MLBAM Reaches Out to Level 3 to Help Expand Media Services

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Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), MLB’s interactive and media arm has expanded its partnership with communications service provider Level 3 Communications in a deal that will add data center services to the other services that Level 3 already provides MLBAM.

The expanded relationship will call for Level 3 to add data center services that will include support for MLBAM’s digital media products such as MLB.TV live video streaming as well as archival and backhaul support. Level 3 already provides Internet and content delivery technology.

Level 3 will be handling the workload from its Premier Elite data center located within its Uptime Institute Tier III Certified Scott Data Center in Omaha, Neb. MLBAM will also have access to Level 3’s international network that includes 350 data centers.

Level 3 has had a focus on providing sports media services for some time and delivers broadcast services via its Level 3 Vyvx Services network that has handled everything from the Super Bowl and major college bowl games, MLB, Fox Sports, UEFA matches, and postseason basketball games. It provides a variety of online streaming and backup services.

The relationship has taken an interesting turn, as while Level 3 is providing a variety of streaming and storage services to MLBAM, MLBAM has in turn been providing backend services to other sports, including the NCAA’s March Madness, according to a report here.

Friday Grab Bag: MSG to Close? NASCAR on the Move

Hewlett-Packard may be looking to double down in the tablet space as rumors are emerging that the company, already having re-entered the space, is now looking to head to the low end by offering an affordable $99 tablet.

According to DigiTimes, HP will team with Walmart to sell the 7-inch tablet that HP will have built in China. It will be targeted at the back to school market and will be the second offering in the 7-inch space from the company.

NASCAR on the move-to NBC
NASCAR and broadcaster NBC have signed a multiyear, multi-billion dollar deal that will see the racing league move from its longtime homes of ESPN and Turner Sports, while Fox Sports will maintain its portion of the coverage.

The details of the deal have not been released but Sports Business Daily has said that it is estimated that the deal is 50% greater than the existing deal that was valued at $2.74 billion for 8 years. The new deal will start with the 2015 season.

Will 2022 World Cup move to November?
If you wondered why FIFA awarded the 2020 World Cup to Qatar, a nation that being in the desert tends to be very hot during the summer when the tournament is played you were not alone. Now FIFA appears to be rethinking its clever plan.

Increasingly reports are emerging that the governing body is looking to move the tournament to the fall or winter so that it does not have dozens of players falling from heat stroke. However this will have a huge impact on most of the major European leagues’ seasons so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Nate Silver to ESPN
Stats guru Nate Silver has just moved to ESPN, leaving the New York Times. Silver cut his teeth in sports prior to moving to the Times and developed PECOTA, something that most baseball fantasy players will be aware of.

Hopefully in his new role he can help bring realistic use of statistics to the World Wide Leader. Does anybody really follow its quarterback rating system and does anybody remember its ill-fated productive out stat? Here is an interesting look at some areas he has impacted in the past and could in the future.

Madison Square Garden to close in 10 years?
Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks’ home, is slated to close in 10 years as New York is looking to renovate Penn Station, the mass transit terminal upon which sits the sports arena. Currently Penn Station is the busiest transportation hub in the United States.

The news cannot come as good news to the team which has been in the midst of a 3-year renovation that, according to Yahoo, will cost an estimated $968 million. The team had been applying for a permanent permit for the arena.

Friday Grab Bag: ESPN’s Open Coverage, Dell Smartwatch?

The Guardian is reporting that Dell could be the latest to throw its hat into the ring with a smartwatch offering. Dell’s global vice president of personal computing told the paper that it was exploring ideas in the wearable computing space.

With Apple, Samsung, Google and just about every major player in consumer electronics and/or computing it is no surprise. The Kickstarter success story Pebble and its smartwatch has to be something that everybody is watching. The company was oversubscribed as it sought funding with $10 million pledged and an exclusive deal with Best Buy with a preorder of 85,000 watches.

ESPN to broadcast The Open Championship
If you are hoping to catch a few rounds of the 142nd Open Championship, golf’s oldest major, you are in luck as ESPN will be broadcasting all four days next week from July 18-21.

The network will be reaching out to fans not only via live television broadcasts and encore presentations but also live radio, and a range of digital offerings for computers, tablets and other mobile devices. It will also be using digital technology to enhance its broadcasts with technologies such as Flight Tracker.

[Editor’s note: You can also follow via The Open’s own app, online at The Open’s website and on social media like twitter. Go to The Open website for all info.]

Microsoft to slash Surface RT prices?
The Verge is reporting that Microsoft will be cutting the price of its entry level 32GB Surface RT tablet down to $350 with the version with the Touch Cover keyboard will be $450 as will the 64GB Surface RT without the cover and $550 with the cover.

The news comes as reports are also emerging that the company has an additional two more Surface tablets on the drawing board that it will release sometime in 2014. ZDNet reported that a recently seen Microsoft roadmap includes the tablets as well as a host of additional offerings from the company ranging from an Windows Office App Store to enhanced Skype support.

Apple Store hits 5th Anniversary
The Apple App Store, now no longer a pawn in a patent battle, also had other news this week as it celebrated its 5th year in business providing apps and tools, initially for the iPhone but now also includes apps for the iPad as well.

The success for the store can be seen in the fact that the number of apps it offers has grown from 500 at birth to approximately 900,000 now. There has been over 50 billion app downloads in the five years.

Google updates maps app
Most people I know use Google Maps on a regular basis and they will be happy to hear that not only has the company updated the program but made it faster as well, a common complaint. The company has made the Android updates available now with iPhone and iPad updates coming soon.

It has navigation features that include warnings for bad conditio0ns on a trip including accidents, offline map saving and better exploration features according to an early review in The New York Times.

Fourth of July Early Grab Bag — NBA Draft Numbers, Facebook stealing user info?

The Facebook Android app has apparently been downloading users’ phone numbers to Facebook’s servers upon installation and initial launch, regardless if the app is used or if the user even has a Facebook account, according to Norton, the antivirus company.

Facebook has told Norton that it has deleted the numbers from its servers and that it will release a updated version of the Android app that will prevent that from happening in the future. I guess the question I have is that it certainly seems intentional, and with all of the other privacy concerns facing the company why did they not stop this earlier?

Apple patents “iWatch”
It appears that the long rumored Apple watch may actually be real and coming closer to a consumer electronics store near you. Multiple sources are reporting that the company has applied for the “iWatch” trademark.

Apple execs have hinted that a wearable computing device could be in its future but have so far not yet come out and said that the company is indeed working on something along these lines.

MLB Embraces the Military with ticket program
Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) has teamed with GovX, an online military and government discount shopping destination for U.S. Armed Forces and government agency personnel with the purpose of allowing teams to create privileged ticketing programs and recognition events specifically for active, reserve, retired and veteran U.S. Military as well as those who serve and protect including police, fire, EMS and related federal, state and local government employees.

GovX will first create a verified ticketing system for the targeted groups and then work with individual teams to create programs for the military and first responders.

Google Glass adds voice commands and enhanced browsing
Speaking of wearable computing Google has added a web browser and has enhanced the voice commands for its Google Glass platform. The Glass, which is attached to a smartphone, can now both alert a user to incoming text messages and read them to the user or display them for the user to read.

The web browser will, among other things, enable users to view web page n multiple formats including zoom and look around, a feature that is controlled by head movement.

Yahoo buys video sharing firm Qwiki
As the battle for embedded features escalates among social media players Yahoo has taken another step forward with its deal to acquire Qwiki, a company that has created a mini-video sharing format that will rival the increasingly popular Vine app.

The deal is the second major one that the company has made in recent weeks, following its $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr in May. The terms for the Qwiki deal have not yet been announced.


ESPN had second best viewership for NBA Draft

Depending on which article that you read at the ESPNmediazone.com site ESPN had its second best viewership NBA Draft with the 2013 draft, or it was tied for best, or maybe both. This release says that Nielsen rates it as the second best for the broadcaster, with an average viewership of 2,999,000.

This release said that the draft broadcast was tied for the top rated since 2003. I suspect that as the numbers were examined they arrived at the second place standing.

Mobile Apps Lead the Way in Record Cricket Viewership

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Last week saw the end of the 15 day ICC Champions Trophy, one of the most prestigious prizes in Cricket and ESPN’s ESPNcricinfo broke multiple viewership records while broadcasting the tournament that featured the top teams from eight nations

The overall online and mobile numbers are great to start with, the tournament generating an average of 41 million page views a day, an increase of 245% compared to the 2009 tournament, while the last day of the event that featured the matchup between India and England drew 87.5 million page views across all devices.

Online access at ESPNcricinfo.com averaged 2.6 million daily visitors, a 98% increase. The visitors’ averaged a 65% increase in page views with 17.5 million average and that broke down to an average of 61.1 million minutes a day, up 65%.

The mobile section is where the huge growth came, no doubt in a good part driven by the massive growth of smartphone and tablet ownership since the last tournament and enabled ESPNcricinfo to have an app for the event.

The app had an average of 11.3 million page views and 6.4 million minutes, while the mobile Web’s average of 898,000 daily visitors represented a 631% increase. Those daily visitors then logged an average of 12.2 million page views, up 854%.

Not surprising was that India, the world’s second most populous nation led the way in terms of traffic generated with an average of 1.1 million daily visitors, up 220% and they generated 7.2 million page views, up 198% .Mobile traffic in the US was up 970%, up 1,390% in the U.K. and 1,472% in Australia.

MSR, SEAT Conference Announce Strategic Partnership

SEAT_290Astute MSR readers may have noticed the new display ad on the top right hand side of the site, which promotes the upcoming SEAT 2013 conference. Now the rest of the story: Mobile Sports Report and SEAT are teaming up, with a strategic partnership to produce a special report as well as exclusive content centered around the sports technology executive audience.

We’ve long been fans of SEAT’s focus on providing a place for peers in the sports technology market to get together to discuss best practices, new technologies, and smart strategies for improving the fan experience while improving the bottom line. When the opportunity presented itself to join forces we jumped at the chance, and can’t wait to bring the stories of the SEAT attendees to the MSR audience.

If you’re not familiar with SEAT, it is the premier conference for the sports and arena technology executive, taking place this year in Kansas City, Aug. 4-7. SEAT, which stands for Sports and Entertainment Alliance in Technology, regularly attracts the top tech execs from all the U.S. major sports leagues, as well as representatives from entertainment venues and other large-crowd sports whose audiences and business operations present unique technology challenges.

We’ve covered some of those topics here in our focus on stadium Wi-Fi and DAS networks, but we’ll be expanding that charter as part of our partnership with SEAT. Look for exclusive interviews here on MSR with SEAT speakers and thought leaders, and if you choose to attend SEAT (and you should, if this is your field) then you will receive our upcoming special in-depth survey report on stadium technology deployment.

Want more info? Drop me a line here at kaps at mobilesportsreport.com. Better yet, sign up for the SEAT Conference and let’s talk there. See you in Kansas City!