Allen Weiner

You can stop singing the blues for the future of the U.S. cable television industry. Those clever purveyors of head ends, set top boxes and often questionable customer service have entered the online broadcast space. In a deal with MLB and YES (the Yankees’ broadcast network) Cablevision will, beginning July 8, sell “TV anywhere” packages to Cablevision customers. Depending on your cable plan, for between $20 and $50, in-market fans (that is, those in the local New York DMA) can watch Yankee home games on their computers wherever they are. Sling without the box, one could say.

Let’s review the two important points here: one, you must be a Cablevision subscriber, the net of which is an effort for Cablevision to ward off Hulu, YouTube and others from encouraging consumers to unhook, de-cable or cut the cord. Second: Cablevision will be providing the “authentication” service which ensures this service is available only to Cablevision subscribers (for now). Get familiar with the term “conditional access” (as in you get access under the condition that you subscribe to a local cable service); it’s soon to be the TV 2.0 flavor of the month.

Ever the used car salesman, MLB commissioner Bud Selig says “”It is important that fans in local markets have portable flexibility to stay connected to their favorite team if they can’t be at the ballpark, and I believe this represents a significant step in that direction.” MLB is operating on the theory that movie rentals have not killed off the movie industry, in essence saying fans who want to (and can afford to) go to the ballpark will continue to go while those who want the convenience of watching their team while on the road can also be served.

Yes, you logically ask what does this do to local broadcast rights. And what about premium packages such as Extra Innings. Perhaps the fine distinction here focuses on the portability of the service, almost creating a new market that lays between home TV broadcasts MLB.TV online (which does not include in-market games) and Extra Innings (which also does not include home games).

If I have a complaint, it’s that as a fan celebrating his golden anniversary as a baseball devotee/nut, I question what happens to the fan who cannot afford cable. Already TV game rights have been sold to local cable nets (i.e. Fox Sports Net) and national Nets (Fox, TBS) , so by moving games to yet another premium channel, America’s Pastime gets further away from segments of America’s fan base.

I call a balk.