You are here: Home / Archives for Apple

ESPN to live stream Cricket Championships

March 10, 2014 by 1 Comment

cricket

While the average American may only know of cricket as a game that some say partially evolved into baseball it has a huge worldwide following, particularly in parts of the British Commonwealth where England helped establish the game when it ruled a vast empire.

For fans of the game ESPN will be presenting the biennial 2014 ICC World Twenty20 Cricket Championship as a multiplatform broadcast so that viewers can follow the event on a wide variety of formats including old fashion broadcast television.

The tournament will be covered live from Bangladesh on ESPN3 and will be available to any fan that also subscribes to an affiliate’s video or Internet service so that users can watch online at WatchESPN as well as streamed on televisions through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members, Apple TV and Roku. All of the matches will be broadcast live.

The broadcasts will start with coverage of the India vs Pakistan match on March 21st and will end with the championship round on April 6. The championship will also be broadcast on ESPN2. If a viewer misses a match the games will also be available for a short time after their conclusion on ESPN3. Select highlights will be available after the tournament on ESPN TV On Demand. Also included will be the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 semifinals and final will also be delivered live on ESPN3.

The network’s ESPNcricinfo.com site will also be providing extensive coverage including pre and post game analysis and in-match commentary.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, ESPN3, iOS, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, WatchESPN Tagged With: , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: 14 New ESPN Channels — mainly online

March 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment

ESPN is launching 15 virtual networks for users of Apple TV and Roku boxes that provide Internet connectivity to their televisions as part of its ongoing WatchESPN initiative. The new channels’ programming will be culled from related conference programming from the network’s existing portfolio that includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU and others.

Some of the programming will include select live events including college basketball. Others such as college football will only be available via on-demand broadcasting. The channels will feature the ACC, America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big West, Horizon, Mid-American, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern, Sun Belt and Southland conferences. In addition there will be a combined channel featuring coverage of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and conferences including the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic and Central Intercollegiate Athletic conferences.
Fox Sports 1 has new MLB show
Fox Sports will be broadcasting a new slate of games this year, with a preference for teams that have regional Fox broadcast deals, and it will have the opportunity to highlight its games with its new MLB Whiparound show.

Airing Monday-Friday at 10 pm ET (but 12 midnight on Wednesdays) the program will be up against one of ESPN’s flagship programs Baseball Tonight and the MLB Network’s MLB tonight, all of which start at the same hour.

The Raiders to Portland?
There are a few fans in Portland, Ore., who are running a campaign to get the state to encourage the Oakland Raiders to move north to Portland, a city that lost its Single A baseball team a few years ago due to lack of support.

While the Raiders’ owner has said that the team would look to move if Oakland does not solve its stadium issue (it wants a new one) it seems highly unlikely that Portland would be its first choice with Los Angeles open. However the mix between Portland hipsters and die hard Raider fans would be great to watch.


NBC had to provide make-good ads for Olympics
Advertising Age is reporting that the broadcast giant has to provide make-good ads to some of its Olympics customers because while it won the broadcast bragging rights for virtually every night it fell short of the projected ratings.

However the network feels good about the overall results and is optimistic about its next Olympics broadcast, the 2016 Summer games in Rio. It has already started to sell ads for that event.

Minor League Baseball team has selfie promotion
One of the great things about minor league baseball are the interesting promotions that many of the teams engage in. What is possible the first of the upcoming season comes from the Kalamazoo Growlers.

They are having a promotion centered around selfies called the Salute to Selfie Night this season. The event calls for fans to take pictures of themselves and submit them, from which the team will make a jersey with the images reproduced in collage form. So practice your duck face now!

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Awful Announcing, Baseball, ESPN, ESPN3, Fox Sports, Live sports via mobile, Major League Baseball, NBC Sports, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NFL, Olympics, WatchESPN Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: MLB to live stream World Series

February 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Taking its digital game up a notch MLB’s Advanced Media has announced that it will start permitting subscribers to its MLB.TV using its At Bat app to watch both the All-Star game as well as well as the entire World Series on their registered mobile devices and computers.

The games will be broadcast over the air by Fox Sports and some details still need to be worked out as Fox’s broadcast partners will be involved in some manner in the vetting process. Still this is a great move by MLB opening up the games to more viewers. Think it will go back to day games for the Series? Me neither.

Samsung teams with Mandalay Sports Media on second screen content
Samsung Electronics America will be working with Mandalay to develop new and original second screen content that will then be made available on select Samsung products. The content will be built around Samsung’s Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology platform to enable complementary and supplementary content experiences for TV programming.

The programs will initially be distributed on Samsung’s 2012, 2013 and 2014 Smart TVs as well as select tablets and smartphones. No word yet on what types of shows will be developed under the program.

NFL to add two more playoff teams in 2015?
The NFL has hinted that it is looking at adding additional playoff teams in the future because, well the owners will make more money. The rumors appear to be picking up steam and the Washington Post has reported that it will happen in 2 years.

This is interesting in that in the last postseason the league had issues selling playoff tickets and the addition of more teams will dilute the value of the regular season and possible create even more issues in selling playoff tickets.

ESPN talks about ESPN
There used to be an adage in reporting that “You reported the news, you are not part of the news.” Well that message has never sunk in at ESPN as the latest round robin of repeating itself has taken on comic qualities.

After one of its analysts reported that he would not take Johnny Manziel as a QB for his team, ESPN’s talking heads then discussed this comment endlessly for the next day or so. Awful Announcing does a great job in dissecting how much coverage the network gave to a comment made by one of its own people.

Filed Under: All Star Game, Android, Apple, Apps, Awful Announcing, Baseball, ESPN, Fox Sports, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, MLS, NASCAR, NBA, NFL, Olympics, Samsung Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Turner, March Madness app ready for NCAA tournament

February 27, 2014 by 1 Comment

marchm

March Madness, one of the sports world’s iconic events is on the horizon and no doubt fans are already plotting out strategies to get out of the office or school to watch their favorite team attempt to advance in its bracket. However thanks to Turner Sports there is an alternative.

It has released NCAA March Madness Live, an app that will provide portable access to all of the games in the tournament, with a total of 150 hours available during the event. Even better the app will now be supported by three platforms, Apple’s iOS, Android and for the first time Microsoft as well. Now fans can use a smartphone or tablet as a second screen if at a bar or as a primary device if at work.

To use the app a fan and watch all of the matchups that will be broadcast on TNT, TBS, and truTV a fan needs to log in with their TV service provider information. Games will also be available online at various sites, including This year, NCAA March Madness Live will launch from more platforms than ever before including the NCAA March Madness page, CBS Sports, and Bleacher Report. There is no registration required for games on CBS. The app will also provide a temporary preview period giving fans access to live game streaming before login is required.

The app, Developed in partnership with the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports is a follow up to previous years’ offerings but it has made several major enhancements to the app since last year, aside from the Microsoft support.

Of importance to the fans of bracketology and seeing if they are winning in their office pool the app has a new interface that has been designed for work with the smaller screens that smartphones feature as well with the slightly larger screens on tablets. It allows users to go directly from this feature to a live game and includes broadcast times and schedules. It also has additional view modes for brackets.

The heart of the app might be the GameCenter, one of the features that has been redesigned. It is the central [point to find which games are currently live streaming as well as pre-game matchup analysis, live in-game stats, key social moments and fan chat.

To complement the enhanced features in the bracket area there is the almost obligatory bracket for fans, this one entitled Capitol One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge. The app developers have enhanced its social media functionality as well as supporting computers as well as smartphones and tablets. It allows for the formation of groups, sharing brackets and chat via Facebook.

There is also a general chat forum called the Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena that enables fans t converse about games and other events as well as follow game tweets, post and view Instagram photos and Vine videos. Fans can participate in the social commentary by using the hashtag #marchmadness.

Understanding that some fans might want to set up schedules to just see specific matchups the app now includes a TV Schedule that helps with planning. This feature can be accessed from various other features such as game schedule or bracket and provides the round, date, time and network for each game. Also new this year is a Tournament News feature that provides news and updates as well as highlights, recaps and additional information each day.

Following the broadcasting of all of the just concluded Winter Olympic events online by NBC hopefully this is the wave of the future. While MLB enables fans to watch a huge number of games either online or on their television via a subscription model the NBA and NFL trail well behind it.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, CBS Sports, Facebook, Instagram, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Microsoft, NBA, NBC Sports, NCAA Hoops, NFL, Social Media, Sports Social Media, Sports Social Media Data, Tablets, TBS, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Latest version of Fanatic sports app has enhanced features

February 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment

fanatic

The Fanatic sports app, from the same named company has some simple tools and an easy to use interface but its purpose is even more basic; it is designed to unite fans who are seeking sporting experiences with similar minded fans. However even simple ideas can be improved on, and that is what the company has done with its latest release.

The idea makes a lot of sense, particularly for people who travel a great deal and find themselves in a strange city yet want to watch their favorite team. You simply access the app, available for both Apple iOS and Android devices, and find a local sports bar that is highly rated for supporting a specific team so that you can watch in a comfortable atmosphere rather than having to worry about if your allegiance could create backlash from rival fans.

The company has built on this base and added or enhanced a number of features that most fans probably want such as the ability to organize a viewing party at a venue using social media.

The addition of a Live Score feature addresses a shortfall in the original program. Fans do not just want to know the score of the game they’re watching, and it always seems that the moment you look at the television the scores have finish scrolling and you miss the numbers for other favorite teams that might be playing simultaneously.

The news feed has been improved with a more robust and filtered feed that helps eliminate the chaff from the wheat. It has a private chat feature that enables chat before, during and after the event and includes a push notification so that you can quickly respond to comments.

Its core service, to find favorite team bars in different cities has gained an improved search function as fans using the app have increased the number of bars that are rated as well as expanded the geographical reach of the program.

The app can find bars for a wide number of sports and leagues including the NFL, NBA, NCAA, MLB, NHL and MLS, along with the top European soccer leagues, including the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A and the UEFA Champions League, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, FIFA, iOS, Major League Baseball, MLS, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, NFL, NHL, Soccer, Social Media, Sports Bars, Sports Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

NBC sets online Olympic viewing record

February 18, 2014 by 1 Comment

NBC made a great deal of noise prior to the current Winter Olympics in Sochi talking about how easy it was going to be to watch events live via digital platforms as long as you subscribed to one of its broadcast partners cable or satellite package.

Then after the events started to occur a news blackout apparently went into effect, the network touted its broadcast viewership numbers, which initially were very impressive, but completely ignored the digital data.

I have yet to see a detailed breakdown but they are now providing some numbers that show that the effort to provide different types of viewer access to the Olympics, no real surprise.

So far there has been a total of 5.7 million hours of video viewed across all of the supported digital platforms. Of that total 80 percent has been viewers watching events live. The remaining 20 percent were for fans watching exclusive highlights.

It is kind of surprising as to what, well with maybe one exception, were the top highlights viewed. No medal winners really. They are: 1. Russian speed skater Olga Graf’s wardrobe near-malfunction: 2.6 million views; 2. Russian Police Choir performs Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” in Opening Ceremony: 1.7 million; 3. Luger Shiva Keshavan falls off sled, completes run: 1.5 million.

The Olympics started with record setting broadcast viewership and it is remaining strong for the most part, but has shown signs of weakening, possibly because of all of the news about warm weather and melting snow. However solid events like last weekend’s USA vs. Russia hockey matchup continue to be record setters.

Of course NBC has other concerns at the game as well. Talk has started as to who will replace Bob Costas as host in the future. As you probably know Costas missed some time behind the mike due to a very bad case of red eye. I may be in the minority here but I really do not care too much who is manning the booth for highlights and human interest stories — I just want to see competition.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NBC Sports, Olympics Tagged With: , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »