March Madness Online: Free, if You Have a Cable Contract

February 21, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

Once again, the epic sporting event known as March Madness, aka the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, will be available online for free… as long as you have a cable contract that includes the Turner channels.

HERE IS THE LINK TO MARCH MADNESS ONLINE.

Broadcast by both CBS and the Turner cabal of TNT, TBS and truTV, the tournament is probably the biggest online sports time-waster, given that the balance of games take place during the day on Thursday and Friday, March 21 and 22 this year. For the second year, all 67 games will be on TV, though sometimes that requires the challenge of actually finding the truTV channel on your cable box.

For online watchers, there will be the usual cable-system confirmation, which should allow you to watch on “the digital device of your choice,” according to the press release. There will also be a “preview option,” which will allow for up to four hours of online viewing for free — good if your team is a one and done.

Here’s some more goodness from the official press release:

This year’s NCAA March Madness Live® product offers several enhancements including:

— Redesigned for optimization across platforms – With improved navigation, NCAA March Madness Live® will have a completely new look and feel while also providing users with the same levels of access and a consistent user experience across all devices
— Available on new devices – NCAA March Madness Live® will be available on more devices than ever before including smart phones and tablets with the Android 4.0+ operating system, the iPhone 5 and iPad mini
— Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge – The official bracket game of March Madness includes new designs and feature enhancements on smart phones and tablets, along with expanded social functionality across all devices allowing fans to join groups, share brackets and chat with friends and other passionate fans via Facebook
— Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena – A forum to extend the conversation surrounding all of the games within NCAA March Madness Live® products, fans can follow game and tournament tweets, participate in fan chats, watch the games and keep a pulse on all the key moments of every game via the Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena. Fans can participate in the social commentary by using the hashtag #marchmadness

Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live® will once again provide video highlights, full game replays and real-time game alerts, as well as fan-favorite features, including live game scoring, real-time tournament brackets, personal channel lineup features, live stats, live social companion views and the return of the “Boss Button.” Fans will have direct access to live radio broadcasts, courtesy of Westwood One/Dial Global Radio Network, for all 67 games across the collection of digital products.

Sounds good to us… may the best bracket win!

Filed Under: Basketball, CBS Sports, NCAA Hoops, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports Tagged With: March Madness, Mobile Sports Report, NCAA, NCAA Basketball, Paul Kapustka, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports

Watching Golf this Week: Northern Trust Open

February 14, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

Will it be Phil, Keegan, Bill… or Freddie? Those are the questions about possible winners at the Northern Trust Open, which is underway today at the famed Riviera Country Club outside of Los Angeles. Phil, Bill and Keegan, if you recall, were all in a playoff last year, the best part of which came at the end of regulation when Phil dumped a long putt on 18 and Keegan responded in kind. Then Kill Bill came through in the extra time.

The dark horse here is the “old guy,” Boom Boom Couples, who loves Riviera just like he loves Augusta. Since we were a little late getting this post up today we already know that Freddie is -3 for his first round, not bad for a Champions Tour kinda guy. This is a Golf Channel/CBS weekend, so online video is available for Comcast subscribers only.

NORTHERN TRUST OPEN

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE

Thursday, Feb. 14 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 15 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 16 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 17 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6:30 p.m.

LIVE ONLINE COVERAGE

Thursday and Friday, Golf Channel coverage via PGATour.com and GolfChannel.com; Saturday and Sunday, CBS coverage at CBSSports.com. Right now only Comcast cable subscribers can watch live online video on weekdays. NOTE: If you are using the PGA Mobile app to watch the CBS or Golf Channel online video, be advised that it only works with iOS phones and with some (not all) Android phones. There is no fix planned for the immediate future.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite) Thursday-Friday-Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. The live broadcasts are also available to subscribers on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App and online at SiriusXM.com.

FACEBOOK
The tournament has its own Facebook page. Like it.

SMS ALERTS
Text NTOGolf to 94253 for tournament updates.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW

The Northern Trust Open Twitter feed.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer. If you’re not following Geoff you are missing the online boat.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend.
Doug Ferguson is the lead golf writer for AP. Good Twitter insights that often aren’t part of your wire-service lead.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
Pros and those who follow the PGA love the Riviera Country Club. We’ve never been there but the history is solid and the place looks great on TV.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST TIME?
Bill Haas, the least exciting member of the three-man playoff. Best part of last year was Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley with their back-to-back long putts on 18 to get into the playoff… which they both then lost to the steady Eddie, Bill Haas.

Filed Under: CBS Sports, Golf, Golf Channel, PGA Tagged With: CBS Sports, Fred Couples, Golf Channel, Keegan Bradley, Mobile Sports Report, Northern Trust Open, Paul Kapustka, PGA, Phil Mickelson

Wi-Fi Whispers: AT&T Beefs Up Wi-Fi and Cellular for Pebble Beach

February 9, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

AT&T social media sign at the tourney. Credit: @James_Raia.

With a field full of entertainment and sports celebrities in addition to pro golfers, the AT&T National Pro-Am in Pebble Beach this weekend is a fan-snapshot nirvana — and AT&T has beefed up its wireless coverage yet again to make sure all those pictures, tweets and Facebook updates can get posted.

“Every year, the data volumes [from the event] go up significantly,” said Chad Townes, vice president of AT&T’s Antenna Solutions Group, in a phone interview last week. “Between the celebrities and the beauty of the course, there’s definitely a lot more [wireless] traffic than at other golf tournaments.”

According to Townes, AT&T has provided fans at the tourney with several Wi-Fi hotspot areas where AT&T customers can get a high-bandwidth signal for Internet connection. This year, AT&T also deployed three additional COWs, or cell towers on wheels, to augment the existing cellular infrastructure.

Bringing wireless signals to a golf course, Townes said, is always a challenge, due to the very nature of the venue, with hills, trees and other obstacles to surmount. There are also aesthetic challenges, such as the fact that most of these courses don’t want any cables to be visible during the TV broadcasts.

Townes said there is also the whole discussion about whether phones should even be allowed at golf tournaments, given the possibility of fans distracting players with loud calls or with camera noises. Still, he said, providers need to figure out how to bring better coverage to courses, since fans want to be able to use phones to communicate with friends and family at the event, say using text messages to say “meet us at the next hole.” The PGA seems to be on board with this idea, since it just introduced a course-finder app that not only shows players and scored superimposed on a Google map, but also adds in locations for amenities and concessions — meaning the PGA expects fans to have phones at events.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, PGA, Wi-Fi Tagged With: AT&T, COWs, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, PGA, Wi-Fi

Cool New Web App for Getting PGA Scores: Live Interactive Course Map

February 7, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

There’s a cool new way to get live scores from PGA Tournament events, which uses live data superimposed on a Google map to give you a graphic way to see who is playing on which hole, and what their current score is.

Built by a company called Earthvisionz from my old stomping grounds of Boulder, Colo., the app is already live on the web — go take a look at livemaps.pgatour.com to see how it works, since you will be able to figure it out faster than I can tell you about it. Basically, it’s a Google map of the course with live data that shows who is playing the hole, how far they’ve hit their shots, how far to the hole, etc. From what we can tell, it’s the PGA’s Shot Link info but put into a form that’s cooler to use than looking up and down a graphical list.

The only quibble I have right now is that you have to click on the bubble twice to get the full shot info like distance and score. (See screenshot below) But according to the press release from Earthvisionz the app is designed to do a lot more, including being able to see where you are on a course, and where important “amenities” like bathrooms and beer tents are located. (This would have been a great app to have at last year’s U.S. Open!) Since this looks like a web app it should be available to any device… let us know if you can’t see it on a particular device. Looks great from our desktop connection, I wonder how well it works on cellular. Anyone at the tourney this week, please let us know!

We will circle back next week with an interview with the Earthvisionz folks as time allows… but for now take a look and let us know what you think of the new app.

(Click on the image to the left to see what the app does when you click through the scoring bubbles)

Filed Under: Apps, Golf, PGA Tagged With: Apps, Golf, live scoring, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, Pebble Beach, PGA

Watching Golf this Week: Celebs and Pros at AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

February 7, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

Maybe it’s because this tournament is somewhat local, but for me the PGA golf season doesn’t really “start” until the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which this year starts today. Even though it is a fully regulation tour event, it also still feels like spring training to me, especially since the presence of celebrities, namely actors, singers and other sports heroes, makes it almost more of a party than golf.

Almost! Last year was one of those years when the golf part came shining through, thanks to the Sunday head-to-head matchup between Phil and Tiger. It was great fun, though it won’t happen again this year since El Tigre is skipping Monterey this time around. Phil, fresh from his almost-59 last week in Phoenix, should be on form but picking a winner here is never easy given the three-course rotation for the first three days. And as I write this a very chilly rain has hit the Bay area (not sure if it’s wet down south in Monterey) so that weather can make it even more of a crapshoot. Still, with football finally over it’s time to start watching golf in earnest. And the scenery doesn’t get any better, so enjoy.

AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE

Thursday, Feb. 7 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 8 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 9 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 10 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6:30 p.m.

LIVE ONLINE COVERAGE

FACEBOOK
The tournament has its own Facebook page. Like it.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW

The AT&T Pro-Am Twitter feed.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer. If you’re not following Geoff you are missing the online boat.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend.
Doug Ferguson is the lead golf writer for AP. Good Twitter insights that often aren’t part of your wire-service lead.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
If you haven’t seen Pebble Beach before… welcome to our planet, new overlords. Here is a link to more info on the three courses used — Pebble, Spyglass and Monterey Peninsula.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST TIME?
Phil! Or did you forget his face to face smackdown of Tiger?

Filed Under: AT&T, CBS Sports, Golf, Golf Channel, PGA Tagged With: AT&T, Golf Channel, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, Pebble Beach, PGA, Phil Mickelson

AT&T: Fans Set Cellular Data Record at Super Bowl, Again

February 4, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

According to the folks at AT&T, fans in the New Orleans Superdome Sunday night set another record for cellular traffic, with 388 GB traversing AT&T’s in-dome network during the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. What’s somewhat staggering about the number is that it doesn’t include any of the traffic that was sent out over the in-dome Wi-Fi network recently installed by Verizon and Cisco; AT&T’s numbers are just for the cellular infrastructure and the DAS deployment Ma Bell put in the Superdome last year.

Guessing that Verizon’s numbers will also be bigger — according to a recent story in Ars Technica Verizon saw 225 GB of bandwidth used during last year’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis, where AT&T saw 215 GB of usage on its networks. If Verizon’s numbers are similar to AT&T’s (from reports we saw on Twitter the Wi-Fi network performed well, even during the third-quarter blackout) then there was probably something like 800 GB of data flying out of the Superdome Sunday, maybe even close to 1,000 GB if you throw in Sprint and T-Mobile numbers, which we probably won’t get.

So it’s pretty damn clear: Fans like using mobile devices at big sports events. And we haven’t quite reached the peak yet, since every successive Super Bowl sets a new record. We are guessing this trend will continue for some time, since there isn’t even a good in-stadium app yet to really make people do things other than send pictures and texts to people who aren’t at the stadium. So — this journey has really just begun.

Some other interesting nuggets from the folks at AT&T, who said that their network didn’t go down during the blackout:

— AT&T’s peak hour of data usage at the Big Game occurred during halftime and during the stadium’s temporary power outage, from 8 to 9 pm EST. AT&T customers consumed 78 GB during this hour on the in-stadium mobility network, which is nearly double the amount of data that AT&T customers used during the peak hour at last year’s Big Game in Indianapolis.

— During the hour of halftime and the stadium’s temporary power outage, from 8 to 9 pm EST, customers made more calls, sent nearly twice as many SMS texts and consumed approximately 10 GB more data than they did during any other hour of the event.

— AT&T customers also made more than 73,000 mobile calls during the game.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, NFL, Super Bowl, T-Mobile, Wi-Fi Tagged With: AT&T, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, Super Bowl, Superdome, Verizon, Wi-Fi