Internet Broadcasts 2007

I haven't found anything yet. And I don't know about you guys, but it doesn't look good for 2007 internet broadcast (most of the 2006 links are not working, and no teams are making any publicity about 2007 broadcasts).

From what I can understand, the Hawks and the Fighters will broadcast there home games (see the link).

At this point I don't know if it's only available in Japan.

It's only available in Japan. You have to install a program to watch the games, and it will black you out if you don't have a Japanese ISP/OS.

Just when you think someone is doing something good, they go and fill this system up with their old mentality. Also, you think that since the Hawks are owned by Masayoshi Son, who should know better than this, I guess not.

Well I checked yesterday (during the Hawks-Giants game), and Hawks and Fighters internet broadcasts won't be available outside of Japan this season (unless someone finds a way). That sucks big time.

Could this [Mainichi Broadcasting System - in Japanese] be a good sign (for Hanshin Tigers broadcast)? (See the square with the Tigers logo.)

If you want some streaming video of camp interviews, I suppose it's a good sign. (And they don't make the videos plugins, so I can use third party software (VLC works fine for those of us who are Microsoft free) to view them.)

It's not clear what will happen once the season starts. Will they continue with interviews and highlights? I don't see any live streaming of shows/events (like the Senbatsu Koshien tournament starting on the 23rd).

I just don't understand what NPB teams are thinking. The MLB is expanding more and more, and the NPB is doing the opposite.

Last year it was possible to watch 4 teams for those outside of Japan (Hawks, Fighters, Eagles, and Tigers), and this year it looks more and more like it won't be possible to watch any teams.

I think the message the NPB is sending is clear - they don't want any outside of Japan fans.

Well, looks like it's back to the MBL for me.

My prediction: in less then 10 years, the NPB is going to look like the Russian Professional Hockey League. The best players are going to leave, MLB is going to market big time in Japan, and the NPB will be nothing more then some minor league.

Sorry but I had to get this off my chest. I was looking forward to the 2007 season.

Can anyone tell me what this means? (It's about the Tigers's broadcast for the 2007 season.)

Thank you.

After accepting that their security certificate has expired (two days ago), it's a message to their users that their service, which began in 2000, will end at the end of March. They say that while they would like to provide users with even more functionality this season, that they are unable to continue to service the way that they have up until now.

They thank everyone for their interest in the service all these years, and deeply regret that it all has to come to an end.

One of the notes at the end says that all member information will be deleted at the end of this time period.

If you want more information, you can write to them at the "tigerslive at mbs d0t jp" mail address. Would anyone like to conduct an e-mail interview with them to get the whole story?

This is absolutely sickening, and I am never going to defend Japanese teams after this. The players make the league special, and the teams flush progress down the toilet on an annual basis.

Let's see, we still have the archaic Japanese farm system that chews up and spits out first round draft picks, a playoff system in which the championship could have no champions (see latest Hot Corner), under the table dealings and bullying of ignorant young men, blah blah blah. Now I can't even pay to see a single game on the Internet.

I'm sorry, but this is just disgusting and I feel betrayed as a die hard Chiba Lotte Marines fan. Maybe I'll make more of an effort to follow the Mariners and White Sox this year. At least I can watch their games.

I just can't understand Japanese teams.

Do you guys think there will be a way to at least watch the Marines or the Eagles?

If the problem is that you're outside of Japan, you need to learn about "proxy servers" - and find one located in Japan. "Anonymizer" would be another good key word to Google, again making sure that the service provides a Japan located IP address.

Interestingly, iTunes doesn't use IP address to regulate what you may and may not purchase, as the folks at Apple know how easy it is to fake an IP address. They use the mailing address of your credit card to determine where you are. The work around to that is to buy iTunes gift certificates in the country you want to purchase something from (online if you're not taking a trip there).

My point is, any system whereby people try to regulate the Internet by where in the world a person is is bound to fail. So these people trying to push exclusive content to people according to geography should just give it up now. Throwing in a lot of resources to a restrictive system that won't work is futile. Open it up to the world!

Open Content, Open Culture, Open Source.

I hear what you say about proxy servers. But (and y'all can try it if you wan't) I got an IP from Japan, but I just can't watch any Hawks or Fighters game. (And the IP is working, because it is not saying that people outside of Japan can't view.)

So far I'm getting no indication that it will be possible to listen to Marines or Eagles' games. Plus, it may be like last year in that we won't get to watch Marines' games either, as USEN blacked them out everywhere outside of Japan.

Japan Times writer, Wayne Graczyk, had a interesting take on the situation in which I find myself in complete agreement with. He has mentioned many of the same things that were mentioned above and by Garland-san over at Japan Baseball Daily.

Perhaps someone in Japan can help everyone out. Here [FreeSoccer.us] is a site that posts streaming links to many sporting events of all types throughout the world (EPL, MLB, NBA, etc.) It is a great sight - I watch the EPL every week in addition to games from Argentina.

Access is free - you need to register to post messages to their forum.

Here is the request forum in which there are many fans inquiring about NPB games on the Internet.

If someone has the resourses please post a note to Kante on the FreeSoccer request forum.

Hopefully, we can make this happen.

The Fog

I may be wrong, but looking at the 2007 Marines's broadcasting schedule, I don't think they're planning on showing any games live on the Internet this year.

If it's so, my only remaining hopes are the Eagles.

Channel 1 on Marines.tv says that they're broadcasting 55 home games live. But the schedule is from last year, and the link to GyaO is broken (even substituting 2007 for 2006 in the URL).

However, the Marines' registered player information page was just updated from 2006 to 2007 this past week, so they may still be preparing for this season. (I know I'm not nearly ready for the season to start in another week!)

Or perhahps, since they blocked users from outside of Japan last season, they lost most of their viewership and figured that nobody was interested in watching games on The Net.

I heard that Korea's SBS channel is broadcasting many Giants games. Does anyone know if it's possible to catch it on the Internet?

Does this [Marines.tv] means that the Marines are also going to broadcast there games on Yahoo Japan (like the Hawks, Fighters, and Eagles) and therefore not be available for fans outside of Japan?

Hooray for xenophobia! That's what it all boils down to, you know. I know MBS weren't like this for the past few years with Hanshin broadcasts, so maybe I can at least watch Koshien online.

This is why anything centralized, including something as trivial as Japanese baseball broadcasts, is a bad idea. They make the rules, and you have to follow no matter what you desire. In this case, Yahoo! Japan chooses to keep very niche market Asians and the handful of insomniac American fans from even having access to the content. Why don't they just lock all of Yahoo! Japan off from foreign eyes? That should make things pure again. After all, Yahoo! is a Japanese company, right?

- Does this [Marines.tv] means that the Marines are also going to broadcast there games on Yahoo Japan (like the Hawks, Fighters, and Eagles) and therefore not be available for fans outside of Japan?

It sure looks that way. All of those teams listed above have switched their games to Yahoo! Japan, which make you install a plug-in to watch the games, but black them out outside of Japan. Like above, it doesn't look good for Internet broadcasts in 2007. NPB as usual, has dropped the ball.

Many Japanese players now have blogs and home pages. Try writing about this situation in them and see if that elicits any reaction from the players union. Just nicely tell them that with all the great players coming to MLB from Japan it has made you curious about NPB but that NPB has no plan for broadcasting games that foreigners can have access to.

I'm going to hit up some of the sports dailies about this issue and see if they'll bite. However, my complaint (written in Japanese) to Softbank about their switching to Yahoo has earned me bupkis in the response department, so I can't promise that they will care.

I have written to CJ Nitkowski, and he said that he himself is trying to find a way for friends and family to watch him in America, but he doesn't have anything yet.

Maybe if more people asked theses guys.

The only option for us guys outside Japan is this link.

Click on the 100k link around the bottom of the page and you can get a lower quality stream of Hawks home games. There's really no reason for them to have this stream anymore, so either Softbank forgot all about it or someone out there is looking out for us. Credit goes to Shinigami for not giving up on trying to find a stream.

As of typing this, Tuffy Rhodes just hit a homer. Welcome back, Tuffy!