Cnet published an article Friday outlining the latest spat between Slingbox and Major League Baseball. As I noted a year ago – almost to the day, no less – the league doesn’t seem to want its customers to view its content unless it’s paid for. Repeatedly. It didn’t then and doesn’t now strike me as either a good way to satisfy customers or particularly sound strategy.
I don’t own a Slingbox
, but MLB’s concerns illustrate pretty effectively what a valuable product it makes for those who travel a lot and are really into live programming, a la sports. Those concerns might be justified. But legal proceedings rarely equal the best solution. MLB needs to address the ability of its customers to access games regardless of where they are. Why not offer a Season Ticket package that provides access to games online and broadcast for a single price? Clearly demand exists or Slingbox wouldn’t cross MLB’s strike zone.
Ironically, all MLB has done – apart from making a brilliant case to its customers of the value Slingbox provides – is timeshifted the argument from last season to this one. I wonder who’ll sue them.
This Post Has 0 Comments