When radio first became widespread in the '20s (?), baseball owners feared broadcasting games. They felt that airing the games was synonymous with giving the product away.
Instead, the more games that were sent out over the airwaves, the more popular the game became and the more their attendance grew. This occurred again with the introduction of television. Why would fans be willing to pay for a game at the ballpark if they could sit at home and watch it on TV the owners asked. What they found, though, was that both radio and television were great mediums for reaching new markets (or for newspapers, subscribers).
The Internet isn't about giving away content, it's about expanding market reach.
