The National Basketball Association hopes to start live streaming in-market games this season—a no-brainer for some and a major headache for others. The NBA, which takes pride in trying to blaze new paths even when they wind up going nowhere, has authorized its teams to launch three digital services by the time the 2008-09 season starts in late October, according to Sports Business Journal: video streaming, interactive TV and VOD. NBA general counsel Bill Koenig told SBJ: “We hope to have a model in place this season. Our opening up of the rights will certainly be done.” The NBA is negotiating on behalf of its 30 teams.

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The how and how much details are murky at best. Each team will get to choose its own business model and games will be geo-blocked; that’s about as far as it goes right now. As SBJ writes: “They also are uncertain whether the games will be hosted on the local team site, the RSN site, or both. Details of advertising within the feeds and who sells that are also still to be worked out. Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that some teams do not even hold the necessary streaming rights, since some have sold them to regional sports networks along with their TV rights.” Will it actually happen? A lot of stars would have to be aligned to get local games for all 30 team online even by the end of this season. 

In the past, this has been the equivalent of waving a red flag in front of a bull; each time it’s been tried, the bull in the form of local-market rightsholders and subscription TV operators has won. This time, though, it sounds like one of the most vocal opponents in the past may be willing to play: a Fox Sports Net spokesman told SBJ it sees new media as additive to traditional and will try to convince cable and satellite operators of that. When MLBAM suggested something similar several years ago, Fox execs pushed back hard and loud. In 2005, MLBAM tried to stream Washington Nationals games in market with no blackouts and had to pull back quickly. Most recently, MLBAM head Bob Bowman told the NYT’s Saul Hansell that he hopes to be able to work out deals that allow for in-market webcasting, “perhaps by finding ways for the M.L.B. to work more closely with the broadcasters and their advertisers.”