MLB lands Microsoft, America Online deals
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft is expected this week to pay as much as $40 million over two years to video stream live Major League Baseball games onto PCs, sources said on Monday, heightening competition with rival RealNetworks and signaling rising costs for online video programming.
The deal is one of the most expensive online sports programming deals to date. Microsoft will receive exclusive rights to stream live video of most baseball games this season onto PCs, the sources said. MSN offers these streams as part of MSN Premium, a $9.95-a-month software package that offers Net services and content. One source said Microsoft may also sell subscriptions through its MSN.com Web portal. Users will also be able to listen to live games through the service.