No Live MLB Streaming Video for Android Anytime Soon

[wyajbb17]

I don't know if anyone has posted on this topic yet, but check out this link where MLB Advanced Media says that Android has a very long way to go until they even think about trying to offer streaming video of live games to the Android platform.

Talk about a major letdown. Anyone else as pissed off as I am about this?
MLBAM's Inzerillo on the Future of Live Video Streaming : Sports Video Group

 

[pilot25]

Translation: There aren't enough customers to make it economically viable.


Once there are more users they will invest the money to develop it.

I like this phone now but if the iphone comes to Verizon I will have to jump ship. I've been waiting for streaming video for MLB since this phone came out.

 

[wyajbb17]

Translation: There aren't enough customers to make it economically viable.

I'm not sure I agree. They went through all the trouble developing an APP for the Android platform. However, they left out live streaming video. If it was about money, they wouldn't have ever spent the man-hours putting together an Android APP at all.

They are charging the same price ($14.95) for a watered down version of a great APP. It sounded like he was attacking Android's ability to handle streaming video, which is nonsense. Especially when you consider that the NBA already has successfully offered a similar product to the Android consumer base. Am I wrong?

 

[Varking]

Just about all live streaming video for the Droid thus far has be subpar, including the NBA App. The closest we have gotten to a reliable live stream that produced quality video has been NFL Mobile.

The Android community and our phones have been having a hard enough time staying connected to their ( MLB's ) live radio. If you read the reviews in the Market, tons of people have audio cut out all the time, and it would likely be even poorer quality to the user overall if the audio was fine but the video wasn't or the other way around. We do have a long way to go.

 

[Riddick]

Translation: There aren't enough customers to make it economically viable.

That's not even close to what the article said.

 

[pilot25]

Translation: There aren't enough customers to make it economically viable.

That's not even close to what the article said.

It's not what it said but it's what it meant.

“The problem right now is that the whole notion of Android relies on this community to mature, and, as of yet, that community hasn’t really coalesced to take on the charge of getting the video up to snuff. I think [Google] is aware that it’s going to mature, but it’s just not there yet.”

This is classic business "speak" for wanting to make sure they can get a return on their investment. Right now the numbers don't add up. If you think MLB donesn't have the resources to make this happen you are crazy.

 

[Riddick]

These people are on the right track...

They went through all the trouble developing an APP for the Android platform. However, they left out live streaming video. If it was about money, they wouldn't have ever spent the man-hours putting together an Android APP at all.

Just about all live streaming video for the Droid thus far has be subpar, including the NBA App. The closest we have gotten to a reliable live stream that produced quality video has been NFL Mobile.

The Android community and our phones have been having a hard enough time staying connected to their ( MLB's ) live radio. If you read the reviews in the Market, tons of people have audio cut out all the time, and it would likely be even poorer quality to the user overall if the audio was fine but the video wasn't or the other way around. We do have a long way to go.

 

[pilot25]

Riddick,

I have been using MLB products since the first streaming radio on the pc many many years ago. The first video streaming was horrid. Cut out every 5 minutes, was blurry, and the announcers were seconds behind the play. Yet they still continued to use it and spend money on development because the demand was there. They made the MLB app and clearly they aren't ready to spend the capital to continue on the same track that they have for the last 5+ years. Why do you think it's $15 when it provides less product than the same app on a different platform? The numbers don't add up to make a profit or even break even. Only the most rabid baseball fan will purchase a radio only app and that is probably only 10% of the population, if that. Reduce that percentage to the number of android users in addition to the number of rabid fans willing to plunk down double digit money and you have way less than a million customers. Can't make a profit. The app was a "fishing" experiment and it's probably been a worth while return but to continue to spend capital on something that doesn't have the demand is poor business sense. While video will increase demand incrementally they aren't stupid to invest in something that isn't going to bring big returns.

This isn't new territory for them. It's just a different platform and if you think it isn't all about money then you don't know baseball, sports, or just business in general.

 

[Appleanche]

How hard could it possibly be to include video streaming? Surely most of the framework is there from the iPhone version, it should only take some relatively easy tinkering to port it over.

Frankly me paying $15 for an app along with paying $25 a month for MLB.TV is insulting enough.. I get the PS3 app free.. if I subscribe to it I should get the app free too.

I was holding off for video streaming but they lost a sale here.

I've subscribed to MLB.TV for over 5 years.. they've improved massively from when I was streaming it in real player at 300kbps. Now I watch it in a very good looking HD video right through my PS3.