monopoly mating

[waider]

I can't decide if cheap MLB for Windows Users is a monopoly abuse or simply Marketing Department A not talking to Marketing Department B. The fact that Microsoft is aware of the, er, abuse would suggest that at this point it's the former, even if it started out as the latter.

Comments

SSC

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

I spent a minute wondering what kind of software application MLB was. Then the linked page downloaded. D'oh.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I don't see a problem with this; MLB can have contracts for any one broadcaster to show its games. Does that mean that, say, ESPN has a monopoly because CBS and NBC can't share in it? It's just business.

[waider.livejournal.com]

Nah, I'm looking at it from Microsoft's end. You get the cheap baseball deal if you run Microsoft Windows. That, if it were the bottom line, is an abuse of monopoly. The fact that it appears to be an interlock of services (Windows, MSN, MLB coverage) makes it look more like a marketing mismatch in Microsoft's various departments.