Free preview, but I have to subscribe?

[Janann]

MLB Extra Innings, channels 1301-1311 are advertised as a free preview starting from yesterday until July 18th. They aren't accessible to me. Is anyone else able to get this free preview?

[mactools]

I got the same email and I don't get the preview either.  If only Telus were that negligent in implementing their price increases!  That $135 for half a season

is an absurd price too pay.  The preview they had in the spring only showed about half of the available games.

[Nighthawk]

Telus doesn't set the price for that package. The broadcaster (MLB) does. Bell also has the exact same price for Extra Innings in Ontario. Rogers forces you to bundle it with other sports channels which in the end would cost a bit more than $135. Shaw doesn't even offer that channel at present.

As for the number of available games, Sportsnet and TSN also have broadcast rights to some of the games and when they are airing the game they are licensed and are paying for, no one else can air that game in Canada, that includes MLB Extra Innings. 

[mactools]

Actually it's Rogers that has the non-ESPN baseball rights in Canada and they set the price with the distributors.  For comparison, the price for MLB Extra Innings in the US is $165US with Dish and $177US with DirectTV.

In the spring preview, Telus version of MLB Extra Innings DID not show all games, as I kept close track.  It may have been because Sportsnet was showing Hockey playoffs and had no extra time, but their guide did not show any baseball games.

Anyway, none of this explains why Telus says this is supposed to be in free preview and it is not.

I have MLB.TV so it really doesn't much matter.

[Janann]

Thanks much for your replies, and for verifying that you aren't getting it either. I just asked a chat rep, and this was their answer: 

"Nope. That is a known issue currently. Telus is aware of the issue for the MLB and coordinating with the provider of the channel.

Technically you should be able to see those MLB channels but the provider of the channel is still checking why it's not loading on Telus boxes.

Hopefully it will be soon. The end date for the MLB free preview will be 5 days from now."

You referred to an email about the preview. I only found out about it when a community member here provided a link listing free previews - this was back in May. Last night when I re-checked that I still couldn't access the channels, I looked on the free preview listing tv channels, and on Telus' website, couldn't find any mention of this one anywhere. I don't understand why Telus doesn't have a standard place/method of giving customers a full list of current previews. I didn't know about the free MLB preview in the spring till it was over. Hopefully this one will come through, so we can get some games for a few days, anyway. Thanks again!

[Minky]

I haven't tried the MLB free preview yet, but in some instances like the Movie packages I had to call Telus to get the Free Preview and call them back to cancel (otherwise I would start getting billed monthly).  Alas, even though I had cancelled, I kept getting billed monthly for 6 months thereafter. I called in every month for a bill adjustment.  The Rep said there was a glitch in the system.  5 years ago; hope the glitches have been fixed!

[Optic_Issues_2B_Resolved]

Ch 1-99 always list actual free previews last 10 years lol

[Janann]

Thanks, I did look through those channels that list free previews, but the MLB preview wasn't listed there either.