MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke with Yahoo’s Jeff Passan in a lengthy interview discussing his first year in office. The interview was wide-ranging, covering a variety of topics from Pete Rose to the DH in the National League to expansion.
Manfred also talked about a pair of topics near and dear to our hearts at AA – cord cutting and local blackout windows. And while Manfred’s responses didn’t exactly provide specifics of how the league would go about tackling these topics in the future, he at least showed himself to be thinking clearly about the issues.
Here’s Manfred on cord cutting.
Cord-cutting is a concern for us. The biggest concern with it is we don’t know exactly – nobody knows – how big and persistent this phenomenon is going to be. The cable model has served this industry really well. Anything that interrupts that model is something we have to worry about. Having said that, I do think our over-the-top capacity at BAM (MLB Advanced Media) and BAM Tech gives us downside protection that is a little more robust than other businesses.
This makes sense. MLB and its teams make money hand over fist from its local and national television deals. They also make plenty of money from fans purchasing MLB.tv subscriptions, and as more and more viewers cut the cord, the amount of subscribers to MLB.tv will likely increase – especially if MLB gets its issues with local blackout windows taken care of.
Speaking of those local blackout windows…
How does baseball benefit from preventing people in Las Vegas and Iowa from watching up to 40 percent of games on an average weeknight with blackouts?
It doesn’t. It just plain doesn’t.
Thanks, Captain Obvious.
Manfred also discussed the settlement in the Garber anti-trust lawsuit that will allow viewers to buy single team MLB.tv packages in 2016.
I think Garber was helpful in terms of focusing us on the underserved areas and blackouts. I think you will see continuing efforts in this area. But I want to be realistic about it. One of the problems here is whether or not there is distribution in a particular area, someone bought the rights to distribute in that area. I think people think, ‘Gee, Bud Selig should’ve just thrown the switch and that was the end of it.’ The fact of the matter is you have clubs that sold rights to [regional sports networks] that have rights in certain areas, and so it’s going to be a complicated process. But one of the side benefits of Garber is we’re really focused on the topic.
This is an important point to consider – Manfred just can’t snap his fingers and make the blackout territories make sense. Well, he can, but he’d be opening MLB and its teams up to lawsuits from the RSNs that own the distribution rights to the areas in question. And as long as the local cable systems in those areas won’t pick up the RSNs (rightfully), they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.
While I don’t think it’s a realistic solution, here’s what would likely be the most logical scenario for markets like Las Vegas that are claimed by multiple RSNs that no local carrier offers. The carrier must offer the relevant RSNs to the customers in an a la carte package of sorts, and if they refuse, the user won’t be blacked out of that RSN’s games on MLB.tv with an authenticated login. If they do offer the RSN, the viewer has the option to add the RSN to their package and watch the games locally.
Again – it’s not realistic because the phrase “a la carte” causes carriers to start dry heaving, but I think it’s the easiest solution that wouldn’t require lawsuits to rectify. These blackout windows are such a prickly concept for MLB and other sports leagues to contend with, and as long as there are areas being claimed by teams and RSNs hundreds of miles away, they’ll be problematic.
Anyway, Passan’s entire interview with Manfred is worth your time, so go ahead and give it a read.
[Yahoo]
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