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ESPN to live stream Cricket Championships

March 10, 2014 by Greg Quick 1 Comment

While the average American may only know of cricket as a game that some say partially evolved into baseball it has a huge worldwide following, particularly in parts of the British Commonwealth where England helped establish the game when it ruled a vast empire.

For fans of the game ESPN will be presenting the biennial 2014 ICC World Twenty20 Cricket Championship as a multiplatform broadcast so that viewers can follow the event on a wide variety of formats including old fashion broadcast television.

The tournament will be covered live from Bangladesh on ESPN3 and will be available to any fan that also subscribes to an affiliate’s video or Internet service so that users can watch online at WatchESPN as well as streamed on televisions through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members, Apple TV and Roku. All of the matches will be broadcast live.

The broadcasts will start with coverage of the India vs Pakistan match on March 21st and will end with the championship round on April 6. The championship will also be broadcast on ESPN2. If a viewer misses a match the games will also be available for a short time after their conclusion on ESPN3. Select highlights will be available after the tournament on ESPN TV On Demand. Also included will be the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 semifinals and final will also be delivered live on ESPN3.

The network’s ESPNcricinfo.com site will also be providing extensive coverage including pre and post game analysis and in-match commentary.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, ESPN3, iOS, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, WatchESPN Tagged With: 2014 ICC World Twenty20 Cricket Championship, Cricket, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, WatchESPN

Friday Grab Bag: 14 New ESPN Channels — mainly online

March 7, 2014 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

ESPN is launching 15 virtual networks for users of Apple TV and Roku boxes that provide Internet connectivity to their televisions as part of its ongoing WatchESPN initiative. The new channels’ programming will be culled from related conference programming from the network’s existing portfolio that includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU and others.

Some of the programming will include select live events including college basketball. Others such as college football will only be available via on-demand broadcasting. The channels will feature the ACC, America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big West, Horizon, Mid-American, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern, Sun Belt and Southland conferences. In addition there will be a combined channel featuring coverage of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and conferences including the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic and Central Intercollegiate Athletic conferences.
Fox Sports 1 has new MLB show
Fox Sports will be broadcasting a new slate of games this year, with a preference for teams that have regional Fox broadcast deals, and it will have the opportunity to highlight its games with its new MLB Whiparound show.

Airing Monday-Friday at 10 pm ET (but 12 midnight on Wednesdays) the program will be up against one of ESPN’s flagship programs Baseball Tonight and the MLB Network’s MLB tonight, all of which start at the same hour.

The Raiders to Portland?
There are a few fans in Portland, Ore., who are running a campaign to get the state to encourage the Oakland Raiders to move north to Portland, a city that lost its Single A baseball team a few years ago due to lack of support.

While the Raiders’ owner has said that the team would look to move if Oakland does not solve its stadium issue (it wants a new one) it seems highly unlikely that Portland would be its first choice with Los Angeles open. However the mix between Portland hipsters and die hard Raider fans would be great to watch.

NBC had to provide make-good ads for Olympics
Advertising Age is reporting that the broadcast giant has to provide make-good ads to some of its Olympics customers because while it won the broadcast bragging rights for virtually every night it fell short of the projected ratings.

However the network feels good about the overall results and is optimistic about its next Olympics broadcast, the 2016 Summer games in Rio. It has already started to sell ads for that event.

Minor League Baseball team has selfie promotion
One of the great things about minor league baseball are the interesting promotions that many of the teams engage in. What is possible the first of the upcoming season comes from the Kalamazoo Growlers.

They are having a promotion centered around selfies called the Salute to Selfie Night this season. The event calls for fans to take pictures of themselves and submit them, from which the team will make a jersey with the images reproduced in collage form. So practice your duck face now!

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Awful Announcing, Baseball, ESPN, ESPN3, Fox Sports, Live sports via mobile, Major League Baseball, NBC Sports, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NFL, Olympics, WatchESPN Tagged With: Apple TV, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, NBC Sports, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Olympics, Roku, WatchESPN

DISH Network and Disney deal boon to digital sports fans

March 4, 2014 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

The Walt Disney Company, parent of ESPN, has reached a long term deal with DISH Network that will open up Disney content for broadcasting to DISH customers not just for television but also across multiple digital platforms.

The deal calls for the cancellation of all legal proceedings between the two parties as well as providing content to DISH subscribers. For sports fans this means access to established sports programming such as ESPN and ESPN2.

However new or just emerging channels will also be available to fans such as the soon to be launched SEC channel and the Longhorn Network as well. The deal for the SEC and Longhorn channel also enables DISH to provide these and other programming such as WatchESPN as a live and on demand digital stream to computers, tablets and smartphones using the DISH anywhere app.

However the digital portion of the deal requires that users subscribe to DISH Networks at a prescribed level in order to receive the services. Other properties such as Disney Junior, ABC Family, Disney Channel and Fusion also fall into the broadcast, live streaming category. There will also be expanded on-demand content availability including content from ESPN Deportes and from ESPN Films.

As the digital environment evolves, and most likely expands, going forward the deal has spelled out how they can go about taking advantage of this space. It provides a structure for other advertising models such as dynamic ad insertion and advertising on mobile devices.

Overall the deal will enable approximately 14 million satellite television viewers to have access to ESPN both on their televisions and as a second screen option going forward.

Filed Under: Apps, ESPN, ESPN3, Lawsuit, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, WatchESPN Tagged With: DISH Networks, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, Longhorns, SEC, WatchESPN

WatchESPN app now supports Windows 8 devices

February 12, 2014 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Mobile users that utilize devices that run on Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system no longer have to be second class citizens when it comes to viewing content generated by ESPN’s family of networks as there is now a WatchESPN app for their devices.

What this means in real terms is that if you have a subscription to a network that shows the network’s lineup they can have access to that includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN Deportes and ESPNEWS through WatchESPN.

The free app also includes the ability for users pin the app with a Live Tile that provides an instant view from the start screen that displays the top live events as well as features such as Snap functionality, a channel guide, the ability to browse by sport, access to featured live and on-demand content. ESPN Goal Line and ESPN Buzzer Beater will also be accessible when those channels are in season.

In case you are unaware of which cable and satellite video providers that do or will soon feature ESPN and so enable you to access this feature here is a short list. AT&T U-verse TV, Bright House Networks, Cablevision’s Optimum TV, Charter, Comcast Xfinity TV, Cox, Google Fiber, Midcontinent Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon FiOS TV.

This is very good news for supporters of that operating system, which consistently comes in third when versions of sport apps are delivered. MLB almost always delivers a version of its numerous apps first for Apple’s iOS platform and then for Android. Others apps also tout the rival OS first and often there is no mention of Windows support.

Windows 8 had a strong fall growth spurt but has slowed while the older Windows 7 has seen strong growth in recent weeks. Hopefully this and increased support from other mobile apps will provide some much needed impetus for additional growth.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, ESPN3, iOS, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, WatchESPN, Windows 8 Tagged With: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, WatchESPN, Windows 8

Looking for college baseball? ESPN has you covered

February 10, 2014 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Does it seem that every year college baseball is basically invisible unless you live near a school that gets coverage in the local media until the College World Series is aired at the end of the summer? Well ESPN is seeking to change that, or rather build on what it has already established in the last few years.

The network will be using its breadth and depth as a broadcaster to show a record number of games during the 2014 college baseball season, with more than 200 regular season and conference games across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU and ESPNNEWS.

This is in addition to the exclusive coverage that it will provide for the NCAA Division I College Baseball Championship that starts at the conclusion of the conference championship games. It will also cover the selection of the 64 team field for the championship. The previous high in terms of number of broadcasts by ESPN is 151 games.

Both over air and digital broadcast to be available
ESPN3 will be streaming the bulk of the games with 150 exclusive broadcasts over the course of the season with all available on WatchESPN so that users that want to view the games on tablets, smartphones, Xbox, Roku and other device will have the opportunity to see the games. There are some restrictions on mobile users.

The network plans to have at least one game available every Friday, Saturday and Sunday over 14 consecutive weeks and the regular-season broadcasts starts this Friday, Feb. 14, at 4 p.m. ET with No. 5 Florida State hosting Niagara.

Not all games have been scheduled but for a quick look at what is already planned head over here.

Among the regular features for the season will be ESPNU once again carrying Thursday Night SEC Baseball Game of the Week starting March 27 as well as carrying ACC Monday broadcasts starting March 24. The ACC will apparently dominate broadcasts over the season with 111 games on the agenda. The network said that it will broadcasts games that feature every Top 10 team and 21 of the Top 25 over the course of the season. ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPNEWS will combine to carry 10 conference championships.

Filed Under: Apps, Baseball, ESPN, ESPN3, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA.com, Smartphone, Tablets, WatchESPN Tagged With: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, NCAA Baseball, WatchESPN

ESPN holding nothing back for tonight’s BCS broadcast

January 6, 2014 by Greg Quick 2 Comments

An era ends tonight in college football with the last of the current format championships about to be played between Florida State and Auburn. Next season will usher in a playoff format that is a major change from the current poll-based system.

The current system was introduced in 1998 and now it is gone, but when you look at the freight train of equipment and army of personnel that ESPN is bringing to the event, it will likely live on for quite a long time in the form of multiple digital recordings.

The sports channel is broadcasting the 2014 Vizio BCS National Championship game tonight with the biggest broadcast team in its history and has termed it the “BCS Megacast” with it being presented across six of its television platforms as well as its audio and digital outlets.

You can pretty much take your choice of platforms- ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Radio, ESPN3, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Goal Line and ESPN International. There will be pregame talkshows, interviews, analysis, celebrities and much more available prior to the kickoff at 8:30 ET.

Social and digital media will be strongly represented in the mix with the personalities posting thoughts and comments prior to kickoff as well during the game.

For those that are not able to watch at home or in a comfortable sporting establishment the presentations that were broadcast on the ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNEWS will be available to a range of alternative platforms via WatchESPN including online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets, through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members, on Apple TV and Roku to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.

So how many people and trucks will this take? According to USA Today Sports and ESPN it will be 16 trucks, 63 cameras, 73 microphones a four-engine generator and as many as 200 employees, only a few who you will see online.

Hopefully this will make for a great broadcast, but much of that will depend on the teams. A stinker of a game will lead to fans tuning out as happened a few years ago when Alabama crushed LSU 21-0. The blowout was obvious early and fans tuned out in droves even though ESPN had added some interesting bells and whistles to its broadcast. At that time the future was 3D and ESPN had a 3D broadcast of the game as well as a more traditional broadcast.

However I am looking forward to the game and hopefully in all of the broadcasts comes something that will last to enhance future broadcasts.

Filed Under: ABC, Android, Apple, Apps, BCS, ESPN, ESPN FC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3, iPad, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Football, WatchESPN Tagged With: Android, Apps, BCS Championship, ESPN, ESPN NCAA Football Live Radio, ESPN2, ESPN3, iPad

ESPN to live stream Cricket Championships

Friday Grab Bag: 14 New ESPN Channels — mainly online

DISH Network and Disney deal boon to digital sports fans

WatchESPN app now supports Windows 8 devices

Looking for college baseball? ESPN has you covered

ESPN holding nothing back for tonight’s BCS broadcast

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