Despite MLB's recently-announced deal giving RealNetworks exclusive rights to Webcast audio of league games, KNBR-AM in S.F. Programming Dir Bob Agnew said that the station "plans to keep audio" of Giants games on its Web site through May 1 while "awaiting specifics" from MLB, according to Tommy Cummings of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Agnew has "questions about where local commentary, such as pregame and postgame programming, fits in, and whether audiocasts can be downloaded." Meanwhile, Cummings reports that audio for A's games "will cost fans right away," as carrier KBAL-AM "posts a link on its site for the A's official site on MLB.com." A's Broadcast Manager Robert Buan said that the team's postgame show will be on the Internet, but the pregame show will not be (S.F. CHRONICLE, 3/29).
DOUBTERS: Analysts continue to question the viability of the subscription-based model of the MLB/RealNetworks partnership. Media Metrix Internet analyst David Card said, "It's logical. Radio works online, compared to video. ... [But] people will feel they are being gouged." Consumer Electronics Association Dir of Communications Lisa Fasold said MLB is "going to have trouble charging for games that people have always gotten for free." Agnew added that KNBR "registers its highest online audience" during Giants games: "The magic of radio is that it is free. Charging, even on the Internet, is un-American." But Nielsen Norman Group consultant Don Norman said of charging for Web-based content: "It's about time. People have been spoiled be 'free.' It will take a few brave, courageous companies to establish the trend" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 3/29).
