*head desk*

Not quite as bad as the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn, but still damned annoying.

I got the same response!

how about changing it a little like this then -

I'd like to appeal to you not to finalize the exclusive deal with only one provider of out of market games. While I may subscribe to that particular service myself, I think that this move will only drive customers away, and that is incredibly short-sighted at this point. ML ball needs greater access to it's product, not exclusive access. The $30M you'll gain now pales in comparison to the long-term revenue loss that the driven-away fans will cause.

how about that!!!

- oh yeah, and do yall have the email addy for me to send the new masterpiece to?

I got the same response when I asked them to consider keeping it on cable - just a response to take DirectTV.
That just sucks... now the only choice we have is MLB.com for games over the web.
Has anyone else done that and liked it? I tried it the first year and gave it up for EI.

If you have DirectTV, Wendi is actually on channel 201. She's that blond robot that gives you the DirectTV basics.

I guess MLB liked her so much they hired here to send out robotic text messages.

Has anyone used or is still using MLB.com for watching games? Are you happy with it?

MLB.TV is great if you are on the road and use the computer a lot.. but it is no replacement for games on TV and especially games in HD. the picture quality stinks, but its better than nothing.

MLB recently announced they are upping the bitrate from 350 to 700 Kbps. That should help matters.

I've had MLBtv for three seasons now, pumping it into a 42" ED plasma. Tho far from a perfect picture, it's still very watchable. I'm a BOS fan in the NYC metro area, so right off the top I get 19 games on cable (NYY), plus dozens more on ESPN (plus another half dozen on Fox). I couldn't justify paying $100 more for EI, plus $15/month minimum to upgrade to premium/digital cable.

As I had posted here when this address [csmedia@website.mlb.com] was first published by Buster Olney, I was suspicious of an address MLB suddenly created after criticism of this pending deal had gone more public. I had worried that "this address looks like it could lead to some sort of general receptacle for fans' comments, sort of like the old circular file." Well, what's happened is even worse, basically subjecting fans to a sales pitch for DirecTV. Email to MLB had always followed the same pattern: firstname.surname@mlb.com -- and I have gotten responses using that pattern. But really galls me in reading this response is that after I saw this csmedia address published, I again contacted the MLB PR office, which is where your calls tend to end up sooner or later. I was told that MLB had set up this new address, plus another one they had just opened at feedback@mlb.com, and tthen this PR exec wrote: "All the e-mails are being read and I am hopeful that they will be answered. I will follow up on that." -- Well, technically I guess he's right, they are being answered, but ... ----Also in looking at this "response" from MLB, I see it's from MLBAMCS - Customer Service -- MLBAM is MLB Advanced Media, the division that oversees internet and interactive, including MLB.TV. The communications person at MLBAM is: jim.gallagher@mlb.com -- his address is listed right on the MLB.com site. He's been responsive before, though his job always was to pitch MLB.TV. Of course, in speaking with him, again he ended up transferring me over to MLB PR. It's hard not to land there eventually, where, well, you can imagine what their job is. -- I want to emphasize that for the most part everyone at MLB has been civil, even courteous to me, but as to be expected, when you're done with them, you can't help but feel that they're just trying to placate you at the moment, hoping that you'll just go away. Oh well, I'm afraid that there isn't much we can do, still I wanted to get on record how this decision effects me personally, and just try to be heard and responded to appropriately. Elsewhere on David's blog you should soon be able to see the hand-signed note I received back from Commissioner Selig. Good luck all!

I still have XM and it rocks, except you get the home team accouncers.