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Friday Grab Bag: Who Could Hate ESPN?

December 2, 2011 by

SEC Championship to be streamed live at CBS Sports
Once again the SEC has two of the top teams in the country locked in a battle, this time with #1 LSU vs #14 Georgia in the fight for the SEC title. The game will once again also be a top on-line offering from CBSSports.Com as it continues to raise its streaming sports profile.

Take your pick?

The game will be broadcast on Saturday at 4 pm ET and pits the Eastern Division Champions Georgia against the Western Division winner LSU at the Georgia Dome. It will be streamed live over CBSSports.com/SECLive and CBS Sports Mobile.

CBS plans to start its game coverage an hour earlier and there will be a special tailgate program starting at 1 pm ET. There will also be the usual” 5th Quarter with Gary Danielson” after the game for an interactive post game program.

However interest in the game may not be what past championships have garnered. The Big Lead points out that with LSU a lock for the BCS title game win or lose sales for tickets has been less than stellar and that prices are dropping as fast as the point spread is increasing. I guess fans want to save their money for the expected trip to a bowl game.

Is your smartphone following your every move?
With the revelation that 140 million smartphones have a software component installed that records every keystroke that you make. The program, called Carrier IQ records and sends each keystroke as it is made and sends the information to the company.

Carrier IQ said that it is using the information as a diagnostic tool that will help it gain insight into issues such as why certain calls are dropped. Researcher Trevor Eckhart, who unveiled the issue, shows that it records browsing history, SMS logs and location data as well as keystrokes.

There are some claims that the technology violates Federal wiretapping laws. Well the good news is that congress is getting involved and I am sure that they will have the users’ best interest in mind when they inquire into this issue.

Is Craig James the most hated man at ESPN?
This seems to be the point of a recent Bleacher Report piece that states that he is strongly despised by a significant portion of the sports world. I must have missed this hatred, although I have to say I am not a fan, no one has ever come up to me and said they despise him like they do for say Joe Buck (I know he does not work for ESPN).

Anyway the article goes on to say America wants him fired and that “A vocal population of college football concludes James is a self-aggrandizing liar of the worst kind, who uses sophistry to get what he wants like we use paper towels to dry our hands.” Wow!

The bulk of the trouble seems to have arisen from his role in the Mike Leach ouster at Texas Tech and his inane votes in the BCS poll that alters the standings for both good and bad teams.

There appear to be several different pushes to get him fired and now at least some are trying to target advertisers to force ESPN’s hand. I think that if the revelations in Bruce Feldman’s book did not harm him at the WWL, and in fact drove out possible its best college football writer then nothing will.

New startup fund-Bye Bye Silicon Valley!
A new startup fund called the Revolution Growth Fund has been established by industry veterans Steve Case, Ted Leonsis and Donn Davis has been formed with a $450 million in initial funds. It is taking a different slant than many funds which mine Silicon Valley for potential startups.

Instead it will seek to find investment candidates on the East Coast. “We will generally focus on investments in the Eastern United States. We believe there are great entrepreneurs building great companies all over the country, so we will focus our attention outside of Silicon Valley,” according to a note posted on the Revolution Growth web page. The three founders are the three largest investors and there are an additional 24 limited partners.

The ideal company will be one that are consumer focused and are looking to disrupt large industries. The fund expects to be an investor in companies that have already had some venture funding and are now looking to take the proverbial hockey stick upturn. Initial investments are expected in the $20-$25 million range.

Tide turning for Samsung in patent wars?
Samsung won a patent victory of sorts in Australia where the Federal Court overturned a lower court ruling that said Samsung had copied Apple’s iPad and iPhone. This moves the company closer to selling its Galaxy tablets in that country.
However it is not entirely a get out of jail free card as it has been reported that Apple will in its turn appeal, this time to the High Court in an effort to get the overturning overturned. So at least in the near term the injunction against selling the products remains in force.

Make you (NFL Pro Bowl) Vote Count!
The voting closes following the December 19th following the Monday Night Football game between the Pittsburg Steelers and the San Francisco 49ers. You can go here to vote and also try and get tickets to the game, which would make a nice break in a Hawaiian vacation.

Currently Aaron Rodgers if the top vote getter and I saw somewhere that Tim Tebow was 4th among AFC starting quarterbacks. I hope he gets voted in just for all of the gnashing of teeth from sportswriters across the nation!

Filed Under: Android, Apps, bleacherreport, CBS Sports, ESPN, Live sports via mobile, NCAA Football, NFL, Samsung, The Big Lead, Tim Tebow Tagged With: , , , ,

Cisco Scoring Big in Europe with Stadium Wi-Fi, Infrastructure Deals

December 1, 2011 by

Warsaw's new National Stadium, soon to be powered with Cisco networking technology.


With a couple new deals for stadium-network infrastructure, U.S. networking giant Cisco Systems is at the start of what could be a big string of wins for its new focus on “connected stadiums.”

A Nov. 15 announcement of plans for soccer powerhouse Real Madrid to partner with Cisco to bring fan-accessible Wi-Fi and other improvements to its home stadium in Madrid was followed by an announcement on Nov. 21 of a deal for Cisco to bring a wide range of technology to the new National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, where next year’s Euro 2012 soccer tourney will kick off.

Cisco Sports and Entertainment Solutions Group SVP and GM David Holland

Though Cisco is no stranger to sports stadium deals — it helped AT&T build wireless networks inside stadiums like AT&T Park in San Francisco and Stanford Stadium, and is behind wireless efforts at facilities like Kansas City’s Livestrong Park soccer arena — the next year should see Cisco kick into full gear on its “connected sports solutions” group, headed by senior VP and GM David Holland. While free Wi-Fi is of top interest to most fans these days, Cisco’s breadth of networking smarts brings even more to the table for venue owners — including the ability to integrate voice, public safety and other data streams like ticketing and concessions into a tight, secure, single IT infrastructure.

For fans, the benefits of a connected stadium are clear: Personal access to instant video replays, the ability to order food from your seat, and the fun of connecting with fans and friends either in the venue or out on the Internet. For teams and stadium owners, a fully connected stadium not only helps make fans happier, it can also increase advertising and other revenue streams while reducing administration and cost of IT ownership.

Where Cisco has an edge over other technology providers is in its depth of offerings — not only is it the world leader in back-end routing and switching gear, but it is also among the market leaders in wireless access gear, through the expertise of its Linksys division. Unknown to most observers is Cisco’s strength in digital-display technology, which it uses in stadium situations to improve or enhance video display on screens both big and small.

Sports is something Cisco understands

And unlike other consumer-based offerings — such as its failed efforts to crack into the personal video market by buying handheld videocam maker Flip — Cisco clearly “gets” the sports fan’s desire to have better access to technology. Just read this snippet from a Cisco blog about stadium technology, which reads like something we might write here at MSR:

Picture a fan sitting in a football stadium full of tens of thousands of people getting ready for the game to begin. The stadium is roaring with noise, the team takes the pitch, and the fan uses his or her mobile device to snap a picture, capturing an iconic moment.

Like most football fans, and sports fans in general, he or she is a vibrant digital and social media consumer, and therefore tries to share that photo via a social media channel like Facebook.

However, with so many fans in the stadium desiring to do that same thing, or engage with their mobile device in another way, the strain on the existing mobile network at the game is intense. The fan finds the device has a low level of or no connectivity, and is unable to share that moment with friends, family and other fans…an inability to interact – something this fan and scores of others desire.

And going to Europe makes plenty of sense for a global powerhouse like Cisco, mainly because of the more-advanced cellular culture there. In some research we are conducting now at MSR we are finding out that most big stadiums in this country have little or no Wi-Fi access — except maybe in the luxury suites. In Europe the revolution toward fully wired fans is already in full swing, and Cisco is smart to get out in front early. It will be interesting to see how quickly these stadium deals contribute to the networking giant’s bottom line.

Filed Under: AT&T, Cisco, Facebook, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , ,

Bleacher Report and Turner Sports Continue to Expand Sports Apps Space

December 1, 2011 by

Ever wanted to follow a Div III Field Hockey playoff or have streaming news from your favorite pro team? Well there is a couple more apps that will help you do just that as web sites and news organizations continue to expand their presence in the mobile sports space.

First up is Turner Sports which has developed a mobile app called NCAA Sports for the Apple iOS and Android platforms. Designed to cover a wide spectrum of sports that often do not get wide coverage the free app will include live streaming video of over 60 NCAA championship games.

It will provide live streaming video of championships for all NCAA sports including Division II football, Divisions II and III wrestling, Divisions I, II and III field hockey, Divisions II and III men’s and women’s soccer, and Divisions II and III women’s volleyball. The app will also include in-depth regular season coverage of football and basketball.

The program permits users to drop in and out of the live broadcasts and provides the ability to chat with friends using Facebook or to post comments via Twitter.

In addition Turner has added a new mobile website on its hosted NCAA.Com space that is designed for mobile browsers user with touch screen devices such as Tablets and smartphones. The mobile website will allow fans to get live scores, schedules, news, rankings and video recaps that have been tailored for display on the mobile devices.

In a press release Mark Johnson, vice-president of Turner Sports’ NCAA Digital group said about the development that “College sports content is underserved in the mobile space right now and we’re excited to offer fans mobile products that are 100% dedicated to college sports.”

Bleacher Report moves desktop offerings to mobile app

The second app coming down the road is from Bleacher Report called b/r Team Stream App and the free app is now available for both Android and Apple iOS devices. It will cover a number of sports including NFL, College Football, MLB, NBA, NHL Soccer, Tennis and Golf.

The app is in ways a news aggregation program, Bleacher Report searches the web for news on the team you have selected and streams them to your mobile device using the app. However it will also include tweets from athletes and sportswriters.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apps, bleacherreport, Facebook, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, Soccer, Turner Sports, Twitter Tagged With: , ,

Verizon’s Turkey Day Turkey: No Live Games as Promised on NFL Mobile

November 24, 2011 by

UPDATE: Verizon Wireless rep Debi Lewis (@VZWDebi) finally got back to us to let us know at noon Calif. time that only the Thursday evening game (Niners-Ravens) would be on NFL Mobile live. To those of you who believed the Verizon tweets from earlier in the morning, hope you enjoyed those NFL Network canned shows instead of live NFL action.

Verizon was promotiong its NFL Mobile app pretty heavily going into Thanksgiving day, promising free live broadcasts all day long so that you could watch on your phone at the dinner table or maybe while making pie. Here are some of the gratuitous promotional tweets:

Why are you thankful for #NFLMobile FREE Thanksgiving weekend? 5 live games? NFLRedZone Sunday afternoon? That it’s FREE all weekend?

November 24, 2011 10:00 am via Social PublisherReplyRetweetFavorite
@VerizonWireless

Verizon Wireless USA

Who’s gonna win, @ or @? See it FREE on #NFLMobile, only from VZW. Call **NFL to watch. Msg & data rates may apply.

November 24, 2011 11:30 am via Social PublisherReplyRetweetFavorite
@VerizonWireless

Verizon Wireless USA

But then Green Bay and Detroit kicked off, and woe… no live action to be found. My NFL Mobile app was showing some lame collection of Thanksgiving highlights. And other fans were getting steamed too:

The Packers Lions game is not on #NFLMobile right now… I checked. What’s going on @?

November 24, 2011 11:36 am via UberSocial for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite
@_csquared

courtney

We’ve sent several direct tweets to Verizon wireless reps and the support Twitter handles… but no replies yet. To me the lack of any kind of response or any way for consumers to find out what the problem might be is a social media fail of the predictable kind: Big company (Verizon) takes advantage of Twitter and Facebook as a free way to promote their service or product, but isn’t really “engaged” with the audience to respond in any fashion if things go sideways.

I think people understand that trying to make NFL games appear on a phone is an incredible, hard task. People would be willing to endure mistakes or blips. But only if there was someone to own up to it. Silence is the worst kind of marketing, Verizon.

Anyone else able to see the game via NFL Mobile? Or know if this is some kind of regional blackout thing?

UPDATE 2: Saw this post from Verizon Wireless later in the afternoon on Twitter. Now it’s three games instead of five. What’s next Verizon, no pie?

Why are you thankful for #NFLMobile FREE Thanksgiving weekend? 3 live games? NFLRedZone Sunday afternoon? That it’s FREE all weekend?

November 24, 2011 4:07 pm via Social PublisherReplyRetweetFavorite
@VerizonWireless

Verizon Wireless USA

Filed Under: Live sports via mobile, NFL, NFL Network, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: ,

CBS Streaming Top Rated SEC Games this Weekend

November 23, 2011 by

Broadcaster seeks to grow success from LSU vs Alabama Game

CBS Sports, coming off a very strong viewership of its live streaming broadcast of the LSU vs Alabama game several weeks ago is now touting its live streaming of the game between #3 Arkansas vs. #1 LSU as well as broadcasting the “Iron Bowl” between #2 Alabama and #24 Auburn.

The event will follow a familiar format for viewers that have experienced previous broadcasts from CBS Sports. The game will be broadcast live at CBSSports.Com/SECLive and for users of iPads, iPhones and iPod Touch I can be found by using the CBS Sports Mobile app.


The games between all of these top ranked teams has the extra incentive for the teams in they all compete in the same division and so that the winner will capture the SEC West Championship, a sure stepping stone to a top BCS Bowl game.

The LSU game will be played Friday, Nov. 25th at 2:30 ET while the Alabama/Auburn Iron Bowl game will be played Saturday, Nov.26th with a starting time of 3:30 ET. Both games will be followed by the “5th Quarter with Gary Danielson”, an interactive show that is available at cbssports.com/gary or can be followed on Twitter at @DanielsonCBS.

The LSU vs Alabama game, which pitted a #1 vs. #2 drew 214,560 viewers to its online broadcast earlier this month. The number includes an impressive 42,912 viewers who partook via a mobile device and the sites CBS Sports mobile app for Apple iOS devices.

While the game was touted as a game of the century, as if we don’t get on of those every year, it was a bit of a disappointment. Missed opportunities coupled with missed field goals left an unsatisfactory feeling for many fans.
Still CBS Sports said at the time that it believed it to be the biggest audience to watch college football on-line, although ESPN claims that it has the title from the National Championship game last year that was broadcast on ESPN3 and drew 690,000 viewers.

It will be very interesting to see how the attendance for this game compares to the first. All of the SEC fans that I know are among the most fanatical football fans I know. Yet the first game was not quite what it was billed to be in terms of scoring and excitement. Will the fact that so many are traveling this weekend spur additional mobile viewership or will it detract? Just have to wait until Monday to see the numbers from CBS to see how it pans out. From there it would be nice to see this as a growing trend in the industry.

One question for fans of either LSU or Arkansas. Is the game still officially called “The Battle for the Golden Boot”? I did not see any mention of it this week.

Filed Under: Apps, CBS Sports, Fanatic Fans, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, NCAA Football, SEC Tagged With: , ,

Early Verdict: NFL Mobile Rocks

November 20, 2011 by

We finally upgraded our Verizon-based handset here at MSR headquarters this weekend, and just in time to catch some of the Sunday night game via the NFL Mobile app. For the record we have the Samsung Stratosphere, not the latest or greatest Android phone but one with a slide-out keyboard which is a necessity for me.

With the MSR grade-school contingent in the household busy watching the Aristocats on DVD, we dialed in the Stratosphere with the sound muted down and checked out NFL Mobile, and was supremely impressed. Not only did it show the Sunday night Eagles-Giants game in pretty good definition it didn’t stutter or pixelate — and we were able to use the home Wi-Fi so that the data didn’t count against our cellular plan.

After trying out several other options earlier this year, like the ESPN GameCast text play by play and the NFL.com highlights/text option it is clear that if you are an NFL fan and are at a decision point on your cellular provider it’s hard to pick anyone else but Verizon. Earlier today we watched the NFL RedZone on the phone and it was again impressive — and only about 30 seconds behind the live RedZone broadcast on cable. So it’s a perfect couch companion, letting you watch your game of choice on the big tube while keeping RedZone open on the phone to let you know if and when you need to flip channels.

We will reserve a final judgement until we have to use NFL Mobile on the cellular network and then see how much data live watching chews through. But for now mark us as a happy NFL fan who has a great new tool for mobile viewing, that being Verizon Wireless’s NFL Mobile app.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NFL, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , , , ,
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