MLB has liked to push the "place-shifting is illegal" button from time to time, but their recent comments on the topic is getting a lot of attention from fans, the press, the CEA, and more.
Do you agree with the MLB? Do you think place-shifting devices like Slingbox are breaking the law? As a consumer/baseball fan, how would you feel if your rights to place-shift home games was taken away from you?
Here's a chance for the MLB to hear what their fans think... you know, the people that keep baseball and any other sport viable. Write your own letter to the MLB below and tell them how you feel about their claims, why you disagree or agree with them, etc. Voice your opinion... it matters.
I'm planing on sending everything posted here to the MLB on June 30th, so please get your letter submitted here by then. Please keep your letters eloquent and tasteful if you "really" disagree with them, use good grammar, spelling, etc. This is a real letter to the MLB, so make it a good one that they'll want to read.
Mind Over Matt'er - Technology musings, opinion, and more straight from TechLore's head geek.
Lead Moderator
Arizona, United StatesI have not had a chance to put together a letter yet. But here is interesting reading about why MLB is going after Sling.
Not that I agree, just interesting reading.
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I use my SlingBox to watch Extra Innings at work or on my laptop at lunch. If they don't like that, I guess I can just skip subscribing next year...
No, I don't agree with the MLB owners. I should add that I am not a baseball fan, but I love the NFL and don't want them to follow suit.
They call slinging a "re-broadcast" but, to me, it is just like adding a splitter to the incoming cable line (like I did for my slingbox) and watching TV in an additional room in my house.
And I don't believe that either is as bad as recording a show to tape or DVD to watch later because those are semi-permanent recordings of their broadcasts that can be sold and otherwise shared with others.
I've had my slingbox for about a month now and this is my first post. I purchased it just before a trip to the Philippines and REALLY , REALLY enjoyed slinging to my hotel room. I never even once watched the TV in my room.
We have to fight the MLB before others do the same as them and the whole process is shut down. This reminds me of the time when CD players first came out. The technology was already in place to record to CDs, but the music industry successfully prevented us from having that technology at the time because they didn't want us to record their music.
Why punish all of us for what a few MIGHT do?
Lead Moderator
Arizona, United StatesSpeaking of Sling'ing the game. Check out this article I ran accross. 
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Lead Moderator
Arizona, United StatesMay not have to write a letter, least not now.
According to the WSJ
Baseball Media Arm Is Likely To Soften Stance With Sling
Major League Baseball remains steadfast in its belief that technology company Sling Media Inc. doesn't have the legal right to transmit its baseball games via the Internet for fans, but the president of the league's interactive media and Internet unit suggested he doesn't think going to court is the best way to resolve the dispute.
For the past year, MLB Advanced Media LP and Sling have been battling over a piece of hardware that channels television content from a single cable box or satellite-TV ...
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Excerpts from WSJ article:
"The way to win this is with good content and good technology not with lawyers."
- Bob Bowman MLB Advanced Media President and CEO
"I'm relieved to hear that."
- Blake Krikorian Sling Media CEO
Excellent quotes from both of them. Hopefully the market place can determine the winner of this battle. At a minimum the competition should be beneficial to us all.
At the moment Sling is in the lead as it allows folks to leverage their existing investment in Cable/SAT TV and the Slingbox. The picture and audio quality is better then MLB Mosaic. Sling support and this community forum is world class is my opinion (I have only used Slings support once (yesterday) but James (Sling Support) went above and beyond to sort out my issues with the June 1st remote update. My new Cox Motorola remote now has all the buttons working (including swap tuner which has been great) and looks fantastic.
MLB Mosaic's strength is the ability to watch 6 games at once (which is cool) and added features such as player alerts (it alerts you when one of your selected players is on deck and ready to bat) and real-time box scores. The picture quality is acceptable but the audio quality is subpar and occasionally is actually delayed behind the video. The biggest drawback for me is the price (~$20/month or ~$90/year (starting now)) and the blackout rules (I could not watch my home team). I have not found a strong community forum for MLB Mosaic and to be fair did not utilize their support to work the audio issues as after the 5 day free trial I decided not to subscribe.
i own and use my sling box, but i am also a subscriber to MLB extra innings premium package online. the mlb extra innings lets me watch out of market games and mutiple games at once, which my slingbox does not allow me to do; i use my sling box for things such as watching my home tv when i am traveling for work, or if i simply want to watch a little tv during my lunch break.....i don't see how having a sling box would be illegal or lead to a decline in mlb's extra innings packages.
Why MLB or any other body should think they have the right to dictate where I watch TV I have legally subscribed to, and/or paid for, is beyond me. Sling is a totally different situation to the file sharing fiasco involving the music/video industry some time ago. The only Sling user is me, from my own address,with legally purchased material, how do they make out this is illegal ??. I hope any court will laugh at them and inflict significant costs against them for wasting court time.
Just corporate greed again, with the support of overpaid corporate lawyers, but they need stopping now, else Sling could be at risk and all we consumers will be the loosers.
Alan,
I could not agree with you more. When MLB decided it wasn't in their collective interest to allow radio broadcasts of the game over the Internet, I nearly flipped. What possible rationale could be proffered that would rationalize this idiocy? Oh, now I know. They wanted to stop radio broadcasts over the Internet so they could sell them to us! Isn't the free market wonderful?
Dear Mr. Selig:
I am a Slingbox owner and a sports fan. I thought I would give you a little insight into the facts about Slingbox ownership. Maybe it will help you in your discussions with the lawyers and your subordinates who feel they have the most to lose if the Slingbox and other such devices do in fact encroach on Major League Baseball's rights.
My Slingbox quite simply is connected to a tuner in my home and allows me to watch that tuner's output on a computer wherever I am. Most of the time, that is at my laptop on the kitchen table. But if I am on the road, I watch from my hotel room. I suppose I should repeat the technical protections built into the Slingbox here, although I'm sure you've heard them a thousand times. I cannot watch any program via Slingbox that I cannot watch at home. I must use my secret ID and password to connect to my Slingbox. The unit will only communicate with one user at a time. That would be me or my wife. If someone else somehow came up with my ID and password, I would know about it and would immediately change my password. On my command, my Slingbox makes an electronic copy of small segments of the program I select, encrypts them, and delivers them to my computer. That's it. I hate most of the analogies used in these discussions, but it is almost like someone at my home videotapes a program and delivers it to my hotel room 15 to 30 seconds later.
In the real world, the two most common things for me to watch while I'm on the road are local news programs and local sporting events. I live in Des Moines. I am an Iowan. I couldn't care less about what the city council in Detroit is fighting about. And more importantly from your perspective, I couldn't care less about which Detroit grocery stores or car dealers have the best deals this week. Sporting events are similar. If an Iowa game is being broadcast in Detroit, I won't bother with the Slingbox. I'll just watch on a TV and put up with the local commercials that don't apply to me. But if an Iowa game is on, I'll watch it via Slingbox. The advertisers on the Des Moines station will be reaching their target audience -- a resident of Des Moines.
I am a DirecTV subscriber. I realize that different rules apply because of my agreement with DirecTV, but to me, the rules don't make a lot of sense. No matter where I happen to be, I am still a resident of Iowa. The game I want to watch might be blacked out in Detroit in order to increase viewership of the Detroit game in Detroit, but in my case, this is done at the expense of decreasing Iowa viewership. As a matter of fact, chances are that I will watch no game if I cannot watch the one I want. It might make more sense for sports broadcasters to have me sign an agreement that I would watch no game that is unavailable in my home viewing area no matter where I happen to be.
Now for your real world. If Major League Baseball takes on Slingbox, either on its own or as a front for all professional sports, it will lose. Personally, I think it would lose a lawsuit vis-a-vis Betamax. You may think it could win as the music industry did with Napster, although sharing is not an issue with the Slingbox. Regardless, MLB would lose millions in the effort. It would erode fan support because fans would see a lawsuit as further evidence that baseball owners are more interested in the almighty dollar than the sport and its fans. You would be much better off to embrace the technology that Slingbox represents. Amend your agreements with local and national outlets. Promote the fact that travelers will be increasing the viewership of the programs directed at them. Work with Slingmedia to perfect the protections built in to their device. Keep your overall objectives in mind and make your fans happy.
Very truly yours, Matt knows my name
The older I get, the better I was.
I was a slingbox customer from day 1, I have been a season tix holder at SF Giants for 10 years now. I happen to work in an office that CAN NOT even get cable run to it. It's a small office with only a few people. The day we were able to get Sling was a great day. We were now able to enjoy SF Giants games (and A's games too). This would not be possible for 2 reasons, 1)Comcast won't run cable to our office 2) you CAN NOT Watch local games even online when you buy the package. Also, we enjoy watching games when we head out of town, we are lucky enough to get FSN Bay Area, but when both an A's and Giants game are on at the same time our cable provider there (Sudden(suck)link) doesn't offer FSN+.
Your arguments that Sling is hurting you are totally flawed. Yet another screw up by MLB targeting the wrong people. Rather than embrace your customer it seems so many times MLB is out to get more money from them and screw them any way possible.
Slingbox ProHD Slinging DirecTV HR23 and OTA HD via Comcast HSI using AirLink Powerline adapters; Slingbox Pro and Classic Slinging and D* HR21/D12 via Sunddenlink HSI, using Linksys Gaming adapter. 2 Slingcatchers set up to use Slings.
There you all go again-trying to confuse MLB with facts. Maybe MLB would like to go after scofflaws like myself who have the nerve to support their favorite team from afar-in my case Viet Nam. Well, to coin phrase from our totally awesome prez "Bring 'em on!"
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