Why Major League Baseball offers gymnastics

Now here's a new one: Major League Baseball's official site, which streams thousands of live and archived games during the regular season in video and audio, is offering its subscribers a chance to watch gymnastics (for a fee, of course). Why, you might ask, would baseball fans want to watch gymnastics?

Maybe MLB.com has found some parallel demographic between baseball fanatics and gymnastics enthusiasts. Maybe Bud Selig is a little-known expert in the balance beam. Or maybe MLB knows that its massive servers and distribution pipelines are sitting idle until spring training, at a propitious time when just about anyone can become a digital content network.

As more programming makes its way to viewers without , MLB obviously senses an opportunity to try its hand at this new game, even if it veers into somewhat foreign territory. After all, why should MLB or any other large distributor sit in the dugout while the likes of Google and Yahoo seize this budding industry? Whether it involves gymnastics, curling or any other pastime, MLB.com may be paving the way for digital sports programming.

Blog community response:

"This might be the beginning of the end of traditional distribution streams. I see a day when I can catch a live event, whether it's sports, political convention, rock concert or TV convention (NAB anyone?) and all I need is my Apple Video iPod and I'm good."
--Mass Media Junkie

"I don't pay for TV now-- I'm not sure why I would pay for TV on my mobile. Streaming sports is probably the only service I'd really consider, but the price involved for watching something like a 'mobicast' of Australia vs. England in the Rugby would be absolutely prohibitive."
--The Rants of Prime Number

"The advent of inexpensive consumer electronics capable of generating, recording, storing and transmitting content has broken through a century-old barrier to video content creation erected by the high cost. And the rise of the Internet has posed competitive challenges for the well-capitalized and concentrated entertainment and information corporations that traditionally controlled the distribution of video entertainment, news and sports."
--IP&Democracy