Fans hit blackouts again
Subscribers are still getting blocked from games they paid for — recent complaints show MLB.TV is blacking out in‑market games for cities like St. Louis, Kansas City and Dallas even when viewers have active subscriptions. (x.com) (x.com) That kind of friction feeds the larger access problem regulators are now probing, because blackouts and regional restrictions push fans toward multiple services or illegal streams. (Web briefing discussion on access and regulation) (cnbc.com)
Baseball fans are still opening a paid app and getting a blackout screen instead of a game. Major League Baseball’s own help pages say home-territory blackout rules still apply on Major League Baseball Television, even if the team is playing away, and even if the game is not on local television. (support.mlb.com) That means a St. Louis Cardinals fan in St. Louis and a Kansas City Royals fan in Kansas City can both pay for Major League Baseball Television and still be blocked from the live local game. Major League Baseball tells customers to check blackout status by ZIP code and to call support if the system has identified the home territory incorrectly. (support.mlb.com 1) (support.mlb.com 2) The confusing part is that Major League Baseball spent the last two years moving more local broadcasts in-house and selling new direct subscriptions that are supposed to remove those local blackouts. On March 10, 2026, Major League Baseball said 22 of its 30 clubs now have in-market streaming subscriptions on the Major League Baseball app that deliver all local games inside the club’s home territory. (mlb.com) St. Louis and Kansas City are on that 22-team list, with Cardinals Television and Royals Television sold as local packages separate from the national Major League Baseball Television product. The league also sells a bundle for $199.99 per season or $39.99 per month that combines one club’s local package with the out-of-market package. (mlb.com) So the fan problem is not just “a blackout exists.” The fan problem is that Major League Baseball now has one product for out-of-market games, another product for local games, a bundle that combines them, and a support system that still warns customers that location rules can be applied incorrectly. (mlb.com) (support.mlb.com) The restrictions go beyond local team territories. Major League Baseball’s 2026 availability page says some games are unavailable nationwide on Major League Baseball Television because they sit inside separate deals with Netflix, National Broadcasting Company and Peacock, Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, Apple Television, Fox, Turner Broadcasting System, or Major League Baseball Network. (support.mlb.com) That is how a fan can end up paying for baseball three different ways and still miss a specific game. One subscription covers out-of-market games, another covers the home team inside its region, and a third service may still be needed when a national exclusive pulls that game off the main baseball app. (mlb.com) (support.mlb.com) Washington is now looking at that kind of fragmentation in football. CNBC reported on April 9, 2026 that the United States Department of Justice opened an antitrust investigation into the National Football League over media-rights practices, with officials focused on affordability for consumers and whether providers are getting an even playing field. (cnbc.com) The National Football League case is not a Major League Baseball case, but it points at the same consumer complaint: live sports are being sliced across broadcast television, cable television, and streaming subscriptions until the map stops making sense. CNBC said the National Football League is under an 11-year, $111 billion rights deal through the 2033-34 season, and the Justice Department is asking what that kind of packaging does to price and access. (cnbc.com) Major League Baseball knows fans hate the old system. In its March 2026 announcement, Deputy Commissioner Noah Garden said the league was “listening to our fans who want blackouts eliminated,” even as the support pages still describe blackout rules for home territories and national exclusives. (mlb.com) (support.mlb.com) So when a subscriber in Dallas, St. Louis, or Kansas City gets blocked again, the complaint is bigger than one glitch on one night. It is a reminder that sports streaming in 2026 still works less like one ticket to the stadium and more like a parking pass, a gate pass, and a seat license sold by three different windows. (support.mlb.com 1) (support.mlb.com 2)
