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TaylorMade has Twitter-based Contest — Also on Saturday and Sunday

February 16, 2012 by

Editor’s note: TaylorMade extended its contest to Saturday and Sunday, via text not Twitter. Rules are here. Good Luck!

If you are watching the Golf Channel at this moment you could easily enter the TaylorMade Driver Love Contest but you will have to hurry- it runs from Thursday, Feb 16th starting at 12 AM Pacific Time and ends the following day at 11:59:59 PM.

The contest, touted as a ‘first to tweet’ effort, could not be simpler to enter, that is if you have a personal Twitter account and a television. Simply watch the Golf Channel’s broadcast of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament and watch for a “Driver Love” Heart Feature image on the screen during the broadcast.

Then leap to your trusty Twitter account and send a tweet using both the hashtag “#R11SLove” and the Sponsor’s Twitter.com user name (@taylormadegolf). The first eleven entrants on each day that fill this tough first step will win a prize.

There will be one “Driver Lover” heart shown on screen each day and the prize that each winner will receive is one TaylorMade R11S driver. The approximate retail value of each prize is $399. For more info head over to this site.

Filed Under: Golf, Golf Channel, TaylorMade, Twitter Tagged With: ,

AT&T, Golf Channel Missing the ‘Tiger’ Opp With No Online Video for Pebble Beach

February 10, 2012 by

For the second day in a row, we are incredibly frustrated at the lack of any online video opportunity to watch Tiger Woods in his PGA season debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Though the Golf Channel has live coverage today and yesterday, the unique three-course setup for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am means no Tiger TV Thursday or Friday since there are apparently only camera crews at the Pebble Beach course and nothing from the other two courses being used, Spyglass and Monterey Peninsula.

So the reason Tiger isn’t on TV is that he played Spyglass Thursday, and is playing Monterey Peninsula today. We get it, because that means that Tiger will be on TV Saturday and Sunday, playing both days in front of the CBS cameras. But it’s an oversight not to have the game’s biggest draws on some kind of live media for the first two days.

This is a huge missed opportunity for the tournament and for Golf Channel, since there are probably millions of fans like me who would tune in online to catch some Tiger action even while at work. It’s hard to believe that with AT&T adding Wi-Fi clouds to the greater Monterey Peninsula to give fans at the tourney better wireless coverage that we couldn’t at least get someone with a GoPro camera on their head to follow Tiger around and stream that video? Hello sponsor opportunity!

Seriously, not having an online component is really a big error especially for events like golf tournaments where there may be an outsized interest in a single player instead of the traditional multi-camera, multi-announcer setup. I mean, online I have been able to follow what Tiger is doing in words; meanwhile on the Golf Channel they are showing some celebrity comedian eating a plate of ribs. I couldn’t hit the off switch quicker. So tell me how that strategy makes sense either to the event or the sponsors.

Note: the best places to follow El Tigre online today are the Golf Channel home page, where writer Jason Sobel is doing a hole-by-hole Tiger recap in real time. You can also follow Stephanie Wie, who is Tweeting Tiger’s round live. But really, AT&T and Golf Channel, you shoulda done better.

Filed Under: AT&T, CBS Sports, Golf, Golf Channel, PGA, Twitter Tagged With: , ,

AT&T Brings Wi-Fi to Pebble Beach Golf Tourney

February 8, 2012 by

Since they are the title sponsor it’s perhaps no surprise that AT&T is making Wi-Fi available to spectators (patrons?) at this weekend’s PGA Tour stop on the Monterey Peninsula, the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. What’s interesting is that while smartphones and tablets are becoming an integral part of what fans bring to other sporting events, for golf encouraging mobile-device use is a longtime taboo, given the possibility of a cellphone ring interrupting a player’s backswing.

According to the AT&T press release the company has a variety of mobile-device plans for tournament attendees, including free Wi-Fi in select areas around the courses for AT&T customers, as well as a text-message contest and a “digital clubhouse” on the Pebble Beach course where fans can watch the action while taking in some AT&T demos in between the action.

The press release also says there will be a policy to make folks put their devices on silent or vibrate mode, but anyone who’s been on a plane or at a conference knows how well that works. At the AT&T where alcohol will be sold and there will be “hospitality” tents you can bet that the attention span will be even lower. We won’t be able to make it down to Monterey this weekend, but would love to hear any field reports about how well the “use your cell phone for data but keep it quiet” plan works. Especially around El Tigre, who is known to take umbrage at such offenses.

Filed Under: AT&T, Golf, PGA, Social Media, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , ,

T-Mobile Targets NBA fans with Fast-Talking Mobile Video

May 1, 2011 by

Striving for the game-changing impact of a final minute Kevin Durant 3-pointer, T-Mobile is stepping up marketing efforts aimed at mobile sports watchers. 

In an awesome performance by a fast-talking rapper, T-Mobile just launched a campaign touting the new 4G Sidekick. The commercial depicts the merits of getting golf programming and NBA programming on the Sidekick, and is chock full of NBA name-dropping.

The campaign underscores the rise of sports programming as key to the success of new mobile devices. The new Android-powered T-Mobile Sidekick was released April 20 at a price point of $99 with a new 2-year service agreement.

In recent months, T-Mobile has also produced commercials feature Miami Heat superstar Dwayne Wade and NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, among others.

Filed Under: Golf, NBA, T-Mobile, Top News Tagged With: ,

Apple Customers Get Best View of Masters Golf Online

April 7, 2011 by

If you are a golf fan with an iPhone or iPad, you already have a two-shot lead even before this year’s Masters Tournament kicks off on April 7. That’s because the tourney is tilted in favor of Apple devices for non-TV viewing, especially for iPad owners who will have access to a wide array of features including nine live channels via a $1.99 app, as well as “the only digital live simulcast” of CBS’s weekend coverage.

While Android device owners won’t completely miss the cut, the free official Masters Android app for non-Apple devices will only provide live scoring and radio coverage, with video available only as highlights. (A version downloaded Wednesday night to a Samsung Epic 4G from Sprint also seemed to have issues with it not being able to increase text size.)

Golf fans with iPhones, however, will have access to five live video channels on their free app, an edge that could allow iPhone users to multitask (say, at your kid’s soccer game) on Sunday and not miss any live coverage of a potentially exciting finish.

Though many fans will no doubt be glued to the TV set (since the Masters has only a couple commercials each hour it remains one of the most pure sport-watching experiences) there will likely be many more viewers watching via their PCs, thanks to the beefed-up feature set found at the Masters.com site. One of the first big events to truly embrace the Internet, the Masters in 2011 will add the following online features, according to the tournament press release:

· Eight live video channels, all available in HD-quality

· DVR functionality that allows users to rewind to key moments during live action

· Exclusive live scoring with integrated leader board highlights

· The Internet’s only live, 3D video stream for users with 3D-capable computers

If you are watching via the iPad, you probably want to make sure you are doing so via a Wi-Fi connection, since extended video viewing via a 3G link could potentially burn through your monthly data download limit. But we are guessing there will be many golfing fans with both TVs and tablets ablaze during the tournament, as the multi-screen experience allows for Masters saturation far away from the hallowed fairways of Augusta.

Filed Under: Android, Golf, iPad, iPhone, The Masters, Top News Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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