Major League Baseball (MLB) wants to launch a new direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service that would offer local live broadcasts for at least half of teams in time for the 2025 season.
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Discussion Questions:
- What are broadcast rights?
- Why are broadcast rights important to media companies like ESPN or local networks?
- Why are they important to Major League Baseball?
- What is distribution?
- What is direct-to-consumer (DTC) distribution?
- How does a service like MLB.TV represent an example of DTC distribution?
- What is an RSN?
- What type of access to games does MLB.TV subscription provide fans?
- How is that different from games a fan could watch through a network with RSN rights?
- Why would MLB offer local live game broadcasts through a streaming service?
- How might that represent a shift from the broadcast rights model the league has used previously?
- Do you think this could represent an example of how other leagues might approach local broadcast rights in the future? Why or why not?