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Follow NBA Playoffs Live Online With TNT’s ‘Overtime’

May 14, 2012 by 3 Comments

Since I’ve been mostly following hockey and golf these days the NBA playoffs have been a real back-burner thing for me, especially after Derrick Rose went down with a bum knee. But today I discovered the NBA and TNT’s “Overtime” live online broadcasts and whoa, this is online done right.

For once, the promise of multiple cameras is delivered how you might want it — a specific cam on each team, one for general play, and then a “mosaic” view that splits the screen into four separate but continuous live camera views, perfect for those of you with attention disorder deficit problems.

There’s even a popup integrated chat window (which looks pretty tame right now) and an “ask the expert” feature that is a pure sponsor play. But overall I like the camera angle choices, the easy/no login required setup and the streaming performance. Sports Geekery has a good breakdown on all the components. Screen grab of the mosaic view below.

Filed Under: Live Sports Video Consumption, NBA, TNT Tagged With:

Thanks, TNT, for the Boss Alert Screen

March 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Gotta admit — the folks at TNT have a little bit of humor skills. I like the “Boss Coming? DRAMATIC PAUSE” button which appears when you are watching NCAA Hoops online.

It gives you a mock spreadsheet which upon close review isn’t fooling anyone:

Of course, I am not sure whose employer even cares anymore. At MSR, having games on or watching on mobile platforms is “work.” And this morning I stopped by the offices of Bleacher Report, where there are something like 27 flat screens and today there was a food truck and cold beer.

But thanks TNT, for those folks who still have a misguided overlord overlooking their shoulder.

Filed Under: bleacherreport, NCAA Hoops, TNT Tagged With: ,

Where to Watch the NCAA Tourney, TV or Online

March 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

Here’s the Mobile Sports Report quick guide to watching the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, either on TV or online.

TV: The games will be broadcast on either CBS, or on one of the Turner cable channels — TNT, TBS, and something called TruTV (channel 65 here on Comcast in the Bay area). You need to check a schedule to see which game is on which network. We refer you to this excellent Deadspin post which has all Thursday and Friday games listed.

Online: Here is where it gets confusing. You can watch all CBS broadcast games for free at CBSSports.com, and Turner broadcasts for free at the Turner websites, as long as you are a cable subscriber. When you click “watch now” you should get a screen like the one to the left asking you to select your cable provider to log in with your cable subscription credentials. Good to check these before leaving for work.

Note: The free online games are ONLY the games being broadcast at the time. If you want to watch something else, you need to get the March Madness app for $3.99.

If you want to watch on a phone or tablet you need to pay $3.99 for the March Madness app, which you only need to pay once and then can watch on multiple devices with the login you create.

COMCAST CUSTOMERS: Here’s a handy schedule of all the games available for streaming. HT to Todd Spangler at Multichannel News for the link.

Filed Under: CBS Sports, NCAA Hoops, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports Tagged With: ,

Can Twitter Save the NBA Slam Dunk Contest?

February 24, 2012 by 9 Comments

For a long time now, I thought that the NBA’s All-Star Slam Dunk contest was something that just needed to die. Way back in the day, before every single dunk was posted to YouTube and every game was on cable, it was kind of fun to put a spotlight on guys who you hadn’t seen that much of (Dominique Wilkins) and more from the guys you couldn’t get enough of (Michael Jordan).

In its early days it was a lot of fun, with surprise winners like Spud Webb. But then it stagnated, the stars left for a while and in recent years it became a bit of a clown show, with guys jumping over each other, and then last year when Blake Griffin posterized an automobile. I mean, the guy can dunk but I thought the sideshow was stupid.

In perhaps a nod to the event’s tediousness, it is now just one round — three dunks — for four players. And to make it even more trendy, the NBA and sponsor Sprite have turned to Twitter. In addition to voting for the best dunkers via text message and on the NBA.com site, fans will be able to tweet with the hashtag #SpriteSlam and a letter corresponding to one of the four players involved, the Houston Rockets’ Chase Budinger, the Indiana Pacers’ Paul George, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Derrick Williams and the Utah Jazz’s Jeremy Evans. I am guessing the final instructions will be spelled out during the broadcast on TNT, which you will have to watch anyway to see the dunks.

Are you excited? Here is the official word on how it works:

A new format will be implemented for the 2012 competition. The contest will consist of only one round and each competitor will execute three dunks. Fan voting will open after all four players have completed their first dunk. Previously, the Sprite Slam Dunk contest consisted of two rounds, with the first round scored by a panel of judges which determined two finalists.

The competition starts Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, live on TNT. And just in case you can’t get enough of guys dunking over cars, here’s last year’s finals recap.
UPDATE: If you need more Twitter, Chase Budinger will be holding a tweet-chat today:

#SpriteSlam contestant @ is doing a Twitter Q&A at 1pm EST, tweet your questions with #AskChase

February 25, 2012 10:37 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@TwitterSports

Twitter Sports

 

 

Filed Under: NBA, TNT, Twitter Tagged With: ,

Fans Must Pay $3.99 to Watch NCAA Hoops via Mobile Devices

February 16, 2012 by 2 Comments

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and now there’s no such thing as free access to the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament for mobile devices. According to an extremely unclear press release and FAQ released today, it appears you will have to pay $3.99 for access to the games via the March Madness application, whether you are using it on a PC or on a mobile platform, including Apple iPhones and iPads as well as Android-based devices.

Since it’s early and we haven’t had coffee yet this post might have later corrections but for right now here’s how it apparently breaks down: If you want to watch the games for free you have to go to the broadcasters websites. According to the press release you won’t be charged for the Turner-broadcast games if you can validate that you have a cable TV plan that includes the Turner Networks TBS, TNT and truTV. We are guessing that most people with a standards sports cable package will be covered, but you might need to check your plan. And right now there is no info on how that validation will happen. CBS says it will show all its broadcast games on CBSSports.com for free.

But if you want to use a mobile device to watch games online via the March Madness application, which includes a lot of bracket info and other goodies, the free lunch is over. It’ll cost you a one-time fee of $3.99, after which you will get a logon to use over any other device or platform you want. Apparently there is some messiness involved with using Android devices, and I am sure this won’t be the last post we do on the subject since the press release and FAQ look like they were also written without coffee or at least a decent proofreader.

If you want to try to avoid the $3.99 fee there is apparently some promotion coming next week involving Coke Zero where they will grant some folks free access, probably for surrendering your email address and your first-born child. Our quick prediction is that this news will cause howls of pain from the general hoops-loving public, who will start to wonder about government inquiries into the NCAA and its business practices. Maybe it’s time for coffee. And a search through the couch cushions for $3.99.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, CBS Sports, iPad, iPhone, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports Tagged With: , , , , ,

NCAA/Turner Alliance to expand its Football Presence

August 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The alliance between NCAA and Turner Sports will be showing increased activity this Fall

With the start of college football just days away the NCAA and its partner Turner Sports have stepped up with a range of programs for fans and followers of NCAA football including a 30 minute preview show every week.

The show will be hosted by Vince Cellini and SEC college analyst Dave Archer and will cover not only the Football Bowl Subdivision but also the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II and Division III, which should make for a very busy 30 minutes.

The move is just one of many as the two partners start to move forward in a joint effort to expand the NCAA’s on-line and broadcast presence. Last year the NCAA singed a pair of deals with Turner Sports, one of which included CBS as well.

The first deal called for a 14-year television, Internet and wireless rights agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting. It gave the two the rights to present the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship beginning in 2011 and continuing through 2024 for more than $10.8 billion. This includes all the games being broadcast live, over a combination of four networks-CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.

Included in the deal are joint marketing effort between the NCAA , CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting. At the time this was labeled the start of a new partnership and so it was as a second deal was cut soon after.

The second deal was just between Turner and the NCAA and it called for Turner create and mange NCAA Digital and which also covers 14 years. No terms of this deal were made available. NCAA Digital will cover all 88 NCAA championships and is designed to heighten awareness and interest in them, including running NCAA.com, the primary web site for all of the championships.

Included in the Fall football push will a number of expected features including a live scoreboard, power rankings and game recaps. There will be live statistics from ongoing games and a Heisman Watch as well as the ability to call up video highlights and watch features produced for the site.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts ESPN who currently is the unchallenged king of on-line and broadcast sports. I expect that will raise the bar for much of the channels analyst, much as the Baseball Network seems to have done, in my opinion. However the 30 minute show has a tough hill to climb to surpass the very popular ESPN College Gameday program.

Filed Under: CBS Sports, ESPN, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports Tagged With: , , ,
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