On the latest news about AP-News Corp forming a joint venture, it would be interesting to see how the sports leagues react. The relationship between leagues and these sports data providers has been tense at best, with leagues trying to control the data as much as legally possible. For Stats Inc. specifically, there was a famous case where NBA filed a lawsuit against Stats Inc and Motorola: Motorola, in conjunction with Stats developed a pager device which received real-time statistical updates of live NBA games, and NBA said that it violated the leagues rights. The final verdict went in favor of these sports data providers thus setting a precedence.
Then there was the MLB-fantasy sports operators controversy last year, where the games operator filed a lawsuit against MLB alleging that no license permission is required for the stats.
Even then, the issues abound, especially with more real-time coverage and multiple-platforms to send this data on. With the merger of two of the top sports data providers, leagues will definitely become more guarded.
Related: Pro Sports: Technology Changes Rules of the Game
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