MLB, APSE Nearing Deal To Amend Limits On Multimedia Content

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

MLB, APSE Nearing Compromise On Multimedia Content Limits

MLB and Associated Press Sports Editors are nearing a signed agreement to amend distributed press credentialing guidelines for '08 that sought to impose new limits on multimedia content developed by news organizations at MLB ballparks. Under a tentative agreement negotiated last week at MLBAM offices, news outlets that regularly cover MLB clubs will be allowed to post up to 2 minutes of video per day, one minute of audio, and 15 pictures per day on their Web sites, up from the previously mandated 120 seconds total of audio and video, and seven photos per day. Previously banned photo galleries are being permitted under the revised provisions, and further exceptions will be made for some major and historic events. Formal press conferences remain exempt from the time limits. Left to be finalized are permitted archiving times for material. Under the originally distributed guidelines, non-text content was to be taken down from news outlet Web sites after 72 hours. APSE still is seeking an increase in that number. “We have an agreement in principle that will be mutually respectful and beneficial to each side, and we hope to have it completed by the end of the week,” said MLBAM Exec VP & Editor-in-Chief Dinn Mann.

FOLLOWING NFL'S FOOTSTEPS: The MLB rules, seeking to place some type of parameters on digital content now being produced and distributed from ballparks, followed the NFL’s implementation last summer of a 45-second rule for news outlet video involving team personnel. “I still don’t believe there should be any restrictions, but if there are to be some, let’s make them thoughtful and real,” said Mike Fannin, APSE President and Managing Editor for Sports & Features at the K.C. Star. “We’ve heard their concerns, they’ve heard ours, and I do believe we’re on the verge of having a policy that we can live off of, and is groundbreaking for media in the new age. The whole tenor and openness of the conversations is very different than what we’ve had with many of MLB’s other brethren.”