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Bleacher Report Adds ‘Team Stream’ Feature to Home Page

March 29, 2012 by

A screen shot of the B/R home page with the Team Stream feature on the left side.

In a somewhat circular form of innovation, the functionality of Bleacher Report’s popular Team Stream mobile app — which surfaces a curated “stream” of news about a team or sport — is now an integral part of Bleacher Report’s main website home page.

Actually live since sometime last week, the Team Stream feature for B/R’s home page allows visitors to customize what stories they see in the strip that runs prominently down the left hand side of the page. And just like the Team Stream app, the Team Stream homepage feature will provide links to not just Bleacher Report content, but to content from sports sites across the web.

According to David Finocchio, co-founder and vice president of content and product at Bleacher Report, the not-written-here attitude is somewhat unique among major sports sites. “The idea is to provide fans with the most relevant information about their teams in one place,” said Finocchio in a phone interview this week. Though many leading sports sites are almost as bad as Bobby Knight and the word “Kentucky” when it comes to linking to competitors, Finocchio said that Bleacher Report’s web-era heritage makes prominent linking a no-brainer.

“We’ll link out to anyone providing the best content,” Finocchio said. “The challenge is creating an experience that people want to come back to.” So instead of worrying about keeping people trapped on a page, Finocchio said, “It’s about getting them to come back tomorrow.”

The basic premise behind Team Stream is that B/R’s team of web-watching editors will sift through everything that is out there and prepare a bundle of content centered around the teams or sports. Fans can then select which “streams” they want to follow, and a selection of items will appear in the stream on the home page, just like they do in the mobile app.

Filed Under: Apps, bleacherreport, Tablets Tagged With: ,

Boston Bruins Combine all Social Media in Bruins DEN

March 28, 2012 by

While lamenting the fact that it is impossible for my March Madness team, now in second, to gain any additional points I failed to notice that the Boston Bruins have launched one of the most aggressive aggregation sites for social and traditional media concerning the team.

The Bruins, winner of the last Stanley Cup, have launched the Bruins Digital Entertainment Network (DEN), a site that combines television, ticket info, with a wide range of social media contacts and sources.

The site promises that it will provide not only what fans have come to expect in terms of data on players and games but it also said that it will be creating original content for fans to view. You can follow the team in a variety of manners including via BostonBruinsTV.com, at its popular web site BostonBruins.com or on Facebook. The list goes on with support at Twitter, Google +, Tumblr, as well as Facebook and Foursquare check-ins.

The Bruins DEN is a tool that will enable the teams’ corporate sponsors to reach out towards fans with a focused effort, and the site said that it expects to have 2.5 million unique visitors each month, so it should be quite an opportunity for them. Not only that but any technology that it uses is often highlighted with the name of the developer or partner,

An example of that is when the site says that its partners will benefit from its enhanced social analytics capabilities, courtesy of startup Umbel. It has an app for fans called the Official Boston Bruins Mobile App (Bruinsmobile.com) powered by AT&T. The app already features a sitcom series called ‘The Bear and the Gang’ that centers on the teams mascot. The bear also has his own Pinterest page.

The site is easy to navigate and all of the social media connections are clearly marked and easy to find. There is the almost obligatory Twitter feed, pictures from other fans posted using Instagram, and a hsot of additional connections ranging from one that gives you the all-time player roster to one that has a list of giveaways and events.

The organization is moving to provide fans access to its team in a great number of ways, and allowing them to show their pride and interest in the team. Regardless if you download and use the mobile app, post images on Instagram, comments of Facebook or check-in the Bruins are putting the fan experience first. At the same time the business side is carefully intertwined with the effort so that the team can monetize itself and its partners’ efforts in this endeavor.

About a decade ago just a few baseball teams had an Internet presence but MLB quickly learned what a tool the Internet was and pushed all of its teams online, and has since been very aggressive with all forms of social media. I hope that the NHL takes a page from that book and uses this as a template for the other teams in the league because I believe that fans will greatly embrace this opportunity.

Filed Under: Apps, AT&T, Facebook, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NHL, Pinterest Tagged With: , , ,

Masters Adds Android Apps, More Online Coverage

March 28, 2012 by

Screen shot of an Android app for the Masters golf tournament.

In addition to its comprehensive, almost commercial-free TV coverage, the Masters golf tournament announced Wednesday that it will have apps for Android-based smartphones and tablets for online viewing of this year’s tournament. Though the golf that counts won’t start until next Thursday, April 5, Masters coverage this year begins next Monday with a new live program called “On the Range” which will air live on Masters.com.

In past years the Masters has had only apps for Apple iPhones and iPads, and charged $1.99 for a premium iPad app; this year, all apps are free and can be downloaded from the links on this page.

Live television coverage of the event this year starts on Wednesday April 4 with some coverage of the famed par 3 contest, aired from 3 p.m to 5 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN. ESPN will also broadcast live golf coverage from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 5 and Friday, April 6. On the weekend TV coverage shifts to CBS, from 3:30 p.m. to 7 pm on Saturday, April 7 and from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 8 (all times Eastern).

Real golf nuts will probably watch both on TV and online, as the Masters once again will outdo all other sports events with seven different live feeds to choose from, including cameras focused on the famous “Amen Corner” stretch of holes 11, 12 and 13. There will also be live 3D streaming video from the par 3 contest as well as during competition, along with more scores, stats, highlights and Masters features than you will probably have time to consume. Stay tuned here to MSR for more ways to follow the Masters as we lead up to the big week.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, CBS Sports, ESPN, Golf, Live sports via mobile, PGA, The Masters, Tiger Woods Tagged With: , , ,

Vivaldi Tablet plays an Open Source Tune

March 28, 2012 by

Looking for a tablet that can serve as an eReader and possibly more while not wanting to support the corporate giants in the business such as Apple, Samsung or Nokia? Then MakePlayLive might have the solution for you.

The company has started to take orders for its 7-inch form factor Vivaldi tablet, one of the first tablets that is available using an open source operating system rather than iOS, Android or any of the other operating systems currently on the market.

Originally named the Spark Linux, the Vivaldi will operate using a free software platform of GNU/Linux, Mer and KDE Plasma Active. The hardware comes with a 7-inch display that has 800 x 480 resolution. It is powered by a 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor and includes a Mali 400 GPU. It features 512MB of RAM and a 4GB flash disk for data storage.

The Wi-Fi only system can support 3G with an external add-on and it includes a 1.3MP front facing camera, HDMI 1080p output; two USB ports and a microSD slot. The battery is estimated at having approximately a 7 hour life. The company is already talking about a 10-inch version.

This is not the lone effort of a developer in the Linux space but at least one other player, Ubuntu Linux, has been working on developing specifically for this space and a port of Ubuntu 10.11 is reportedly near for the Archos 43 and Archos 101 tablets. Bohdi Linux 1.4 is designed for tablets and notebooks and is based on Ubuntu but is differentiated.

There is also the Trimble Yuma from SDG Systems, but it is doubtful that many casual users will want the tablet that has been ruggedized for military use. The 7-inch system features the Ubuntu 10.4 LTS Netbook edition Linux software and is powered by an Intel 1.6GHz Atom processor.

Demand for the tablet looks to be good as the company has shut down its pre-order sales effort and has a note on its site saying that all of the first shipment of the tablet has been called for, a good sign for the company and open source in the tablet market.

While the Vivaldi will most not likely steal market share away from Apple’s iPad, or even maybe the Kindle Fire, it is good to see that Linux is moving into this space and providing competition to the mainstream players.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, BlackBerry, iPad, Kindle, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Fascinating Read: Fast Company Explores MLB.com’s Winning Strategy

March 27, 2012 by

If you want a primer on why we started Mobile Sports Report, the best explanation I’ve seen yet is embodied within a great story from Fast Company about how Major League Baseball’s advanced media team (BAM for short) got out ahead of the digital pack. Just about every part of this story shows why we think sports is headed online, and to mobile platforms, going forward. An incredible read.

In addition to explaining how BAM made its online offering MLB.com one of the breakout successes of online sports — according to the article it generates $620 million in revenue a year — the story exposes something Major League Baseball is trying to get in all its stadiums: Wi-Fi networks so that fans can watch video in their seats. And finally we are getting a good grasp on how much it costs to put in a network — according to the story, it’s about $3 million per stadium. Here’s a bit of the story that has the meat:

For instance, BAM is trying to assemble corporate partners to cover the costs, more than $3 million per team, to wire each ballpark for high-speed web access, so fans can check and download BAM’s apps to see video and make purchases.

There’s more great stuff in this well written synopsis of how MLB.com became an online success — it is required reading if you are in sports or sports marketing. And of course if you want continuing coverage of the news of stadium networking, well you are already in the right place if you are reading this story.

Hat tip to our pal Joe Favorito for tweeting about the story this morning.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Baseball, Major League Baseball, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Video Streaming Tagged With: , , , ,

MLB Fans Increasingly Watching Games via Mobile Devices

March 27, 2012 by

Major League Baseball opens its season next week with the Champion Saint Louis Cardinals helping the Miami Marlins christen the new ballpark that is opening down in Florida on Wednesday April 4th, followed the next day with six openers on Thursday and nine more openers on Friday.

Yet fans are already tuning in to games, with many of the Spring Training games being broadcast on the leagues MLB Network channel, if you are lucky enough to get it as well as many local stations. When the season opens this is a good place to get a quick look at all of the teams.

However there is a rapidly growing section of the fan base that is mobile and wants its games and information mobile as well and baseball is increasingly catering to these fans.

For the fifth consecutive year mobile users will also have the option of using MLB.com At Bat 12, giving users the ability to watch it not only on mobile devices but an increasing range of connected devices as well.

The release of the latest version, which coincided with the start of Spring Training, shows the increasing popularity of watching sports, and in this case baseball, on a variety of devices. The first weekend it was available there was 2.9 million downloads and users received 450,000 live audio and video streams, increases of 132% and 83% respectively over the first weekend of Spring Training games in 2011.

The app is available for Apple’s iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, Kindle Fire, and BlackBerry users with a Windows 7 Phone version expected by Opening Day. It costs $14.99 and provides home and away radio broadcasts, pitch trackers, breaking news alerts and a range of additional features. The features are not standard, with some devices offering more than others.

Then there is also MLB.TV. It comes in two basic flavors, regular and premium. The regular version, which costs $19.99 a month or $109.99 a year allows users to watch games on their computer and features a set of DVR functions that allow a user rewind live game action. It also provides the ability to display games as PiP, split screen or mosaic.

The premium version brings much more to the table, starting with a free subscription to At Bat 12. It is supported on connected devices aside from the computer such as the Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3, Roku, Apple TV, select Samsung and LG connected televisions and Blu-Ray players and it provides both home and away feeds as well as all of the features available in the basic version. The program costs $24.99 a month or $124.99 a year.

Baseball is doing a very good job of making the sport widely available and on wide variety of devices from television to smartphones. The fact that for less than $3 a month a user can listen to games, something that is much less demanding on a data plan than watching streaming video should draw fans. I have seen some reports that baseball’s hardcore fan base is getting older and I suspect that the expansion of the broadcast to these platforms will appeal to a younger set of fans.

Filed Under: Amazon, Apple, Apps, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,
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