Episode 37: BAMTech, Disney and "the Biggest Media Company You've Never Heard Of”

Ben and David continue Acquired’s “tech and sports” mini-series
with Disney’s 2016 acquisition of a minority stake (with the
right to purchase a majority stake at a later date) in BAMTech,
the internet streaming company originally founded as part of
Major League Baseball in the early 2000’s. However the importance
of this story goes deeper than just sports, with major
ramifications for nearly every major technology company from
Amazon to YouTube. Even if you’re not not sure if baseball’s
played on a diamond or a gridiron, tune in as we swing for the
fences in predicting the future of TV! 


Sponsors:


WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25

Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry

Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25






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Topics covered include: 

What is BAMTech, and why is it, according to The Verge, "the
future of television”?

BAMTech’s origins as part of Major League Baseball's Advanced
Media division ("MLBAM)”)

MLBAM’s founding CEO Bob Bowman’s decidedly “non-tech”
background, and growth into one of the most important tech
leaders of the past 15 years

Initial technology struggles and learnings from early
streaming efforts (including a botched audio package of Ichiro
Suzuki’s games with the Mariners for fans in Japan)

Landing on a streaming model that works with the launch of
MLB.tv in 2002/2003—three years before YouTube is founded! 

Improvement of the MLB.tv service and MLBAM’s streaming
expertise over the next ten years through the rise of mobile, and
simultaneous  growth of MLBAM’s revenues to over $1B
annually

MLBAM’s initial deals to expand its streaming services beyond
baseball, starting with ESPN in 2010, then WWE, the PGA,
 HBO and  the NHL

The importance of media rights, and MLBAM’s transition from a
simple tech/infrastructure provider to  a full-fledged media
company 

The decision to initiate a spin-off process for BAMTech from
MLB in August 2015, and Disney’s $1B investment into the newly
created spin-out company in August 2016

Disney’s subsequent announcement that they’ll be
 working with BAMTech to create a direct-to-consumer ESPN
streaming service

BAMTech’s  $300M deal with Riot Games in December 2016
for the media rights to League of Legends eSports content 

Bob Bowman’s announcement in February 2017 that he’ll be
stepping back to from a day to day role, and  hiring of
former Amazon VP of Video Michael Paull as BAMTech’s new CEO



  Followups & Hot Takes: 


 Facebook’s struggles with Instant Articles

 Microsoft killing Wunderlist (David is VERY sad)

 Instagram continues its torrid growth, passes 700M MAU

 Amazon’s new Look 

 The Cloudera IPO

Confirmation the ride sharing wars are far from over:
 Didi raises $5.5B in the largest private funding round ever



  The Carve Out: 


Ben: NYT’s 4th Down Bot

David: Wait But Why on Elon Musk’s “Wizard Hat"