Happy Ending of Giants’ 1-0 Win over Phillies:

What a Tease; Blackout of Coast Teams Means It
Was 1 of Only 17 SF Games on HI TV in 2012

At least the wait was worth it, but the classic pitchers’ duel (Matt Cain, 2 hits, no runs in 9 innings) and walk-off RBI in the 11th makes the blackout seem all the crueler. THAT’s the kind of Bay Area baseball Hawaii fans are denied watching due to the incomprehensible ruling by Major League Baseball that Hawaii is in the “home television territory” of the Giants, A’s, Padres, and Mariners. We’re still banking on the group of United States senators putting an anti-trust fear into Selig and Company.

Cain Throws Gem in Home Opener, but We Didn’t See It in Honolulu, 2,387 Miles from San Francisco; We’re in the Giants’ ‘Home TV Territory’ – IYCBI

Matt Cain had a perfect game through 6.2 innings in his 1-hitter.

If You Can Believe It, baseball fans in Hawaii have started a fourth season of "prevention baseball" -- prevented from watching nearly all games played by West Coast baseball teams and their opponents. Are you playing attention, Red Sox fans? The state out here in the middle of the Pacific is designated as in the home TV territory of covetous TV rights holders for the West Coast teams.

Comcast blames Time-Warner for not making the Giants and A’s games available, and Time-Warner says Comcast wants too much money. The Giants organization shrugs, and Major League Baseball says nothing about it at all.

For several years through the 2008 season, the best way to end the work day was to pull out the laptop, head for the lanai and watch the Giants game begin in Pac Bell Park at pau hana and cocktail time in Honolulu. That ended without warning at the start of the 2009 season, and despite dozens of complaints and inquiries since then by baseball fans throughout Hawaii, nobody inside baseball is showing even a smidgen of interest in ending the blackout.

Can DKI Fix It?

Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii has been a member of Congress since Statehood in 1959. The senator has “delivered” time and again for this isolated and often overlooked state, and some say he saves on travel expenses by walking instead of flying to the mainland.

Senator Dan is one of several senators looking into the blackout, and we’re putting our faith in them to wake up Bud Selig and the rest of the profiteers who seemingly have forgotten the fans.

So until the suits get out of the way and let us subscribe to MLB.com again to watch Giants games as they’re streamed “live,” the only action we’ll see is on SportsCenter and video replays at SFGiants.com, including Matt Cain’s 1-hitter today, and that sucks.

4th Blacked-Out Season Begins; Giants Are on HawTel’s Digital Service, but Not Time-Warner’s System; Does MLB Leadership Care about Fans?

What we're supposed to be watching today -- but aren't.

The madness continues. The insult to baseball fans continues. The indifference to “the good of the game” continues, and so does the greed.

For the fourth straight year, Major League Baseball is condoning the refusal of Time-Warner Cable (dba Oceanic in Hawaii) and various broadcast baseball rights owners on the West Coast to cut a deal that will allow Giants, A’s, Mariners and Padres games to be carried in Hawaii.

Deals can be done. The Dodgers and Angels games are frequently on Oceanic’s Fox SportsNet West channel, so the questions also continue. Honolulu's KITV, owned by Hearst, is carrying 17 games this season, as it did last year. HawaiianTelcom has the Giants game on its digital service this afternoon.  What’s holding up a deal to allow cable coverage of the affected teams? And do the suits in MLB’s executive suites give a rip?

Time-Warner and Comcast blame each other. T-W says Comcast wants too much money, and Comcast simply says T-W Oceanic “has opted not to make…our Giants coverage available to their customers.” Local fans have repeatedly contacted those companies plus the Giants organization, the Federal Communications Commission and MLB’s headquarters, and they've either brushed us off or haven't bothered to waste a stamp.

Sports columnists Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle have written to condemn the blackout, and Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii is one of a group of Democratic senators who are urging the FCC to end the blackouts. Said Inouye in a statement:

"Professional sports fans in Hawaii are at a significant disadvantage geographically and economically because unless their teams are on TV they have to expend significant time and resources to travel to watch them play. The fans are the lifeblood of these sports franchises and they should be able to watch their favorite teams play regardless of what state they live in. I would urge the FCC to take another look at sports blackouts and to think of the fans who want nothing more than to cheer their team to victory while promoting the franchise and expanding its base of support."

A New Indignity

Instead of watching the Giants-Diamondbacks game today we’re listening to the MLB.com audio feed, and there’s something new this season: After every half inning, the feed pushes an obnoxious 10-second audio commercial that “shouts” at the listener on top of the KNBR radio feed. It comes out of nowhere and is completely unacceptable. That’s what we’ve told the Support staff via a message on the website. We’ll see if they care to do anything about it. April 7 Update: Here's MLB.com's response: "Please forward your inquiry or comments directly to the team, as they are better suited to respond." That's totally unhelpful, of course, because the audio streaming platform is run by MLB, not the Giants. Why would the Giants cut into the stream with the 10-second commercial and step on KNBR's broadcast? They wouldn't, so it's a typical side-stepping response from MLB. Let's see what Support's response is to our second message. 

Finally….

In addition to everything else, there’s something additionally wrong about blacking out video coverage of the Giants and other West Coast teams on MLB.com in Hawaii. Internet streaming and cable TV are different channels and technologies. Does Comcast think the Internet is competition? The MLB has meekly acquiesced to the streaming blackout, too.

We really don’t know any details of MLB’s position on the blackout because the Commissioner’s office, including Bud Selig, has refused to respond to letters.

Maybe they’ll respond to Senators Inouye, Richard Blumenthal (CN), Sherrod Brown (OH), Frank Lautenberg (NJ and Debbie Stabenow (MI).