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ESPN Scores with 523,000 Online Viewers for BCS

January 10, 2012 by 1 Comment

The game may have been a dud for all but Alabama fans but the BCS Championship was an online success for cable giant ESPN, with 523,000 online viewers tuning in via the various mobile and online platforms and devices.

With the regular television audience for the game racking up the second-highest viewer total for a cable program (with 24.2 million viewers, trailing only last year’s BCS game which attracted a regular TV audience of 27.3 million viewers) once again the online audience showed that it isn’t much of a distraction or detriment to the regular broadcast numbers.

Going forward there should be even bigger numbers for ESPN online viewership, now that cable giant Comcast’s customers will be able to utilize the WatchESPN service thanks to a recent agreement between the companies. It will be interesting to see how the college/cable online audiences stack up to the upcoming Super Bowl, which will also be streamed online for the first time.

Filed Under: BCS, ESPN, ESPN3, NCAA Football, WatchESPN Tagged With: ,

MSR Editor Gives BCS Viewing Advice to CES

January 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

If you are at CES here in Las Vegas (like MSR is) you may be wondering if you can watch tonight’s BCS championship game in a mobile fashion. MSR editor in chief Paul Kapustka (me) breaks it down for you over at Light Reading. Enjoy.

Filed Under: BCS

Looking For the BCS in 3D? ESPN Has Your Back!

January 9, 2012 by 4 Comments

The Sports network, long a backer of 3D, pulls out the stops for the broadcast

Did you splurge on a 60-inch HDTV and a set of 3D glasses but have already seen Avatar 4 times with your kids? Then tonight’s huge BCS Championship game between LSU and Alabama is your chance to see your system strut its stuff.

While the broadcast, with ESPN lead broadcasters Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit handling the main announcing duties will be available in both a regular broadcast mode as well as in 3D, marking ESPN’s 39th 3D football broadcast in the last 2 years.

Aside from the commentary from the 2D broadcast the rest of the 3D show will be just that, 3D. There will be a total of 11 3D cameras at the event including one in the SkyCam to go with the 2D cameras that are present there.

However that is just the tip of the iceberg. There will be a 3D Ultra Slo Motion camera on a cart that moves along the sideline, that was developed for use by Fletcher Chicago with technology and cameras from I-Movix using Vision Research cameras for ESPN 3D.

One 3D camera on each goalpost, 3 lightweight miniaturized handheld, also developed for ESPN 3D, one of which transmits wirelessly enabling greater access for the technology. A 3D game camera on a 28 foot high mast on a cart that moves along the sideline provide shots close to the action and last but not least a 3D First Down Line that was developed by ESPN Technology.

This is a time to see what 3D can really do if you do ot have a 3D enabled television it could be worth your while to call a friend and volunteer to bring the wings and beer to get the experience watching an event that is capable of showing it off in all its glory. All that is missing is a holographic image of yourself on the sidelines.

Filed Under: BCS, ESPN, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Football Tagged With: ,

ESPN: BCS Bowl Games Averaged 288,000 Online Viewers; But No Comcast ESPNWatch Access for Championship Game

January 5, 2012 by 1 Comment

Though TV viewership for the BCS Bowl Games only increased slightly this year, the online audience is reaping record viewer numbers for worldwide sports leader ESPN, according to figures released by the network.

In a press release ESPN said that it averaged 288,000 unique online viewers during the first three BCS bowl games this season, including the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. According to ESPN the average viewer spent almost 80 minutes online watching games, adding up to a total of 23.1 million online minutes. The time-watched stat is up 73 percent from last year, while the unique-visitor number is up 31 percent, ESPN said.

What should be interesting to see is how much those numbers stack up for Monday’s BCS championship game, the rematch between LSU and Alabama. Unfortunately, Comcast cable customers still won’t have access to the ESPN3 ESPNWatch service, even though the cable giant signed a deal earlier this week with ESPN to provide the ability to watch ESPN online sometime down the road.

According to an ESPN spokesperson, only customers of Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Verizon’s FiOS service will have access to the full WatchESPN app and system for the BCS game. Though ESPN couldn’t officially confirm the reason, basic network knowledge says that there probably just wasn’t time to configure the authentication systems needed to give Comcast customers access.

However, anyone with a broadband provider who supports ESPN3 access (see a long list here to check if your provider allows it), which includes Comcast broadband customers, should be able to watch the game on the ESPN website. (If you are confused by the whole ESPN3/WatchESPN thing don’t feel bad. We’ve had multiple emails and phone calls with the kind ESPN folks today and still don’t think we’ve explained it fully.)

If you have more questions the WatchESPN FAQ is a good place to start. We will put together a brilliant how-to-watch-the-BCS online by Monday that hopefully explains this more clearly.

Filed Under: BCS, ESPN, ESPN3, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Football, SEC, WatchESPN Tagged With: , ,

Sunday Sermon: Jan. 1, 1986, the Greatest Bowl Game Day Ever

January 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

In honor of the new year I will tell a quick story of the greatest bowl-game TV viewing day ever: Jan. 1, 1986. Of course this is subjective and relates only to my own viewing experience, which was enhanced by my fellow football-watchers, the beverages and vittles and the perfect locale. And now thanks to the stupid revenue-seeking schedule that has the few meaningful bowl games spread out until February, it may never come this way again.

The locale may have been the best part of this supreme day; we were all at our friend Grant Gardner’s condo, since he was the first among all of us to get his own place. I think we had even crashed there after celebrating New Year’s Eve: The core crew that day was myself, my one year-older brother, Grant and my two high school running mates, Tom “Floyd” Pettett and Brian “The Tool” Bartsch. And all we did, all damn day long, was sit or slump on the collection of couches in the condo basement, and watch one game after another: Cotton, Fiesta, Rose, Sugar and Orange.

I don’t specifically remember the order of the games or caring that Oklahoma would be crowned national champion after its Orange Bowl victory over Penn State. What I do remember is grooming the hair of the dog by draining multiple aluminum cans of Old Style beer, the quaffing favorite of us Chicagoland types. By sometime about mid-Rose Bowl we were all practicing the “I’m empty” move of reverse-dunking the used-up can over the back of the main sofa, where it would crash into the pile of other dead soldiers that had preceded it. Someone else would then perform the act of kindness of refilling the most recent empty hand with another full can. Part of the perfect day, you never had to get your own brew or get up off the couch.

I have a picture, which I won’t post here, of Floyd and Tool laid out snoozing on the two perpendicular couches with an oversized Old Style lamp in between them. They are in an advanced state of Old Style-consumption and bowl-game watching; I am guessing the Orange Bowl halftime was responsible for their nap-break. Sometime during the day I think I remember Grant grilling up some burgers or chili or maybe we ordered Jake’s deep-dish pizza.

I know from the picture we snarfed down at least one bag of Jewel-store brand “petite pretzels.” I am reasonably sure we had some bags of Lay’s or Jay’s chips, but perhaps not some bean dip (which is another story for hoops season). Bottom line was, we had everything we needed for the perfect day of uninterrupted football viewing: No interfering family members, an inexhaustable supply of fermented malt beverages and a perfectly timed parade of meaningful, Division 1 games to entertain us. We were all just out of college or in the process of finishing up so there weren’t yet any significant others or Jan. 2 workdays to concern us. It was just a bunch of good friends hunkered down for a full day of festive bowl watching. The likes of which may never come this way again.

Filed Under: BCS, CBS Sports, NCAA Football, Penn State Tagged With:

Friday Grab Bag: Sugar Bowl not so Sweet?

December 16, 2011 by 1 Comment

Virginia Tech in for a loss again on bowl game ticket sales?
Virginia Tech is on the way to selling 57% of its allotment of tickets to the Sugar Bowl, where the Hokies will face the Michigan Wolverines on Jan 3. 2012. The team reports that it expects to sell roughly 10,000 of its 17,500 tickets.

The team blames the Tuesday night game time as well as the readily availability to tickets in the secondary market. No comment on the fact that the cheapest ticket is $125. The Big Lead reported that the school is asking fans to buy proxy tickets to donate to various charities and the military.

So why is this news? Well last year the team also went to a bowl game, and also did not sell out its allocation of tickets. However the kindly NCAA does not simply allow you to send back the unneeded excess tickets. That is because many of the bowl games that we are about to be inundated with not actually sell out and how will the director justify a half million salary if the bowl does not turn a profit.

Top Linux predictions for 2012.
I love the end of the year predictions. I do not track them to see if they are accurate on an annual basis but do like to look back on occasion to see when the hover car was supposed to be here. Still when made by informed people they often do give insight into trends, be they sports, social or otherwise.

The Linux Insider has posted its Top 5 Linux predictions for the upcoming year and if they are accurate, or even near misses, it looks as if a lot of activity will be moving from the desktop and into mobile, cloud and consumer platforms.

I think this spells good news for users, Linux users and others, since competition should help continue a flow of new and innovative products and technologies. One interesting prediction is that all of the mobile and cloud growth will harm its efforts n the desktop- as well as help it. Read the reviews to see what you believe.

ESPN to broadcast many NCAA championships in $500m deal
The NCAA has expanded its multi-decade deal with ESPN that calls for the sports network to broadcast a huge range of the NCAA’s championships through the 2023-24 school year. The deal will pay ESPN $500m per year and will see 600 hours of broadcasting.

The deal expands on the current relationship between the two as ESPN already broadcasts 17 championships. Added to the deal will be broadcasts of women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s fencing, Division I women’s lacrosse, Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track, and women’s bowling.

ESPN will also expand its broadcast coverage of the early rounds of the Division I FCS football, women’s volleyball, softball and baseball tournaments and will get international rights to the men’s basketball tournament.

Did its history with Windows hurt Microsoft’s mobile phone effort?
Windows baggage was a deterent that harmed the market’s perception of Microsoft’s Windows Phone, or at least that is the point of view of a piece by Jason Hiner in Tech Republic. He believes that it has harmed users perception of what is a quality device and so prevented Microsoft from being a dominate player in the space.

This comes at a time of mea culpa at Microsoft, admitting very poor sales, disappointment and the traditional rotating of top management. All that was missing was the “Airing of Grievances” to make the event complete.

He claims that people believe that the difficulty and frustration of using the Windows operating system such as malware, viruses and other issues will be present in the phones. Decide for yourself but if you started out using MS-DOS on old, very, very, slow PCs you know what a breath of fresh air Windows was. After they got the bugs out of course.

This and that
Was anybody amazed at how much grief was directed at Albert Pujols for leaving St. Louis for a much better contract elsewhere? Since when did sports writers spur higher offers?

Is it just my conspiracy theory of the week or did the NBA intentionally foul up the Chris Paul trades simply to intensify interest in the NBA, something that appeared to me to still be lagging due to the strike?

I wonder if there will be any fallout from the drug bust of (ex) Chicago Bear Sam Hurd? That is a lot of pot and coke to be selling on a weekly basis while still playing football. He must have had an impressive network in Chicago.

Startup investment analysis firm SigFig claims that investors with iPhones are 20% more likely than average to own Apple stock while owners of Android phones are 25% less likely than average to own Google stock.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, BCS, ESPN, iPhone, NBA, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com Tagged With: , , , , ,
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