There’s a funny loophole with MLB.TV blackout restrictions that I accidentally discovered.

If you live in New England, you already know the pain: You pay for MLB.TV and then immediately find out you still can’t watch the Red Sox because you’re inside the local broadcast territory.

Completely normal streaming experience in 2026.

But weirdly, MLB.TV works perfectly inside my Tesla.

The reason appears to be that Tesla routes a lot of vehicle internet traffic through gateway infrastructure that geolocates somewhere around the San Francisco area instead of your actual physical location.

So even though I’m sitting in Rhode Island, MLB.TV seems to think I’m nowhere near NESN territory.

Result: No blackout restrictions.

I can sit in my driveway and watch the Sox game from the Tesla browser while MLB.TV blocks the exact same game on my phone and home devices.

It feels incredibly stupid, but also incredibly effective.

I have no idea whether this is intentional, temporary, or something MLB eventually closes, but right now it works surprisingly well.

A few notes

  • This only works using the Tesla’s built-in connectivity/browser.
  • It may depend on software version or routing behavior.
  • I have not tested this outside New England.
  • No VPN setup required.
  • Latency and stream quality are actually pretty solid.

Honestly the funniest part is that the most reliable way I’ve found to bypass MLB blackout nonsense is apparently to sit in a parked car.