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?
Most Mets games are on SportsNet New York, but a lot of the weekend games are on channel 11 (WPIX), so EI customers don't get them anyway, unless the other team is on their local cable system.
There used to be a time when NESN had all Red Sox games, but some were shown on free TV (channel 38, can't remember the call letters). That's gone by the wayside now too, and if you don't get NESN you don't get the Sox.
All I know is that, while I do recognize that we are a capitalist country and that a business has a right to do what it wants to make a profit, I also know that this is cutting off their nose to spite their face. I am a long-time customer, and they are telling me to take a hike. You can't piss off good customers like this and not suffer at some point.