If you’re one of those diehard Cleveland Indians fans out in Erie, Toledo or other areas a ways from Jacobs Field, and you’re hoping for DirecTV to turn on SportsTime Ohio so you can watch the games…don’t hold your breath.
STO’s Jim Liberatore tells OMW today that he’s heard back from the largest satellite provider, and they’re NOT going to turn on the “outer zones” away from Cleveland, but still in the Indians TV footprint. Liberatore says DirecTV tells STO they’ve had “surprisingly little response” from outer market Indians fans.
It looks like those who want the games from DirecTV, and aren’t getting them, will have to start basically yelling at them…if that’ll even work. We know there’s an online petition started by Ohio University professor Patrick Kreiser with 550 signatures on it…and the Big Furry Moohead at Internet sports talk radio site Moohead Radio says it’s been sent to DirecTV.
But the petition got little coverage, as far as we know. And not to disparage the efforts of Mr. Krieser et al., but even in the Internet age, phone calls from subscribers and actual letters sent via the USPS mean more to a major communications company like DirecTV. If opening up the games to the “outer zones” is ever going to happen on that service, that effort is going to have to be much bigger.
In the meantime, again – if you’re a DirecTV-owning Tribe fan in Toledo or Erie or southeast Ohio, again, don’t hold that breath. We know folks who’ve had a Dish Network setup put in at $30 a month solely for baseball season. And cable systems in many of these outlying areas do carry STO’s Indians games, most of the time on a low-cost “basic” tier.
Just be sure with either your cable system or Dish that you’ll actually get STO. As far as we know, Dish Network is not nearly as restrictive as to who gets STO in the Indians footprint, but double check when you get it installed…especially if you’re in an area outside Ohio…
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