sports

Avail-TVN in VOD Services Deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

September 03, 2009
Avail-TVN --the company formed in July from the merger of VOD distribution services provider, TVN Entertainment, and Avail Media, a provider of managed content-aggregation services for smaller IPTV operators ( see article published on itvt.com, July 15th )--announced Wednesday that it has signed a comprehensive, long-term VOD services deal to support World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) various VOD programming initiatives. The deal includes distribution of WWE's WWE Classics On Demand product, which features current and classic...

PGA Tour, Turner Sports Launch Free iPhone/iPod touch Application

August 25, 2009
--Nike-Sponsored App Provides Live Video Streaming, Video Highlights, Course Breakdowns and More
The PGA Tour and Turner Sports --which have been in a partnership to produce the PGAtour.com Web site since 2006--on Monday launched a free iPhone/iPod touch PGA Tour application. According to the partners, the new app will leverage PGAtour.com's live video streaming and live scoring capabilities to provide an "enhanced experience" to iPhone/iPod touch users for each of the four PGA Tour playoffs for the FedExCup tournaments, starting with The Barclays (August 27th-30th). Following the...

DirecTV to Offer Extensive Interactive TV Coverage of US Open Tennis

August 25, 2009
--Live, Interactive US Open Coverage also to Be Offered on USOpen.org
US satellite-TV provider, DirecTV , has announced plans to offer extensive interactive TV coverage of the upcoming US Open tennis championship (August 31st-September 7th). The coverage will include five extra live court channels, in addition to the main feeds from ESPN2 and CBS, on DirecTV's multiscreen Mix Channel . All of the coverage will be available in HD, the company says, and viewers will be able to select any of the channel's six miniscreens in...

AT&T Rolls Out Interactive TV and VOD Services for Football Season

August 25, 2009
--Services Include Fantasy Football App, On-Demand College Football Content and Sports Movies
US incumbent telco, AT&T , on Monday announced the roll-out on its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered U-verse TV IPTV platform of various interactive and on-demand products for the upcoming football season. According to the company, a new " College Football Extras " VOD category will provide "free, unique" content from top college football programs, including those of Georgia Tech, the University of Connecticut, the University of Kansas, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, and...

NBC, NFL in Deal to Offer Silverlight-Powered Live, Interactive Streaming of Sunday Night Football

August 24, 2009
--NBC.com Promoting New Show, "Community," via In-Character Broadband Videos
NBC and the NFL announced Thursday that, for the second straight season, NBC will stream the 17-game Sunday Night Football schedule live on NBCSports.com and NFL.com. The coverage, which is the result of a new one-year deal between the broadcaster and the sports organization that will see them sharing the revenues from advertising that NBC sells around the coverage, will be comprised of NBC Sports' " Sunday Night Football " broadcast, enhanced with four additional...

Terra, Telemundo Tout Success of their Socially Enhanced Live-Streaming of US vs. Mexico Soccer Game

August 20, 2009
--Lifetime Reveals Plans to Offer Full Episodes of "Project Runway" On-Demand on MyLifetime.com
Terra USA , a Miami-based Internet company and original digital content producer that targets a Latino demographic, and NBC Universal-owned Spanish-language broadcaster, Telemundo , are claiming success for the socially enhanced streaming coverage of the August 12th soccer World Cup qualifier match between Mexico and the US that they offered free-of-charge on the co-branded site, FutbolEstelar.tv. According to the companies, the event generated over 360,000 streams on the site, 205,000 of which were live. The...

Turner Sports Says Its Interactive Broadband Video Coverage of the PGA Championship Broke Records

August 18, 2009
Turner Sports on Monday released usage figures for the interactive broadband video coverage of the 2009 PGA Championship that it provided on PGA.com last week as part of a long-running deal with the PGA of America (note: for an extensive overview of the coverage, including its various social and interactive elements, see the article published on itvt.com, August 17th ). According to the company (citing figures provided by Omniture): PGA.com received 1.4 million average daily...

Turner Sports Offers Extensive New Media Coverage of PGA Championship

August 17, 2009
--Offerings Include Live Streaming Player with Twitter/Facebook/MySpace Integration, iPhone App
--Also Invites Viewers to Determine Which Players to Feature
Turner Sports offered a range of interactive and social features to supplement its coverage of last week's PGA Championship , including the broadband video coverage that it offered on PGA.com as part of its long-term deal with the PGA of America (note: the Turner Sports-PGA partnership, which was formed in 2002, was recently extended through 2019). Before and during the championship, all of Turner's TNT television announcers for the event, as well as PGA.com on-air...

BBC to Offer Extensive Red-Button, Broadband Video Coverage of World Athletic Championships

August 13, 2009
The BBC announced Wednesday that it is offering extensive coverage of the World Athletic Championships (take place in Berlin, Germany from August 15th to 23rd) through its red-button interactive TV service. According to the corporation, UK digital viewers will be able to press red to access looped re-runs of BBC Two's live coverage of the event, as well as a daily 20- to 30-minute highlights program, featuring action from the event's morning and evening sessions...

BBC Children's Planning More Red-Button "Children's Commentaries" for Major Sporting Events

August 10, 2009
--CBeebies to Launch Red-Button Quiz for "Numberjacks"
BBC Children's interactive division is planning to work with BBC Sport to produce "children's commentaries" for major sports events and make them available through the red button, according to a report in the UK broadcast-industry trade publication, Broadcast. BBC Children's assistant producer, Folake Adigun, told the publication that the move is designed to build on the success of the CBBC-produced youth-oriented commentaries on Formula 1 auto racing that have been available through the red button...

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