MLB.com will begin inserting ads into their streaming video feeds this season, adding a secondary revenue stream to their subscription service according to IBD. MLB.TV ended last season with 1.3 million subscribers and raised prices for this season. For the millions of fans without DirecTV this service will be the only way to view out-of market games in their homes. MLB plans to charge the 45 advertisers they have already lined up $15-$35 CPM.

At the same time, MLB continues to announce new syndication deals for their their packaged video content including distributors Akimbo and MediaFLO. Last week the company announced it would begin selling it’s 30-minute Daily Rewind through Apple’s iTunes store, a move which for the first time monetizes one of their best programs that had previously been offered for free.

MLB.com sits across the street from Google’s New York HQ, much publicized recently for being on top of the hub of the largest network of dark fiber in the country. In recent years they have expanded beyond baseball. The company serves as the backbone for the World Championship Sports Network, and partnered with CBS over the past several years to provide their March Madness coverage. They have positioned themselves to become an even larger player in the online video biz as that fiber becomes active.

One big question that arises out of all of this is, based on MLB’s willingness to cut out the MSOs entirely as they have done with their DirecTV deal, will they eventually move to deliver their content directly to consumers over new fiber rather than existing cable lines? This is new media. Will cable as it exists today become obsolete?

4/5 Addendum — Today MLB signed on with inDEMAND for another 7 years. Count your days Cable.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at 12:54 pm and is filed under News, Real Ads, Streaming, WebTV, advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.