You are here: Home / Archives for ESPN

Friday Grab Bag: Fox Sports 1 around the corner

August 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

If you have been waiting for a new 24-hour national sports broadcast network then your dreams have been answered as Fox Sports 1 is set to launch on Aug. 17 as the network once again challenges ESPN for sports supremacy.

The network already has a very full array of content teed up from different sports and leagues such as MLB, NASCAR, FIFA World Cup, UFC as well as college football conferences such as the Big Ten, Big 12 and the Pac-12.

Hopefully the fight between the two powers will be a bit more mature than the last time when they would both superimpose their logos over scenes so that if the rival carried the broadcast they had to show the logo.

Samsung to debut next Galaxy Note in September
Samsung has sent out invites to a major announcement that the company will be making on Sept. 4, and the line ’Note the Date” is being taken as a sign that the company will be delivering its Galaxy Note 3 at the event.

It is expected to follow in the footsteps of previous Galaxy Notes and be released at the annual IFA trade show that is held in Berlin, where the two previous generations were also unveiled.

Tablet sales slow, IDC says; no new iPad to blame
Market research firm International Data Corp. has reported that tablet sales slowed in the second quarter of this year, down 9.7% from the preceding quarter. However that number is more than offset by the 60% increase sales have increased compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

IDC expects the market to take off in the upcoming months, helped a great deal by the expected release of Apple’s next generation tablets. Apple has not refreshed the lineup in a year. It said it expects ‘impressive growth’ in the fourth quarter of this year.

One area of positive news for iPad rivals is that Windows Tablet sales on the upswing, with a 527% increase over the same period a year ago, reaching 1.8 million compared to the 300,000 shipped a year ago.

Spartan Race World Championship to be broadcast on NBC
The 2013 Reebok Spartan Race World Championship will be the centerpiece of a collaboration between Spartan Race Inc. and NBC Sorts Group for a television special on the obstacle racing sport.

The special will culminate with coverage of the championship that takes place in central Vermont on Sept. 21-22, 2013. That event is expected to draw tens of thousands of participants vying for the $250,000 in cash and prizes.

Apple’s fused glass patent destined for iPod, iPhone, iPads?
The most recent Apple patent application that has come to light shows that the company is looking to secure the rights to a method of fusing glass that the company describes as being applicable to several different products.

As shown on Slash Gear the next generation products that are built using the fused glass would be entirely enclosed by the material, but don’t get your hopes up for the current generation of Apple products expected within the next month or so, this looks to be a year out at the least.

Android-powered game console?
The game console market is a cutthroat business and minor errors in judgment regarding features and functions can alienate legions of fans. According to rumors from Game Informer, that segment maybe drawing a new player into the fold, Amazon.

The rumor is that not only does the company have a console in development that will use the Android operating system but that fans of midnight shopping may be able to get one by Black Friday.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, FIFA, Fox Sports, Galaxy Note, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, NASCAR, NCAA Hoops, NFL, Samsung, Spartan Race, Surface Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: MSG to Close? NASCAR on the Move

July 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Hewlett-Packard may be looking to double down in the tablet space as rumors are emerging that the company, already having re-entered the space, is now looking to head to the low end by offering an affordable $99 tablet.

According to DigiTimes, HP will team with Walmart to sell the 7-inch tablet that HP will have built in China. It will be targeted at the back to school market and will be the second offering in the 7-inch space from the company.

NASCAR on the move-to NBC
NASCAR and broadcaster NBC have signed a multiyear, multi-billion dollar deal that will see the racing league move from its longtime homes of ESPN and Turner Sports, while Fox Sports will maintain its portion of the coverage.

The details of the deal have not been released but Sports Business Daily has said that it is estimated that the deal is 50% greater than the existing deal that was valued at $2.74 billion for 8 years. The new deal will start with the 2015 season.

Will 2022 World Cup move to November?
If you wondered why FIFA awarded the 2020 World Cup to Qatar, a nation that being in the desert tends to be very hot during the summer when the tournament is played you were not alone. Now FIFA appears to be rethinking its clever plan.

Increasingly reports are emerging that the governing body is looking to move the tournament to the fall or winter so that it does not have dozens of players falling from heat stroke. However this will have a huge impact on most of the major European leagues’ seasons so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Nate Silver to ESPN
Stats guru Nate Silver has just moved to ESPN, leaving the New York Times. Silver cut his teeth in sports prior to moving to the Times and developed PECOTA, something that most baseball fantasy players will be aware of.

Hopefully in his new role he can help bring realistic use of statistics to the World Wide Leader. Does anybody really follow its quarterback rating system and does anybody remember its ill-fated productive out stat? Here is an interesting look at some areas he has impacted in the past and could in the future.

Madison Square Garden to close in 10 years?
Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks’ home, is slated to close in 10 years as New York is looking to renovate Penn Station, the mass transit terminal upon which sits the sports arena. Currently Penn Station is the busiest transportation hub in the United States.

The news cannot come as good news to the team which has been in the midst of a 3-year renovation that, according to Yahoo, will cost an estimated $968 million. The team had been applying for a permanent permit for the arena.

Filed Under: Android, Basketball, ESPN, ESPN FC, FIFA, Fox Sports, Hewlett-Packard, NASCAR, NBA, Soccer, Tablets, The New York Times, Yahoo Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: ESPN’s Open Coverage, Dell Smartwatch?

July 12, 2013 by 1 Comment

The Guardian is reporting that Dell could be the latest to throw its hat into the ring with a smartwatch offering. Dell’s global vice president of personal computing told the paper that it was exploring ideas in the wearable computing space.

With Apple, Samsung, Google and just about every major player in consumer electronics and/or computing it is no surprise. The Kickstarter success story Pebble and its smartwatch has to be something that everybody is watching. The company was oversubscribed as it sought funding with $10 million pledged and an exclusive deal with Best Buy with a preorder of 85,000 watches.

ESPN to broadcast The Open Championship
If you are hoping to catch a few rounds of the 142nd Open Championship, golf’s oldest major, you are in luck as ESPN will be broadcasting all four days next week from July 18-21.

The network will be reaching out to fans not only via live television broadcasts and encore presentations but also live radio, and a range of digital offerings for computers, tablets and other mobile devices. It will also be using digital technology to enhance its broadcasts with technologies such as Flight Tracker.

[Editor’s note: You can also follow via The Open’s own app, online at The Open’s website and on social media like twitter. Go to The Open website for all info.]

Microsoft to slash Surface RT prices?
The Verge is reporting that Microsoft will be cutting the price of its entry level 32GB Surface RT tablet down to $350 with the version with the Touch Cover keyboard will be $450 as will the 64GB Surface RT without the cover and $550 with the cover.

The news comes as reports are also emerging that the company has an additional two more Surface tablets on the drawing board that it will release sometime in 2014. ZDNet reported that a recently seen Microsoft roadmap includes the tablets as well as a host of additional offerings from the company ranging from an Windows Office App Store to enhanced Skype support.

Apple Store hits 5th Anniversary
The Apple App Store, now no longer a pawn in a patent battle, also had other news this week as it celebrated its 5th year in business providing apps and tools, initially for the iPhone but now also includes apps for the iPad as well.

The success for the store can be seen in the fact that the number of apps it offers has grown from 500 at birth to approximately 900,000 now. There has been over 50 billion app downloads in the five years.

Google updates maps app
Most people I know use Google Maps on a regular basis and they will be happy to hear that not only has the company updated the program but made it faster as well, a common complaint. The company has made the Android updates available now with iPhone and iPad updates coming soon.

It has navigation features that include warnings for bad conditio0ns on a trip including accidents, offline map saving and better exploration features according to an early review in The New York Times.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, British Open, Dell, ESPN, ESPN Radio, Golf, Google, iPad, iTunes, Kickstarter, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Microsoft, Smartphone, Surface, Tablets, WatchESPN, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Fourth of July Early Grab Bag — NBA Draft Numbers, Facebook stealing user info?

July 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The Facebook Android app has apparently been downloading users’ phone numbers to Facebook’s servers upon installation and initial launch, regardless if the app is used or if the user even has a Facebook account, according to Norton, the antivirus company.

Facebook has told Norton that it has deleted the numbers from its servers and that it will release a updated version of the Android app that will prevent that from happening in the future. I guess the question I have is that it certainly seems intentional, and with all of the other privacy concerns facing the company why did they not stop this earlier?

Apple patents “iWatch”
It appears that the long rumored Apple watch may actually be real and coming closer to a consumer electronics store near you. Multiple sources are reporting that the company has applied for the “iWatch” trademark.

Apple execs have hinted that a wearable computing device could be in its future but have so far not yet come out and said that the company is indeed working on something along these lines.

MLB Embraces the Military with ticket program
Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) has teamed with GovX, an online military and government discount shopping destination for U.S. Armed Forces and government agency personnel with the purpose of allowing teams to create privileged ticketing programs and recognition events specifically for active, reserve, retired and veteran U.S. Military as well as those who serve and protect including police, fire, EMS and related federal, state and local government employees.

GovX will first create a verified ticketing system for the targeted groups and then work with individual teams to create programs for the military and first responders.

Google Glass adds voice commands and enhanced browsing
Speaking of wearable computing Google has added a web browser and has enhanced the voice commands for its Google Glass platform. The Glass, which is attached to a smartphone, can now both alert a user to incoming text messages and read them to the user or display them for the user to read.

The web browser will, among other things, enable users to view web page n multiple formats including zoom and look around, a feature that is controlled by head movement.

Yahoo buys video sharing firm Qwiki
As the battle for embedded features escalates among social media players Yahoo has taken another step forward with its deal to acquire Qwiki, a company that has created a mini-video sharing format that will rival the increasingly popular Vine app.

The deal is the second major one that the company has made in recent weeks, following its $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr in May. The terms for the Qwiki deal have not yet been announced.


ESPN had second best viewership for NBA Draft
Depending on which article that you read at the ESPNmediazone.com site ESPN had its second best viewership NBA Draft with the 2013 draft, or it was tied for best, or maybe both. This release says that Nielsen rates it as the second best for the broadcaster, with an average viewership of 2,999,000.

This release said that the draft broadcast was tied for the top rated since 2003. I suspect that as the numbers were examined they arrived at the second place standing.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, ESPN, Facebook, Major League Baseball, NBA, NBA Draft, Nielsen Ratings, Yahoo Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Apps Lead the Way in Record Cricket Viewership

July 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

icct

Last week saw the end of the 15 day ICC Champions Trophy, one of the most prestigious prizes in Cricket and ESPN’s ESPNcricinfo broke multiple viewership records while broadcasting the tournament that featured the top teams from eight nations

The overall online and mobile numbers are great to start with, the tournament generating an average of 41 million page views a day, an increase of 245% compared to the 2009 tournament, while the last day of the event that featured the matchup between India and England drew 87.5 million page views across all devices.

Online access at ESPNcricinfo.com averaged 2.6 million daily visitors, a 98% increase. The visitors’ averaged a 65% increase in page views with 17.5 million average and that broke down to an average of 61.1 million minutes a day, up 65%.

The mobile section is where the huge growth came, no doubt in a good part driven by the massive growth of smartphone and tablet ownership since the last tournament and enabled ESPNcricinfo to have an app for the event.

The app had an average of 11.3 million page views and 6.4 million minutes, while the mobile Web’s average of 898,000 daily visitors represented a 631% increase. Those daily visitors then logged an average of 12.2 million page views, up 854%.

Not surprising was that India, the world’s second most populous nation led the way in terms of traffic generated with an average of 1.1 million daily visitors, up 220% and they generated 7.2 million page views, up 198% .Mobile traffic in the US was up 970%, up 1,390% in the U.K. and 1,472% in Australia.

Filed Under: Amazon, Apple, Apps, ESPN, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , ,

ESPN Scores Record Viewership for College Baseball Post Season

June 17, 2013 by 1 Comment

cws2

ESPN reports that the Regional and super Regional games that are the lead in to the College World Series had record viewership on its family of channels and that it expects to see strong viewership up to the conclusion that will take place in Omaha with prime-time telecasts of the best-of-three Finals on Monday, June 24, through Wednesday, June 26.

The network broadcast all of the games in both rounds in a series of 22 telecasts across three of its channels and averaged 404,000 viewers for a total of over 30,000,000 viewers by the end of the Super Regionals. Not surprising is that as the later rounds gained viewership, with the Super Regional games averaging 680,000 viewers. The games were broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.

Over the past few years ESPN has been increasing the number of regular season games that it has broadcast college baseball season includes more than 270 regular-season and conference tournament games and every NCAA Division I Baseball Championship contest for the first time. It expanded its coverage of the playoffs from six sites where games were played to all 16 regional sites.

There is no doubt that the increased coverage has led to increased viewership in my opinion. I suspect that it is also helped by the NCAA’s mobile app that allows you to track the games, but which does not broadcast the games, so encouraging fans to tune in.

In the past I have not watched that much of the games that lead up to the College World Series and probably even fewer of the games of the actual series. I suspect that I have actually seen more Little League World Series games if push came to shove.

I imagine that in part this was because it just did not come across my sports radar that often and also simply the lack of access to games on TV. Hopefully ESPN will start making games available via mobile apps and online for fans that cannot get to a television to watch their favorite team.

Filed Under: Apps, Baseball, ESPN, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption Tagged With: , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »