[simonh]

But surely you can perceive a difference between MLB, which developed in-house tech that gave them a competitive advantage versus other sports groups and enabled them to build a successful business providing that service to other companies, and the ones that buy in that tech. MLBs investment put them years ahead of their competition in that area.

[ghaff]

I'm not sure how much was the tech. It wasn't all developed in-house anyway; they were a big reference for at least EMC ages ago. But certainly, like a number of the more successful media/entertainment companies, they recognized that technology was important at a time when you couldn't just get it off the shelf.

Today it's less clear that the tech is still as compelling a differentiator relative to the content.