CNET: MLB throws high heat at Web portals

Major League Baseball (MLB) pointed its bat to the bleachers, taunting media partners with its intent to knock rebroadcasting right rates clear out of the stadium. RealNetworks, its existing partner, already dropped out, blanching at the costs. RealNetworks paid $6.3 million last year for live feeds.

MLB may intend believe that Internet broadcasting technologies are about to bloom, making it necessary to close the web loophole by which media partners could rebroadcast the content for a cheaper cost. Or it might plan on just upping the perceived value of its product, as the National Football League did years ago, by demanding price increases based solely on attitude and the (correct) expectation that media buyers would rather make implausible efficiency arguments to their advertising clients than change well-worn behavior grooves. But MLB may not have correctly estimated the behavior pattern of online media buyers, which has to date largely involved ignoring baseball altogether.

While most television content is highly time-deferrable, as Tivo is proving particularly with sitcom and movie content, sports events and news are the two categories that will likely remain dependent on immediate distribution rights.