As the OTT disruption unsettles media majors, live sports is turning fast in to the most favorite refuge for media giants in the Pay-TV industry. But the MLB Advanced exec Bob Bowman seems to have a different opinion on this.
According to him, the viewing habits of the millennials are changing at a very brisk pace. For that to be handled well, a new approach to distributing sports over the web is needed. For example, when somebody under the age of 35 shifts to a new place, only a meager 15% of them are likely to subscribe to a Pay-TV service.
MLB Advanced Media is the American Baseball league’s technology wing and a pathfinder for in online sports video. Soon the bussiness will find itself as an independent entity that will handle and acquire media rights and provide streaming services for its partners like NHL, HBO Now and Sony Vue.
Mr. Bowman believes that the company will bid for media rights world-wide and develop new models for distributing sports and other TV content over the Internet, referred to as over-the-top, or OTT, distribution.
The case of exclusivity is going to get blurry when events like sports leagues are streamed live but its still a big deal for everyone involved : regional sports networks, multi-channel video programming distributors and sports league associations.
MLB Advanced is yet to come up with a plan for this but their eye on the new OTT platforms and distribution models means we could be seeing a lot of sports streaming in America now.
