You are here: Home / Archives for NFL Network

Will Enhanced Access to Live Sports Boost Xbox Sales?

September 4, 2013 by

RkPyIgz7eObjApBTmW4eiDMo9gWI_DDq_gsm_169_xbox_sports_vf_090313_640x360

Microsoft has enhanced a pair of sports apps that will be made available added an along with its pending Xbox release due later this fall with reworked ESPN apps as well as one that will enable users to access a good deal of NFL video and information, including fantasy football features

The ESPN app is enhanced from the earlier app available for Xbox 360 and provides a great deal of customization by users so that each experience will be tailored to individuals’ preferences such as the ability to create personalized highlight reels on specific players.

Users need to subscribe to a cable service that offers ESPN and with that they can view content not just on ESPN 3 but also programming and live sports from ESPN, ESPN 2 and other related broadcast partners.

The NFL app ties into NFL.Com and provides news and clips from games as well as enabling access to NFL Network programming and provides NFL Red Zone, a program that moves from game to game as teams near the Red Zone and try to score. It enables users to track fantasy teams in real time and they can snap the updates to the screen when playing a game on the console. It should be noted that the console will not ship in time for the start of the NFL season.

The video game console market is a very competitive field and some are even predicting that it will morph into something very different in the future, possibly as a dongle or another add on feature to a television.

But that is in the future and currently Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are still competing for a market that generates billions in revenue worldwide. By adding enhanced features to apps that access the most popular sports programming and most popular sports in the US, Microsoft could see an advantage over its rivals. Sony is also expected to revamp its PlayStation lineup later this year.

Filed Under: Apps, ESPN, ESPN3, Live Sports Video Consumption, Microsoft, NFL, NFL Network Tagged With: , , , , ,

NFL Network has Broad Digital Coverage for 2013 Draft

April 23, 2013 by

draft

As any fan knows the 2013 NFL Draft starts on Thursday and while there has been a great deal of coverage leading up to the event, it looks like that will pale in comparison to the massive coverage the league’s network plans.

Most fans I know switch between networks on draft day, checking to see what the experts at ESPN, the NFL Network and elsewhere have to say about each choice. Yet an issue can arise since the draft starts on a Thursday night and even with a prime time start there are many that have to work or have other engagements that might make it impossible to be in front of the television. There is online coverage as well as a mobile app for these types of problems.

For the online user, be it as a second screen or a user watching at work there is the NFL.com Live Presented by Courtyard. Coverage begins at 8:00 pm ET for the online effort and will be hosted by Matt Smith and will include former NFL players LaDainian Tomlinson, Kurt Warner and Akbar Gbajabiamila, as well as former NFL general manager Charley Casserly. The online show will occasionally join with the NFL Network’s broadcast of the event.

Coverage will continue over the weekend with Friday’s starting at 6:30 pm ET for rounds 2-3 and Saturday’s coverage of rounds 4-7 will start at noon ET. Much of Saturday’s proceedings will be simulcast.

For Verizon subscribers there is the option of using NFL Mobile from Verizon that will be streaming the NFL Network’s entire 2013 draft coverage. The network has also added a live draft tracker feature and video on-demand featuring draft and team analysis. NFL Mobile, however, costs $5 a month and you must have a Verizon phone and data plan.

For users of the NFL ’13 app, a free app for both iOS and Android owners, there is now a feature called Draft Xtra that can serve as a companion or second screen to both broadcast NFL Network coverage or the coverage that is available on NFL.Com. It will include both on-demand and live video as well as a range of interactive features.

Of course there has been a great deal of coverage both online and on the broadcast arm of the NFL and that will increase as the draft nears and will include predraft predictions and post draft analysis. Look here for a complete listing.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, iOS, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NFL, NFL Draft, NFL Mobile, NFL Network, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , , , , ,

NFL Combine Coverage Includes Online and Social Media

February 19, 2013 by

combine

Diehard NFL fans know that it is never too early to start tracking college players prior to the draft, it really starts the day after each year’s draft and then slowly at first and then with rising urgency becomes a very important factor in fans’ lives as they hope their team fills the gaping hole that hindered its advance last season.

Well the NFL.com and NFL Network are a great source of information and their annual coverage of the scouting combines will start on Feb. 23 at 9:00 am ET with the start of the combined drills. The two will have a total of 24 analysts and commentators anchored by Rich Eisen.

While most fans are probably pretty used to catching a good deal of the combine via television coverage there is a good deal of information that is available online only or via social media, from fan participation polls to an extensive database of prospects.

Here are a few of the programs: Cover it Live: this includes polls, the ability to interact with other fans and see player interviews and video highlights and also provides leads to interesting Twitter pages. The NFL Fan Pass: this provides unique interviews, photos and videos with prospects via the NFL.Com and NFL insider position as the official NFL digital media provider.

The NFL.com’s Combine Tracker gives statistics and results from the drills and skill tests while the Prospects’ Database includes the scouting reports and statistics as well as profiles for every participant of the combine.

The NFL Network will be using 17 cameras at the event and have a range of technologies designed to enhance the viewing experience including its NFLN-Focus Camera Technology that allows a moving target to not only stay in frames longer but also in greater detail. The Simulcam Camera Technology allows the comparison of different athletes’ styles when participating in the same drill such as the 40-yard dash.

Something that might be of key interest to fans is the “Draft Journey” program that will follow four prospects as they prepare for an NFL career. They four are Matt Barkley from USC, Geno Smith from West Virginia, Marcus Lattimore from South Carolina and LSU’s Barkevious Mingo. The profiles and behind the scene coverage will continue on these four until the NFL draft in April.

The network will start with pre-combine coverage on Feb. 21 with Path to the Draft:2013 NFL Scouting Combine Press Conferences. All of this will take place at Lucas Oil Field.

Filed Under: NFL Network Tagged With: ,

NFL Launches ‘Thursday Night Xtra’ App, Still a Work in Progress

September 28, 2012 by

In what has to qualify as one of the most low-key introductions of a major sports app, the NFL has quietly launched something called Thursday Night Football Xtra, an app meant to be a “second screen” feature for your mobile device while you watch the Thursday night games on the NFL Network channel. The new app is sponsored by State Farm; you find it by clicking on the small “Xtra” chevron in the middle of this page.

Just so there’s no confusion, the app does NOT allow for live mobile viewing of Thursday night games — for that you need a Verizon cell phone and the $5 per month premium version of the NFL Mobile app. The Xtra app, which went live last week and which we checked out this Thursday night, promises to provide live sideline reports, game info and trivia, and predict-the-play contests where registered users can win points, for what we are guessing is some prize-redemption package.

There’s a little bit of a trek to find the app, since if you are on an iOS platform you will find it inside the NFL ’12 app; Android users and Verizon users need to find a separate TNF Xtra app, but it was easy to find in the Play Store. Since there’s no official press release out yet we don’t have all the details, but it seems pretty straightforward, and is an attempt by the league to bring its own smack talk/fan games interactivity app to the table. However, the league’s app follows a whole bunch of independent entities that are already up and running, though to the NFL’s credit there is already a version for both Android and iOS. Many of the new apps from smaller operations are still iPhone-only, a problem for roughly half the world’s smartphone users.

In our limited test run — right now let me say some of the problems may be due to my personal device, a Verizon 4G LTE Samsung Stratosphere, which has been acting hinky lately, requiring Tier-2 service calls to Verizon if you know what I mean. When you open the app the main screen says something about “Stay Tuned” which if you only saw that screen you might think the thing isn’t connected; instead what it means is that you are between actions, which may be a predictive contest, a bit of trivia or info, or a sideline report from the game. From our limited interaction it seems like these things just pop up at random, which I guess is OK if you are simultaneously watching the game.

A swipe to the right pulls up a Facebook-powered comments page, which we could read, but weren’t able to log in to. A swipe to the left from the main screen brought up what looked like a Twitter login page, but after we entered our Twitter account info all we got was a white screen of death (see picture). The middle-screen interactive stuff looked like the best bet anyway, though it might help to know what we are winning points for. Also, when the app launched it asked which team I was a fan of, with no “neither” option for this Chicago Bears follower on the night that Baltimore played Cleveland.

We’ll give this one another run next Thursday — if you get a chance to check it out (apparently the tablet version has even more bells and whistles) let us know what you think. I am not sure how independent app developers feel about the league getting into the apps business — seems like it’s a little bit of a poach into the territory of folks who might help promote the league — but I guess it is also a signal that the NFL isn’t going to miss a chance to engage its audience. (Some screen pix below)

A picture of the Thursday Night Football Xtra app, showing a game info tidbit. Credit: MSR

The Xtra app showing a pretty standard Facebook comment stream. We couldn't log in.

A tweet from the field! "It's raining." Not great sideline reportage but hey. It's early.

What we got when we tried to log in via Twitter. The white screen of death! May be a problem with our phone and not the app. We need... wait for it... a REPLACEMENT PHONE

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Android, Apple, Apps, Facebook, iOS, NFL, NFL Network, Twitter

Mobile Sports Report Grab Bag: New Tablets from ZTE & Huawei and MNF Flop

September 14, 2012 by

Toys 'R' Us Tabeo

Tired of losing your pricey iPad to your kids and then they yell when you try and take it back? Well Toys “R” Us has stepped in with a product that just might save the day with its Tabeo offering. A 7-inch tablet that runs the Android operating system will be available in stores Oct. 21, but will start shipping Oct. 1.

The $149.99 device will feature 4GB of storage that is expandable to 32GB, but the big plus for parents is that it will come with more than 50 books, games and educational apps preloaded including such popular ones as Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. The Tabeo is now available for preorder.

Chinese vendors ZTE & Huawei catching tablet fever?
DigiTimes is reporting that both Huawei Technologies and ZTE have both shown a good deal of interest in entering the tablet space. The move is seen as an effort to expand their respective footprints globally as well as take advantage of the huge Chinese market.

First Monday Night Football game of season a flop with fans
The first MNF games have come and gone, and thank goodness if you were forced to watch them. Apparently not that many did as Sports Media Watch reports that the opening game, a Ravens blowout of the Bengals only managed an 8.1 rating.

Monday Night Football

The season opener, shown on ESPN, was down 21% from last year when the Patriots and Dolphins played and down 23% from the Jets vs. Ravens in 2010. It was the lowest rated MNF broadcast by ESPN since it took over broadcast duties of the iconic show in 2007.

However just a few days later the NFL Network, with a much better matchup with the Packers vs. Bears, received the highest rating in its short history. However its numbers, at 6.3, are hurt because it still is not carried anywhere near as much by cable operators as ESPN.

Analysts predict 58 million iPhone sales in 2012
The iPhone orders only start today after the introduction earlier this week with the first phones expected to ship next week but analysts are predicting a tsunami of sales for Apple’s iPhone 5 smartphone in 2012.

According to a survey done by Bloomberg and reported in Mashable the consensus from analysts is 58 million sold this year and FBR Capital Market analyst Craig Berger is predicting 250 million over the life of the device.

Is Samsung’s LTE threat an issue still?
Samsung mentioned that if Apple included LTE in its iPhone 5 there was a high likelihood of Samsung suing Apple. Samsung owns a huge number of patents in this area and has a healthy business in the LTE area that is spate from the smartphone business.

Now so far Samsung has not acted but it might just be that the company is looking at the technology that is used in Apple’s LTE offering to make sure that it has it right. We could always hope that maybe the two are actually talking and can settle things out of court.

Samsung & MLB partner on contest
Speaking of Samsung the company has entered into a contest with Major League Baseball called Photo Hunt. It is a pretty basic game, one I think even I would have a decent chance at. Every week MLB, at @MLB, will tweet out a Samsung Photo Hunt item using the hash tag #SamsungMLB.

All a user has to do is take a picture of the item and share it with @MLB. Winners will get a Samsung S III phone and two free tickets to a game of their favorite team.

Kindle opens to lukewarm reviews
I was impressed by what I saw during the Kindle HD press conference last week, but reviewers with hands-on experience with the device have been less than complimentary. Some seems to be valid complaints, such as the speed apps load and a few issues with software.

Some of the complaints appear to be, well it is not an iPad, and that really is Amazon’s fault for proclaiming it the best tablet in the market. I still like it, but it is obviously what Amazon said it was at its introduction: a device that opens up other Amazon services to customers. It seems to me to make a product like that (in hindsight) that there will be features that are not included that a general purpose tablet user might want.

USA Today to look like iPad?
I have not been down to the local newsstand but it appears that USA Today will be sporting a new look starting this morning. The paper, which in many ways revolutionized the way papers look and how much space they devote to a story, is now taking on a sleeker appearance.

The paper took a lesson from the Web and how many sites present information. It will also feature input from social media users, including comments from Twitter and Facebook. Its web page will function more like an iPad, according to a piece in the New York Times.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, ABC, Amazon, Android, Apple, ESPN, Facebook, Gannett, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Major League Baseball, Mashable, Monday Night Football, NFL, NFL Network, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Lots of NFL News and New iPhone 5 Next Week?

September 7, 2012 by

iPhone 5?

If you are a betting person it looks like a safe bet would be that Apple will be taking the wraps off of its next generation iPhone, the so-called iPhone 5. The company has started sending out press invites for an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on that date.

Originally it was believed that Apple would also introduce its next generation iPad at the same event but it now appears that the company will host a different event within the next month to launch that product.

Intel takes another shot at ARM
Intel has long coveted the handheld processor market but has been pretty well shut out of it by market leader ARM and its allies. Next week at its annual Intel Developer Forum the company is expected to fire its latest salvo in its battle.

It is expected to unveil a chip code-named Haswell that has been designed as a solution for developers that are seeking an ultra power-efficient chip, according to C/net. The company is seeking to make inroads in both the tablet and smartphone space with the processor, which is not expected until the second half of 2013.

Earn Rewards for Activity on NFL.com
Are you always reading articles and commenting on them at the NFL.com web site? Well now you can earn rewards for doing just that as the NFL Digital Media has launched a program entitled NFL Fans Reward.

Reading and commenting are not the only ways to earn rewards as a number of other activities are included including watching video or participating in what it calls Drives. The rewards are in the form of virtual coins that can be redeemed at the NFL.com Rewards store.

Does Fantasy Football really cost employers $5.6 B?
That at least is the result of a study by Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas which made its estimation based on how much time employees spend on managing their fantasy rosters and general goofing off related to the fantasy team.

The report estimates that there are 22.3 million employees engaged in fantasy football and you can go to their site to see the overall math. I know reports like this come out each spring during March Madness and they tend to get rebutted by other studies that show that employees simply switch topics that they goof off on as the year progresses. So take the report with a grain of salt.

New smartphone rollouts from Nokia, Motorola beat Apple to the market
It used to be that hardware developers looked at the calendar and set their next product rollout based on the age of their current offerings as well as where the year is in relation to top selling season. Now it seems that the goal is to beat a rival to making waves with an announcement.

This week Nokia debuted a few new Windows 8 phones while Motorola Mobility unleashed 3 new phones, it’s first under Google. Why this week you ask? Apple is expected to release the new iPhone next week and they wanted to beat it to the punch. Of course Samsung seems to release products when it wants to and its Galaxy IIIS has already sold 20 million units.

Newbie to Twitter and want to follow the NFL? No problem!
Twitter has kindly provided a guide at its Blog for users that want to follow the NFL on Twitter. You would really have t be new to Twitter to not already know how to use the features but still it is a good idea because I know several people that have signed up for the service and then seem paralyzed when called on to use it.

Sports Illustrated takes the guessing out of NFL football broadcasting
The nice people at Sports Illustrated have taken the time to pour over all of the broadcasting teams, including personnel additions and subtractions, and made all of that information available in a nice little piece that can be found here.

I am not sure if the broadcasting teams are listed in order of how big a game that they will be broadcasting but I suspect that the top teams head each list. Also does ESPN really believe that we need two hosts, six analysts, seven reporters and a features person for its pregame show? Sometimes more is not better. And am I the only person that thinks with each passing season Jon Gruden looks more and more like Roger Goodell?

Speaking of Football, How cheap is your NFL team?
Profootballtalk ran a nice little piece showing how much each team in the NFL is under the salary cap. I was surprised at some of the results but expected a few teams that were in the top ten. Take a look and see why your team does not have a shut down corner.

Then hop over to ESPN and see how your teams’ ticket rices compare to the rest of the league. I was surprised that the NY Jets have not taken over the top spot in this area. Average cost is $78.38 and the average cost of a beer is $7.28.

Big 12 to sign $2.6 billion TV deal
The Big 12 is about to finalize broadcasting deals with ESPN and Fox Sports that will result in a $2.6 billion over the next 13 years, or approximately $200 million a year. Even for college that is real money!

Filed Under: Apple, Big Ten Network, ESPN, Fox Sports, Intel, iOS, Live sports via mobile, NFL, NFL Network, Sports Illustrated Tagged With: , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »