MLB has a billion reasons for new live-streaming deal in China

Bob Hille

MLB has a billion reasons for new live-streaming deal in China image

MLB's international initiative has targeted all the TVs in China.

That's a growth potential of more than 1 billion new fans, the result of a "wide-ranging partnership" announced Wednesday with China-based Le Sports in which major league games will be live-streamed in China for the first time.

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Under the three-year deal, beginning with the 2016 season, four regular-season games per week will be live-streamed, as will the All-Star Game, the Home Run Derby and playoff games — including every game of the World Series.

"If pingpong brought China and America closer together, imagine what baseball will do," said Eric Mika (via MLB.com), senior vice president of LeTV, a division of Le Sports. "Business can do good while also doing good business."

To show how desperately MLB wants to establish a lasting presence in China, commissioner Rob Manfred, chief operating officer Tony Petitti and senior VP of international strategy Chris Park traveled to Las Vegas to make the announcement at the high-profile Consumer Electronics Show.

"China is a crucial frontier for the development of baseball," Manfred said in a statement (via Fox Sports). "Our new, prominent place on Le Sports platforms both reaffirms and expands our commitment to growing the game in China."

MLB established an office in Beijing in 2007 and has emphasized growth of the game and player development at the grassroots level. Those programs hit a milestone last summer when the Orioles signed 19-year-old infielder Itchy Xu.

Bob Hille

Bob Hille Photo

Bob Hille, a senior content consultant for The Sporting News, has been part of the TSN team for most of the past 30 years, including as managing editor and executive editor. He is a native of Texas (forever), adopted son of Colorado, where he graduated from Colorado State, and longtime fan of “Bull Durham” (h/t Annie Savoy for The Sporting News mention).