Channels and Programming

[RICHARDCOHAL]

am i going to get mlb extra innings since i had it last year? and is it automatic

[kcalccal]

if it works like the Center Ice package, and I think it does, you have to renew it yearly.  Some of the complaints about the package is the lack of HD channels devoted to it, currently only 1 in Massachusetts.  Yet it is the same price.

[bkrudy]

Get Apple TV instead. It's half the price, has every game, and is HD. Plus, the games come in on your computer and mobile devices.

[DannieB]

Has anyone seen pricing and schedule for the 2012 season for MLB Extra Innings? I've asked and asked but Customer Svc does not seem to know what baseball is or that the season starts in a week.

Thanks.

[mny12]

I too am wondering when they will introduce this, what the price will be and if it will be in HD this year. Leaning towards MLB TV, which is $125 for the entire season and let's you watch on several devices in HD.

Do you have to have a cable box in order to have MLB TV? Or do I need the "Basic Cable" (ie, antenna stuff you could otherwise get for free) package to order it?

[DannieB]

Yes, you need a box. In my area, MLB Extra Innings is on the 77x channel series.

I finally got an answer from Customer Service on pricing:

MLB Extra Innings for 2012 Baseball Season.

Package:Early Bird Package

Payment: Full Payment

Price: $179.00

4 Installments :  $44.75

Package: Regular Season Package:

Payment: Full Payment

Price: $199.00

4 Installments:  $49.75

Package: Half Season:

Payment: Full Payment

Price: $139.00

4 Installments: $34.75

Package: Pennant Race:

Payment: Full Payment

Price: $69.00

2 Installments: $34.50

[mny12]

Thanks for the reply! Seems the "early bird" is $55 more than the one through MLB TV and I assume does not include mobile apps or internet viewing.

Did they mention whether the new MLB Extra Innings will be in HD?

[DannieB]

I've tried both, and I have to say I prefer Extra Innings over the online MLBTV. Reception better, less loss of signal/lag, etc.

[MikeNJ84]

Any word on when this will be available for purchase?  Everytime I've checked the website on Comcast, it keeps saying its "Out of Season"

[DannieB]

You have to call. They do not offer it for purchase online.

I know - an ISP who does not sell a product online!

[DannieB]

Today I received a mailer from Comcast, with the details of the Extra Innings package.

Talk about last-minute and last century!

The mailer did include a link xfinity.com/mlb3

[Mwink31]

Bought the MLB.tv last year and ran it through both my PS3, and Roku HD box....and I will be spending the extra $50 for the Extra Innings. The HD Roku Box works very well with no buffering during games, but the quality of picture still screams "streaming". And for those of you with Apple TV, first gen is NOT 1080, it will only stream 720 HD. The PS3 has a more clear picture, but the constant buffering with stuttering is awful. I had switched to Xfinity from AT&T just to get this package. No buffering, full 1080 HD, I can't wait!

[Scoottj]

Pay the extra cash and get Extra Innings over MLB TV.  MLB TV looks good on the computer or Iphone, but if you run it through your connected device like PS3 the picture quality is terrible. They say it is HD quality it looks like 480i to me and I have a great connection and it skips a lot also. So if your main purpose is to watch the game on TV get Extra Innings. My area only has 1 HD channel for Extra Innings but hopefully getting more soon until then I will not pay $179 for SD quality.

[mny12]

The question still remains -is Extra Innings in HD? I heard it wasn't in the recent past....

I agree that the total quality is better from Comcast than on MLB.COM, but access is an issue for me. Why can't I just pay the $200 to receive the Comcast stream? Why do I have to sign up for an ~$80/mo cable package plus $7/mo DVR? Meh.

[DannieB]

No need for the DVR, unless you want to record the games to watch later.

[Scoottj]

MLB Extra Innings is avaiable in HD in select Comcast markets. In Massachusetts we have 1 HD channel that shows 2-3 games in HD per day. Some areas have no HD feeds and some have 2 that I am aware of. Extra Innings offers 9 HD feeds the problem is most Comcast systems do not have the bandwith to use all 9. To get MLB TV you dont need cable tv just an internet feed and you can watch the games on your computer, iphone, or other connected devices like the PS3 or Xbox. To get Extra Innings obviously you need Comcast tv.

[DannieB]

Please don't consider MLB TV a replacement for MLB Extra Innings! MLB TV stutter and lag and loss of the 3rd out of every inning are unbearable for a true fan.

Someone is trigger happy - being so careful not to show the ad between innings that we lose many critical 3rd out plays. Same person then falls asleep, so we usually miss the start of the next inning.

[lisakimball]

Has anyone succeeded in buying this service?  I spent about 3 hours trying to do it last week.  They told me I had to call back today .. which i did .. and after being on hold for more than 40 minutes they hung up on me.  When I called back they said they were closed.

Why is Comcast advertising this on the website if it's not actually possible to buy it?

[DannieB]

I have not yet tried to purchase this year, since my team is not yet playing. Why should I give Comcast a penny before I must?

I had no problem purchasing the last 2 years.

[medziatkowicz]

I have NHL center Ice which is on the same channels as extra innings and extra innings isn't even showing up in my guide which is odd.

[Lonaman]

Can someone please explain the HD situation with MLB Extra Innings?  This is my first season on Xfinity.  I have had DirecTV in the past and loved the Extra Innings package (but all games were in HD).  I just moved to San Francisco and live in a building that will not allow DirecTV, so I had to switch to Comcast.  From this thread, it appears that only a couple of games a day will be in HD.  That's absurd for the price of the package.  How are the HD games detemrined?  I ordered the package 2 weeks ago and still show nothing in the schedule.  I find the lack of support here surprising and not a good sign.

[medziatkowicz]

the problem is that comcast uses the same 11 channels for mlb and nhl. So at this time of year I think they give nhl priority since they don't want to make people trying to keep up with the playoff chase mad.

Not sure what is going to happen in the nhl playoffs since comcast signed a deal to have every playoff game televised on an nbc network. Don't know if this means that the local sports won't cover them or it will be a situation where the local network has precedence.

Needless to say with saturday being the last day of nhl regular season I would imagine you will see more mlb games.

[Pharrell]

Is this true that the MLB.tv package is worthless and that the stream will knock out every game. I've seen the MLB extra innings package in SD and it's terrible. but I'm pretty sure the MLB.tv games will be in high quality at least but I'm not sure but this guy is saying it's streaming quality. I used vevo on xbox live and some video looked very high quality It's not crisp HD quality but it's doable. don't know why the guy a few posts down is bashing MLB.tv. I've seen High lights on the MLB.tv app on xbox live and it's okay it's not comcast SD bad though. I can't stand watching Miami Marlins games in SD. when I could be watching the HQ version on MLB.tv. I might just have to try and see how MLB.tv quality is on real games because I've seen SD MLB extra innings games and they aren't pretty. with the MLB extra innings free preview maybe I'll watch both and compare. but even though MLB extra innings has 2 HD channels they only show a few teams every night. it's pretty bad for that price almost 200 for an manly SD package when what it seems like MLB.tv is a lil bit higher quailty than extra innings not HD quality but High quality enough where you aren't throwing up because you can't see anything on SD channels.

[Lonaman]

I tried MLB.tv last year and the quality is ok, but the constant buffering of live games is terrible.  It actually got on my nerves.  The saved games were fine, but the live games would always time out and re-buffer.  It was annoying.  I'm sure having to watch SD channels for my Braves will be annoying as well.  I can't belive they charge as much as they do if it's not HD.  I would not have purchased it if I knew it wasn't HD.

[Mwink31]

It's not all picture quality....it's the buffering. I have played MLB.tv through my ROKU HD, PS3 (which is HD), and IPad, and the picture quality is arguably better than SD, but the constant freezing of the screen, and disappearing sound was more than I could handle. If you can download more than 3000kbps, you'll get minimal buffering, but with my Comcast, averaging 3000kbps for a 3 hour time frame is almost next to impossible. Good luck with it, after 2 years of frustration, I would rather watch SD than a frozen screen.

[DannieB]

I agree that the stutter/lag/buffering is unbearable. And, once the "frozen" screen recovers, you've often missed a full inning.

As I said, I've had both. For the difference in quality, Extra Innings is MORE than worth the difference in price.

[CardsfaninWA]

Bought it yesterday in under 6 minutes.....around noon. You really had some bad timing/luck! Must have been a peak time. Wish it could be done online, but I get that from their POV they couldn't do their attempts at upselling phone, security systems, better bundles....blah, blah....hey, it's capitalism!

Good luck...patience and persistence are the answer, I suppose.

[CardsfaninWA]

It is odd. I swear it showed up in 10 minutes last year... Well, at least I know my teams' opening game is on ESPN anyway.

I was thinking it must be because of NHL playoffs, but why would that be different from last year? For me it is different as I''m a StL Blues AND Cards fan and this time the Blues are (finally!!) in the playoffs. Great time of year for sports.....

[MikeC42]

So how does this work? If you're a fan of a certain team can you watch their game every day? Someone mentioned there only being 11 channels or so each day. 

[medziatkowicz]

indemand.com is saying schedule to be announced.

"

SCHEDULE NOT YET AVAILABLE

Check Back Soon for 2012 MLB Extra Innings Schedule"

from indemand.com

[DannieB]

Schedule IS available:

http://indemand.com/sports/mlb/mlb_schedule.pdf?090422124838930 

[medziatkowicz]

still not showing up in the guide yet and no schedule for nhl center ice listed on the channels either. Not even nhl center ice extra is showing up.

[DannieB]

Are you subscribed? Schedule will not show in onscreen guide until you are.

[Lonaman]

I've been subscribed for 2 weeks and nothing has shown up.  The HD issue really concerns me.  If I only get 1 or 2 games in HD (and those will always be the Yankees and Red Sox), I am going to cancel.

[DannieB]

Ask Comcast to send a refresh signal to your box.

First game is tomorrow.

HD is NOT always Yankees and Red Sox. Did you bother to look at the schedule?

HD schedule: http://indemand.com/sports/mlb/mlb_hd_schedule.pdf?090417171945913

[Lonaman]

The schedule you just posted looks different than the schedule someone else posted earlier, so NO, I have not put any stock in the schedules posted.  Also, I still don't even know which channels I receive.  The different schedules I've seen posted have up to 9 HD games (I believe) and I'm pretty sure I won't get 9 HD channels dedicated to the package in SF.

[DannieB]

Sheesh - then search yourself. I am so sorry for trying to help!

One schedule is the full sked, the other is the HD (HIGH DEFINITION) Sked.

But, as you say you don't believe links direct from the source.

[CardsfaninWA]

I think I have a decent theory.

Only regular season game today is Cards @ Marlins.  It is on ESPN2, which if I recall, (sometimes??) means MLB X-Inn will NOT carry it.  All other games are still ST or exhibition.  So. they don't need to switch over the channel listings from NHL to MLB till after midnight tonight (on 4/5).

Does that seem reasonable? 

[CardsfaninWA]

Yeah, that's what I see, too.

Maybe when they are close to transitioning from NHL to MLB.... (affter midnight tonight??) this is how it appears?

[DannieB]

That's what I recall from last year. And, if you visit the website, there are some (not very well organized) FAQs about which games cannot be shown. For example, Fox has the lock on Saturday games in a certain timeframe.

[Lonaman]

Sorry, I didn't mean to be overly hostile.  Thank you for the information and your help.  I am just frustrated at Comcast.  I really don't understand the lack of HD channels dedicated to the package and feel like I was mislead when purchasing.

[medziatkowicz]

I have nhl center Ice which is on the same channels as mlb extra innings. Nothing is showing on those channels just the sports indemand logo. They used to show the schedule for nhl center ice and the stats/extra channels now nothing?

Is this just me or is this company wide?

[medziatkowicz]

---

DannieB wrote:

Yes, you need a box. In my area, MLB Extra Innings is on the 77x channel series.

I finally got an answer from Customer Service on pricing:

MLB Extra Innings for 2012 Baseball Season.

Package:Early Bird Package

Payment: Full Payment

Price: $179.00

4 Installments :  $44.75

Package: Regular Season Package:

Payment: Full Payment

Price: $199.00

4 Installments:  $49.75

Package: Half Season:

Payment: Full Payment

Price: $139.00

4 Installments: $34.75

Package: Pennant Race:

Payment: Full Payment

Price: $69.00

2 Installments: $34.50

---

I just called and they told me they can't do payments anymore. They have to charge the full $180 on the bill. When did they change this?

[DannieB]

I received another email today offering the payments, so it is still available, at least in my area.

I know when I bought last year, the agent put me on hold while they checked the status of my account, before answering my question about the 4-payment deal.

http://info.xfinity.com/Portal/content/Comcast/Products/Sports/2012/04April/11711_MLBExtraInnings.as...

[medziatkowicz]

is there a special number I can call or email to get payments? I really don't want $179 in one whole bill.

[DannieB]

"Call 1-866-928-7488 to get MLB Extra Innings and save $20 with Early Bird pricing – just 4 payments of $44.75!"

[medziatkowicz]

When I try that they transfer me to the local center.

[Lonaman]

I really miss DirecTV. Comcast sucks all the way around, from poor customer support to poor channel selection. I wish I could get every game in HD with either team's announcers. Wait, I used to be able to get that with DirecTV. Oh well. At least I can watch the Braves play in SD with crappy Mets announcers.

[DannieB]

Hate to tell you Lonaman, but the Mets fans will feel the same when NY goes to ATL.

The picture quality is excellent in SD.