Cleveland Indians Roundup: Tribe Will Feature In-Market Live Streaming in 2016

Clevelinks: Indians Will Offer In-Market Streaming for First Time

During the last week’s owners meetings in Dallas, Major League Baseball comissioner Rob Manfred announced that 15 regional sports networks would offer in-market live streaming for the next three years. The Cleveland Indians were among these teams, as were 14 other markets that use FOX as their regional provider.

This means that anyone with a cable package that would be able to watch from home can now log in via their phones, tablets or computers to view the game from anywhere. As long as they are authenticated as being in-market and logged in, games are now accessible on any mobile device. Previously, there was no way to stream games.

It’s a great step for MLB’s outdated media system, which hasn’t exactly done a great job of keeping up with changes in the way people watch sports. But the league still has ways to improve. With so many people “cutting the cord” and going cableless, the league must find a way to tap into the streaming market without featuring in-market blackouts. MLB.tv is great for those who live outside of the Tribe’s market, but it’s useless to the majority of Cleveland fans who live in the area.

Kudos to baseball for working out this arrangement, but they still have a long way to go to fully catch up to where their audience is in 2015.

In Case You Missed It:

Tribe Sells Reliever C.C. Lee – On Friday, the Indians sold the contract of C.C. Lee to the Saitama Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League. The reliever requested the trade in order to spend more time with his family.

Front Office Promotions and a Cody Allen Trade? – Andrew Schmid analyzes the potential trade of Cody Allen, as well as a trio of front office promotions, in this weekend edition of Clevelinks.

#Indians:

Next: Is Jose Ramirez Too Valuable to Trade?

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