Galaxy Fans, MLSNet.com Says You’re Screwed
By: Laurie | April 8th, 2007Will somebody please make up a sticker reading “Sucker” and paste it on my forehead? Thank you.
You would think that, given the fact that my attempts to watch the 2006 games on MLSnet.com for $9.95 were completely and totally futile, I would have given up on MLSnet completely. Well…uh…sorry to admit it, but…nope. It turns out that hope really DOES spring eternal. So when I visited MLSnet.com and saw that they were offering “the 2007 games” for $19.95? Well, I just couldn’t throw my money away fast enough.
Okay, so there was that small print thing about blackouts. But, hey. That probably wouldn’t actually apply to ME, right? Or at least not more that 50% of the time. And who would have thought that figuring out what those blackouts might be would require the creative visiting of multiple websites?
Yes, I have the right to watch the highlights of the games. Well, actually, I think I could have gotten those without paying. And I’ve now had the LA-Houston “highlights” up and running for about ten minutes, and the system has given me all of twenty-eight seconds worth of “highlights,” 1 or 2 excruciating seconds at a time. I’ve been looking at Landon Donovan standing still for at least three minutes now. And the commentary is in Spanish. I speak French.
This is painful, people. This is stupid. Okay, so there is the possibility that I might actually be able to watch a few games this season for my $19.95. (I cheerfully watched several minutes of the Chicago-NE game earlier this evening. And perhaps this might occasionally and eventually be LA.) And $19.95 is not a huge amount. But I am SO frustrated with how this has been put together!! Why is it not spelled out, anywhere, in one location, exactly what you’ll be able to watch?
The actual wording of the promo reads, ” Watch LIVE and ON DEMAND matches from the entire 2007 MLS regular season (04-07-07 – 10-21-07) Blackout Restrictions Apply.” and “Includes access to MLS Playoffs (Dates TBD.)
But finding details on the blackouts requires searching out the “Blackout info” located elsewhere. And then you finally find where to click for the blackout info and it reads: “Global Blackout: Nationally televised games on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, Fox Soccer Channel, TeleFutura, Univision, Galavision or games broadcast exclusively on HDnet, will be blacked out worldwide.”
And to find out which of your team’s games are on these channels, you have to go back to your team’s website and look at their schedule.
And once you do that… Well, because of Beckham, it looks like pretty much every LA game is shown on one of these channels. So if you’re a Galaxy fan, you’re effing hosed. (Although I’m not 100% sure about games on FSN-W for Seattle, or what they mean by “exclusively on HDnet.” So I may have a couple of chances.)
But still, folks. Seriously. Call me sucker. Because today it fits.
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