Yankees Will Be First MLB Team To Offer Live In-Market Streaming

The Yankees later this season will "become the first MLB team to have its games streamed live online within its home market, thanks to a landmark carriage deal YES Network signed with Cablevision earlier this spring," according to Ourand & Fisher of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources indicated that the streamed games will be available "via subscription to Cablevision's TV and broadband customers who subscribe to a tier that carries" YES. The partnership marks the "first major effort within baseball for in-market streaming -- an issue that has troubled the industry for years." The idea has been "bogged down by a series of unresolved financial and operational hurdles, most notably determining how revenue would be shared among individual clubs and MLB." But many MLB clubs maintain that in-market streaming is "one of the sport's most pressing issues," because with baseball "deriving much of its revenue on a localized basis, in-market streaming represents a potentially lucrative new pool of advertising and subscriber revenue, as well as an additional means to market tickets and licensed merchandise." However, Ourand & Fisher note the YES-Cablevision pact includes "several components that are still major sticking points with other RSNs," including the "Web hosting of the Yankees games." Under the deal, the "in-market package would be accessible in at least" three spots: Yankees.com, YESNetwork.com, and Cablevision’s OptimumOnline.com. The YES-Cablevision deal also "includes a subscription fee that users would pay to access the games" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/8 issue). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir reported YES is "pursuing similar deals with other local cable operators, like Time Warner, and telecommunications services, like Verizon." With the Yankees' deal "complete, other teams are expected to follow" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/7).