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I’ve long been a critic of the Premier League’s hair-brained approach to dealing with modern technology and media distribution. But wait until you read this article about a revamped website. All of this will be available for the upcoming season.

The highlights:

• Almost every game available live (the exceptions being the nationally televised games)
• All games available as 25-minute highlight packages, available anytime.
• It will be possible to watch up to six live games at once, picture-in-picture style.
• All this for an annual fee of $90 (£45).
• Additional option to receive video of key incidents to mobile phones less than 90 seconds after they happen (for $4 per month)
• Expected revenues for this website are $500 million.

If that has got you whipped up into a frenzy of excitement, I have one more piece of news for you: the website belongs to Major League Baseball.

Yes, the sport most associated with white-haired grandpa’s in rocking chairs has the most progressive and fan-friendly online media offering in sports. Other American sports leagues are not far behind though: The NFL, NBA and NHL all offer live streaming of all games to subscribers.

What does the Premier League offer us? If you click on the “TV” tab on their website, you’ll be able to see…a listing of what games are on TV (as long as you live in the UK, because it only lists British TV channels).

As a fan, this kills me because I only get to see around one game in three of the team I support.

As a spectator of the business of football, this kills me because they’re leaving so much money on the table it hurts. The MLB can snag $500 million a year from its website, yet the Premier League can only get $400 million a year for its overseas television deal!

Meanwhile, fans are watching live streaming video on the websites of pirates who are lining their pockets. And they’re packing the British pubs that show satellite TV feeds from Scandinavia and the Middle East.

I’ve long been a critic of the Premier League’s hair-brained approach to dealing with modern technology and media distribution. But wait until you read this article about a revamped website. It’ll make you weep.

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