Major League Baseball pulls podcasts from iTunes

The Internet arm of Major League Baseball has pulled podcast clips of its games from Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Store, in a move to exercise greater control over how its games are presented online, reports the Wall Street Journal.

"Although the loss of the league's podcasts — which included primarily audio recaps of games — is unlikely to have a financial impact on Apple, it shows the unease some providers of digital content have with Apple's growing clout in digital media," wrote the Journal's Nick Wingfield.

"Major League Baseball was one of iTunes' high-profile providers of free podcasts, which are downloadable audio and video programs that work on portable music players such as the iPod."

According to the report (paid subscription required), the league asked Apple to remove all promotions from iTunes for its podcasts last week. The move was reportedly prompted, in part, by the lack of control the league had over how its podcasts were promoted with iTunes.

Bob Bowman, chief executive of Major League Baseball Advance Media, told the Journal that Apple declined to give its podcasts better visibility on the site when the league asked for it. It's reported that Apple does not accept monetary offers for improved placement.

Bowman also said Apple wouldn't give the league a say in where promotions for its podcasts would appear on iTunes, leading to situations in which the league's content was adjacent to podcasts by individual baseball fans.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment on the report.

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24 Comments

coolfactor

said about 17 years ago

Glad to see Apple's position on this.

The League fails to realize that the directory built into iTunes is only one place that people get the feeds from. The affiliation program allows direct linking to any page on iTunes, therefore the League could've been promoting their own stuff however they wanted.

Third parties would've been doing the same for them.

jeffdm

said about 17 years ago

I'm siding against MLB on this. I don't think it is a bad thing to be listed next to fan-based podcasts. Heck, Google returns results where "official" sites are often ranked with fan sites, which is not a problem because I think that sort of system is complementing, not detrimental. I think I might even say that MLB is stuck in the old way of media thinking of trying to control everything.

melgross

said about 17 years ago

I disagree with both posts. These were being provided to Apple for free. They benefit Apple as well as MLB. Apple must learn to play with its content providers or they will find themselves bereft of any content. Then it will be the fans using iTunes who suffer. These podcasts will end up somewhere else where they will be more appreciated.

sibelius

said about 17 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by melgross

I disagree with both posts. These were being provided to Apple for free. They benefit Apple as well as MLB. Apple must learn to play with its content providers or they will find themselves bereft of any content. Then it will be the fans using iTunes who suffer. These podcasts will end up somewhere else where they will be more appreciated.

I have to agree with the first two posts on this and side with Apple. Having worked in marketing for almost 20 years now I am THRILLED at Apple's decision. Too many good services tend to fall at some point or another due to greed in advertising. Can you imagine an iTunes store where ad placement went to the highest bidder? It happens everywhere. Just go to Google and do a search. If your search contains certain keywords you'll find that you have to sift through a bunch of bogus results simply because they're paying Google to rank them higher based on certain key words. Shoot -- I've even made up words and searched for them in Google. Guess what -- I got a whole list of people who claimed to have "bogus word" in stock and on sale.

Google started out good, but they really have to watch how far they are willing to sell out their accuracy.

If Apple bends over and allows the MLB to call the shots on HOW they're promoted on iTunes and WHERE their promotions go... well... do you really think they're going to be the ONLY ones to do it? Do you realize that if Apple opened the doors to paid placement and advertising that the only podcasts we'd ever be able to easily find would be for major commercial players?

What about Coverville? What about Tiki Bar TV? or any of the audio books by Scott Sigler? Those are produced by people with talent who are no more famous or rich than you or me. Those are three of my favorite podcasts. I personally don't have time to sift through pages and pages and pages of "paid-for-placement" podcasts to find something new and original. I simply don't have the time.

Apple made good on it's promise -- to deliver a method for people to podcast on an equal playing field. It doesn't matter if you're Joe Schmoe in your bedroom recording your thoughts on starving Pugs in Missouri, or if you're Wal-Mart. Equal play. Your podcasting destiny is based on how good your content is, not how much you're willing to pay (or can afford).

Glass raised to Apple for not allowing corruption in -- Another glass raised to Apple for not letting the big music industry run the show -- or the television industry -- or the movie industry -- or any industry. Set the standards and let everyone play equally. Let their content sell itself.

Bravo!!