Boxeeing Out The Competition: Boxee/Roku Deals Turn Leagues Into Broadcasters

Posted by Jonathan in TELEVISION on 04-21-10    No Comments

When it comes to new media, it’s looking like the pro leagues are making their own media hay.

Over the past couple of days, two interesting sports tech deals got done: Gadget maker Roku announced it will stream NBA content via its boxes, and interactive TV software maker Boxee said it struck a similar deal with the NHL. Both announcements got a fair amount of media coverage, with the moves viewed mostly as sports leagues pioneering new revenue channels for their games.

But this spin missed a larger, darker trend: Sports is the leader now in new technology efforts across all media. In many ways, the leagues are replacing the media companies that used to be their partners.

What makes the Boxee and Roku deals important  is that they got done at all. Both Boxee and Roku have struggled to do business with cable and satellite companies. These usual-suspect firms do not like to deal with outsiders, are slow to innovate and simply don’t have much money. That Boxee and Roku found suitors at all is news. The fact that two sports leagues took these two operations seriously enough to do these deals shows that most traditional media firms have fallen off the pace when it comes to innovation. It’s no accident that Disney is not experimenting with alternative delivery of ESPN on Boxee.

Unless the major media firms step up and decide they want to be real media companies — and not just marketing fronts looking to discount their way to cheap products — I cannot see any reason why the NFL, NBA, NHL or MLB will want to — or have to — deal with them.

Particularly for new media, the leagues are cutting their own path to innovation, and the leagues will be the big winners.

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