MLB President of Business & Media Bob Bowman this morning shot down a Wall Street Journal report that the league would stop fans from streaming game footage, saying the newspaper "just got it flat-out wrong." Bowman said, "We're a friend of technology. Every social media technology that’s come along -- whether it’s Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and now Periscope -- they've all been fans and friends of baseball. So we expect our fans to use it. We don't expect them to stream a game." Bowman acknowledged that the league "really can't stop our fans" from streaming footage, but he said, "No fan goes to our games with the thought of streaming live a half an inning of a game." Bowman: "They've been capturing video of our players for a long time, and you have to allow that kind of activity. All these social activities that they do there, it's generally about themselves and their family and their friends.” He added of streaming content, “We all just need to pump the brakes here. This is an issue looking for a headline. This is not going to be an issue. Our fans understand they're there to watch a baseball game. It's captivating enough. We all ought to just take a deep breath and move on" ("Squawk Alley,” CNBC, 4/7). In the original report, The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Kim Nash wrote under the header, "MLB Will Bench Baseball Fans Caught Streaming Games." Bowman in the article indicated that MLB will "watch for egregious self-streaming activity." Bowman: "Fans know the rules. We'll be watching to see how it's used and when." Nash noted MLB games are licensed content, and league policy prohibits more than 120 seconds "of video to be shown -- and it can’t be live." Bowman indicated that MLB "has talked with the league’s 30 teams to remind them of the policy for fans and credentialed media" (WSJ.com, 4/6).
