“Savvy baseball fans have found a way to watch hundreds of games live on the Web for the price of a single stadium ticket. But only if their PCs run Windows. Microsoft, which just signed an estimated $40 million deal with Major League Baseball for Webcasting rights, is offering the bargain to subscribers of MSN Premium, a subscription-based product that doesn’t work with the Mac or Linux operating systems,” Jim Hu and Evan Hansen report for CNET News.com.
“Here’s the deal: Sign up for MSN Premium and you get the first three months free, including access to all video- and audio-casts from MLB.com. After that, you pay $9.95 a month. For the full six-month baseball season, which runs from April to September, that comes to only about $30,” Hu and Hansen report. “By contrast, Mac users–equipped with their high-resolution ‘cinema’ displays–get stuck paying MLB.com’s regular rate of about $100–70 percent more. MLB.com’s All Access offering, which includes live video and audio, goes for $19.95 a month, or $99.95 a season. MLB.com shuts out Linux customers altogether, at least for now.”
“Microsoft plans to launch a Mac version of MSN Premium in the future that will include MLB.com video- and audio-casts, a representative said, adding that the company has released MSN versions in the past for the Mac, but not for Linux. ‘MSN Premium isn’t available to Mac customers yet, and there isn’t an ETA for that,’ the representative said. ‘It’s something we’re thinking about for the future,'” Hu and Hansen report.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Great. We can’t wait. If it’s twice as good as Windows Media Player for Mac (catchy name, huh?), it’ll suck so much that whole continents could be lost in the resulting vacuum.
baseball? lmfao….
ohoooooh boy… please tell me i’m gonna have to get rid of my mac so i can watch BASEBALL!!!??!?!?
seriously, this is the typical mac attitude…disdain that which you cannot have (one of the 48 laws of power, actually)… but..*shrug.. microsoft is not desperate for mac/linux dollars, come on people..
it’s not like this is going to screw over many people.. it’s just a slap in the face from a big company that is protecting its most important product..
Baseball?… whatever
I’ll leave my game watching to my big screen TV and satellite dish coupled with TiVo. I just don’t get trying to watch TV on a computer screen even if that screen is an Apple 23″ LCD.
Besides baseball doesn’t get interesting until post-season.
First post?
baseball doesn’t get interesting until post-season?
Jadis stick to a sport you understand, liking trying to get “first post”.
Actually for fans of baseball, this is a big deal. Not everyone can watch a game played by their favorite team when they are at home. Many is the time when I’ve been working late, or on the weekend, and would have liked to be able to follow a game. Baseball moves pretty slow, so you can have it in the corner of your screen without it distracting you, expanding it when something interesting happens.
It’s unfortunate that MLB made a deal with a known monopolist with only money in mind, rather than with the fans in mind. Though, what can you expect? This deal not only locks you into Windows, but into MSN as well. Great for MSFT, bad for the fans of baseball.
“baseball doesn’t get interesting until post-season?
Jadis stick to a sport you understand, liking trying to get “first post”.”
Baseball gets interesting?
“It’s unfortunate that MLB made a deal with a known monopolist with only money in mind, rather than with the fans in mind.”
MLB owners and players are more interested in money than the fans? Wow what a shock. The only interesting way to watch baseball is live. Or you can watch espn and they will show you each games hi-lites.
Im with JadisOne, watching TV at my computer is annoying, thats why online movie renting wont work until there are more computer-to-tv streaming like ElGatos EyeHome. Thats why the DVD player on my computer is almost useless except for making backups of my kids DVDs in case they break them.
<<It’s unfortunate that MLB made a deal with a known monopolist with only money in mind, rather than with the fans in mind.>>
Like Boob Selig and his cronies are any better than M$, obviously they only have money in mind when they make any deal.
Though I’m on strike against anything MLB (have been since they were on strike in 1996). For those interested should bring this up with MLB and Microsoft. If they don’t give a suitable answer, then bring it up with the Better Business Bureau. If that doesn’t work, then sue both Microsoft and the MLB for computerized discrimination.
Go CUBS!
Who would use a mac anyway? Go Microsoft!
“Who would use a mac anyway? Go Microsoft!”
Only those who know better than to use Windoze! Yeah Microsoft… Go to Hell! Oh, I forgot, you run the place, do’h!!
big whoop…
actually, if this keeps me from having to watch another weepy-eyed “boys of summer” special in which ex-jocks try to make a boring and archaic sport sound like some kind of spiritual awakening, I’m all for it.
I think “subscription-based” is the new theme for Microsoft…
WAIT A MINUTE…
I paid MLB to try a month of watching ALL GAMES LIVE. I have a MAC, and it works JUST FINE for this (except for the fact that most live broadcasts are available only in the ultrasucky Win Media Player). I could open several games in RealPlayer as well. Mac users are NOT shut out on this one. You guys seem to be bugged that you can’t use the MSN service. You should be happy! That’s like complaining that I can’t use AOL for some reason…who would want to? You can buy access to the ENTIRE baseball season for $79. The only drawback seems to be that ALL of your local games will be blacked out, AND many national games’ live feeds will be blacked out a lot of the time as well.
Who cares that you can’t take advantage of MS’s amazing deal? I also can’t take advantage of any deals that Dell offers me either, without switching to Windows, which makes all those types of offers things that I AM NOT INTERESTED IN. What if you drive a Toyota and Nissan offers some perk for people who drive their cars? Seems to me that you are not eligible for that offer at that particular time because you are not a customer of that company.
People who say baseball doesn’t get interesting until the post season are obviously not baseball fans, not to mention that they don’t understand the game. Stick to basketball or hockey if you think this way. Here’s a little test. Have you ever thought, “Baseball has so much down time where nothing is happening.” Take it from someone who knows the game, that thought can only mean one thing. You don’t understand the game.
Can the players strike over that too? Greedy schmucks…
Are there really that many mac users oput there that actually care about this???? Like one poster said….Big whoop! Remember people, this is baseball we are talking about, not hockey
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
I wonder if we’ll have game delays do to virus’.
You are all retarded.
You can watch all baseball games with you MAC on MLB. WHY DO YOU WANT TO GIVE YOUR MONEY TO MSN?
Retards.
Be aware of who you give your money to…too.
“You better think!” – Aretha Franklin
“I think “subscription-based” is the new theme for Microsoft…”
get used to it… there plans even go deeper… imagine everyone having X-Boxes, they’re M$’s gateway into subscription based software… I’m sure we’ll see software, other than games, for the X-Box that will be supsription based… possibly the first will be entertainment feeds llike this baseball thing…
Thanks Big Bros Billy
…retards.
Watching a baseball game live with a beer and a hotdog is OK. Watching a game on TV is boredom to the nth degree. Watching a game on a computer would have to be much worse. Damn, just kill me.
The GOOD news: Get to watch a bunch of games
The BAD news: Have to use MSN Premium
And you would want to do this becaaaaause…….?