For those that get their MLB content online, this season sees the largest product offerings launch through MLB Advanced Media, and MLB.com in their history.

Starting on Opening Day, the following products will be offered:

Enhanced Gameday/Video Alerts

According to BAM, MLB.com has enhanced the real-time application with real-time video alerts, in-depth Game Previews, the MLB.com Daily Rewind recap and other game-specific video. The real-time video alerts, up to 10 per game, will be available via an exclusive free trial for the month of April (see details below). In addition, those watching Gameday online, Major League Baseball will provide precise pitch speed, trajectory and location data from all 30 Major League parks, including, according to MLBA, “unprecedented real-time pitch identification for every pitch thrown this season.”

Video Alerts – Mobile

Bob Bowman said in our interview with him earlier this year that near-realtime video for mobile devices would be coming shortly, and BAM is delivering on that news. Beginning on Opening Day, MLB.com will be delivering real-time video alerts to mobile devices. The alerts will appear within 2-4 minutes from the conclusion of the play on the field and will be offered to Team Alert subscribers at no additional charge from the current rate of $3.99 per month.

Fans can sign up by texting "GET (Club nickname)" to 65246. For example, a Mets fan would send the text "GET METS" to 65246.

MLB.TV in “NexDef”

In 2008, premium subscribers of MLB.TV can watch live games from their computers in “NexDef” at 1.2 megabits per second stream with a 16x9 widescreen format. All 2,430 out-of-market games in the regular season will be available live on both MLB.TV and MLB.TV Premium. (make sure and enter your zip code here to determine what is “out-of-market”)

The following are the three games being streamed in “NexDef” as part of the MLB.com free preview on March 29:

• Cleveland Indians vs. Atlanta Braves, 1:10 p.m. (EDT)
• Baltimore Orioles vs. Washington Nationals, 6:00 p.m. (EDT)
• San Diego Padres vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 9:05 p.m. (EDT)

BaseballChannel.TV Offering Expanded Lineup

Beginning on Monday, March 31 at 9:00 a.m. (EDT), BaseballChannel.TV will be offering an expanded lineup of free content. The new channel lineup will include the debut of the MLB.com “Whiparound,” a live 60-minute show featuring news, updates and analysis directly from the field of that day’s home ballparks. Hosted by Noah Coslov and Paul Devlin, “Whiparound” will typically air from 6:00-7:00 p.m. (EDT) every weekday, but will premiere at 12:00 p.m. EDT on Opening Day to preview the first full day of games.

Along with the addition of “Whiparound” MLBAM will have other daily programs with Harold Reynolds and former USA Today baseball columnist Hal Bodley.

Source: MLB Advanced Media

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MLB Advanced Media announced today that MLB.com is offering fans the opportunity to challenge one of baseball’s most hallowed individual records and stake claim to the single largest grand prize in fantasy baseball history. “Beat the Streak presented by Mitchum” launches today on MLB.com with a grand prize of $1 million awaiting the contestant who can sustain a hitting streak of 57 games to surpass the legendary all-time mark of 56 games.

“We’re excited to bring a one-of-a-kind grand prize to a one-of-a-kind fantasy baseball game,” said MLB.com’s Gregg Klayman, the game’s creator. “Unlike traditional fantasy games, ‘Beat the Streak’ has an inherent simplicity that engages every fan – from the rookie baseball fan to the seasoned fantasy veteran – at the same level of competition.”

MLBAM says that since it launched in April 2001, more than one million contestants have played the free fantasy game on MLB.com, and a select few have come close to reaching the streak, including last year’s winner, Michael Karatzia of Sea Girt, N.J. Karatzia established a new all-time mark with a streak of 49 games, falling just a week shy of qualifying for last year’s $100,000 grand prize. Overall, there were a single-season-record 14 individual streaks of at least 40 games in 2007, more than double the total from the first six seasons combined.

“Beat the Streak presented by Mitchum” is a free fantasy game that gives contestants a chance to win $1 million if they can sustain a hitting streak of at least 57 games. Each day, contestants choose a Major League player they think will get a hit. If a selected player delivers a hit on that day, the streak continues and the contestant chooses either another player or the same player the following day. If a selected player ever goes hitless for that day, the streak ends. For example, Karatzia built his record-breaking streak last year using a variety of the top Major League hitters, including Vladimir Guerrero (9 times), Derek Jeter (8), Magglio Ordoñez (5) and Jose Reyes (4).

Source: MLB Advanced Media

MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, CAA Sports and venture capitalists are preparing to launch a social-networking site that will allow athletes such as Derek Jeter and LeBron James to interact with youth athletes. The site named WePlay.com continues MLBAM’s vertical growth aspect, which includes continued growth at the MLB, minor league, USA Baseball, and youth levels. As reported by the Sports Business Journal:

The site, which was unveiled at the OnMedia NYC conference last week, blends the networking capabilities of MySpace and Facebook with some of the classic, instructional elements featured in SI for Kids like “Tips from the Pros.” It will launch in April and try to gain traction with more than 240 million people who CAA Sports estimates are active in youth sports.

“What we’re trying to do is actually bridge the gap between a guy who’s playing shortstop for the New York Yankees and some kid who’s playing shortstop in Sandusky, Ohio,” said WePlay CEO Steve Hansen.

As further reported, the site will get instant credibility from the stable of athletes within CAA Sports:

Six high-profile CAA Sports athletes involved in the site will raise its profile immediately. As founding partners in the venture, those athletes — Jeter, James, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, USA Softball player Jennie Finch, Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander and San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker — will have an equity stake in WePlay.

On December 20th, Hal Bodley ended his 25 year career with USA Today covering baseball. During that time, Bodley, much like veterans such as Murray Chass of the NY Times and Ronald Blum of The Associated Press, seemed to have his finger on the pulse of baseball as a business. As he himself wrote in his closing column for USA Today, he wrote “nearly 2,600 [articles] — some good, some awful, but none lacking my dedication and enthusiasm to inform and entertain our readers about the best game ever created.”

I contacted Bodley on that day saying that I wished him well, and he wrote back saying that he hoped to be writing again shortly. It seems it didn’t take long, as less than a month later, he is back in the saddle.

MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) announced today that Bodley will be writing for MLB.com as a senior correspondent.

“We are honored to have Hal playing an important role on our team,” said Dinn Mann, executive vice president of content for MLB.com. “Over the course of his career, Hal has earned a reputation as a respected, competitive authority on baseball. His contributions to the game and to the groundbreaking approach and coverage by USA Today cannot be overstated. Hal’s background as both a pioneer and leader in print and electronic media will serve our staff and audience tremendously. This key addition further advances our mission to deliver the best possible information and perspective.”

“After covering baseball for 50 years, the last 25 for millions of USA Today readers, getting this opportunity to remain active in the game with MLB.com and its expansive presence in the digital arena is both exciting and challenging,” said Bodley. “I can’t wait to get started because this is truly baseball’s Golden Era.”

Bodley, who has covered the game since 1958, has attended nearly every major event in the sport, including 43 World Series and 41 All-Star Games, has worked more than 4,000 games, has seen more than 36,000 innings played and has interviewed thousands of baseball personnel and six sitting Presidents of the United States. He has also written two best-selling baseball books: The Team That Wouldn’t Die, an account of the Philadelphia Phillies 1980 championship year, and Countdown to Cobb, a chronicle of Pete Rose’s 1985 pursuit of Ty Cobb’s career hits record.

Prior to joining MLB.com, Bodley served as baseball editor-columnist for USA Today since prior to the national newspaper’s startup on Sept. 15, 1982. He was with Gannett Company, Inc., for 47 years and prior to his work with USA Today was sports editor-columnist of the Wilmington News Journal newspapers for 22 years. Bodley was also a founder and former president of the Associated Press Editors Association. In addition, Bodley has served as a broadcast analyst for baseball with CBS Sports, NBC Sports, CNN and the Philadelphia Phillies television network.

Source: USA Today, MLB Advanced Media

As MLB’s revenues pass $6 billion this year, a key facet in that growth is MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), baseball’s interactive media and Internet company.

Today’s edition (Weds., 12/3) of USA Today sees a lengthy article on “BAM” by Jorge Ortiz entitled, “MLB's advanced media arm pulls in profits.” Maury Brown, the founder and president of the Business of Sports Network adds analysis to the article, pointing out how MLBAM is, in his opinion, baseball’s greatest recent achievement. As reported:

By the end of this year, MLBAM will have streamed more live events — upward of 12,000 — than any other website in the world, thanks to a powerful infrastructure put in place when MLB.com was launched in 2001 and had two significant upgrades.

Because of its huge broadband platform and technological know-how, baseball has emerged as the best option for several sports leagues seeking management of their online content.

"This is the most forward thing baseball's ever done. They're considered far and away the leader in providing digital content," says analyst Maury Brown, founder of the Business of Sports Network. "It's baseball's biggest success story that just doesn't get enough play. And it's something they have major bragging rights on."

Read more for comments by Bob Bowman, Gary Gillette and others. An outstanding piece the staff of the Business of Sports Network, and The Biz of Baseball recommends. As an example of MLBAM's growth, USA Today offers these figures within the article:

MLB'S ONLINE REVENUE

Year	Revenue (in millions)
2007	$380M*
2006	$317M
2005	$236M
2004	$140M
2003	$91M
2002	$50M
2001	$36M
*Projected Source: Major League Basebal