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NBC Sports, Tour de France Organizer (ASO) Announce Long-Term Broadcast Marriage

June 29, 2012 by 1 Comment

If you like watching the Tour de France and you’re in the United States, you’re likely going to watch it via three broadcast platforms on NBC — at least for the next 12 years.

Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the race owner, and NBC Sports Group, have agreed to a 10-year multi-platform extension that includes exclusive U.S. television, digital and mobile rights for the Tour de France through 2023.

As part of the agreement, which begins in 2014, the NBC Sports Group will continue as the exclusive U.S. television home of the Tour de France, with live coverage of every stage, including live coverage on NBC each year.

Additionally, the NBC Sports Group will continue coverage of several other ASO properties, including the Dakar Rally and the Paris Marathon, as well as spring classic cycling events including Paris Nice, Criterium International, Criterium du Dauphine, Paris Roubaix, Fleche Wallonne, Liege Bastogne Liege and the Paris Tours.

As previously announced, NBC Sports Group, the exclusive U.S. television partner of the Tour de France, will surround this year’s race with 295 total hours of coverage and digital offerings in its current contract through 2013.

The network, in its three broadcast formats, will provide an average of 13 hours of coverage daily this year through the race finale July 22 in Paris.

James Raia is a California-based journalist who writes about sports, travel and leisure. Visit his cycling site at tdf100.com

Filed Under: Cycling, Live sports via mobile, NBC Sports, Tour de France

Cadel Evans Seeks Title Repeat as Tour de France Unfolds With Vast Network, Mobile Viewing Options

June 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Australian Cadel Evans, riding in the midst of an unheralded season, will seek to successfully defend his 2011 title beginning Saturday in the 99th edition of the Tour de France — a route highlighted by more time trial distance and less severe climbing.

The race, beginning with a prologue in Liege, Belgium, will encompass 21 days of racing and two rest days and conclude with its traditional finale — circuits around the Champs Elysees in Paris on July 22.

For race enthusiasts not in attendance, the Tour de France will have an unprecedented variety of online viewing options, paced by nearly 300 hours of network broadcast, online and mobile options via the NBC Sports Network. Live race video online, however, isn’t free — it costs $29.99 for the entire race, or $4.99 per stage. Plus, you need to sign up for a Map My Ride account.

Hundreds of online cycling publications will also feature live Tour de France content, most notably in the event’s official site, letour.fr and two largest cycling websites in the United States, cyclingnews.com and velonews.com.

The race’s official site letour.fr currently has vast archived Tour de France history and daily will offer a live updates and nearly instantaneous results.

VeloNews.com and cyclingNews.com will have multi-platform journalists at the race providing daily reporting, analysis, video and a live feed text feed from each stage.

Bicycling Magazine (bicycling.com) will offer daily multimedia content from the Tour de France, while steephill.tv will offer an exhaustive list of content and global live feed options.

The riders, race staff and media will also be a large part of the social media mix. More than 100 of the entrants have Twitter accounts accessible via the Twitter handle, TDF 2012

This year’s overall title competition will suit a strong time trial rider who doesn’t necessarily possess dominating climbing skills. The race features only three uphill finishes but includes more than 100 kilometers of time trials.

Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) is favored for Saturday’s 3.8-mile prologue and Germany’s Tony Martin (OmegaPharma-Quick Step) and American teammate Levi Leipheimer will also likely be in the time trial mix.

Evans (BMC), 35, didn’t race in May and has only a victory in the three-day Criterium International in April this season. Evans will be supported by a strong teammate group featuring 17-time Tour de France participant (and hopeful 16-time finisher) George Hincapie, Philippe Gilbert of Belgium, and 23-year-old American Tejay van Garderen.

The Olympics, which begin less than a week after the conclusion of the Tour de France, has sharply altered the overall competition and other sub-plots like the best sprinter and climber contests.

Mark Cavendish (Sky) of Great Britain, who already has 20 Tour de France stage wins, has lost weight and has predicted he won’t dominate sprints as he has in recent years in favor of focusing on the Olympic road race.

Likewise, former world titlist Tom Boonen of Belgium, a six-time Tour de France stage winner, is skipping the race as is promising American Taylor Phinney (BMC). Both riders are also focusing on the Olympics.

Alberto Contador of Spain, a three-time race winner, and two-time runner-up Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), who inherited Contador’s title in 2010 when the former was post-race suspended for the using the banned stimulant clenbuterol and who also finished second twice, are not competing.

Contador’s suspension will last until the end of the summer while Schleck is recovering from a spine injury sustained in early June while racing in France. Norway’s Thor Hushovd, who won two Tour stages last year, will also be absent this year while he recovers from a virus.

Eight Americans will compete this year, with Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) of Wenatchee, Wa., who won his first Tour de France stage last year, favored in sprinting stages and veterans Leipheimer, Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) and Chris Horner (RadioShack), all top-10 overall finishers.

Bradley Wiggins (Sky) of Great Britain, who has three wins this season, Robert Gesink (Rabobank) of the Netherlands, winner of this year’s Tour of California, and Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), second last year in the Tour of Italy are among a half-dozen potential overall title contenders.

After three days in Belgium, the race progresses from the English Channel across northern France to the Vosges, south to the Alps, farther south to Cap d’Agde on the Mediterranean Sea, then into the Pyrenees and conclusion in Paris.

James Raia is a California-based journalist who writes about sports and leisure. Visit his cycling site at tdf100.com

Filed Under: Apps, Cycling, Tour de France, Twitter

NBC Increases Tour de France Coverage, Including Multi-Platform Mobile Options

June 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

In addition to increased broadcast coverage, including live coverage on the first weekend, the NBC Sports Group has substantially increased its internet coverage of the race’s 99th edition.

Collectively called Tour de France LIVE, race coverage will be available online at NBCSports.com, and through the Tour de France LIVE Mobile app.

The network will offer users two premium-subscription products which will give fans a multi-platform, all-encompassing viewing experience to the Tour.

Tour de France LIVE offers live streaming video of every stage in full HD, with the ability to pause, rewind and slow-mo the video. While watching live coverage online, viewers will also have access to a live GPS tracking map to follow the riders’ progress or to see an enhanced interactive map for each stage.

Subscribers can also personalize their Tour experience by choosing their favorite riders and teams to track throughout the Tour.

For iPhone and iPad users as a Android users fans can purchase the Tour de France LIVE Mobile app.

All the features of the NBCSports.com online experience will be mirrored in the Tour de France LIVE Mobile app, including live video of every stage, and is sold separately from the online product

Stages 7 and 8, which will air live on NBC, will also be streamed live for free, on NBCSports.com.

Here are some more helpful links:

NBC TOUR DE FRANCE TV COVERAGE

TV times for NBC coverage. Will probably be like NHL and have some on the former Versus channel. Check your cable provider listings.

Visit NBC Tour de France app for addition mobile viewiing options.


 

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Cycling, NBC Sports, Tour de France Tagged With: , , ,

GameChanger Stepping Up to the Plate With Live AAU Baseball Tourney Streaming

June 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Seven Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) summer baseball tournaments held at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports in Florida and continuing through June 30 are available on GameChanger, the mobile and web tool that delivers real-time local amateur baseball and softball game updates.

Founded in 2009 in New York City, GameChanger provides live pitch-by-pitch updates, stats and instant game stories.

The AAU will stream real-time game information to globally subscribing fans.

“Our tournaments have traditionally attracted top coaches and players – and the enthusiastic fans that follow them,” said Debra Horn, Senior Manager of AAU Baseball. “This year, we did our research and picked the simplest, most accessible – and free – technology out there to step up our overall experience: our teams will be using the GameChanger mobile app to digitally keep score – and automatically beam play-by-plays to fans anywhere in the world.”

Now used by more than 45,000 teams, the free GameChanger scorekeeping app, available on Apple and Android devices, allows amateur baseball and softball coaches and scorekeepers to log each play using its simple, touch-screen app.

As each play is recorded, the app then streams live pitch-by-pitch updates to the Internet, where fans anywhere can follow in real-time from a web browser, mobile browser or the GameChanger mobile app.

“We’re bringing technology to AAU Baseball and amateur sports that, until recently, was reserved strictly for big leaguers,” Ted Sullivan, CEO of GameChanger Media, said. “This partnership continues to highlight a shift in the way youth and high school baseball teams collect and manage their data, where fans anywhere can keep up with the action just by using their mobile devices.”

James Raia is a California-based journalist who writes about sports and leisure. Visit his golf site at golftribune.com

 

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, ESPN, iPhone, SportsStream Tagged With: , , ,

USGA Continues Pioneering Online Coverage of U.S. Open

June 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

Eleven years ago, as the U.S. Open forged into its second century, the United States Golf Association simultaneously catapulted into new media technology.

It was only one hole with one announcer at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. But the occasion — live streaming (webcasting) — was a gateway for fans who weren’t in attendance or watching on television to still view the country’s national championship.

“The technology was there, but no one in sports at that particularly time was doing a webcast, especially at the major event like the U.S. Open,” said Bill Lacey, USGA Manager of Digital Media Development. “We had great fan appeal and that’s what led to the first webcast.

“The reason it was one hole and one announcer? It was all new to us. We were learning the technology. It was on the fly, basically. It was the USGA dipping our toes in the water.”

The first webcast, while experimental, occurred at the par-3, 175 6th hole of the 101st U.S. Open. The announcer was Roger Twibell, and the new adventure worked.

“We had about 200,000 streams, and we felt like it was an affirmation that this was something,” said Jessica Carroll, the USGA Managing Director of Information Technology and Digital Media, of the initial webcast.

Video streaming of the U.S. Open has steadily expanded since its debut. Two holes with two announcers were involved for two years, then bonus coverage on certain holes was featured.

Five years ago, “marquee” coverage of certain groups of golfers began. In 2008, for the Monday 18-hole playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines near San Diego, Calif., the site’s live stream “broke the Internet,” according to Lacey.

“We did 650,000 concurrent streams,” he said. “And basically one of the Internet backbone providers went offline the traffic was so heavy.”

Now, online audiences for golf are big and getting bigger, with the PGA claiming a half-million to a million streams for each one of the tournaments it operates its Live@ bonus coverage. The USGA, Carroll said, is seeing similar growth in online video consumption.

“Overall, if we’re looking at the broad spectrum, it’s just a constant upstream,” she said. “I don’t remember specific numbers from last year, but this year we’re up 100 percent.”

The second and final day of online-only marquee group coverage of this year’s U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco is scheduled at 7:44 a.m. and 1:18 p.m. Friday (both Pacific Time). The morning time will feature the group of Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell. The afternoon threesome will be Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson. The online coverage is also available via the U.S. Open mobile device app, in either the Android or Apple iOS version.

It’s yet to be determined what, if any, online coverage will be over the weekend. But according to the USGA, the big online watchers are those still at their own offices during the workweek.

“Our audience is really an audience at work; they don’t have access,” said Lacey. “They’re in their offices and they can’t watch the U.S. Open. But it’s going on while they are working. We went to where they are. They’re at their desks and we stream right to their desks.”

The U.S. Open is currently the only USGA event with a webcast. And while there are no current plans for additional events, it’s inevitable with continued increased Internet viewership and the advancement of other social media applications.

“When the stream goes on, people are staying on,” said Carroll. “It’s almost like they want to spend the day with us. They really stick with it. I think that’s just kind of an interesting concept. They become part of the U.S. Open experience, even though they’re not physically here.”

James Raia is a California-based journalist who writes about sports and leisure. Visit his golf site at golftribune.com

Filed Under: Golf, Mobile sports pioneers, Sports Social Media, US Open Tagged With: , , , , ,

TaylorMade the Big Hitter in Social Media at U.S. Open

June 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The U.S. Open, refreshingly void of title sponsorships in its logo or direct marketing, still has plenty of affiliated brands, some of which have strong social media activities at the event, some of which do not.

CallawayGolf and adidas reference the tournament with their respective apparel lines and contracted athletes.

The shirts Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson have chosen to wear in each of championship rounds, are featured on the adidas site presuming, of course, the golfers will play in all of the rounds.

CallawayGolf company’s Facebook page also features a post and link to the hole-in-one made by Alvaro Quiros during Wednesday’s practice round on the 288-yard par 4 seventh. It’s only 30 seconds and doesn’t show the shot, but rather the golfer’s reaction.

But it’s TaylorMade that likely has the biggest social media presence among the manufacturers represented at the U.S. Open.

Twenty-two golfers in the field — Retief Goosen to D.A. Points and Tim Herron to Martin Kaymer — all sponsored by the company, have direct Twitter links listed on the right-hand side of the company’s home page.

And on the left-hand flank is a steady stream of Twitter posts from tournament fans. The feed was active from the first pairing of the opening round Thursday morning and continue throughout the day with a new post at least every few seconds.

James Raia is a California-based journalist who writes about sports and leisure. Visit his golf site at golftribune.com

Filed Under: Golf, NBC Sports, Nike, TaylorMade Tagged With: ,
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