Writings on baseball by Matt Barnard and Dan Stein.

 
MLB.tv
I'm assuming most of you are somewhat familiar with the new live video webcasting service being launched by MLB.com, so I'll be brief in my description of it. Basically, the MLB is going to be making available live streaming, out-of-market games ("up to" 45 a week, more on that in a minute) for pay. There are options to purchase the entire season for $80, and also month-by-month and individual games. I watched a bit of the Yankees-Red Sox game last night, which was the first of the Spring Training games they're offering as a preview of this service. Being in New York at the moment (although I suppose it wouldn't have mattered even if I was back in Cambridge, given the teams involved) I was blocked from the webcast as it happened, but I was able to check it out later as it was archived. There's another preview game today at 3:00PM between the Chicago teams, so I'll be able to take a look at that.

What I saw last night was pretty impressive...the quality isn't fabulous, but it's certainly good enough to make out what's going on and the sound is absolutely fine (at least it was on my computer). This is substantially cheaper than the MLB Extra Innings package, and obviously far more versatile, particularly for someone with a laptop. The out-of-market restriction is a bit annoying, and I'm not totally sure how they're going to be doing verification. It had me enter credit card information yesterday as I tried to watch the game live, presumably to have me enter (so they could verify it) my billing address. When someone's got a billing address in one market but is in another (as is the case for me), it'll be interesting to see how that's handled. Presumably they have means of checking through the IP address accessing the webcast, but we'll see. Assuming this works and I'd be able to get Yankee games while in Cambridge, I think I'm going to take advantage of the service.

Aside from being able to watch the games live, the really wonderful thing about this is the archiving. Presumably all season, you'll be able to go back and access any game you want (at least the ones they're making available for webcasting), including the ones blacked out because they were on TV in your market. The fact that I won't be able to catch a live Red Sox game isn't nearly as hard to take knowing that I can sit down ten minutes after it's over and watch it then at my own pace.

As far as the "up to 45 games a week" claim is concerned, I don't really understand why anybody would be impressed by that. I want to know the minimum number of games a week..."at least" is what I'm looking for. All that's said here is that they're placing a 45 game cap on it, which isn't particularly appealing, since as a customer I want as many games as possible. Regardless, this looks to be a terrific service, and one I'll most likely be taking advantage of. It'd be nice to see other professional sports leagues follow suit.
posted by VZW Watcher at 2:50 PM -