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MLB.tv finishes the preseason with a free preview weekend, perfect for iPad launch testing
We're less than a day away from another MLB season starting and the league is celebrating by throwing up another free preview of its online streaming platform. Viewable through a variety of mediums (including iPad, Boxee and Roku of course) there's even more HD streams promised, with VOD access to archived baseball games, a new pitch-by-pitch display and the requisite DVR and multigame viewing features. Unfortunately blackout rules can still put a crimp in the player's style, even with prices rising once again to their $119 (Premium with DVR, home or away broadcast and Multi-Game View) or $99.95 (standard) levels, keeping an eye on the TV schedule will be as important as checking out the bandwidth meter on the Flash-powered player before deciding to pay up for continued access.
MLB At Bat adds in-app purchases
It's no secret that one of my favorite iPhone apps is Major League Baseball's At Bat [iTunes link]. Last season it provided real-time statistics and video clips from games across the league. This season, it added live video streaming of full games as well as Game Day audio. At first the video streams were free, then MLB switched the model to feature one free game of the day, and the others were available to MLB.TV subscribers. Frankly I thought that was a bummer, as I don't want to pay a monthly fee for baseball. They must have read my mind, because version 1.4 was released this week with in-app purchasing. Users can buy any live video stream for $0.99US. Hooray! No more MLB.TV. I've gushed over this app before, so I'll keep it short this time. Not only is it a great experience for fans, the developers seem on top of what we want. Each update is significantly better than the last. Now if only the NFL and the PGA would create something as good.
Roku Video player now streaming live HD baseball games from MLB.TV
We've always loved the Roku Video Player, and it's getting even more flexible over time -- in addition to Netflix and Amazon video rentals, the $99 box can now play, pause, and rewind live HD baseball games in 720p from MLB.TV, as well as play archived games from the previous week on demand. You'll have to pay the one-time MLB.TV subscription fee of $35, but that's not terrible, especially if you're an out-of-market fan looking to catch your favorite team without having to trek out to a bar. Now if only the NFL would let anyone but DirecTV carry Sunday Ticket, we'd be all set.
Verizon is working on bringing MLB Extra Innings to FiOS TV
With only a few months to go until Major League Baseball's opening day, Verizon's blog is reporting that a carriage deal for the MLB Extra Innings package is in the works. The package brings many out of market games to baseball fans, and was almost a DirecTV exclusive last year -- just like the NFL Sunday Ticket -- before consumer groups and the anti-trust types got involved. Now it appears that in addition to just about every digital cable and satellite provider, the nations largest fiber provider will also have the package. There's no word on how many of the games are presented in HD, but going on FiOS's track record we'd assume if the game is produced in HD, than it'll be presented in HD. The bad news is that even when the deal gets done, it won't be in all markets. We can only assume this has something to do with FiOS TV upgrades planned for 2008, that'll take care of its QAM bottleneck.
Sharp solar panel system installed at AT&T Park
While you were busy watching Vladimir Guerrero take home the Home Run Derby crown two nights ago (not to mention the All-Star game last night), you may not have been aware that AT&T Park was feeding uber-clean energy back into the grid serving PG&E's customers throughout northern and central California. Sure enough, the home of the San Francisco Giants is now also home to 590 Sharp solar panels located in three separate areas of the stadium, which combine to generate some 120-kilowatts of electricity. The size of the entire array is reportedly "equivalent to approximately 40 residential solar systems," and while this system won't conjure up as much power as the CIS Solar Tower, it will certainly make good use of the ballpark during the off-season.[Via EETimes image courtesy of MatrixCS]
Nintendo's DS Lite orders food, shows replays at Safeco Field
Those looking for a little more interaction at Safeco Field this season need only bring their DS Lite and a few extra bucks. This season, Nintendo is trialing the Nintendo Fan Network at the home of the Seattle Mariners, which enables onlookers to "order food and drinks, watch the live television feed of the game, access stats and scores, and play trivia from the comfort of their seat." The quietly introduced pilot program has brought several kiosks to the park, which uploads a program to the DS Lite and enables the WiFi-equipped handheld to take part in the bonus festivities. Eventually, the Big N hopes to expand the system into other stadiums, but for now, Mariners fans can get in on the action for $5 per game, or $30 for ten games.[Image courtesy of Flickr]
Major League Baseball still barking up Sling Media's tree
While some broadcasters are actually utilizing the Slingbox and appreciating its benefits, leave it to Major League Baseball to further alienate its dwindling fanbase. After cable customers were just barely able to get back in on the Extra Innings love, it appears that Sling Media is still being blacklisted in the eyes of MLB, as a recent interview with Michael Mellis, Senior VP and general counsel of MLB Advanced Media's offices reinforced the friction between the two. Most recently, Mellis and friends seem to be mulling a lawsuit against Sling, as he claims that the Slingbox "allows viewers to circumvent geographical boundaries written into broadcast rights deals," and moreover, had no shame in admitting that profiteering was at the forefront of their minds by suggesting that "if the league can't protect the rights it sells, that doesn't bode well for future contracts when it wants to resell the rights at higher margins." Reportedly, the CEA has indeed come to Sling's side by proclaiming that this case is a "classic instance of copyright owners trying to suppress innovation purely because it empowers consumers." Of course, we hope you don't let Mellis' words get you too riled up -- after all, he also stated that "there's no guarantee that Slingbox would be around next year as it's just a startup." Let the snickering commence.[Via CNET]
MLB.TV Mosaic: baseball nirvana
Today is one of the best days of the year: the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, spring is in the air. It's Opening Day! Major League Baseball has really been on the forefront of delivering content on the web, and this year looks to be the best yet. MLB.TV started testing their stand-alone Mosaic player last year, and it looks like they've updated it significantly for the 2007 season (it just became available for download last night). Mosaic is a very cool application that lets MLB.TV premium subscribers watch six (!) baseball games simultaneously (the above screenshot is rather boring since there were only two games last night). You can then click on any of the game to bring up a larger size window focusing on that game alone (as below). This year MLB.TV is doubling the bit-rate of their streams to 700kbps so I would expect the video quality to improve significantly over the last few years.The biggest downside to Mosaic is that it's a resource hog. This is unsurprising when you discover that it is in part a Java application that depends on Flip4Mac for the video (all the streams are Windows Media based). In addition, location based blackout restrictions apply to the home markets of teams (based on the billing address of your credit card). Nonetheless, for the big baseball fan (and particular fantasy baseball player) Mosaic is close to nirvana, especially for those of us who no longer live in our favorite team's home market. The Mosaic player is included with a premium subscription to MLB.TV which is $119.95 per year. They have also have a regular subscription for $89.95 that will allow you to watch one game at a time in a browser window as well as an audio-only Gameday Audio subscription for $14.95.Oh yeah, Go 'Stros!
MLB highlights coming to iTunes Store
With opening day right around the corner, Major League Baseball and Apple have announced a deal for game highlights to appear on the iTunes Store. Each day there will be a 25 minutes "MLB.com Daily Rewind" highlight show and each week two "'Games of the Week,' featuring full versions of the best games from the National and American Leagues." Each of these games will be $1.99 (compared to $3.95 per game through MLB's Digital Download Service) though there will also be a Season Pass of the "Game of the Week" for $19.99 and a Multi-Pass of the "Daily Rewind" for $7.99 per month.MLB.TV is probably the best online sports offering, so real baseball fans will probably want to go there instead as it allows you to stream "every 2007 regular season out-of-market game" live plus a lot more. However, this iTunes deal looks interesting, and with MLB under fire for the exclusive DirecTV deal, more media choice is a good thing. We can hope this will be a success and cause MLB to expand their iTunes offering with more games, etc.To whet your appetite for the season the iTunes Store is now offering a 2007 Season Preview for free download (iTunes Store link).
MLB2K7 no-go on Wii, fans forced to wait for MLB2K8 (update 1)
Ben Brinkman for Major League Baseball 2K7 recently answered some questions through a blog entry at 1UP. While followers of the game had their questions answered, the grim details regarding an installment in the franchise for the 2007 season on the Wii were hard to swallow. Turns out, the game won't be present on the Wii this year, with the company taking the extra time to perfect controls for the game's 2008 installment.For a baseball game, how many different gesture-based controls would you really need? Would it be that difficult to assign commands? Also, why not do what EA did with Madden 07 and just port the title over at a later date instead of abandoning the year's version altogether? [Thanks Jonah!]Update: Whoops, it's Ben Brinkman, not George Simmons.
New MLB 2K7 screenshots look ... nice
IGN posted some new screenshots of this spring's upcoming baseball game MLB 2K7. The off-screen video from CES caught our attention and these screenshots further pique our interest. It's entirly possible that 2K Games is going to improve on the standard baseball formula with a more realistic, televised format to the game, but we always worry about the graphics of their sports games. Though, these screenshots show some hope, the character models are pretty good, but we'll just have to wait and see if 2K pulls through. More videos please![Thanks, Jonah]
Jeter still MLB cover model
If you base your sports game purchases on how pretty the cover athlete is, than this is a great day for you. Derek Jeter will once again don the cover of a 2K Sports' title. Predictably that title will be Major League Baseball 2K7. Mr. Jeter (or DJ as I like to pretend I call him) had this to say: "It is a real privilege to represent the premier MLB title in the video game industry." He continued, "Just as I am always striving to improve my game, 2K Sports is constantly improving theirs, and this dedication has made Major League Baseball 2K7 the best MLB video game ever." He then stopped reading the cue cards and went back to his favorite hobby of counting money. Major League Baseball 2K7 will appear on the PSP March fifth (according to EB Games). [Via IGN]
Surprise -- Derek Jeter to grace MLB 2K7 cover
New York Yankees Shortstop Derek Jeter will have his mugshot plastered on the front of all copies of Major League Baseball 2K7. This should come as no big revelation, as the seven-time All Star has previously adorned the covers of the last two annual editions. Jeter has also appeared serially on game boxes for the now-deceased All-Star Baseball franchise from Acclaim. Say what you will about Electronic Arts for lack of innovation, but at least they swap out cover athletes every year (thanks in no small part to the curse). To be fair, 2K Sports is hoping MLB 2K7 will be a reinvention of the franchise. According to designer Ben Brinkman, "First year, drill down to the core and get the core baseball game going. Year two, add some cool features, maybe some tersely modes, maybe redesign franchise. The third year, just wrap it up into a nice bow and nail it." So if not this year, expect MLB 2K9 to be the real winner. MLB 2K7 will come to bat Spring 2007 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, and the original Xbox.
Sprint announces on-phone MLB audio
Just in time for the playoff race to heat up, Sprint's inked a deal with Major League Baseball to provide every -- yes, every -- major league game via streaming audio to Vision and Power Vision-enabled handsets. What's more, each game will be available via both team's flagship stations in addition to a Spanish feed. Called "Gameday Audio," the service will run ya $5.99 and should be available this month. Now just throw in a little A2DP, maybe some Sirius for entertainment during the seventh-inning stretch, and you've got yourself a pretty wicked setup for baseball on the move.[Via PhysOrg.com]
Major League Baseball not a fan of placeshifting
After alienating fans with long strikes and doped-up players, you'd think that Major League Baseball would be wise to make moves towards recapturing its lost fan base; instead, recent comments by an executive from MLB's media division indicate that baseball may be intending to further sour relations with its customers by cracking down on the placeshifting of televised games. Speaking at this year's Digital Media Summit in LA, MLB Advanced Media executive VP George Kliavkoff went toe-to-toe with fellow panel member and Sling Media marketing VP Rich Buchanan, arguing that Slingbox customers are "violating the scope of their [cable and satellite] user agreements" when they rebroadcast content out of their home market. The whole issue seems rather silly to us, as baseball is essentially complaining that you're somehow screwing a local affiliate by watching an out-of-market game when you're traveling to its city, even though the sport as a whole is still benefiting from your viewership and the vast number of placeshifters probably ensure that no net eyeballs are actually lost. Note to MLB: Cricket is starting to look more and more attractive every day.
Mobile ESPN gets MLB
Not that it should come as much of a surprise that Mobile ESPN would secure content for one of the two biggest sports in the US, but they announced clip highlights, scoreboards, Fantasy team management, and team alerts for the 2006 Major League Baseball season. You know what you gotta do to get access, friends; we're thinking of joining up just to see the spectacle that is the Mets take on yet another season... on our phone.[Via Mobile Tracker]
