A CNBC article came out in March 2018 that revealed almost 60 percent of Americans use streaming services, with 20 percent having exclusive streaming and no standard cable television in their homes. This creates a very interesting dilemma for companies like ESPN and Fox Sports, as well as the major sports leagues, in what to do about declining viewership, as many subscription services do not carry their programming.

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In a cable package, subscribers get a dizzying array of channels such as ESPN, the BIg Ten Network, MLB Network, NFL Network, NBA Network, Fox Sports, NBC Sports and usually a few local sports affiliates like Fox Sports Ohio, or AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh. While this seems like a lot, it offers a lot of opportunities to see sports that would not be traditionally broadcasted. Most streaming subscribers only get Fox Sports or ESPN, depending on the service. And if you want more than these two basic channels channels, there is an extra surcharge for sports packages.

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Using Sling TV as an example. As of earlier this year, TechCrunch reported that Sling TV was the largest tv replacement streaming service in the US. Sling breaks its channel roster into Sling Blue and Sling Orange packages. Blue gets the base ESPN channels, and Orange gets the base Fox Sports channels, but it is an extra five dollars a month to get beyond four basic channels. And after all of that, jumping over the hurdles to get to your favorite team, you could still be out of luck when it comes to game time due to market blackouts.

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A market blackout occurs when a company owns the rights to air a scheduled game, but the game is not accessible in an area of the country. These blackouts normally benefit local sports channels, but there is an adverse effect when it comes to streaming subscriptions. This means that a fan of a team can be in the correct area and not be able to watch a game because a channel is not included in the package or could have company rights attached. Even yet, a team out of the television market could still be in the team market, with a primary example of this coming from Major League Baseball.

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The MLB divides the United States based on contracts with teams and broadcast networks that divide the lower 48 states into markets for each team. Areas can have anywhere from one to six teams blacked out in an area. Living in the state of Washington excludes viewers from Mariners games and that is all. However, baseball fans living in Iowa cannot follow the Twins, White Sox, Cubs, Twins, Royals or Cardinals on TV because the state is wholly encompassed in all of their blackout zones.

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Even subscriptions to MLB.tv, MLB’s premium service for streaming games, follows the blackout restrictions, so even paying an extra subscription fee will not get fans the game. And as people shift from standard tv to streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, combined with the MLB hitting the lowest attendance rates in 15 years, this according to Fortune.com, could spell trouble for sports teams, their respective leagues and their fans.