Twitter kicks off live sports streaming with Wimbledon
Twitter paid a reported $10 million for the rights to live stream NFL broadcasts, and now we have an idea as to what that will look like. The social network is now livecasting its first live sports event, Wimbledon, using an ESPN feed. The company emphasized, however, that it’s using the world’s most popular tennis tournament as a trial run. “This livestream is an extremely early and incomplete test experience, and we’ll be making lots of improvements before we launch it in its final form,” the company said in a statement to Recode.
That said, the quality of the stream looks good, as several Twitter users have observed (a frame grab is shown above). For now, though, it’s just a basic feed accompanied by the #Wimbledon Twitter stream. While Twitter intends to sell ads for its NFL livestreams, there are no signs of them for Wimbledon, either in the video or feed beside it. The stream doesn’t appear to be geolocked for now, either, because it’s working fine for me here in France.
Live @ Wimbledon – Day 9. Watch LIVE now: https://t.co/JI7WEdvcQQ … #Wimbledon
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2016
Twitter hasn’t said how much its paying Wimbledon or ESPN to broadcast the feed. While it’s an unusual place to catch sports, folks love to tweet during sporting events and even shows like Game of Thrones, so it makes some sense to have the video in the same place. Anyway, the social network needs to try different things, because despite having hundreds of millions of users, it’s still losing money.
Source: Twitter
ESPN2 will televise the ‘Street Fighter V’ finals from Evo 2016
Professional gaming continues its slow creep into the mainstream, landing airtime for another tournament on a prominent sports channel. ESPN2 will air the world championship matches for Street Fighter V live from the Mandalay Bay events center on July 17th at 10pm ET, but they’ll also broadcast it on WatchESPN for you cord-cutters.
The elite Street Fighter tournament is just one of several in the weekend-long Evolution Championship Series (Evo), which hosts top-level fighting game competitions. Eight other titles will be played including Mortal Kombat X, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Tekken 7 and Pokken Tournament. While it’s a little late to register yourself, you can still buy tickets here.
ESPN is really beefing up its esports coverage. They’ve aired events like BlizzCon and The International Dota2 Championships on ESPN3 and the Heroes of the Dorm final on ESPN2 for a couple years now, dragging pro-gaming off the internet and in front of cable subscribers. After launching a dedicated esports vertical in January broadcasting the Madden NFL 16 championships back in June, ESPN seems more and more invested in catering to the digital athletics crowd.
Source: ESPN2
Disney Nearing Deal to Own One-Third of MLB’s $3.5 Billion Digital Business
The Walt Disney Company is nearing a deal that will net it a one-third stake in Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the streaming division of MLB whose business is valued at around $3.5 billion (via Bloomberg). According to those close to the deal, an agreement between the two companies has not yet been officially finalized, but once it is the contract will allow Disney to purchase another 33 percent of MLB’s digital sector over the next four years.
Disney currently owns ESPN, which has been reported recently to be facing troubles with its traditional, broadcast viewing numbers with the rise of streaming and web-only packages. WatchESPN offers viewers the option to watch live sports broadcasts on platforms like the Apple TV, as long as they have a cable package that includes ESPN’s content channels.
Disney has also been a key Apple content partner over the years, due in large part to Disney’s partnership with and ultimate 2006 acquisition of Pixar that made Steve Jobs the largest individual Disney shareholder and gave him a seat on the company’s board. Long-standing rumors of Apple seeking to launch an over-the-top streaming television service have generally included Disney as one of the key early content partners on board with the project, although Apple has so far been unable to secure all of the deals it would need to launch the service at the price point it wants to hit.
Given that the deal between Disney and MLBAM is not yet official, there’s no word yet on what the ultimate outcome of the acquisition would entail for the company’s streaming services. Still, some knowledgable of the deal and the streaming sports world see the move as a way for Disney to continue to bolster ESPN’s streaming offerings if MLBAM were to be rolled into the company’s online video platforms.
“MLBAM has some great assets that could help ESPN build a robust over-the-top offering,” said Bernard Gershon, a media consultant based in New York.
“You see the biggest sports media company moving to greater digital delivery,” said Chris Russo, a former National Football League executive who now heads sports investment banking at Houlihan Lokey Inc. in New York. “It really shows they’re trying to get ahead of the digital phenomenon rather than being left behind it.”
Disney currently offers a number of its services as streaming options on the fourth-generation Apple TV, including Watch ABC, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Jr, and Watch ESPN. MLB has also been a strong Apple content partner, with an advanced live streaming app being one of the key demos during the introduction of the fourth-generation Apple TV.
Tags: ESPN, Disney
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Disney to bolster cord-cutting options with MLB deal
Cable subscribers have been dropping ESPN like a hot rock, often switching to à la carte streaming services like NFL Sunday Ticket and MLB’s At Bat. Parent Disney is trying get on the winning side, so it acquired a third of Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), according to Bloomberg. That company runs MLB’s At Bat and MLB.TV online service, and also handles streaming for the PGA Tour, NHL and WWE Network. The company’s tech is also behind HBO Now, The Blaze and other services. The deal reportedly values MLBAM at $3.5 billion.
Disney also signed up for the right to acquire another third of MLBAM. The service already provides content to WatchESPN, which allows viewers to watch games on mobile devices when away from home. However, WatchESPN isn’t actually a cord-cutting option, as it still requires an ESPN cable subscription. By purchasing MLB’s streaming company, however, Disney has entered the “over-the-top” business, cutting out cable operator’s like Comcast.
It also gives Disney a piece of MLBAM’s streaming tech, which is considered some of the best in the business. The company provides the infrastructure for March Madness on Demand, HBO Now and The Blaze TV, and runs all the NHL Network’s digital properties.
MLBAM is owned by the 30 major league baseball teams, and operates each team’s website via MLB.com. The company is now valued at nearly $120 million per team, showing that the $2 billion price that Magic Johnson and others paid for the LA Dodgers may not be that exorbitant.
Source: Bloomberg
Recommended Reading: Why is ‘Orange Is the New Black’ so good?
‘Orange Is the New
Black’ is Netflix’s
only great drama
Alison Herman,
The Ringer
The fourth season of the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black starts streaming this weekend, and if you haven’t watched your first episode yet, now’s the time to catch up. The show is widely regarded as the best on the streaming service, or at least the best drama in the library. Alison Herman from The Ringer discusses that latter point and why Netflix’s other dramas just don’t stack up.
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Replay Revolution: How to remove human error from officiating There have been a number of blown calls in this year’s NBA playoffs. NFL officials make their fair share of mistakes as well. However, 360-degree replay angles could help, and the tech might not be that far off. |
Madden NFL 16 championships will be broadcast live on ESPN2
While their deal with League of Legends may have been a pipe dream, ESPN is expanding their eSports coverage to something a little closer to the roots of the “Worldwide Leader in Sports.” On June 14th from 6–7:30 PM ET, ESPN2 will televise live coverage of EA’s Madden NFL 16 Championship series for the first time ever.
The live, in-person event will be broadcast from the Novo Theater in Los Angeles, where game Madden publisher Electronic Arts is currently hosting their weeklong EA Play event. Streaming coverage of the quarterfinals is already playing on EA’s site, but the TV broadcast of Tuesday’s championship game will mark the first time the sports channel has put the virtual Super Bowl on network TV. (For the cord cutters out there, it will also be streamed to desktop computer and set-top streaming boxes via the WatchESPN app.)
With eSports shaping up to bring in nearly half a billion dollars in revenue this year, and more and more traditional sports clubs adding eSports players to their rosters, it makes sense to see one of the biggest sports game franchises of all time make the leap to broadcast TV. On the other hand, the championship bonuses aren’t quite as lucrative in eSports yet — players in the Madden NFL 16 Championship are competing for just a piece of a $50,000 total prize pool.
ESPN and ‘League of Legends’ studio aren’t making a broadcast deal
League of Legends is one of the most popular esports titles in the world, but it’s not heading to ESPN any time soon. Spokespeople for Riot Games and ESPN tell Engadget that the companies are not working on a broadcasting deal, despite a report on PVP Live claiming otherwise.
“The story is inaccurate — no active talks with ESPN at the moment,” the Riot spokesperson said.
An ESPN spokesperson further confirmed, “The story is false. We do not have a deal with Riot Games to broadcast League of Legends.”
The report claimed that ESPN and Riot were negotiating a deal valued at $500 million that would give ESPN broadcasting rights to League of Legends content. Riot currently streams its games live on Twitch, often for millions of viewers at a time. For example, the final game of the 2015 Worlds championship pulled in 36 million unique viewers.
ESPN is no stranger to esports: In January, it kicked off its own news division dedicated to professional gaming. Another television network, TBS, is diving into regularly scheduled esports broadcasts, starting with the first-person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The esports industry is poised to generate $500 million in revenue in 2016.
WatchESPN brings live and on-demand sports to Android TV
ESPN’s streaming app is already available on a number of streaming gadgets and mobile devices, and now you can watch it on Android TV. WatchESPN’s live and on-demand content is now available on Sony 4K HDR Ultra HD TVs, Sharp Aquos Android TV, Nexus Player, Nvidia Shield and Razer Forge TV. The company says that the app will makes its way to Philips and RCA devices “at a later date.” If you’ll recall, WatchESPN was already available on Google’s Chromecast streaming dongle.
Of course, you’ll need a cable subscription in order to stream the library of sports content, so you may need to temper your expectations. Despite rumors of a standalone NBA streaming service, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger said the company wouldn’t rush the offering early last year. Disney/ABC Television Group says that this ESPN app is the first of its Android TV offerings and that others are “coming soon.”
Source: ESPN
ESPN and Verizon settle lawsuit over customizable FiOS TV plans
It’s been more than a year since ESPN sued Verizon over Custom FiOS TV, a channel bundle that allows subscribers to make à la carte selections. But today, the companies announced they have settled their lawsuit, which was filed in New York’s Supreme Court in 2015. Back then, ESPN argued that while it embraced “innovative ways to deliver high-quality content to consumers on multiple platforms,” it simply wanted Verizon to abide by its terms of contracts. Verizon, on the other hand, denied any wrongdoing.
“Consumers have spoken loud and clear that they want choice, and the industry should be focused on giving consumers what they want,” Verizon said in a statement after ESPN filed the lawsuit. “We are well within our rights under our agreements to offer customers these choices.” ESPN wasn’t the only network to come out against Verizon’s flexible TV packages, either: Fox Sports and NBC did too, although they never took any legal action.
ESPN and Verizon said terms of the settlement will not be disclosed to the public, with each adding that they look forward to growing their long-standing relationship. Terry Denson, Verizon’s vice president of content and strategy acquisition, said in a press release that the carrier will continue to collaborate with ESPN “to deliver customers content across all of our platforms.” He added, “ESPN is an important partner of ours.”
We have reached out to both parties for additional comment and will update this story if we hear back.
Source: Verizon
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