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PGA has released a new AR gaming app for kids
The PGA Jr. League "Safari Par-Tee" app is available to download for free on iOS and Android.
ESPN+ will be the home of PGA Tour's streaming service in 2022
You might end up paying less to stream live golf tourneys in the future. As part of a larger media deal, PGA Tour Live will be included as part of the ESPN+ base package starting in 2022 -- it'll be the only place you can use it in the US, in fact. The service will grow as part of the arrangement, too, with multiple live streams available for "nearly every week" of the FedExCup season. This includes 36 tourneys, "at least" 28 of which will get four days of coverage. You can also expect the usual on-demand replays, recaps and original programming.
PGA Tour highlight videos are coming to Facebook Watch
You won't have to venture far beyond your Facebook feed to get a pro golf fix this year. The social network has reached a deal with the PGA Tour to bring daily round recaps and player-oriented highlight videos to Facebook Watch in 2020, starting with the Farmers Insurance Open on January 23rd. These will be "expanded" videos with material from both core TV broadcasts as well as the digital-only PGA Tour Live service. You should see coverage from 30-plus events like The Players Championship and FedExCup Playoffs.
Discovery and PGA Tour team up on GOLFTV streaming service
Discovery and the PGA Tour have announced a new OTT service called GOLFTV, which will be a hub for golf coverage outside of the US. GOLFTV will offer more than 2,000 hours of live content each year and will cover around 150 tournaments. Down the line, Discovery might also bring analysis, equipment reviews, course reviews and travel to GOLFTV, Variety reports.
Turner's live sports streaming service launches April 7th
Turner's long-in-the-making live sports service is here... almost. The broadcaster has announced that its Bleacher Report Live service will debut April 7th in a free preview mode, with "flexible" pricing when you have to start paying in the summer. It'll present live sports in a Facebook-style home feed, with personalization that aggregates content based on your tastes. The sports selection won't suit everyone's tastes (you may want to consider ESPN+), but there are some reasons you'd want to consider BR Live over other options.
PGA Tour AR app puts a golf course on your coffee table
Sports and augmented reality (AR) apps are nothing new. The technology has been used by the NFL, NBA and even German soccer teams to promote their respective leagues, with results varying from the gimmicky to the interesting. Now the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) has its own AR app on iOS that lets you watch real-time shot trails appear on select holes during live competition. You can also compare up to four different players' shots, if that's your thing.
PGA Tour taps Intel for VR coverage of six upcoming tournaments
Intel has been powering virtual reality sports viewing for some time now. The chip maker has enabled VR for the Olympics, Major League Baseball and the National Football League, and has taken virtual reality to the golf course with the PGA. It's this last partnership in the news now, with Intel and the PGA Tour organization connecting to produce and distribute live VR and 360 video at six upcoming PGA events starting with the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta from September 21st to the 24th. It will continue VR coverage at the Presidents Cup at the Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City from September 28th through October 1st.
PGA Tour will livestream a single iconic hole in VR
Golf officials are building out their 4K broadcasts and even starting to livestream smaller events in VR, but the sport's biggest tournaments are taking awhile to try out the new broadcasting tech. After testing the waters with a handful of virtual reality videos exploring its Phoenix Open course last year, the PGA Tour is livestreaming its upcoming The Players Championship in VR. Let's hope you like the vantage from TPC Sawgrass' penultimate fairway: Cameras are only recording the Florida course's iconic 17th hole.
DirecTV doubles its live 4K broadcasts for this year's Masters
Last year DirecTV made history with the first live 4K broadcast -- the PGA Masters Tournament. It was only one channel, sure, but up to that point anything we'd seen in UHD had been pre-recorded. For the outfit's return trip to the 4K links, DirecTV is doubling the number of channels available. CBS is handling production duties for channels 105 and 106 from April 6th through the 9th. The former will feature views from Amen Corner, while the latter is dedicated to holes 15 and 16.
PGA will test shot distance trackers on three tours
Not surprisingly, the PGA has been hesitant to let golfers use distance trackers on the course. In theory, they take all the challenge out of picking the right club. The association isn't stuck in its ways, however. Officials have announced that they'll let players test distance measuring devices at certain tournaments on the Web.com Tour, the Mackenzie Tour in Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamérica. Competitors won't be allowed to gauge elevation, slope or wind, but this could still help them take more informed swings.
Twitter will livestream portions of PGA golf tournaments
Twitter has dabbled in live golf coverage before (it streamed the FedExCup Playoffs last year), but it's now ready for something more substantial. The social network has struck an exclusive deal to livestream parts of 31 PGA tournaments across what's left of the 2016-2017 season. It's not the comprehensive coverage you'd like, as it'll be limited to pre-game presentations and the first two holes for each day's Marquee Groups. However, it'll be free and won't require a login -- if you just want to see top-tier golfers in action, you won't have to pony up for a subscription.
Samsung's Gear VR can now take golf fans on the PGA Tour
It's a little hard to believe that something called the "Waste Management Phoenix Open" is one of the biggest events in golf, but hey — now you don't need to shell out tons of cash to explore the event's signature course. All it takes is a Samsung Gear VR, a compatible phone and the PGA's new Tour VR app to take a closer look at some sweet club-on-ball action.
Golf-bot sinks hole-in-one at PGA event
Dropping a hole-in-one at the 16th hole of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona apparently isn't that hard. Tiger Woods famously got one back in 1997, Italian pro Francesco Molinari did the same last month and just this Wednesday, LDRIC, the club-swinging robot golfer, sank one as well.
120 Sports streams its live news and analysis on Apple TV
With the backing of Sports Illustrated, MLB, NHL, the PGA tour and more, 120 Sports started streaming free live sports news and analysis on the web and mobile devices last June. Now, the digital network is making the leap to set-top boxes, starting with Apple TV. The channel delivers 8 hours of live coverage every day, with the "120 Morning Run" from 8-10 AM ET during the week. Football fans can take a long lunch for "120 Football Fix" from 12-2 PM ET, and if you miss a live broadcast, there's a library of videos for on-demand viewing, too.
The official Ryder Cup 2014 app delivers live video coverage
The 2014 Ryder Cup gets underway this week with the actual matches scheduled for Friday through Sunday. The PGA of America just released Ryder Cup 2014, the official app of the competition. It is a free universal app that requires iOS 7.0 or later. Earlier I reviewed SportsFusion-the unofficial 2014 Ryder Cup news edition. The two apps offer a lot of similar information but since the PGA of America is the parent organization for the Ryder Cup matches you will find some items in its app not available to the SportsFusion app. Both apps contain photos, videos, scoring updates, news stories, and social media connections. You will find several differences too. For example in SportsFusion, all scoring comes from the official Ryder Cup web site and users are taken there to check scoring. In Ryder Cup 2014 the PGA posts scoring directly to the app so users do not leave. We won't know which system works best until the matches begin. For social media, Ryder Cup 2014 provides a listing of the official team accounts on Twitter and also FanChat from the various social media sites. SportsFusion doesn't deliver those posting to the app but does allow users to easily upload their comments to a variety of social media outlets. Also because of the direct connection to the PGA, Ryder Cup 2014 contains a lot more behind the scenes information on the European and USA team members and the Gleneagles golf course. Users will get bios and stats on the golfers and a hole by hole breakdown of the golf course including fly over videos with narration explaining the features and hazards on each hole. Any similar information on the SportsFusion app will have to come from the news stories included in the app but not from the app directly. I think the course information is especially helpful. Users get an aerial photo of the hole, distance and par information along with the flyover videos. That can add to your enjoyment and knowledge as you watch the matches on TV. That brings up another big advantage to Ryder Cup 2014. Again being the official app, users will find live video and audio once the matches begin. The app features streaming video from the golf course and audio from the radio broadcast of the event. Both are big pluses if you have other things to do on the weekend besides park in front of your TV. The SportsFusion app does have one area that I believe is an advantage. That app offers a compilation of news stories from a variety of web sources. Ryder Cup 2014's news listing come from just PGA.com and the Associated Press. So on the SportsFusion app you will get broader coverage of events leading up to the actual competition and the matches themselves. If live video is important to you I think Ryder Cup 2014 is a clear winner. However, I suggest you get and use both apps so you get the most complete coverage. They are both free and will only be useful through this week. Then you can delete both apps.
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.
NBC rebrands Olympics app as NBC Sports Live Extra, promises streams for a wider athletic universe
NBC's Olympics Live Extra may have lost its original raison d'être after the flame was extinguished in London, but that doesn't mean it's time to purge the app from your phone's home screen. An update for Android and iOS users alike is giving the title new life as NBC Sports Live Extra, and the name makes it quite obvious that you'll have a lot more to watch than just biathlons and fencing. NBC expects to offer live streaming for the European PGA, LPGA, MLS, NHL, Notre Dame, PGA, Ryder Cup and other events or leagues culled from the channel formerly known as Versus. Highlights, social sharing and other side features will carry over as well. You don't have to do a thing beyond check for a new version to make the switch to the already updated apps, but you will have to subscribe to conventional TV to use them properly: NBC is requiring TV Everywhere authentication for access to most of what's on offer from NBC Sports Network and the Golf Channel.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 trailer shows off online team play
EA Sports' latest attempt to breathe new life into the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise's eleventh installment is an online multiplayer mode, previewed in the "Ryder Cup" trailer posted above. Players will be able to align themselves into teams, and go head-to-head (to-head-to-head, and so on) in an attempt to dominate the lush, rolling greens. The only question that remains is what team you'll choose to enlist in. Will it be team Tiger Woods, who's repeatedly proven his prowess for hitting golf balls into faraway holes? Or will it be team Rory McIlroy, who is exactly one vowel away from being totally awesome?
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 lands in June, comes with MotionPlus
Say it with us now: "Phew!" When Nintendo announced that its Wii MotionPlus dongle would be hitting US shelves on June 8th, we all wondered why Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo's first MotionPlus-enabled title) was set to ship over a month later. Now, EA Sports has relieved worries that early adopters would have no software to use with their new toy by announcing that Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 will hit North America on June 15th. Better still, the Wii version will be available with a MotionPlus add-on bundled in for just $10 more than the standalone title (which will run $49.99). As great as all this is, Europeans still come out better, as they'll also see Grand Slam Tennis ship in June with a MotionPlus packed in. Ah well -- it's just a peccadillo, we'll let it slide this time.
Sky Cable Philippines delivers nation's first HD broadcast with Ryder Cup
Initially, we wondered why Sky Cable Philippines would choose the Ryder Cup as the nation's first HD broadcast, but then we remembered that there's really no better way to show off the benefits of high-def than to showcase a sporting event. Reportedly the cable carrier will be delivering the four day event (September 19th through 22nd) in magnificent high-definition to those who take the plunge on an HD set-top-box. Too bad that box costs a stiff $42, but hopefully this is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship.[Thanks, Marco]
