The beginning of college signals a dramatic lifestyle change for incoming freshmen. High school kids are suddenly faced with a variety of new challenges, socially and academically.
While I vividly remember facing all these obstacles early on, there was one somewhat unrelated issue on my mind: How can I regularly watch my favorite baseball team when I go to school nearly 1,000 miles away from home?
Luckily, a savior has been sent for this problem in the form of MLB.tv. The program has improved dramatically over the course of its short history. Other professional leagues would be wise to follow this trend of out-of-market TV availability through the Internet to generate revenue and create more popularity.
For $110 a year, or $20 a month, you can subscribe to MLB.tv Premium (the standard MLB.tv is available for a lower price, but just trust me when I tell you the extended features are well worth a few extra bucks). With this package, you can watch all 2,430 regular season games online and almost 100 games per week. For fans, this proposition alone seems like a dream come true, but recently added features make the package appear even more attractive to baseball fanatics.
This year's package offers benefits such as HD-quality picture, DVR functionality and multi-game viewing options, just to name a few. For me, perhaps the most underrated feature is the home and away TV feeds. If you've grown up watching your favorite team on TV, it's not uncommon to develop an emotional connection to your team's local announcers. MLB.tv gives you the option of viewing their analysis of every game of the season.
In the past, Charter Communications hasn't been exactly kind to its local sports fans (The Big Ten Network first aired in August of 2007, but Charter didn't pick it up until more than a year later). But two weeks ago, Charter actually did something nice for its local sports fans and offered the out-of-market TV package, MLB Extra Innings, for a week and free of charge.
Don't get me wrong—I thoroughly enjoyed the free trial, using it as much as possible. But for many audiences, especially the college-age demographic, the idea of actually purchasing the package seems like a long shot with its $199 a year price and lack of monthly subscription. Students are frequently commuting back and forth for summer and other vacations. That's what makes MLB.tv such an ideal fit—its ability to take your own team with you on the go.
The past few years have taught us that the Internet can be of great benefit to declining industries. An excellent example of this is Hulu, a Web site that legally offers a wide selection of TV shows and movies. Hulu makes this possible by inserting short commercials that the audience must sit through periodically. Though this method of achieving revenue is drastically different than even a few years ago, it has still created positive results. The rising popularity of Hulu is evident through commercial appearances during the Super Bowl this year.
So how long will it take for other leagues to catch onto this trend? In addition to MLB Extra Innings, other major sports offer out-of-market TV packages such as NBA League Pass, NHL Center Ice and NFL Sunday Ticket. The NBA has also provided free audio for some of its regular season games. Still, this program is nowhere close to the format of MLB.tv, and these leagues are missing out on a genuine opportunity.
MLB.tv encourages active fan participation—not just in following one team, but watching games and players that receive less exposure on the national level. This act creates lots of marketing opportunities MLB might not receive otherwise.
The restrictions of TV contracts and other external factors are most likely what stands in the way of leagues outside of MLB adapting a comparable service. Whatever these factors are, these leagues should work hard to overcome them. Just as MLB.tv has had a positive effect on baseball's popularity, services for other leagues could have a similarly valuable impact.
