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CBS, Masters Team Up Again with Massive Masters Online Coverage

April 3, 2013 by 1 Comment

Masters logoWe’ve said it before: Nobody does online sports better than the combination of CBS Sports and the Masters. And if press releases are any indication, the duo is setting out to defend its title with a massive online coverage plan for this year’s Masters, which begins next week.

Forget having to validate viewership through a cable plan: More than 90 hours of live online coverage is scheduled, and it can be accessed via both the Masters.com live TV site as well as the CBSSports.com site. (We found the Masters.com site to be a bit better performing last year, but it’s simply a matter of personal preference. They will both get you to where you want to go, which is live online coverage.)

We are also guessing all the online coverage will also be available through the Masters app, though no press release yet on whether or not there are more goodies in the apps. From what we hear last year’s iPad app really was magnificent. Looks like iPad, iPhone and Android are all supported again this year.

While the online stuff from the Masters will be different from the simulcast TV coverage we’ve seen for regular tour stops this year (and by the way — what a great treat that service is for us lucky Comcast customers), there’s still enough online to keep you satisfied for the few hours you won’t be in front of your couch during golf’s “holy weekend.” Or, let online be your “second screen” since the online offerings include the always-popular Amen Corner channel (coverage of holes 11, 12 and 13), another channel for the underrated 15th and 16th holes, plus two “featured group” channels.

There’s also a Masters studio show, recaps, and highlights from the Par 3 contest but really, the thing we want and the thing we get at the Masters is an unbelievable amount of online coverage. TV coverage, by the way, will be on ESPN Thursday and Friday (3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, both days) and CBS on the weekend, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m Saturday, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. But online coverage starts earlier — the Amen Corner cam is scheduled to go live at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, with the others following later on.

No word yet whether or not we’ll be able to use WatchESPN to see simulcast coverage Thursday and Friday — we’ll check that out by next week. ESPN will also show the Par 3 contest live on Wednesday, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern, but wondering how many people are like me… I don’t want to jinx my Masters viewing by watching the Par 3 contest since… well, you know. Anyway: we usually don’t do this but the full CBS press release with all the details and times is below. Enjoy.

Masters Live on CBSSports.com Returns for 2013 Masters®

Four channels of live golf action let fans follow the Masters Tournament on CBSSports.com and Masters.com

NEW YORK, NY, and AUGUSTA, GA, April 3, 2013 – CBSSports.com, in conjunction with Masters.com, CBS Sports and the Masters Tournament, today announced that Masters Live, live full day video coverage from the Augusta National Golf Club, will return for the 2013 Masters Tournament. With four live channels of golf action, Masters Live will be presented throughout the week of the 2013 Masters, April 8-14, providing more than 90 hours of live video from Augusta National.

The 2013 Masters Live suite of video productions features a line-up of four channels of live golf action from the Masters, including:

● Masters On The Range: Now in its third year, the live show originating from the Tournament Practice Range at Augusta National will be available on CBSSports.com, Masters.com and CBS Sports Network. Presented on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Masters week on CBSSports.com and Monday through Sunday on Masters.com and CBS Sports Network, Masters On The Range will feature interviews with players and analysis of the field leading up to the start of the 2013 Masters. Brian Crowell, Billy Kratzert and Bobby Clampett will provide commentary and analysis for Masters On The Range.

● Amen Corner: Live streaming video of the 11th, 12th and 13th holes from Augusta National. Grant Boone and Matt Gogel will provide commentary and analysis for Amen Corner.

● Hole Nos. 15 & 16: Live streaming video of the 15th and 16th holes from Augusta National. Jerry Foltz and Billy Ray Brown will serve as the announcers for 15 & 16.

● Featured Group: Live streaming video of selected groupings as they play hole Nos. 10-18 from Augusta National. Andrew Catalon and Kratzert will be providing commentary and analysis of the featured groupings.

Immediately following the conclusion of CBS Sports’ television coverage on Saturday and Sunday, CBSSports.com will present a Masters Live Weekend Recap Show. Hosted by Boone and Gogel, the Masters Live Weekend Recap Show will review all of Saturday’s and Sunday’s action and be available live and on demand.

In addition to the four channels of live golf action and the Masters Live Weekend Recap Show, CBSSports.com will present the following video highlights from the 2013 Masters Tournament:

Highlights from the Par 3 Contest: First played in 1960, the Par 3 Contest has become a beloved Wednesday tradition at the Masters. The 2013 Masters Par 3 Contest will be held on Wednesday, April 10. CBSSports.com will provide video highlights of the action.

Press Room: Video highlights of player interviews conducted in the Interview Room from Augusta National.

Tournament Highlights: Video highlights of play from each day of the 2013 Masters Tournament.

Historical Highlights on Demand: On-demand video of memorable highlights and classic moments from past Masters Tournaments.

Augusta National Aerials: On-demand video fly-overs of the Augusta National Golf Club, allowing fans to enjoy the beauty of one of the most famous golf courses in the world.

All elements of Masters Live will be available free of charge at CBSSports.com and Masters.com.

The Masters, the most renowned tournament in golf, will be broadcast on CBS Sports for the 58th consecutive year, a record for the longest-running sporting event broadcast on one network. This year marks the 77th Masters Tournament, one of the most highly anticipated sporting events of the year.

Schedule for Masters Live Video on CBSSports.com and Masters.com in 2013 (all times Eastern U.S.)

Masters on the Range (Presented Monday-Wednesday on CBSSports.com and Monday-Sunday on Masters.com)
Monday, April 8: 12:00 Noon – 2:00 PM
Tuesday, April 9: 9:00 – 11:00 AM
Wednesday, April 10: 9:00 – 11:00 AM
Thursday, April 11: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Friday, April 12: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Saturday, April 13: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Sunday, April 14: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Featured Group*
Thursday, April 11: 12:00 Noon – Completion of play
Friday, April 12: 12:00 Noon – Completion of play
Saturday, April 13: 12:30 PM – Completion of play
Sunday, April 14: 12:30 PM – Completion of play

Amen Corner*
Thursday, April 11: 10:45 AM – 6:00 PM
Friday, April 12: 10:45 AM – 6:00 PM
Saturday, April 13: 11:45 AM – 6:00 PM
Sunday, April 14: 11:45 AM – 6:00 PM

15 & 16*
Thursday, April 11: 11:45 AM – 7:00 PM
Friday, April 12: 11:45 AM – 7:00 PM
Saturday, April 13: 12:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Sunday, April 14: 12:30 PM – 6:30 PM

* Start and end times are estimates and subject to change. All times eastern daylight.

Filed Under: CBS Sports, ESPN, Golf, PGA, The Masters, Tiger Woods Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Ready for the SEC Network?

March 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Samsung has continued its steady expanse of its Android powered smartphones with the release of the Galaxy S4 at an extravagant unveiling at New York’s Radio City Music Hall earlier this week.

The handset has a 5-inch screen and features a 13-megapixel camera while its software now includes both eye-tracking and gesture control features to make its use even simpler. Expected in mid-April it is being carried by 327 mobile operators.

Apple files patent for Smart Cover inductive charging
Apple has filed for a patent for its Smart Cover for iPads involving a technique that would allow the cover to charge the device when the cover is closed. A built-in induction cable would make the charging possible.

The cover would also have battery cells that would be able to charge the iPad where ever it was as long as the cover is closed. The cover could then be recharged via a USB cable, according t a report on the topic at AppleInsider.

MLB’s mobile seats upgrade program advancing
MLB’s At the Ballpark mobile app that will allow fans to upgrade seats when at the ballpark has undergone a successful trial run at this year’s Spring Training and is expected to be ready for the opening of the regular season.

The app, available for iPhones and iPads, was developed by MLB Advanced Media in partnership with Experience Partner and should be usable at the homes of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics initially with other teams adding support as the season progresses.

Consumers want more personal data control with mobile apps
It seems that just about every month another article comes out telling you that one app or another can access your personal information on your smartphone. Now a survey from Mobile Marketer shows that consumers are increasingly wary of this and want more control over what personal information is shared.

The report showed that 70% of consumers say that they want to know what information apps are collecting and what data it is sharing.

SEC expected to launch TV channel next month
The Southeastern Conference is expected to announce that it will be launching its own television channel that will be called the SEC Network sometime in mid-April, ESPN has reported.

The move has been expected for some time and the network should help funnel more revenue into the powerhouse conference. Other conferences have already formed their own television channels including the Pac-12 and the Big 10

Google Glasses Banned from bar
While not earthshaking news by any means it appears that a bar is Seattle has banned customers from wearing Google Glass, claiming that they violate customers’ privacy and that they do not want people videotaped or photographed against their wishes.
The 5 Point Café is a self described seedy bar whose owner said the ban of the $1,500 glasses is partly a joke, partly for privacy reasons and partly just a statement of the type of customer that the place does not want.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, Google, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Major League Baseball, NCAA.com, Samsung, SEC, Smartphone Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Here Comes Fox Sports 1, Huge ASUS Tablet Hybrid

March 8, 2013 by 1 Comment

Fox Sports is seeking to rebound to the national stage once again. While most fans see Fox for MLB or NFL games much of its sports empire is a series of regional deals, but that may change as it is once again pushing for a national sports cable presence that unifies all of its properties.

Now on Aug. 1, 2013 we will see that rebirth with Fox Sports 1, an all sports network that it will be launching. This is a direct shot at ESPN, and who knows, it might drive that network back to talking about sports rather than whatever it is doing now days.

White House supports cell phone unlocking
The recent ruling mailing it illegal to unlock cell phones and tablets may get beaten back as the White House has come out saying that unlocking phones should be legal. The practice of unlocking, which enables a user to use the phone on the network of their choice, was recently declared illegal.

A petition was filed to the White House and R. David Edelman, White House adviser on Internet, innovation and privacy, responded by saying the administration feels consumers should be allowed to unlock their phones without civil or criminal penalties, especially if the phones were purchased secondhand or as gifts. Congress is also starting to weigh in on the issue and a number of bills are being proposed that would make it legal.

Samsung Galaxy Note III to have larger screen
A report from the Korea Times, via Brighthand, says that the upcoming handset release from Samsung will feature a 5.9-inch screen and is expected to be released in the second half of this year.

The handset is seen as a replacement for the current Galaxy Note II, a handset that has a 5.5-inch display and has already sold over 10 million units since last fall.

News Corp. Enters Tablet Space with Amplify
When most people think of News Corp. they probably think of Fox News or the Wall Street Journal but you can now add educational hardware to the mix with the introduction of Amplify, a company that it has created to deliver digital products for the educational system.

The tablet is a 10-inch device that will originally be available only with Wi-Fi but a 4G LTE version is expected later. It will have a $299 price tag but also require a 2-year subscription that will be $99 for Wi-Fi and $179 for 4G. Amplify is not just a tablet but part of a larger program that will include new curriculum offerings that it claims will reinvent teaching and learning and the devices will ship with a host of programs preloaded.

Asus has huge Tablet hybrid
Asus has said that it will start shipping its huge Transformer AiO device in the second quarter of 2013. Designed to be used as either a tablet or as a PC the Transformer AiO is an 18.4-inch tablet that has 1920 x 1080 resolution.

The interesting thing is that in tablet mode it has an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core processor, 32GB of storage and runs the Android operating system. Attach it to a dock and it now has an Intel Core i5 processor, 1TB of storage and runs Windows 8.

Filed Under: Tablets Tagged With: , , , , ,

ESPN’s Digital Media a Powerful Presence

March 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

espn

ESPN’s digital media is head and shoulders the most popular family of digital platforms currently used according to the most recent release from comScore’s Media Metrix Multi-Platform data that was released this week covering the first month of the year.

The program from comScore, is designed to track digital consumers over a range of digital platforms including desktop and laptop computers, tablets and smartphones. Introduced late last year the program is still in beta.

According to the report, in the Sports Category ESPN held a 29% share of all usage across the digital platforms that are tracked, and that it has a resounding 3x lead over the number two player Yahoo! Sports. It should be noted that overall Yahoo is the second most visited property on the web, according to the comScore while ESPN is 28th.

After Yahoo! Sports the lead gets even larger as ESPN’s market share is larger than the the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 sports properties combined. ESPN was No. 1 in the sports category across all key metrics, including average minute audience, unique visitors and total minutes of usage.

Some of the results give a pretty good view of how increasingly important digital media is to ESPN, not only in terms of viewership but also promoting its brand. In January the report said that ESPN had 62.6 million unique visitors, 24.2 million of which exclusively accessed content on smartphones and tablets. It also reported that mobile device users represented 41% of all time spent with ESPN digital content.

ESPN was increasingly aggressive in presenting a very wide array of options online for its mobile users last year, and that is probably a good thing as reports are that its old rival, Fox Sports, is planning to consolidate the vast array of different channels and programming under one roof and once again challenge ESPN, so the more ways in which you reach out to your audience the better.

Filed Under: Live Sports Video Consumption Tagged With: ,

Guest Blog: Pickmoto Players as Good as ESPN Pickers?

December 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: This blog is a series from Pickmoto, a fantasy sports mobile app.

WEEK 12

We’ve put a bullseye on the ESPN “Experts” this season. We’ve dissected who among the dozen is label worthy (Mort, Wickersham) and who is definitely not (Jackson, Ditka, Allen).

This week, instead of comparing ESPNers, let’s take a look at how they fare as a group against another tribe of opinionated NFL fans: the Pickmoto community.

The most interesting games are those with the strongest disagreement. So, we isolated games where each team received 4 to 8 of the 12 ESPNers’ picks. So far, 43 games qualified (8 in Week 12 alone).

For each of those games, we awarded a point to the group with the higher % that correctly picked the winning team. For example, for Redskins v. Cowboys, ESPN scores a point because 7/12 or 58% of ESPNers vs. 51% of Pickmotoers took the ‘Skins.

The final total is ESPN 22, PM 20, Tie 1. It was tied, but the ESPNers inched ahead with a 5 to 3 advantage in Week 12.

If you’ve read this far, then numbers and %s don’t nauseate you. So for the 4 of you left, we’ll continue.

Among the 43 games, there were 9 games with a 20+% difference. PM won 7 to 2. And among the 25 games with a 10+% difference, PM won 14 to 11… Wow you’re still with us!

Ok ok, just one more semi-interesting stat. The Falcons and Steelers had the most wins of the 43 games. Pickmotoers were 4-0-1 in the Falcons wins and 0-4 in the Steelers wins. So, the PM community is savvy to the Falcons and underestimates the Steelers.

We can go on and on slicing the numbers and trotting out slight hypotheses. Bottom line, the “Experts” and the PM community are about equal. The ESPNers have a slight edge if you include all 43 games. The Pickmotoers have an edge in games with the clearest difference of opinion.

Bottom-er line, you guys don’t call yourselves “Experts” so neither should ESPN.

ESPN Experts Leaderboard – Week 12
-Everyone starts with 300 points.

+Seth Wickersham – 743
+Chris Mortensen – 648
+Merrill Hoge – 362
+Adam Schefter – 335
+Ron Jaworski – 332
+Cris Carter – 284
Keyshawn Johnson – 247
Mark Schlereth – 238
Mike Golic – 237
+Tom Jackson – 191
+Mike Ditka – 183
Eric Allen – 71

In Week 12, the strong separated from the weak. All of the Top-6 gained ground. Wickersham and Mort keep climbing. Week after week, they net points with a savvy sprinkling of underdog picks. This week, they went against the grain with the Browns and Jags and those picks accounted for much of their point gains. Wickersham is actually inching closer to the Top 20 Overall on Pickmoto, which is really impressive because he doesn’t use gold pins … and doesn’t even know he’s playing.

Elsewhere, Tom Jackson(!) had the best pick record (12-4) and the best week in points besides Wick and Mort. Note the backhanded exclamation point.

Eric Allen dropped closer still to 0. It’ll be close, but if he keeps picking the Cardinals and Eagles to win football games, he’ll get there.

Pickmoto is fun, quick, easy competition. It recreates the fantasy sports experience on mobile. Its first game for the 2012 NFL season is free for iPhone and iPad. Its second game for the NBA season just hit the AppStore.

Pickmoto asks the most basic question in sports – which teams will win. It’s pick’em with a twist: there’s a crowdsourced scoring system that rewards correct picks based on their popularity – the less popular, the more points.

Filed Under: Apps, ESPN, NFL Tagged With: , , ,

Guest Blog: Pickmoto Tracks the ESPN NFL Experts

November 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: This blog is a series from Pickmoto, a fantasy sports mobile app.

WEEK 11

As you might expect in a week in which Favorites nearly ran the table, the ESPNers shined. None were as perfect as 33 Pickmotoers, but Golic, Jaws, Schlereth, and Carter came close, only whiffing on the Rams. And Hoge, Mort, Wickersham, Jackson, and Ditka were right behind with 1 wrong pick on top of the Rams. Even Allen went 10-3 and gained a point.

Schefter and Johnson were the only two who lost ground. But they were also the only two who picked the underdog Panthers, a near hit, which would have been enough to flip their Week 11 fortunes to positive.

Naturally, we feel compelled to claw back some of the credit we just dispensed. Besides the Panthers, the morning games nearly gave us 4 other big upsets. The Jags, Browns, and Lions were all winning heading into the 4th Quarter and the Cardinals were tied. Not one ESPNer picked any of them. Ultimately, they were right, but what turned out to be a stellar week almost fell apart early Sunday. Considering what heavy underdogs they were, we actually would have respected wrong picks more.

Finally, glad to hear that Ditka is doing better.

ESPN Experts Leaderboard – Week 11
-Everyone starts with 300 points.

+Seth Wickersham – 694
+Chris Mortensen – 616
+Merrill Hoge – 340
Adam Schefter – 319
+Ron Jaworski – 310
Keyshawn Johnson – 275
+Mike Golic – 263
+Mark Schlereth – 249
+Cris Carter – 223
+Mike Ditka – 175
+Tom Jackson – 145
+Eric Allen – 84

Pickmoto is fun, quick, easy competition. It recreates the fantasy sports experience on mobile. Its first game for the 2012 NFL season is free for iPhone and iPad. Its second game for the NBA season just hit the AppStore.

Pickmoto asks the most basic question in sports – which teams will win. It’s pick’em with a twist: there’s a crowdsourced scoring system that rewards correct picks based on their popularity – the less popular, the more points.

Filed Under: Apps, ESPN, NFL, Sports Betting Tagged With: , , ,
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