Baseball goes online in China

Major League Baseball (MLB) announced it will begin to stream games and provide other baseball-related content on a Chinese-language website, the Financial Times reported. The partnership with BroadWeb-Asia, a company backed by an early investor in MySpace, reflects MLB’s desire to increase the global appeal of baseball, particularly in China. An MLB official said that baseball was not concerned with the short-term financial impact of the deal, and that the website will help build interest in the game among China’s youth. The deal also highlights the growing influence of the internet as a broadcast medium. MLB is the largest streamer of live media of any US media group, drawing 8-10 million visitors to its site each day.