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Twitter's upcoming NBA streams will focus on single players
Twitter is no stranger to sports content, but when it airs 20 NBA games later this year, it will be doing something a little different. Only the second half of those games will air and coverage will be focused on one, single player. Who that player is will be determined by a vote hosted on Twitter. The streams will feature both regular season and playoff games, and they'll debut with the All-Star Game on February 17th.
Put March Madness on your face with $3 VR livestreams
Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the NCAA will once again be offering VR livestreams of the March Madness tournament, Variety reports. The NCAA March Madness Live VR app will host 21 games starting with the first and second rounds and continuing through the National Championship. Users will be able to choose whether they want to view the game from a particular camera or watch produced coverage with multiple camera angles and audio. First and second round games will include commentary from TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV telecasts while the app will host play-by-play commentary from Spero Dedes, Steve Smith, Rich Waltz and Steve Lavin during Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games. Dedes and Smith will also provide commentary during the Semifinal and Championship matchups.
Intel and TNT will give NBA fans another VR streaming option
Intel has announced that it's partnering with Turner Sports to broadcast select NBA on TNT matchups using its True VR technology. Fans will be able to watch 360-degree, 3D broadcasts on both Samsung GearVR and Google Daydream headsets via apps downloaded from the Oculus and Google Play stores. You'll also be able to see more of its Matrix-like "volumetric" freeD video tech that can freeze highlights and spin around them in 360 degrees.
The NBA's live Twitter shows debut this week
As promised, the NBA and Turner have launched their two original shows on Twitter... and they might scratch your itch if you can't get enough basketball in your life. The first, The Starters, streams live every Tuesday at 11AM Eastern and delivers passionate commentary from the crew that hosts NBA TV and official podcasts. The Warmup, meanwhile, is a more interactive affair: the half-hour show from Ben Lyons and Ro Parrish integrates Twitter chats into each episode (Thursdays at 7:30PM Eastern), and it merges b-ball with "lifestyle, music and pop culture." It's more of an entertainment show that just happens to have basketball as a hook, then.
NBA gives you a better view of games on your phone
Just because you can watch live sports on your phone doesn't mean you'll enjoy it -- the footage is usually optimized for TV, which sometimes means staring at players the size of ants. You won't have to squint if you're an NBA League Pass customer during the 2016-2017 season, though. The basketball streaming service is trotting out a Mobile View option that gives you a close-up shot in its Android and iOS apps. You can switch back to a traditional view when you want an overview, but this promises to help in those moments when you want to identify the ball carrier or get a good look at that impending dunk.
This is how your parents will watch esports
Christina Alejandre ended up chatting with UFC President Dana White backstage at the Turner Studios in July, just before the final game of ELEAGUE's debut Counter-Strike: Global Offensive season. As VP of esports and ELEAGUE at Turner Sports, Alejandre was pivotal in producing that first season, and she told White how excited she was for the final game, which would be broadcast live on TBS. It was more than excitement, she explained; something more powerful was pulsing through her veins. White knew exactly what she was trying to describe. "There are very few people in this world who can identify exactly what you're saying," Alejandre remembers White saying. "What you're feeling is the first time that I saw UFC on Fox."
Crowd control and confetti cannons at the Overwatch Open
The studio is immaculate. Shiny black floors glisten under orange, blue and purple lights. A dozen people dressed in all black, wires dangling from their headphones to the battery packs at their waists, mill around, preparing massive hooded cameras, adjusting light fixtures, sweeping the floors and, way in the back on a raised platform, tweaking the appearance of the stage from behind multiscreen terminals. It's 9PM on a Friday night and everyone in the room is at work, but the air sizzles with chatter and excitement. The stage itself is impressive, with three massive, crisp screens alternating between the logo for the 2016 Overwatch Open and the competing teams' insignias. A cartoon rabbit head wearing goggles and a scar over one eye smirks down from the orange side, representing the European underdog team, Misfits. A stylized white "N" surrounded by a circle looms over the North American favorites, EnVyUs. Twelve young men -- some bearded, others clean-shaven -- sit in front of their respective screens at two long, curved banks of gaming PCs, getting in just a few more minutes of practice before the big game; just a few more kills, just a few more dodges and clicks and saves. The mood on the stage is deadly serious. Whoever wins tonight takes home $100,000, after all.
Samsung is helping golfers keep up with the PGA Championship
While a lot of people in the US are getting ready for the NFL regular season to start, there are indeed other sports out there. Which is to say, the other football, basketball, baseball and, well, you get the point. For golf fans, these next few days will be rather interesting, with the PGA Championship due to begin on Thursday, August 5th. Naturally, Samsung saw an opportunity and found a way to help golfers who won't be there to experience it live, by introducing a smart TV app filled with content from the tournament -- the only caveat is you'll have to own one of the company's 2013 or 2014 sets. Aside from that, there will be a ton of stuff for you to enjoy, including different broadcast modes (from CBS and TNT); a second-screen feature that can display leaderboards and highlights on an Android device; and live voting for different things during the PGA event. Once the Championship is over, Turner Sports, a Samsung partner on the launch, tells us the smart TV app is expected to have the same features for the Ryder Cup, which tees off on September 23rd.
March Madness Live 2014: new apps, redesigned brackets and more social features
It's about that time again. That time for NCAA Division I schools to battle it out on the court during the month of March, all in search of men's basketball glory. Naturally, the NCAA, in partnership with CBS and Turner Sports, couldn't have kicked things off without revamping its beloved March Madness Live, both on the desktop and mobile apps. For the most part, however, the streaming service remains largely unchanged -- and we'd say that's a good thing. That said, there are a few new things coming to March Madness Live this year, such as apps for Kindle Fire, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8 (we'll come back to the latter two in a bit).
March Madness streams to more platforms in 2012, but not everything is free
Last year CBS and Turner Sports brought every game of the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament home in HD on four cable channels, and streaming for free to PCs and iOS devices. While the broadcast plans remain the same this year, if you want to stream the 41 games broadcast on cable networks then you'll need to subscribe to an affiliated TV provider (all the major guys except Time Warner) and log into the TNT, TBS, or TruTV website on your Windows PC or Mac. For the other 41 games broadcast on CBS, CBSSports.com is your (free) online resource. Live streaming on mobiles (over WiFi or 3G) has been extended to the Android platform for the first time, however after being offered for free last year the rebranded March Madness Live app will cost $3.99 this time around, which is still less than the $10 it cost in 2010. Check out the press release after the break for all the details on what's viewable where -- cord cutting sports fans will want to make some alternate arrangements.
CBS & Turner Sports are streaming all the March Madness games to PCs, iPhones & iPads for free
Every year CBS has enhanced its March Madness On Demand experience, from HD VOD on cable boxes to HD streaming on PCs before adding PiP and paid mobile access last year. For 2011, a new deal has brought in Turner Sports to not only provide enough channels to air all the games in high definition (we figure you'll find CBS, TNT and TBS on the channel guide with no problem, but with some of the games diverted to lesser known TruTV HD check the HDSportsGuide link below to see if it's in your area yet) but also expand the streaming experience by promising higher quality video, personalized channel lineup and social tie ins. If you're on the go, the mobile client for iOS devices (sorry, no Android or other mobile OSes) is free this year so you can keep that fiver in your pocket this time. There's another pic of the iPad client, a video trailer and all sorts of details waiting after the break, so click through to find out more or just wait for the free apps to hit iTunes March 10th.
92nd PGA Championship loads up with HD, online, mobile and 3D video this weekend
Just in case you haven't already been spending the day following Tiger Woods up and down the course in Whistling Straights, between PGA.com and TNT, there's plenty of ways to watch the PGA Championship this weekend. 3D coverage kicks off shortly, broadcast from holes 12 and 17 between 3 and 7 p.m. today and tomorrow on Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications, DIRECTV and Time Warner Cable, plus a Silverlight online stream for properly equipped PC viewers. That's on top of PGA.com's 2D streams following marquee groups like the aforementioned Woods/Singh/Yang trio, an iPhone / iPad app (free, but live video streaming is a $1.99 purchase and 20 hours of coverage on TNT. With just two holes, this is much more of a trial run than some of the events we've seen lately, but until there's more 3D on it's probably worth setting the DVR for.%Gallery-99297%
NASCAR upgrades Coke Zero 400 to 3D July 3 on PC and DirecTV
It's time to add another 3D sporting event to your calendar, now that NASCAR and Turner Sports have gone public with plans for a 3D broadcast of the Coke Zero 400 July 3. Viewers can watch on DirecTV or online via TNT RaceBuddy. The hardware requirements for PC viewing are similar to those from the Masters broadcast, and we don't expect to hear DirecTV is in a more sharing mood than cable companies were then, so it will probably be the only option to watch this on TV. NASCAR is promising two custom feeds for the 3D broadcast, with one consisting of strategically placed track side cameras, and another focused on pit road. We're really waiting for a 3D Gopher Cam, in wall cam, and roof mounted cameras, but those can probably wait for the second race that airs in 3D.
