Application Development - eWeek

Application Development: Adobe Flash Helps Stream MLB.com Major League Games


MLB.com, the official Website of Major League Baseball, is using Adobe's Flash Platform to stream games to viewers. Adobe and MLB.com announced a two-year agreement in November for MLB.com to use Flash to deliver all of its live and on-demand Web video offerings beginning this season, which officially started April 6 for most teams.

Adobe Flash Media Server software is the video streaming engine behind the games, enabling fans to view live games from their desktops by taking advantage of Flash technology. MLB.com enables fans to view games through its subscription service, MLB.TV.

For the 2008 season, MLB.com used Microsoft's Silverlight to stream games to viewers, but decided to go exclusive with Adobe's Flash beginning with the 2009 season. Microsoft has taken exception to Adobe's claims of ubiquity and also cited many sports events that have been or will be streamed using Silverlight, including the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2009 NCAA men's basketball tournament, the Masters Golf tournament and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
 
  • Adobe Flash Helps Stream MLB.com Major League Games
    by Darryl Taft
  • MLB.com captures an opening day game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals and streams it via Adobe Flash. Image shows Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainright and his stats.
  • Pittsburgh third baseman Andy LaRoche awaits a pitch in an image depicting MLB.com's "Jump to Inning" feature.
  • MLB.com offers viewers a direct view of the pitcher and batter while also offering a view of the scores of all other games going on.
  • MLB.com streams the opening day game between the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks. The sixth inning score shows Arizona up 8-7, but the Rockies came back to win the game 9-8.
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