MLB deal with DirecTV has baseball fans crying foul

Major League Baseball is in the process of shifting its Extra Innings package of games from a combination of satellite and cable carriers to DirecTV. From the reaction of certain Extra Innings subscribers and the volume of angry e-mails showing up in my box, I would’ve thought MLB was trying to slip Osama bin Laden through customs to throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day.

These Extra Innings agitators have convinced many dumb sportswriters – now, there’s a growth industry if there ever was one – to vilify MLB for this anti-fan maneuver.

Alas, I must defend Bud Selig and Co.

(It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. Besides, I’ll get comped at Cooperstown!)

For $179 last season, an additional 60 baseball games a week were available on DirecTV, Dish TV and cable. MLB is shifting this package to DirecTV only, leaving 230,000 subscribers nationwide out in the cold, because they had gotten Extra Innings through Dish TV or cable.

(By the way, when’s the last time you heard someone complaining there is not enough baseball on TV?)

Folks, if MLB wants to put all its games on TV, so be it. If MLB wants to put none of its games on TV, so be it. If MLB wants to sell broadcast rights of its games to a Bulgarian ham radio operator and nobody else, so be it.

It’s MLB’s product, to market as it pleases.

MLB, like most businesses, is in business to make as much money as it can. It makes decisions on how to best serve and expand its customer base. Sometimes it makes mistakes. So be it.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), with time on his hands, asked the Federal Communications Commission to look into the MLB-DirecTV deal.

In a more perfect world, when Kerry called the FCC, he would’ve gotten a recording.

Rather, FCC chairman Kevin Martin decided the agency will examine the Extra Innings deal, writing, “I am concerned whenever consumers cannot purchase the programming they want or are forced to purchase programming they don’t want.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has asked his staff to see if the DirecTV deal might constitute an antitrust violation.

Frankly, the last time I looked at the Constitution – and I have a copy of it on my nightstand – there was nothing in the Bill of Rights guaranteeing Americans the opportunity to watch baseball on TV.

This just comes down to a handful of loud and obnoxious fans from Red Sox Nation – boy, I wish those jokers would just secede already – trying to create a revolutionary wave over how many David Ortiz at-bats they see. You want more games? Switch to DirecTV or watch ‘em on mlb.com or just do like John Henry and BUY THE TEAM. Otherwise, you’re out of luck.

So be it.