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What does that have to do with anything? TBS occasionally broadcasts Braves games. WGN occasionally broadcasts Cubs games. INHD occasionally has a game on. Nationally broadcast games do exist, but they probably account for 5% of all the games. If you don't live in your team's home market, taking the Extra Innings package away from cable is literally preventing millions of people from being able to watch games. This is straightforward. Of course, you could say that they could always go to DirecTV, but it's been pointed out that those laws are next to worthless.

TBS is an interesting example. I'm a Braves fan, and I have been for years. There was a time when TBS showed around 150 Braves games a year. WGN was the same way.

That all changed, though, when MLB entered into its current agreement with Fox, which gave the Fox channels exclusive rights to almost every MLB team's games. Braves games were sent to Fox cable channels and now TBS shows maybe 30-35 games a year, with a few more on Sports South. WGN shows around the same, though I haven't seen the schedule for this year.

MLB's contract with Fox also gives Fox the rights to exclusive broadcasts of Saturday afternoon games after July 1 each year. If the Braves are playing on Saturday afternoon, I can't see them unless they are on Fox.

But hey, that's how things go. There are thousands of Braves fans around the country that had Braves games yanked from TBS in an effort for MLB to force folks to buy the Extra Innings package. Does it suck? Sure, but if that's how MLB chooses to distribute its product, well, that's its choice.

A lot of baseball teams have their games exclusively on cable, and no one complains about that. The Yankees games are exclusively on YES, and you might remember the stink with Cablevision a few years back. The Indians' games are available exclusively on cable, even in the home market. Tens of thousands of Indians fans in NE Ohio are being denied the ability to watch the Indians because they don't have cable. Hundreds of thousands of Yankees fans in the metro NY area are denied the Yankees because they don't have YES. Fair?

You said that MLB is preventing people from watching games--I'm simply pointing out that no they aren't. People will still be able to watch Cubs and Braves games pretty much all they want. Although, I submit that the private property called Major League Baseball has no legal or moral responsibility to provide you even with that. But you want the government with its monopoly on coercive force to make them do it.

In any case, MLB does nationally televise many games. That's not good enough for you, apparently. Not only do you want to force a private business to put some of their product in whatever venue you choose, you want them to put all of their products in whatever venue you choose. Why not go all out and have John Kerry make MLB buy you a television as well? Forcing a private business to cater to you is simply fascist. (And before you get all bent out of shape over my use of that word, I'll list the definition as fascism=public/government control of private enterprise--which is exactly what you and Mr. Kerry are promoting.)