- MLB.com
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MLB.com 
URL MLB.com
MajorLeagueBaseball.comType of site Baseball Owner Major League Baseball Launched 1995 Current status Public MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (a subsidiary of MLB). MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports columns. MLB.com is also a commercial site, providing online streaming video and streaming audio broadcasts of all Major League Baseball games to paying subscribers, as well as "gameday", a near-live streaming box score of baseball games for free. In addition, MLB.com sells official baseball merchandise, allows users to buy tickets to baseball games, runs fantasy baseball leagues (both free and paid), and runs auctions of baseball memorabilia.
MLB.com also contains the full, unabridged, official rules of the game.
Contents
MLB.tv
MLB.tv is a subscription service which allows users to view games live, streamed through an internet browser (or MLB.tv Mosaic, see below), Apple TV or PlayStation 3 console. Currently, MLB.tv offers video in qualities of 400K, 800K and 1.2MB.[1] Currently, only Windows, Mac and PlayStation 3 officially support HD-quality streams, but Linux users may manually run the Autobahn video package to receive HD-quality streams. MLB.tv also offers gameday audio, which allows users to listen to games, without blackout restrictions. Some games provide commentary in Spanish, and games may have up to four audio streams (one for the home team, one for the away, and two of the same in Spanish). Not all audio streams are available at all times.
Normal blackout restrictions apply to games, and other countries may have blackout restrictions as well (see below.)
The costs of subscription depend on the quality the user will want to view, and the timing of payment:
MLB.tv Premium (800K or 1.2MB) MLB.tv (400K) Gameday Audio Monthly $24.95 $20.95 Not available as a subscription Yearly $119.95 $99.95 $19.95 All subscriptions of MLB.tv Premium include Gameday Audio.
MLB.tv Mosaic
A screenshot of the MLB.tv Premium experience from April 9, 2010
Mosaic was a downloadable program which provided features not available when streaming through a web browser. It was only available to subscribers of MLB.tv Premium. Live games were shown, and on-demand games available for a period of two days previous to the current date. Major League Baseball has not used MLB.tv Mosaic since the 2008 season.
Mosaic allowed you to show multiple games at once, and provided the following viewing modes:
- 6 games tiled across the screen.
- 4 games tiled across the screen.
- One main game, with 2 games tiled on the right hand side.
- One main game, with 3 games tiled on the right hand side.
- One main game (which can be made full-screen)
When set on one main game, team information was shown to the right hand side of the game, including team line-ups, the boxscore, and team statistics. Users could also view their "player tracker", which would alert the user when a player in their chosen player list was active in a game.
Beginning with the 2009 season, Mosaic functionality was largely incorporated into the main viewing mode. Multiple-game viewing has been retained, with a choice of one, two side to side, two (one in the main window and one in a secondary 'picture in picture' mode), and four-game mode available.
Blackout restrictions
MLB.com has been providing streaming video since the 2002 season[2], with only audio available before that. However, in the United States, Canada, South Korea, Guam and the US Virgin Islands, blackout restrictions apply. Games are blacked out to all users within the theoretical home television territory assigned to each team, irrespective of whether local television stations carry local games of those teams.[3]. Contractual stipulations with Fox and ESPN respectively mean that regular season Saturday games scheduled before 1900 EST (beginning 20 May 2006) and Sunday games scheduled after 17:00 EST are blacked out throughout the United States. During the post-season, all games are blacked out in the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Guam and the US Virgin Islands. In all other countries and territories, no exclusivity rights have been granted and MLB.com is able to broadcast all games.
Any game that is blacked out (for any reason) is made available as an archived game approximately 90 minutes after the conclusion of each game.
MLB.com can check a viewer's origin by using an e-mail address's domain during registration, by using credit card billing information, or by IP address, but the inaccuracy of the ISP-based targeting used leaves many fans unable to watch games on MLB.com.[4]
MLB Gameday Audio does not have blackout restrictions.[1]
MLB.com At Bat
A screenshot of the MLB.com At Bat 2010 iPhone App scoreboard page.MLB.com At Bat is a mobile application available of different platforms including the iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, and HP TouchPad/webOS. The iPhone application features, "live audio, access for MLB.TV subscribers, in-game video highlights, pitch-by-pitch live data and more." The BlackBerry and Android application features "real-time scores, live audio, in-game highlights and more." The application costs $14.99 USD and is available on the App Store, Android Market, and BlackBerry App World stores.[5] MLB sells a new application for each season, with the previous year's product being disabled. The 2011 iOS edition of MLB.com At Bat is only for devices running iOS 4, limiting its availability on older iPhones and iPod Touch devices.
MLB.com Fantasy
MLB.com Fantasy has many games and simulations, including Beat the Streak, and MLB 2009 Fantasy Baseball. Beat the Streak is where you pick a player for each day, and if that player gets at least one hit, your streak continues. MLB 2009 Fantasy Baseball is where you can make up to five teams and choose players for the teams. Depending on how well your players do is how well you score.
History
The previous website for Major League Baseball was www.MajorLeagueBaseball.com. The domain MLB.com was originally owned by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. In September 2000, Morgan Lewis & Bokius and Major League Baseball entered into an agreement to transfer the domain to Major League Baseball.[6]
Customer service complaints
According to the Better Business Bureau: "Consumers previously reported to the BBB their subscriptions were automatically renewed with MLB Advanced Media even though they had cancelled their plans within the specified cancellation period. MLB Advanced Media has taken steps to address these concerns by adding more prominent disclosures and an opt-out feature."[7]
In 2009, opening week games were not available as archives, and users reported limited High Definition service available.[8]
References
- ^ a b MLB.tv subcription information
- ^ "Baseball officials plan live video streaming" on c|net news
- ^ "A black(out) eye for baseball" by Jeff Passan, Yahoo! sports.
- ^ "Major League Baseball Knows Where You Live!". eweek.com. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1617945,00.asp.
- ^ "MLB.com Mobile Software Website"
- ^ "Business Week news item". http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_47/c3708018.htm.
- ^ "BBB Business Review Reliability Report for MLB Advanced Media". http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/athletic-organizations/mlb-advanced-media-in-new-york-ny-7434/.
- ^ Tartakoff, Joseph (2009-04-09). "Washington Post Article on MLB.TV, April 9, 2009". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040804247.html. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
External links
Categories:- Major League Baseball websites
- Internet television channels
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
