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Major League Baseball to Begin In-Market Online Streaming of Live Games in Two Markets Beginning in July

Posted on: Wednesday, 24 June 2009, 11:00 CDT

Yankees on YES to launch with Yankees-Twins game on Wednesday, July 8

NEW YORK, June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Major League Baseball announced today it will launch this July a landmark pair of in-market subscription products, including Yankees on YES, to deliver live games online within their respective home broadcast territories. Upon launch, these will be the only live in-market streaming products in professional sports to include games with local broadcast television deals.

"These agreements are an important part of our global effort to give fans greater access to our game," said Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. "It is important that fans in local markets have portable flexibility to stay connected to their favorite team if they can't be at the ballpark, and I believe this represents a significant step in that direction."

MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, has entered into a partnership with the YES Network and Cablevision to provide eligible Cablevision customers throughout the Yankees home broadcasting territory with access to YES Network Yankees telecasts live on their computers. The offering, which will be implemented through an authentication process managed by Cablevision and MLBAM, will be available exclusively to Cablevision customers who subscribe to the Family Cable (expanded basic) level of television service and Optimum Online.

The Yankees on YES package, available for a one-time fee of $49.95 for the remainder of the season or $19.95 for any 30-day period, is scheduled to launch on Wednesday, July 8 at 8:00 p.m. (EDT) with the YES Network's Yankees-Twins broadcast. Beginning immediately, eligible Cablevision subscribers can review FAQs for the product and purchase Yankees on YES at Yankees.com, YESNetwork.com and Optimum.net.

Major League Baseball became the first professional sports league to make every game available online for out-of-market fans in 2003 and since that time has delivered over 250 million live video streams. It now is also the first to make this number of live games available online for fans living in a home team territory such as the Yankees.

A second in-market live game streaming product is expected to be announced the week of June 29.

SOURCE MLB

Source: PR Newswire

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