News
MLB pulls podcasts from iTunes Store
Major League Baseball has pulled its podcasts from the iTunes Store following a spat with Apple over presentation of the content. The league reportedly asked Apple last week to remove the podcasts because of a lack of control the league said it had over how its podcasts were promoted on iTunes. A league representative said Apple declined to give MLB podcasts better visibility on the site after the league asked for it. “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,” reports The Wall Street Journal.
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1
I think this is more about MLB having problems with Apple not wanting to give up valuable advertising space to promote free content. Shocker!
Posted by Eric Shepherd on September 26, 2006 at 8:29 PM (PDT)
2
I haven’t read the WSJ article, because it requires a subscription. But if this is *just* about the MLB podcasts, then I think this is a bad move for MLB, and will hurt them much more than Apple.
Perhaps MLB is trying to leverage Apple in some way to get other MLB content in the iTunes store (such as the upcoming playoffs/World Series). I doubt Apple cares that much, because sports content is the weakest link in the iTunes model (because the iTunes store doesn’t currently handle live content).
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FYI, if you want to continue accessing MLB podcasts through iTunes, this is all you have to do:
1. Find the podcast you want from the MLB’s podcast page (http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/audio/podcast/index.jsp). There appear to be seven different MLB podcasts available.
2. Copy the XML link for the podcast you want to subscribe to. (It’s an http address that ends in “.xml” listed below the podcast.)
3. In iTunes, go to the “Advanced” menu (in the top menu bar), and select “Subscribe to Podcast…”
4. Paste the XML link for the podcast into the window that appears.
That’s it! The MLB podcast will now appear on your list of Podcasts just like the rest, and update normally.
Posted by BJ Nemeth on September 26, 2006 at 9:15 PM (PDT)
3
Bad, bad PR move: “we’re not being promoted enough, so we pull content people can get elsewhere for free that they were already getting for free” - uh, ok. Strikingly, this is the first time I realized the MLB offered podcasts. And what an impression left.
Posted by Joe Trotter on September 26, 2006 at 9:31 PM (PDT)
4
Real baseball fans don’t need no stinkin’ iPod, or lame ***casts (self-edited so not to P.O. Apple’s overzealous legal department).
Not when we can have it with XM sat radio.
Posted by flatline response on September 26, 2006 at 10:10 PM (PDT)
5
Baseball? Isn’t that the one with the guys standing around for a long time in really expensive stadiums and a steroid-pumped ape man with a stick?
Golly. Whatever shall I do without my baseball podcast? Oh, yeah. Same thing I do all the time. Righto.
Posted by Lee Gibson on September 26, 2006 at 11:28 PM (PDT)
6
For the record, I love baseball, and I listen to a lot of podcasts. But I have ZERO interest in a baseball podcast.
iTunes has what is probably the most popular podcast directory in the world, and it’s free. But since MLB can’t get “extra” advertising out of Apple, they’re giving up the free advertising.
Good luck with that strategy, MLB.
Posted by BJ Nemeth on September 26, 2006 at 11:49 PM (PDT)
7
baseball is dead anyway.
Posted by hm on September 27, 2006 at 12:57 PM (PDT)
8
Apple’s podcast directory is the equivelant of Googles search directory for everything else.. If both search services can’t find you… You just don’t exist. Bad move MLB!
Posted by Phoenixfury in Elkhart, IN on September 28, 2006 at 10:07 AM (PDT)