the TV blackout that applies to their situation, the Padres games are not carried in Hawaii by Oceanic Time Warner so it doesn't matter. We will not see any of their games unless a major network carries a non-Giants game during the final week. The Giants are blacked out period. No waiver. No coverage. Nothing. Zero. Not a pretty picture for an entire State claimed as home territory by six west coast teams, but served by only two. And MLB seems to just stand by in the wings. Isn't it time to do something about this situation?"
Jim Loomis
Another blood-boiling Red Sox fan, Jim lives on the slopes of Haleakala on Maui, but the elevation doesn’t help his reception of Sox games. They’re blacked out whenever the opposition is the A’s, but Jim also wants to watch West Coast teams – especially now, when the Giants and Padres both have a shot at making the post-season. Jim’s a train buff, and he's used his website to record a few choice words today about Major League Baseball, including these:
"For more than two years the team owners have been unable to agree with the cable companies on the financial terms that would permit the games to be carried here. Apparently they’re no longer even trying. And – what the hell – the season’s almost over anyway, so why bother? Why bother? Well, for one thing, because we’re not able to watch the concluding games of the season being played by the San Francisco Giants who are in the thick of the pennant race with a skinny one-game lead over the San Diego Padres. For three years, a handful of baseball fans in Hawaii have been pleading our case … to team owners, to broadcasters, and to Major League Baseball. You know what the bottom line is here? No one gives a rat's ass – not the ball clubs, not the broadcasters, and most especially not Major League Baseball. No one. So, instead of watching the Giants-Diamondbacks game this afternoon – it’s blacked out here, you see – I’ll put on my authentic $35 Boston Red Sox baseball cap and spend that time spreading horse poop on our pasture. And isn’t that just perfect!"
Jim’s more than a little fired up by this at this West Coast blackout, and he’s a Red Sox fan. You can imagine what the host of this blog – a Giants fan – is feeling about now. None of us can watch these two West Coast teams fight for a post-season spot. Are you reading this, MLB executives? Can you possibly imagine what you’re doing to your fan base? You’re alienating us, and if you’re doing it to us, you’re undoubtedly doing it to fans all over the country.
Is anybody at MLB assigned to think about “issues management?” You’d better, because you have an issue building up to unmanageable proportions. “Paradise” or not, baseball fans in Hawaii are mad as hell, and we’re determined not to take it anymore.
Do the right thing, MLB. End this blackout now!
(Email addresses of senior MLB executives can be found at the end of the post immediately below.)
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