Your 2012 MLB season is right over the horizon. With right about a month-and-half till Opening Day, you’re getting ready to sit down and soak up games on whatever platform you’ve got, be it television, computer, or mobile device.

If you’re a real baseball junkie, you’re getting ready to load up on MLB Extra Innings (television), MLB.TV (computer, mobile) and/or At Bat 12 for mobile. Many (this author included), will weigh into all of them.

So, it was important Weds when national broadcast partner FOX Sports announced its plans for the upcoming season. Now in their 17th season with baseball, FOX announced that for the upcoming season they will air eight consecutive primetime dates, the most ever scheduled during the regular-season. According to FOX, primetime coverage begins at 7:00 PM ET on those select nights and kicks off on Saturday, May 19 and continues into June where primetime games culminate on Saturday, July 7.

If you’re one of those that is preparing to plunk down money for those out-of-market packages we mentioned, the move to primetime by FOX has implications as to what games you may, or may not be able to see on Saturdays. That’s because FOX has what is called a national exclusivity agreement with MLB. What that means is, during a pre-defined window, all games on MLB Extra Innings and via MLB.TV are blacked out. With the added primetime games, that window shifts.

When FOX airs Saturday day games, they have exclusive rights for games that have a scheduled start time of 1:10 PM ET or before 8:00 PM ET. According to the league and FOX, with the increase in primetime games, that will shift from between 7:00 PM ET and 10:00 PM ET for the 8 games on the slate during that time period. That means that West Coast games that have start times at 7pm or 7:10pm PT will not be impacted by the blackout policy.

So, how does it play out?

Looking at the schedule for May 19, the first Saturday that FOX will air in primetime, 8 day/afternoon games will not be impacted by the shift in the blackout window. Six games, however, will. Depending on where you live, these are the games that FOX will be airing that day. You will be getting hit with the blackout with all the others not aired on FOX in your area:

May 19, 2012 (7:00 PM ET)

• Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies
• Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
• Texas Rangers at Houston Astros
• Baltimore Orioles at Washington Nationals
• Arizona Diamondbacks at Kansas City Royals

Once those games have ended, the blackout should be lifted by your cable operator and these two night games on the West Coast will be available via MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV:

• Angels at Padres (10:05pm ET)
• Cardinals at Dodgers (10:10pm ET)

So, it’s a sliding scale. You get hit with the national blackout, just in a later window. That’s good news if you’re sitting down on May 19 and want to catch the interleague matchups between the Reds and the Yankees or the Mets and the Blue Jays.

SELECT READ MORE TO SEE THE ENTIRE MLB ON FOX BROADCAST SCHEDULE FOR 2012

 2012 MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE

(Note: Schedule Subject to Change)

April 7, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers

St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers

San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks

Kansas City Royals at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

April 14, 2012 (12:30 PM ET)

Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees

Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins

April 21, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox

Chicago White Sox at Seattle Mariners

April 28, 2012 (12:30 PM ET)

Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Cleveland Indians

Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins

May 5, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers

Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Mets

Milwaukee Brewers at San Francisco Giants

May 12, 2012 (12:30 PM ET)

Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Texas Rangers

New York Mets at Miami Marlins

May 19, 2012 (7:00 PM ET)

Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies

Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs

Texas Rangers at Houston Astros

Baltimore Orioles at Washington Nationals

Arizona Diamondbacks at Kansas City Royals

May 26, 2012 (7:00 PM ET)

Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals

Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates

Colorado Rockies at Cincinnati Reds

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Seattle Mariners

June 2, 2012 (7:00 PM ET)

New York Yankees at Detroit Tigers

Chicago Cubs at San Francisco Giants

Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians

Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres

Cincinnati Reds at Houston Astros

June 9, 2012 (7:00 PM ET)

New York Mets at New York Yankees

Cleveland Indians at St. Louis Cardinals

Los Angeles Dodgers at Seattle Mariners

Tampa Bay Rays at Miami Marlins

Kansas City Royals at Pittsburgh Pirates

June 16, 2012 (7:00 PM ET)

Boston Red Sox at Chicago Cubs

Cincinnati Reds at New York Mets

Miami Marlins at Tampa Bay Rays

Baltimore Orioles at Atlanta Braves

Houston Astros at Texas Rangers

June 23, 2012 (7:00 PM ET)

New York Yankees at New York Mets

Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox

Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles

Los Angeles Dodgers at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

San Francisco Giants at Oakland Athletics

Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago White Sox

June 30, 2012 (7:00 PM ET)

New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers

Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers

Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays

Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers

San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies

Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins

July 7, 2012 (7:00 PM ET)

New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox

Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies

Minnesota Twins at Texas Rangers

July 10, 2012 (8:00 PM ET)

2012 MLB All-Star Game from Kansas City

July 14, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

New York Mets at Atlanta Braves

Arizona Diamondbacks at Chicago Cubs

Philadelphia Phillies at Colorado Rockies

July 21, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

San Francisco Giants at Philadelphia Phillies

Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals

Texas Rangers at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

July 28, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees

Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves

August 18, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees

San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres

August 25, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds

Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants

Minnesota Twins t Texas Rangers

September 1, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves

San Francisco Giants at Chicago Cubs

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Seattle Mariners

September 8, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

Atlanta Braves at New York Mets

Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants

Kansas City Royals at Chicago White Sox

September 15, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees

Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians

Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres

September 22, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

Wild Card

September 29, 2012 (3:30 PM ET)

Wild Card

Source: MLB on FOX

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

Follow Maury Brown on Twitter

Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter

Follow the Business of Sports Network on Facebook

Comments (9)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by bmfc1108, February 19, 2012

Idiots. Does Fox think that we'll watch any game that they put on when they blackout our team? Does MLB think that they are doing the right thing for fans that are actually paying to see more baseball? Of course not. Selig does anything Fox wants as long as they have the cash, even if it hurts the fans he says he cares about.

• 
• +1
• 
• 

Comment
written by Xyzzyx, February 20, 2012

So who benefits from this asinine agreement? I'm not going to watch a game in which I have no interest. Fox won't get one viewer in this household unless our team is playing. I'd surely watch on MLB Extra Innings if it were available.

• 
• +2
• 
• 

Fux Socks
written by a guest, May 26, 2012

I pay serious money to get out of market games both online and on TV. What right does FUX have to Blackout games that I've paid to see?

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Idiotic Policy
written by a guest, July 07, 2012

Temporarily preventing your customers from accessing one product under the a*sumption that they'll take the only other product available makes no logical business sense. It a*sumes that people tuning into baseball games are fans of baseball in general first, and fans of a specific team second. I can't think of anyone who falls into this category. Most people are baseball fans because they love watching their team. If McDonald's, in order to showcase their hamburgers, temporarily made their chicken sandwiches unavailable people who came in for a chicken sandwich because they like them and were craving one are likely to leave and go get a chicken sandwich at another restaurant.
Sitting down to watch my team on a July Saturday to find out that my game, which is on Fox in another market, is blacked out for me makes me choose something else to do. I'm not watching the game they want me to, and I'm annoyed at both MLB and FOX for this idiotic policy. You're alienating your customers by preventing them from purchasing your product.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

From Maury
written by a guest, July 07, 2012

d. I can't think of anyone who falls into this category.

Well, you now know if at least one (me), and there are certainly others but your point is well taken.

-- Maury

• 
• +1
• 
• 

...
written by a guest, July 28, 2012

Guess what. The true fans get screwd again today. Seems like every week same thing. Today NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox rain delay so Faux runs the Dodgers and Giants that of which nobody is watching. NY game starts and Faux stays in SF.
SF game ends and no NY game? MLB Network is now in bed with Faux so why don't they run what Faux can't figure out. Faux is such a horrible
network. And now MLB network going in the toilet with them. I am never paying for this service again. Droping it from my homes and all of my bars. Done.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

It does seem stupid doesn't it?
written by a guest, August 25, 2012

But ya can't really blame MLB. Yes, they are compromising the happiness of huge numbers of their fans every weekend all summer long for a few million dollars from a network whose thinks we'll watch any ol' game. OK, yeah I guess we can blame MLB.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Ken
written by a guest, October 22, 2012

So, here we are in the 6th game of the NLCS. It's the only game, I live in Idaho and it's blacked out. How does that fit with the policy? Am I likely to go to San Francisco and buy a ticket if I can't watch on TV? NO! Am I likely to watch another game? No!
WTF????????>

• 
• +0
• 
• 

From Maury
written by a guest, October 22, 2012

It's on FOX. The rest of the way through, you'll have to watch on television.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment