A new partnership with a Chinese media company has brought live streaming MLB games to that country, enabling Chinese fans to take in games that are blacked out in certain US markets.
MLB’s strategy of growing its business internationally appears to be reaping some success due to a new agreement to license the streaming of live games in China, but the difficulties some fans find in doing the same in the United States remain.
The new agreement is with Tencent, one of the premier media services in China. It will allow Tencent customers to watch as many as 125 live games this season along with the All-Star Game and the entire postseason. In addition, there will be new Chinese-language highlight content. Tencent will also sponsor MLB’s grassroots efforts to grow its fan base in the nation like youth baseball programs.
For MLB fans in China, that’s all spectacular news. Starting today, they will be able to watch live MLB games if they are Tencent customers and don’t mind the time difference. When the Cleveland Indians at Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim game gets going at 1:07 p.m. local time on Wednesday, for example, it will be 4:07 a.m. on Thursday in Hong Kong.
Those facts are interesting when juxtaposed against the continued blackout restrictions for MLB.TV subscribers in the United States.
Subscribers who live in the southeast corner of Iowa, for instance, are barred from streaming live the games of six different MLB teams. Those teams are the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals, or all the teams people who live in that area are most likely to be fans of. For games which fall on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, those same games could be part of Tencent’s offerings for live streaming in China. That means fans in China could stream them live while MLB.TV subscribers in Iowa will have to wait until 90 minutes after the conclusion of the games.
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Much has already been written about why some games are blacked out in some areas. There are multiple causes like local TV contracts along with teams’ desire to entice fans to buy tickets. The situation has now produced an interesting scenario in which Cubs fans who want to stream games live might be happier in China than in Iowa.
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