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Baseball to charge for Webcasts

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 28, 2001

Baseball fans will have to pay this season for Internet feeds of major-league radio broadcasts.

The feeds, free since local stations began broadcasting on baseball Web sites, will cost $9.95 for the season. The fee comes from baseball's partnership with RealNetworks Inc. of Seattle in a deal announced Tuesday.

Major League Baseball is guaranteed $20-million over three years.

RealNetworks and the sport hope fans are willing to pay for features such as audio play-by-play and post-game highlights. The NBA has a fee of $29.95 for a similar service in a deal signed in January. Internet NFL broadcasts remain free.

For the fee, baseball fans also can create customized highlights packages of their favorite players and teams.

Shares of RealNetworks have slid about 90 percent in the past year, and the company is trying to draw consumers who will pay to view or listen to programming. Most of RealNetworks' Internet customers use the media-player software for free.

RealNetworks, which will present the games at baseball's official Web site, www.mlb.com, said it won't offer live video coverage.

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