CES 2016: MLB Commissioner Announces Partnership to Stream Baseball to China
Sports made an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year. Major League Baseball's Commissioner Rob Manfred was in attendance to make a very important announcement.
Manfred announced that the MLB and Le Sports in China have agreed to a three-year partnership that will bring baseball to viewers in China, Hong Kong and Macau, USA Today reports.
This is the first mass market MLB media agreement in China. With the deal, Le Sports will hold exclusive media rights in China to broadcast 125 MLB games per year. The network will also broadcast other Mandarin-language MLB programming.
Le Sports will broadcast the MLB content on the web, mobile applications and through other devices. Every week, four live broadcasts will be streamed in high definition. Additionally, 20 postseason games, the All-Star Game, the Home Run Derby and all of the World Series games will be broadcast to the country in HD.
Manfred said that when he became commissioner he wanted to continue to grow the sport of baseball. He said that he believes showing it to more audiences around the world is one important way to help the sport grow. The commissioner added he believes Le Sports has plenty of reach to help the MLB grow in China.
Le Sports plans to build online communities for all 30 MLB teams for fans to interact. The network will also continue to act as a co-producer of the baseball reality show MLB Perfect Pitch. It will also air the opening and final games of the MLB Beijing University Baseball League and MLB Shanghai University Baseball League, as well as MLB Play Ball! Youth Program games.
Meanwhile, Major League Baseball announced plans to experiment with more technology in relation to the sport of baseball. Manfred said he is looking into possibly implementing virtual reality into the sport.
"Virtual reality gives fans the types of access that they want today, and we're carefully monitoring the developments in that area," he said.