MLB teams with Akamai

Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the interactive media unit of the professional sports league, will use Akamai Technologies to deliver audio and video of baseball games onto the Internet, the companies said Monday. Under the multiyear agreement, Akamai's content distribution network will stream audio and video of games for the league's official MLB.com Web site and all 30 major league team Web sites. The two companies began implementing the system--which helps to balance Internet traffic loads--in February. They expect it to be ready by opening day, March 28.

Outside of the distribution network, MLBAM also has been in the market for a new content partner to provide distribution and technology to encode video and audio. MLBAM's contract with RealNetworks ended last season, and it has pursued new deals with many Web portals, including Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and America Online. RealNetworks recently filed a lawsuit against MLBAM, claiming the league violated a contract that required it to use the streaming media company's software.