Real Sues Baseball Over Windows Media

westlake writes 'According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, RealNetworks has sued Major League Baseball over its use of Windows Media. The dispute began with MLB's decision to stream exhibition games in WMA format only, under its revised contract, Real claims all live MLB streams must include RealMedia as an option. The piece states: 'Windows Media Player controlled about 34 percent of the U.S. market, compared with nearly 19 percent for RealOne player and 10 percent for QuickTime player, according to January data from Nielsen/NetRatings.'"

Comments

I'm so torn

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope Real wins, Major League Baseball sticks by the terms of the contract they signed, and Microsoft has to start dealing with competition.

But on the other hand, if all three parties got wiped out by a freak comet impact, I'd be even happier!

Re:er math error

[Goalie_Ca]

We all know that baseball fans just love the superior xvid format as well as mplayer. Besides, compiling gentoo gives them something interresting to watch during the game.

Re:What's the other 37%?

[Unoti]

The other 37% is people clicking through pop-ups, getting notifications that another version of Real is available, and trying to figure out how to un-install Real player.

text of lawsuit

[dboyles]

PLAINTIFF, Real Networks, Inc. hereby does... ::Buffering...::Buffering...::

Real's New Slogan

[Anonymous Coward]

Real Player: Free as in syphilis.

I have prepared a response.

[Raven42rac]

I have prepared a response, I believe that (buffering, buffering, buffering) the case has no (buffering, buffering, buffering) ahh the hell with it.

Re:What's wrong?

[Weirsbaski]

Please note that Real is not asking MLB to only broadcast in Real, as the article stated, "MLB is free to use Microsoft's Windows Media format if it wants, but under the Feb. 8 agreement, it also must use RealNetworks' RealMedia format to provide live coverage of the entire baseball season, including spring training."

What's the problem? MLB could follow Real's footsteps in guiding the user to the preferred format. To find a web link to a Real stream, you have to click through a procession of fourteen different links, including three white-on-white-text links and one link cleverly covered by a flash animation.