Minor League Internet TV continues to be Minor League

[JaxRed]

This is the third year the MiLB has had the minor league equivalent of MLB-TV. They don't post a real schedule but you can go to their web site, select a date and see what games they will show.

It's just the same as years past. There's like 120 full season minor league teams, yet MiLB can only come up with the same 4 or 5 AAA clubs, and a couple other scattered games.

So once again if you're a Reds fan you can see some Bats games as they play Durham, and Toledo. But no Lookouts, no Sarasota Reds, no Dragons.

No money from me.

[dougdirt]

They have every Bats home game (or at least 90% of them). As long as its 19.99 again this year, I think I will be getting it. The Bats should have a nice stash of talent down there between all the bullpen guys, Bailey, Maloney (maybe Lecure), Rosales and Bruce and maybe even Dorn (if not to start, likely by mid season).

[dougdirt]

Looks like they bumped it up to 29.95 this year. Thats 7.50 a month to basically watch a majority of the Louisville Bats games and then the different league All star games.

[JaxRed]

The situation looks to be the same for 2009. No cost posted yet. I probably won't buy again. If I could just see one other Reds team it would be worth it.

[dougdirt]

If the price is similar to last year, I will be buying it again. There will be a whole lot of talent in AAA to watch for the Reds when I am not in Louisville this year.

[GIDP]

I wish they would improve the quality of the video before they raise the price. It's about time for an upgrade in equipment.

[roborobj]

Looks like they bumped it up to 29.95 this year. Thats 7.50 a month to basically watch a majority of the Louisville Bats games and then the different league All star games.

If you have already paid for MLB TV does a person still need to get this subscription?

[JaxRed]

Yes it's separate

[dougdirt]

I wish they would improve the quality of the video before they raise the price. It's about time for an upgrade in equipment.

I believe that its actually something done by the individual teams, not Milb. I say that because its very obvious that some teams have better equipment and cameras than others.

There do seem to be a few lower level teams that we will be able to watch this year, unfortunately none that are in leagues where the Reds will be having teams plays.

[medford]

I would have thought at this point, just about every game would be up on the net. How hard is it to mount a camare behind home plate w/ 1 person to man the camera. Then simulcast the radio broadcast over the feed to get a play by play where available.

Seems so simple, and its done often for college basketball games.

In the least, you'd have thought they would have picked up the Dragons games that are broadcast in Dayton. I'm not sure how many are broadcast, but its typically weekend home games that get shown on a semi-regular basis. I'd think it would be easy enough to pick up that feed.

Heck, if for nothing else, MLB has got to start building up an archive of TV worthy games to show on MLBTV. I would have thought a minor league game featurning a couple of top prospects playing at 1:00 on a friday afternoon would have got more interest than the 12th showing of last nights highlights or 1962 WS highlights. Although I could be wrong about that, both might draw a lower than a test pattern.

[dougdirt]

I would have thought at this point, just about every game would be up on the net. How hard is it to mount a camare behind home plate w/ 1 person to man the camera. Then simulcast the radio broadcast over the feed to get a play by play where available.

Seems so simple, and its done often for college basketball games.

In the least, you'd have thought they would have picked up the Dragons games that are broadcast in Dayton. I'm not sure how many are broadcast, but its typically weekend home games that get shown on a semi-regular basis. I'd think it would be easy enough to pick up that feed.

Heck, if for nothing else, MLB has got to start building up an archive of TV worthy games to show on MLBTV. I would have thought a minor league game featurning a couple of top prospects playing at 1:00 on a friday afternoon would have got more interest than the 12th showing of last nights highlights or 1962 WS highlights. Although I could be wrong about that, both might draw a lower than a test pattern.

I guess ultimately it comes down to, how many people have to purchase the package for it to be worth paying someone to run the camera, graphics and studio stuff that makes it all work together?

The other question is, would a package like that hurt attendance for some teams?

[GIDP]

I believe that its actually something done by the individual teams, not Milb. I say that because its very obvious that some teams have better equipment and cameras than others.

There do seem to be a few lower level teams that we will be able to watch this year, unfortunately none that are in leagues where the Reds will be having teams plays.

Yea I have no doubt its in the teams control its just depressing seeing how amazing MLB.tv quality is and how most of the MILB stuff is a handy cam being fed through a low speed line. Think they would be at least improving it some how before they up the price. Super low production value for some of these teams. I know college kids that have better video equipment than what I get off MILB.

Ill stick with watching archived games for a while I guess.

[GIDP]

My feeling also is similar to spring training games. You would think since they are filming them all anyways they could put a feed up somewhere.

[medford]

I guess ultimately it comes down to, how many people have to purchase the package for it to be worth paying someone to run the camera, graphics and studio stuff that makes it all work together?

The other question is, would a package like that hurt attendance for some teams?

Good questions, I'll answer the 2nd one 1st. I'm going to guess no, or at least not significantly. At least in my experiences with the Dragons and Reds, I've never considered not going to a game b/c I could watch it on TV, but then again, I only go to about 1-2 games a years. As far as the minor leagues go, I doubt it would hurt attendance much, and would actually be used by people like us, eager to watch future stars for our favorite big league club, and willing to do so in front of a computer. We're in a minority though, most people are not going to sit in front of their computer, or even hook their computer up to their main TV to watch some minor league game.

As far as the additional cost, I wouldn't think it would be much. My main experience is watching UD basketball games over the net, and the production isn't all that much, a video feed from high up, w/ the radio broadcast overlapping the video footage. I'm assuming all minor league games are taped anyways for the purposses of the big league club. I'm sure Walt and other ML GMs trust their scouting team, but I'm sure they'd all like to have an eye witness account of minor leagures they're trading for. Having a bulk supply of film they can upload on any minor leaguer w/n their own system, or in another has got to be a component of their tool set to run an organization.

Assuming the radio broadcasting rights are not an issue (I assume its "owned" by the minor league ball club, and readily accessable, where available), simulcasting the radio feed over a basic video package would seem pretty easy.

So basically, I think both components are already there for most minor league clubs (I know not all have radio deals), and it shouldn't be that hard to combine the two. Could probably be done by an intern trying to get his foot into the door of professional baseball, some young college kid, overseen by the general information/media director of the major league and/or minor league teams in question.

It seems far too easy for it not to be done by now, perhaps the biggest drawback is they don't believe enough people care to support all the bandwidth that would generate.

[dougdirt]

Good questions, I'll answer the 2nd one 1st. I'm going to guess no, or at least not significantly. At least in my experiences with the Dragons and Reds, I've never considered not going to a game b/c I could watch it on TV, but then again, I only go to about 1-2 games a years. As far as the minor leagues go, I doubt it would hurt attendance much, and would actually be used by people like us, eager to watch future stars for our favorite big league club, and willing to do so in front of a computer. We're in a minority though, most people are not going to sit in front of their computer, or even hook their computer up to their main TV to watch some minor league game.

As far as the additional cost, I wouldn't think it would be much. My main experience is watching UD basketball games over the net, and the production isn't all that much, a video feed from high up, w/ the radio broadcast overlapping the video footage. I'm assuming all minor league games are taped anyways for the purposses of the big league club. I'm sure Walt and other ML GMs trust their scouting team, but I'm sure they'd all like to have an eye witness account of minor leagures they're trading for. Having a bulk supply of film they can upload on any minor leaguer w/n their own system, or in another has got to be a component of their tool set to run an organization.

Assuming the radio broadcasting rights are not an issue (I assume its "owned" by the minor league ball club, and readily accessable, where available), simulcasting the radio feed over a basic video package would seem pretty easy.

So basically, I think both components are already there for most minor league clubs (I know not all have radio deals), and it shouldn't be that hard to combine the two. Could probably be done by an intern trying to get his foot into the door of professional baseball, some young college kid, overseen by the general information/media director of the major league and/or minor league teams in question.

It seems far too easy for it not to be done by now, perhaps the biggest drawback is they don't believe enough people care to support all the bandwidth that would generate.

I will counter that perhaps the Dayton Flyers games are produced by students for free to get credit for classes. Minor League teams don't have that option unless they were to get interns from local colleges. Perhaps something that Milb should look into?