Beardown wrote:
Thanks. Doesn't look like those sites will have it.
It is a FOX game. I tried to go to KC and Minneapolis's local FOX site to see if they are streaming it. Doesn't look like they are. MLB locks that up good. Why not? They sell all the games on MLB.com.
MLB looking to next year for live local streaming
Major League Baseball hopes to launch local online streaming of live games next season after it failed to come to an agreement with Comcast on a potential test of Chicago Cubs and White Sox games earlier this year, marking the latest entry in what has long been a growing and divisive issue within baseball.
The MLB-Comcast talks first occurred in the spring, weeks before the start of the season. MLB Advanced Media and the cable giant came close to agreeing on a structure that would have seen them stream live White Sox and Cubs games online for free. The only people that could access the games would be the 4.5 million subscribers to CSN Chicago, the local regional sports network co-owned by Comcast, the two ball clubs and Chicago Bulls.
Industry sources said Comcast and MLBAM would have split ad sales revenue, and geo-tracking technology was in place to ensure that the game would only be available only to the CSN Chicago subscribers.
But talks for the test to occur in the 2008 season remain deadlocked after they broke down over several issues, including whether the games would be available on MLB.com or the CSN Chicago site. Both sides want to house the game on their respective sites in order to control the user experience and generate traffic numbers.
Still, MLB President Bob DuPuy said he “expects to renew discussions for the 2009 season.”
The MLB-Comcast talks are important on several levels. As the quality of video streaming continues to improve, the application of local market streaming has taken on new prominence in recent months. NBA executives recently disclosed plans to stream games locally starting next season, a first for a major U.S. sports league. That will likely set up a battle between the league, the individual clubs, regional sports networks and cable operators.
In baseball, the issue has become even more fractious, particularly with regard to its internal politics. MLB Advanced Media, which manages the interactive rights for all 30 clubs and acts as a key source of revenue sharing for the industry, has for years successfully sold live streaming of games through its MLB.TV out-of-market package, a product that applies local-market blackouts like its TV counterpart, Extra Innings.
But a group of clubs, including the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, have been pushing hard for changes to MLB policy to allow for in-market streaming as a means to supplement coverage on club-owned regional sports networks. The clubs believe they can gain some valuable insight into market viewership, generate revenue from the digital offering and, ideally, help promote their local broadcasts.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig nearly a year ago proposed a revenue-split between individual clubs and MLB Advanced Media to “break the logjam.” But the financial terms of such a split remain in dispute. And the issue has been further complicated by the recent renegotiation of the digital rights deal between ESPN and MLBAM in which ESPN’s Sunday night and Wednesday night games will be streamed on ESPN360.com.
“Our concern is simply that of protecting local media assets and local rights holders,” said John Henry, Boston Red Sox owner.
Executives with several MLB clubs, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that while ESPN is a valuable partner and lucrative source of income, the new deal grants the network rights far in excess of what’s available to individual clubs and regional outlets.
Furthermore, there is concern among some clubs that the MLBAM Constitution, approved by owners and revised on numerous occasions, remains overly broad and has not sufficiently contemplated the power and extent of current and emerging technologies.
“This is all a very, very complicated matter,” said one club official. “Who really has these [digital] rights and how do we best bring them to the marketplace? That’s the big question. And though we’re in sort of a holding pattern right now, it’s no doubt the single biggest economic issue our industry is facing.”