mlb.com: ads

[CheeseburgerWithFries]

Prerequisites

• This is NOT a YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, Spotify or a shortener/hosting site report. These sites MUST be reported by clicking their respective links.
• I read and understand the policy about what is a valid filter issue.
• I verified that this issue is not a duplicate. (Use this button to find out.). Comment in the old issue threads even when they are closed or even if you have a different problem.
• I did not remove any of the default filter lists, or I have verified that the issue was not caused by removing any of the default lists.
• I did not enable additional or non-default filter lists, or I have identified which specific stock list is causing the issue.
• I do not have custom filters/rules, or I have verified that the issue still occurs without custom filters/rules.
• I have verified that the web browser's built-in content blocker/tracking protection, network wide/DNS blocking, or my VPN is not causing the issue.
• I have turned off all other extensions and the issue still persists. (exception "Firefox Multi-Account Containers").
• If this is about a breakage or detection, I have verified that it is caused by uBlock Origin and isn't a site or browser issue.
• I have verified that the browser I am using is up to date with no pending updates.
• I did not answer truthfully to ALL the above checkboxes.

URL(s) where the issue occurs.

mlb.com

Description

MLB.com has a streaming package called MLB.tv to watch baseball games. For the last 5+ years, Ublock has worked fine. Commercials would be replaced by a different screen saying something like "Commercial break in progress, game will resume soon." It always took a bit of fiddling (one year I had to start a stream with Ublock disabled, then turn it on once the stream started.)

This year, Ublock mostly isn't working. I say mostly because it worked this afternoon for one game, then went back to not working this evening. I did not change any settings between this afternoon and now.

Info: Games have two separate streams, one for each team playing. These streams can be from different networks under different media deals. Regional blackouts are enforced. In February, ESPN "took control" of MLB.tv under a new media rights deal, and many of the ads I'm seeing are for ESPN and companies under the Disney umbrella. I'm still seeing commercials for credit cards and stuff too though. It's possible ESPN made a change to how commercials are injected into the stream from last year.

Record:

Conditions	Date	Teams	Broadcast	Firefox VPN?	Result
Regular Use	3/30	Minnesota @ Baltimore	Minnesota	Enabled	Failed
Regular Use	4/1 afternoon	Washington DC @ Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Unknown	Succeeded!
Reg. Use AND Testing	4/1 evening	Minnesota @ Kansas City	Minnesota	Enabled	Failed
Testing	4/1 evening	Cleveland @ Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Disabled	Failed
Testing	4/1 evening	Cleveland @ Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Enabled	Failed

Browser name and version

Firefox 149.0 (64-bit) on Windows

Other extensions used

None during testing.

During regular use: LastPass, "Enable Picture-in-Picture", Feedbro, Greasemonkey, Imagus, LibRedirect, Reddit Enhancement Suite

Country

United States

Screenshot(s)

Screenshot(s)

Pictures of commercials showing up with Ublock enabled, and Firefox's built-in VPN enabled and disabled.

Firefox VPN disabled 1

Firefox VPN disabled 2

Firefox VPN enabled

Configuration

Details

uBlock Origin: 1.70.0
Firefox: 149
filterset (summary):
 network: 173803
 cosmetic: 42526
 scriptlet: 32712
 html: 2991
listset (total-discarded, last-updated):
 removed:
  user-filters: null
 added:
  https://ublockorigin.github.io/uAssets/filters/resource-abuse.txt: 99-0, 6d.9h.3m
 default:
  ublock-filters: 51179-79, 4h.52m Δ
  ublock-badware: 10648-30, 4h.52m Δ
  ublock-privacy: 3925-101, 4h.52m Δ
  ublock-unbreak: 2808-1, 4h.52m Δ
  ublock-quick-fixes: 427-14, 4h.52m Δ
  easylist: 98538-165, 4h.52m Δ
  easyprivacy: 55618-31, 4h.52m Δ
  urlhaus-1: 26855-10, 4h.52m
  plowe-0: 3514-1017, 12d.4h.46m
filterset (user): [array of 46 redacted]
trustedset:
 added: [array of 35 redacted]
switchRuleset:
 added: [array of 1 redacted]
userSettings: [none]
hiddenSettings: [none]
supportStats:
 allReadyAfter: 287 ms (selfie)
 maxAssetCacheWait: 70 ms
 cacheBackend: indexedDB
popupPanel:
 blocked: 111
 network:
  mlb.com: 3
  amazon-adsystem.com: 1
  browser-intake-us5-datadoghq.com: 47
  conviva.com: 7
  demdex.net: 8
  doubleclick.net: 1
  google.com: 40
  googlesyndication.com: 1
  googletagmanager.com: 1
  imasdk.googleapis.com: 2

[stephenhawk8054]

Do we need a paid account to reproduce the issue?

[CheeseburgerWithFries]

Yes. I'm willing to share my account info.

[stephenhawk8054]

Can you send the account to this email: stephenhawk8054@protonmail.com

[stephenhawk8054]

Currently I don't see any links that have Watch in the top banner:

Details

[CheeseburgerWithFries]

No games are being played right now. Once a game starts, the Watch option will appear where you currently see Story.

MIN@KC starts in 3 hours at 2:10PM Eastern time, and both ATL@AZ and NY@SF are west coast games that start later in the evening at 9:40pm Eastern time. TOR@CWS has been postponed for weather reasons and won't be played.

Today is a travel day for most teams, so there are fewer games to test with. Over the weekend there will be a bunch of games, up to 15 per day.

[CheeseburgerWithFries]

Also, be aware of regional blackouts when selecting a game to test.

If you try to test with Atlanta@Arizona, but you live in Georgia or Arizona, you will be limited to the radio broadcast and won't be able to view the TV broadcast where ads are appearing. Choose a game with teams that aren't from your general area.

Here's a map that shows approximate blackout locations.

Details

You can use a VPN to circumvent blackouts.

[stephenhawk8054]

I have no idea how this site works and whatever the blackout is.

I used VPN to US and clicked on a link (https://www.mlb.com/tv/g824056/20260403) and it gives

The content you requested is not available. Please try again later. Please click "Learn More" if you require assistance. 

Details

I don't have time to blindly guess how this site behaves.

[CheeseburgerWithFries]

You had correctly selected a game to watch, it looks like there was just a tech issue.

A blackout is a television deal where people who live in an area are unable to watch a specific team on the website because the company wants to force them to pay for a cable television package. If you are outside the US, then it doesn't affect you and you don't need a VPN to get around it.

The link you sent plays fine for me, although that game is almost over right now. It's possible there was a VPN issue. Otherwise, you could have clicked the X on that message and selected a different game.

Details

The games I've highlighted on the toolbar in green are in progress, and are in either the "Top" half or "Bot"=Bottom half of an inning, and show a number 1-9 to indicate how much of the game has been played. The games I've highlighted in red have finished, as indicated by Final or F/10 (that means it was tied after regulation and went to a 10th inning before being Final). The yellow highlighted game shows a special game that's been sold to another streaming service Apple+ and isn't available on mlb.com, that happens sometimes.

Anyway, I hope that helps.

[stephenhawk8054]

Does it occur with live videos only or the issue also occurs in normal videos?

Currently I don't see any live videos.

[CheeseburgerWithFries]

I just tested with yesterday's broadcasts while uBlock was disabled. Ads had been removed from the stream, so the issue only happens when the game is being played live.

This is the screen I was getting, and is the screen that uBlock should be showing during live games when ads are being blocked correctly.

Details