Yahoo Finance Facebook Inc (FB) Could Live Stream MLB Games This Season, Report Says
Ever dreamed of watching a Major League Baseball game on Facebook? That dream could soon turn into a reality.
Facebook Inc (FB) is talking with the Major League Baseball about live-streaming one game each week this season, according to several Reuters sources. One source called these talks "advanced." Sports media consultants tell Reuters that Facebook is trying to reach the same audience as Twitter (TWTR) as it scours for partnerships with sports rights owners.
Neither Facebook nor MLB representatives offered comment to Reuters.
This wouldn't be Facebook's first foray into sports live streaming. Univision Communications chose Facebook Live to live stream Mexican soccer matches in English on account of the company's large reach, Tonia O'Connor, chief commercial officer and president of content distribution at Univision, told Reuters. That partnership translates to 46 live-streamed Mexican soccer league Liga MX matches this year.
Twitter partnered with the NFL last year to live stream games on its platform, though the company is still suffering from poor user growth and intense competition for advertisers. Sports media consultant Lee Berke told Reuters that Facebook can still win the live sports battle even without the NFL.
Facebook and Twitter aren't the only ones vying for sports consumers. Snap Inc. and Turner, whose parent company is Time Warner (TWX), announced an expansion of their content partnership late last year. That expansion included adding a Bleacher Report U.S. Discover Channel featuring videos, images, animations and graphics in sports coverage. Snap filed for its $3 billion IPO earlier this month.
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