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MLB Takes On Slingbox

by Terrence O'Brien on May 31, 2007 at 04:05 PM

MLB vs. Sling
"Any rebroadcast, retransmission, or account of this game, without the express written consent of Major League Baseball..."

Never again will we doubt how seriously MLB takes this disclaimer. Apparently, it believes that using the place-shifting Slingbox to watch games on your laptop or smart phone while away from home is illegal. The Slingbox is a gadget that allows you to rebroadcast your TV programming to any online device, be it a computer or capable cell phone. It's very useful for frequent travelers and those who need (or want) to catch up on TV while away from home.

MLB licensing is a maze of local, regional, and national agreements that give the baseball organization as much control as possible over its content. MLB has even gone after fantasy league baseball Web sites, claiming they need to pay a licensing fee to use players statistics. In the current case, MLB says that because the Slingbox allows users to watch a game that should be blacked out in another region, it violates the organization's rule set on local exclusivity of content.

A senior VP at the National Hockey League, Keith Ritter, has a good piece of advice for the licensing fundamentalists at MLB -- "Don't sue your fans."

From Gizmodo

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Tags: baseball, law, mlb, sling, slingbox

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