ESPN3 – Page 3

Will Enhanced Access to Live Sports Boost Xbox Sales?

September 4, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Microsoft has enhanced a pair of sports apps that will be made available added an along with its pending Xbox release due later this fall with reworked ESPN apps as well as one that will enable users to access a good deal of NFL video and information, including fantasy football features

The ESPN app is enhanced from the earlier app available for Xbox 360 and provides a great deal of customization by users so that each experience will be tailored to individuals’ preferences such as the ability to create personalized highlight reels on specific players.

Users need to subscribe to a cable service that offers ESPN and with that they can view content not just on ESPN 3 but also programming and live sports from ESPN, ESPN 2 and other related broadcast partners.

The NFL app ties into NFL.Com and provides news and clips from games as well as enabling access to NFL Network programming and provides NFL Red Zone, a program that moves from game to game as teams near the Red Zone and try to score. It enables users to track fantasy teams in real time and they can snap the updates to the screen when playing a game on the console. It should be noted that the console will not ship in time for the start of the NFL season.

The video game console market is a very competitive field and some are even predicting that it will morph into something very different in the future, possibly as a dongle or another add on feature to a television.

But that is in the future and currently Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are still competing for a market that generates billions in revenue worldwide. By adding enhanced features to apps that access the most popular sports programming and most popular sports in the US, Microsoft could see an advantage over its rivals. Sony is also expected to revamp its PlayStation lineup later this year.

Filed Under: Apps, ESPN, ESPN3, Live Sports Video Consumption, Microsoft, NFL, NFL Network Tagged With: ESPN, ESPN 2, Microsoft, NFL, Red Zone, Xbox

MLBAM Continues to Leverage Capabilities into New Fields

August 27, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) is leveraging its huge video broadcasting and Internet infrastructure and has branched out into a very different field this week when it acquired the distribution rights to a live concert.

The concert deal was signed with the Global Poverty Project, which for the second year in a row is hosting a concert that is called the Global Citizen Festival that features Stevie Wonder, Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys and John Mayer and which will be held on the Great Lawn of New York City’s Central Park on Saturday, September 28, 2013.

MLBAM will be using its back end streaming video infrastructure that currently fans may know from MLB.TV, and will be offering the event to both domestic and international broadcast partners interested in presenting the show with either live high definition broadcasts or as an on-demand service.

While it may seem odd that the interactive arm of MLB would turn to this concert license, it is already using its advanced high tech capabilities in a variety of other areas, both sports and non-sports focus. For instance it is the provider of in-flight movies on Southwest Airlines, provides ESPN3’s streaming and is the technology behind Glenn Beck’s Internet television channel, according to the NYT.

MLB has been building its infrastructure in this and related areas for some time and is a unique position in that it can undercut what might be viewed as mainstream broadcasters at providing this service. It has the infrastructure not only at a league level but increasingly at individual ball parks so that stadiums can quickly support an event such as the concert and provide broadcast and other services.

Filed Under: Apps, Baseball, DAS, ESPN3, Live sports via mobile, Major League Baseball Tagged With: ESPN3, MLB, MLBAM

ESPN introduces Major Revamp to WatchESPN App

August 19, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

WatchESPN, the mobile app for iPads, iPhones and iPod touch from the sports broadcasting giant has be upgraded with a host of new and enhanced features as the company provide mobile access to a number of its channels including to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Goal Line/Buzzer Beater.

Among the additions is access to ESPN3 for college students and military personnel via on-campus (.edu) and on-base (.mil) Wi-Fi network. Also new is ESPN on ABC, providing access to live programming on ESPN on ABC events and will redirected users to the WATCH ABC App for access to that content

For the iPad it has added Live Toolbar, a feature that has the ability to shows stats and scores without opening an additional digital stream. It has three components in the form of tabs that reside at the bottom of the screen.

The first is on called Live TV Lineup that is just what it says, an interactive guide to all of the programming that is available on the network. The second is called Scores, and is designed to not only provide the scores that a fan might be seeking but allow them to gather pregame info on sporting events with a feature in Scores that is called Pre-Game View. The Live View function shows cores of events that are currently on-going and Post-Game View for the wrap up.

The third tab is called Top Video and is an on-demand feature that provides up-to-date news, analysis and highlights. This can be used in split screen mode so that you can continue watching an event at the same time.

The WatchESPN App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at www.AppStore.com/WatchESPN. It should be noted that you can only use the app if you also get ESPN as part of a cable broadcast package from one of its broadcast partners.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, ESPN, ESPN3, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, WatchESPN Tagged With: Apple, ESPN, ESPN3, iPad, iPhone, WatchESPN

Would Proposed A La Carte Cable Bill Hurt Sports Channels?

May 13, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Senator John McCain is introducing a bill that would enable cable companies to offer subscribers the ability to select which channels they would watch, and pay for and allow them to relegate the remainder to the waste bin.

The push is not his first try at this, he had a similar bill back in 2006 that did go very far, and the new effort, called the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013 is designed to encourage the cable companies to offer freedom of choice for their customers.
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ESPN and its related channels and packages are one of the more expensive set of channels available, and currently if you get basic cable a nice chunk of your bill gets sent to them. This in turn has allowed it to have a war chest that has seen it increase its power in the sports world by buying broadcast rights. If this passed and a large number of people opted out of its sports channels it would be weakened.

Also the growing number of league channels would also be potentially harmed as well. The rise of the SEC, PAC-12 and other dedicated networks has been helped by their channels getting bundled with other properties, something that the bill would outlaw. Would you pay extra year round to have a network that may broadcast only one sport that you are interested in?

However one interesting thing about the bill is that the unfettering would be voluntary, but does include some incentives to get the major players on board. There are a few sections that do appear to have some teeth in them. One of which is if networks pull their on the air broadcasts and put them on cable they would be stripped of their spectrum and the spectrum would then be sold by the FCC.

There are some other interesting tidbits in the bill including a provision that would prohibit television blackouts at publicly funded stadiums or even stadiums that have used some public funds. I am pretty sure that includes all of the NFL stadiums.

This type of a la carte push has been strongly resisted by both broadcasters and content providers and they will likely launch a strong effort to kill the bill or to at least remove its few teeth.

Filed Under: Baseball, Basketball, BCS, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN FC, ESPN3, Fox Sports, Golf Channel, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, NBC Sports, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NFL Tagged With: Broadcast rights, FCC, Sen. John McCain

ESPN has Big Month of Tennis Broadcasts

May 6, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

With several important tennis events in the next few weeks ESPN will be featuring a total of 14 consecutive days of broadcasts as the tennis world ramps up for the big clay court event at the end of the month, the French Open.

The preliminaries are the ATP World Tour event, the Mutua Madrid Open that is being held in Madrid, and which started this morning and run until Sunday, May 12. Of course with the time zone difference the events will be mostly very early morning viewing for American fans who can tune into ESPN3 for the matches. The championship broadcast will start at 10:00 am ET on the 12th.

Among the top players participating in the Mutua Madrid Open are some of the top ranked men and women players in the world including Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska and Li Na.

This will be followed by the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, with some of the schedule still undecided at this time. This tournament, held in Rome, will start on May 13 and continue until the championship broadcast on Sunday, May 19 at 10 am ET.

Overall the network will feature 200 hours of tennis broadcasting from those two tournaments, and this will all naturally lead into the French Open later in the month. The outcome of these earlier tournaments helps dictate rankings of that and other Grand Slam events that will also be broadcast on ESPNs network of channels and online properties. ESPN will be broadcasting the French Open on ESPN2 starting Sunday, May 26.

Filed Under: ESPN, ESPN3, Maria Sharapova, Tennis, The French Open Tagged With: ESPN2, ESPN3, French Open, Tennis

ESPN Continues Move into International Sports with FIBA Deal

October 23, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

We have covered a good deal of ESPN’s growing coverage of international soccer but it has now signed a new deal that will have it covering a sport that has been witnessing strong growth internationally for some time-Basketball.

The broadcast giant has signed a multiyear, multi platform deal with FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, which will enable the network to present a variety of games and championships.

The scope of the deal is big, with all of the games broadcast over one ESPN property or another with Internet and mobile broadcasts included. The deal will cover the rights to approximately 400 games from six tournaments played between 2013-2015.

ESPN said that it will have telecasts in both English and Spanish, and that all Team USA and Gold Medal Games will air live on ESPN or ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes. The network plans on televise every game of the tournaments across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPN Deportes.

The agreement covers the FIBA Americas Championships (2013, 2015), the EuroBaskets (2013, 2015), the FIBA Basketball World Cup (2014) and the FIBA World Championship for Women (2014).

It will be interesting to see how well the games do, viewership wide. FIBA uses slightly different rules than the NBA, and I think that many hoops fans are only aware of different international leagues when a star NBA player threatens to play for one.

FIBA is the international body governing 213 National Basketball Federations throughout the world and is recognized as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) it has been butting heads with the NBA of late.

During the most recent Summer Olympics the NBA floated a proposal that there be an enhanced World Cup of Basketball, much like in soccer. There is currently one now but the according to some reports the new one would be run by the NBA, which would also harvest most of the profits.

The NBA, which gets no profit from the Olympics, paired the proposal with the idea that the NBA stops sending players to the Olympics. SO far this does not seem to be gaining much traction. On the flip side FIBA is now pushing to add 3 on three basketball to the Olympics.

Filed Under: Basketball, ESPN, ESPN3, FIBA, NBA, Olympics Tagged With: ESPN, FIBA, NBA

Will Enhanced Access to Live Sports Boost Xbox Sales?

MLBAM Continues to Leverage Capabilities into New Fields

ESPN introduces Major Revamp to WatchESPN App

Would Proposed A La Carte Cable Bill Hurt Sports Channels?

ESPN has Big Month of Tennis Broadcasts

ESPN Continues Move into International Sports with FIBA Deal

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