MLB.com Celebrates 5th Anniversary of First Live Video Telecast

On August
26, 2002, MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, offered fans
the first live, full- game webcast of a Major League game, a Yankees-Rangers
matchup from Yankee Stadium. To commemorate that historic broadcast, MLB.com will
offer a free live webcast of Sunday’s series finale between the Yankees and
Tigers.

“We
are excited to celebrate this historic occasion for baseball fans by providing
this broadcast featuring two storied franchises,” said Dinn Mann,
Executive Vice President, Content, Editor-in-Chief, MLB.com. “The first
live broadcast was the foundation to offering fans the opportunity to watch
games anywhere, anytime and on any device. We remain committed to our charter
goal of expanding that reach to as many fans as possible and will build from
that foundation by leveraging innovative and interactive multimedia platforms
and continuing to foster meaningful partnerships.”

The
rematch of last year’s American League Division Series will be available to
fans residing outside of each team’s local television market exclusively on
MLB.com at 1:05 p.m. (EDT) on August 26, exactly five years to the date when
MLB.com presented that initial historic broadcast.

Before an
audience of more than 30,000 viewers, the Yankees recorded 19 hits to support
the pitching of Orlando Hernandez in defeating the Rangers, 10-3. Current Yankees
third baseman Alex Rodriguez homered for the Rangers. Players from both
participating teams realized the innovative possibilities resulting from this
inaugural event.

Former
Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams commented to MLB.com at the time: “I
think it’s a great thing. Baseball is taking advantage of all that technology
has to offer. We’re not falling behind. Someone out there will watch it who
wouldn’t be able to watch it on TV, and that’s a great thing. We’re expanding
as a sport, and that’s what we should be doing.”

Buoyed by
the success of the Yankees-Rangers game, MLB.com made available its first
subscription video product, a nine-game package of games featuring playoff
contenders in September 2002. That was followed by a postseason package, including
the World Series, which was available to users outside the

U.S. and

Japan. The product was formally
named MLB.TV in 2003 as Major League Baseball became the first sports league to
stream live games online for an entire schedule.

Since that
first webcast in 2002, fans have accessed more than 1.2 billion streams of live
and on-demand multimedia offerings on MLB.com, representing more than 50
million hours of participation. In 2007, MLB.com will stream nearly 12,000 live
video events, including every MLB game as well as thousands of events for its
various partners.