The digital media company of Major League Baseball is close to relaxing blackout restrictions for games streamed to computers and mobile devices. Bob Bowman, CEO of MLB Advanced Media reiterated in an interview with The Assocoated Press that the gap continues to close in which those currently affected by blackouts of games in the local television market would be able to watch the streamed games. While it’s too early to speculate on the timing of when this might happen, it could come as early as next season. Bowman has said that having the blackouts relaxed would be a “nice retirement gift for Commissioner Selig.” Selig is set to retire in January of 2015 and the blackout policy is MLB’s #1 customer complaint.
"Everyone's trying to solve it," Bowman said to The AP. "If our hands were 4 feet apart three or four years ago, they are now 6 inches apart," Bowman said. "We're moving in the right way. We continue to talk. The dialogue is professional."
Currently, the blackout of games on television via the out-of-market package MLB Extra Innings forces those in a team’s local broadcast territory to watch the game on the local or regional network that the team has an agreement with. For those watching online, that option is rarely available. Individual deals for team offerings in-market over the years which include the Yankees, Padres and now Blue Jays, follow an industry trend in which a user has to prove that they have access to the games locally via cable or satalitte television provider. MLB Advanced Media and FOX applied the model this year for the first time to allow fans to see the MLB All-Star Game and will do so again when the World Series is played.
When time arrives for the blackouts to be lifted, those wishing to see the games in-market will likely do the same in providing a method to prove that are subscribed to see the games on their television provider before being able to see the games streamed online or via mobile device.
The report that cites Bowman indicated that it's not yet known whether streaming would be through MLB.TV or through the channel that has television rights. Bowman said those details are part of the "6 inches" still to be narrowed in talks.
As to those that wish this would happen sooner, getting it put in place is very complex with many stakeholders that have varying areas of interest.
"If they were easy to resolve, then somebody would have done it, and if it didn't matter, then it would have been resolved," Bowman said. "In the end, we all want the same thing regardless of which side of the table you're on. We all want somebody to be able to turn on a laptop or turn on a phone and see a live game in-market."
What will be interesting is how this all plays out as more and more "cut the cord" moving away from broadcast television and getting all their content streamed online. And beyond those that have had television and are cutting, there are those that never have had television and have used the internet exclusively for streaming content. Those people will all be left out in the cold with the "prove you have this on television" model that affects not only MLB but streaming sports content as a whole. That appears to be a new problem replacing an old one as technology shifts.
