While Fox’s effort last year of a 111m viewer average during Super Bowl XLV was an impressive record, NBC have edged past it, with preliminary figures from Nielsen showing an average of 111.3m.

These numbers are said to have equated to almost half of the Nielsen ratings for people that saw the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots (21-17), with a national average audience share of 47.0. The highest ratings in this department could naturally be found in the markets directly relating to the game, as Boston (home city of the Patriots) (56.7), New York (49.7), and Super Bowl XLVI host city Indianapolis (56.9) proved.

Other statistics included notes that over 177m people in the USA saw ‘at least six minutes’ of the event on NBC, while the broadcast’s average peak was over 117m during the game’s pivotal fourth quarter, in which the Giants scored a winning touchdown with 57 seconds remaining. The famed Super Bowl half-time show saw above-average figures, as Madonna’s headline performance saw around 114m viewers (the Black Eyed Peas’ version last year saw around 4m less, recorded as under the broadcast’s average).

TV viewership was not the only audience measurement being taken on Sunday, though, as the event also marked the largest-ever online audience for a live sporting event, with NBC’s landmark official stream pulling in 2.1m web users on desktop and mobile services. A notable innovation in the coverage was users being able to customise their broadcast experience, including selecting and de-selecting camera feeds, an option which was taken up by 1.8m of the viewers. It is currently unknown how many logged onto the heavily-hunted ’unofficial streams’.

With such high figures all-round, it is a little easier to wonder how advertisers (which this year included notable efforts for Doritos, Pepsi, Honda, and Chrysler) paid around $4m for a 30-second ad slot during the game. Super Bowl XLVII will be aired live from New Orleans (state of Louisiana, USA) on CBS, will it set yet another high?

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Catch super bowl streaming online

The idea of streaming the game for NBC is that it will increase it’s share of Americans who no longer have or use cable TV.It will also make the game the most profitable ever.

For cord cutting subscribers, live sports is one of the hardest programs to replace when leaving cable.

The Super Bowl may have found the Internet, but why has it taken so long? Streaming movies and television is complicated, most sports broadcasters have embraced the Internet. NFL has a lot more at stake than your average broadcaster, its television rights are very expensive.

Many games from the New York Knicks (NBA), Rangers, and Islanders (NHL), for example, are exclusive to MSG network. They get away with this stunt by purchasing the rights from the sports franchises, they then sell the licensing to DirecTV, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, RCN, and Verizon FiOS TV. MSG and Time Warner have been locked in a contract feud since New Year’s Day over the fees to carry the MSG channel and air these teams games on TV.

Regional broadcast licenses are a bit different with the NFL, due to the league’s blackout provision. To keep momentum, if a stadium doesn’t sell out within 72 hours of game day, the regional broadcasters cannot air the game.

For anyone looking for illegal streaming, you may be out of luck as the authorities have shut down several websites. To see all online options for watching Superbowl, check out the NFL official page.

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The federal authorities in the Immigration & Customs Enforcement seized 16 ’unauthorised sports broadcasting’ websites during a recent investigation (9 of which were owned by the same person), although their warning against video piracy did not come before the methods were given a seal of approval by one of the NFL’s finest players.

Hours before the crackdown on Thursday (which was part of a mission called ‘Operation Fake Sweep’), New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady has casually mentioned in an interview (in the build-up to his team taking on the New York Giants on Sunday) to reporters in Indianapolis (USA) that he viewed Super Bowl XLV (last year’s event) via an illegal site.

34-year-old Brady (who will be playing his fifth Super Bowl on Sunday) explained the activity, seemingly giving it a ringing endorsement: “Last year I was rehabbing my foot in Costa Rica, watching the game on an illegal Super Bowl website. And now I’m actually playing in the game. So, it’s pretty cool.”

One of the key offenders discovered in the Fake Sweep investigation was Comstock Park (USA)-based site operator Yonjo Quiroa, who on Wednesday faced criminal charges of copyright infringement, with prosecutors claiming that his 9 websites in the state of Michigan covered unauthorised distribution of events in the NFL (american football), NHL (ice hockey), WWE (wrestling), and NBA (basketball) matches.

Court papers claim that Quiroa had registered his nine domain names between 2010 -2011, going on to operate the websites as streaming platforms, having collected ‘at least’ $13,000 in profits from online advertisers.

Meanwhile, Bharara issued a press release urging sports fans to refrain from using such websites, stating the perhaps unconvincing reason that it costs the leagues and broadcasters ‘millions of dollars’ (fairly small change for the NFL, who last year temporarily shut down over internal money disputes), while a fact closer to home claimed that losing that money resulted in the leagues increasing their prices for tickets and merchandise. In the meantime, Tom Brady will most likely not face any problems for his admission, having been viewing from a foreign country.

In related news, authorities in Indianapolis have announced that around $4.8m worth of fake NFL merchandise has been seized ahead of the Super Bowl (along with $1.6m from America’s other major sports leagues), as a further part of Operation Fake Sweep. While the mission is unlikely to be seen as a  direct relation to the SOPA bill, will those that are either for or against it use this case as a reason in their respective causes?

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This broadcasting effort will be led by a dedicated new channel (Sky Sports F1 HD), but will be supplemented by the Sky Sports News channel, who have confirmed their plans to provide subscribers with ‘the ultimate news service’ to the pinnacle of world motorsport.

Backed by an endless level of funding, Sky will maintain a presence at each Grand Prix (mainly through the News and F1 channels) for no less than 6 days per race, almost double the coverage span offered by previous broadcasters of the events.

It has also been revealed recently that the Sky Sports F1 HD channel (the network’s first station dedicated entirely to a single sport) will premiere on 9 March on Sky channel #408, just over a week before their first race broadcast (the 2012 Australian GP), with every practice, qualifying, and race session being shown by the dedicated channel through to 2018.

The Sky Sports News segment of the network’s coverage will be offered as a ‘back-up’ to the main channel’s with hired F1 news presenters Rachel Brookes & Craig Slater set to offer live on-site headlines, analysis, and behind-the-scenes footage. This coverage will be in effect for all 20 of 2012′s Grand Prix in the F1 season, with on-site coverage beginning the Tuesday prior to the race with extensive build-up and most likely ending on the Sunday evening with headlines and reaction from the race itself.

News highlights and live coverage is expected to also be offered to users ‘on-the-go’, via a recently-launched ‘Sky Sports News’ app for iPad, which features an F1-only section.

Andy Cairns, executive director at Sky Sports News, said of the plans for coverage on his channel: “This is the ultimate news service for F1. Our reporters will be trackside and in the Sky Sports News HD studio ensuring viewers are always up to date with what’s happening on and off the track. And viewers with iPads will be able to follow our F1 coverage wherever they happen to be via the new Sky Sports News app which features on-demand video, the latest news and interviews, data as well as Sky Sports News itself.”

In addition to extensive additional race coverage, Sky Sports News are reportedly going to keep themselves busy in the off-season by showing preparatory action from all 12 teams, with features, testing, and car/driver launches thought to be amongst the items that could be covered. It could become a level of in-depth coverage that would rival some of the most extensive in the world (such as for America’s major professional sports leagues), but will high detail help those involved in F1 have a good relationship with their newest broadcasting partner?

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One factor that may be looked into for comparision with future events is the viewing figures and broadcast statistics, and while local networks of a majority of participating nations were committed to screening live coverage or highlights of the proceedings, it can be argued that the most notable broadcaster of the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics (in terms of reach) was YouTube, as the online video giant showed highlights to a potential global audience as part of its official online coverage deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The hub page for the event, which will most likely remain with its official content archive online on YouTube (as have all Olympic events since the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin (Italy)), has collected over 1,250 subscribers (since the page was opened over 2 years ago in the build-up to the event), as well as 236 video posts (in 30 ‘playlists’) and over 734,000 total views (an average of 3,110 hits per clip). By comparison, the Games are thought to have had a total physical attendance of 100,000 over the 10 days of events and ceremonies.

Despite sounding low in comparision to what the 2012 Olympic Games in London (England) could reach, these figures might be considered as strong for what is the IOC’s newest and arguably weakest (in terms of viewer attraction) event. For this specific brand of event, the Winter Youth Olympics will now prepare for 2016 in Lillehammer, but will Norwegian support manage to help audiences increase both in the arenas and online?

IOC President Jaques Rogge said of the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics as a whole: “These were ten glorious days. The first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games have exceeded all expectations and laid solid foundations for future Youth Olympic Games. I can say we had excellent Games… the athletes were happy and we saw top sport.”

One of the final videos produced for the Games by the IOC YouTube (‘Innsbruck2012′) team was a short recap and ‘farewell’ clip, which can be seen below:

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While last year’s game in North Texas (which saw the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers) secured a nation-wide record of 111m viewers on Fox, there could be a new set of viewing figures to incorporate (or note separately), as this year’s host network NBC have added the option of streaming coverage live on browsers (via NBC.com), while potential mobile device audiences can now access the event live, through an ’NFL Mobile’ app with Verzion.

The moves into new broadcasting mediums mark the first legal online streaming of a Super Bowl telecast in the USA, but it is likely that most eyes will not be drawn away from their TV sets, where the famed ‘Super Bowl ads’ have reached even higher costs.

While the 2011 broadcast sold 30-second slots at a rate of around $3m each, NBC, despite selling their full allocation slower than their rival did (end of November compared to Fox’s October), have made history by selling at an price of $3.5m for a half-minute slot, with at least one sale of 30 seconds reportedly coming in at $4m.

NBC Sports Group sales & marketing senior vice-president Seth Winter said of the current make-up of the buyers: “There are the usual companies that have supported it in the past. Automotive will be very healthy. Beverages will be very healthy. The movie and snack category continue to be healthy. There will be a few new players and some who have been there, who won’t be there.”

Winter added his opinion of the adverts he has seen so far: “Some of the things I’ve seen are astonishing. I think you’ll see a lot of ads that are humorous and action-filled, with a range of different types of executions. We haven’t seen everything yet; we don’t see everything until almost the week of the game.”

With the advertisers paying huge amounts just to get on-air, it can be expected that the slots will produce some high-quality adverts (an element which maintains the interest of non-sporting fans), with names that have signed up to air commercials including Audi, Doritos, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi, who will be using X Factor winner Melanie Amaro as the face of their campaign.

It could be suggested that ratings and readiness to buy adverts may be influenced a little by the teams involved in the showpiece american football game, with the New York Giants and the New England Patriots currently en route to the game in Indiana (host city of Indianapolis), and a potential re-match of their dramatic encounter in 2008, should they see off the San Francisco 49′ers and Baltimore Ravens (respectively) in their NFL divisional play-offs, which are being held next week. Now in its 46th running, will the latest Super Bowl be able to create new heights in American viewing figures and advertising revenue?

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While TV rights for the Barclays Premier League currently apply to Sky Sports (who can air 115 live games per season), ESPN UK (23 per season), and BBC (weekly highlights) through to the end of the 2012-13 season, the next few months will see a bidding war begin for sales to the rights of the next period.

While the current holders seem almost certain of attempting the continuation of their respective arrangements, it is believed that Apple, Google, and Qatar-based satellite TV station Al-Jazeera are amongst the names that could launch bids of their own.

Despite Apple recently dismissing these claims, it is thought that they may choose to make an offer for the broadcasting rights as a way of promoting their Apple TV set-top-box service, and would mark the first time that live Premier League football in England would be broadcast exclusively by a non-TV channel, with any effort from Google probably meaning the same for their connected ‘Google TV’ services.

Any successful bid from either of those two (who would be capable of financially matching the £1.6b paid by Sky for their current 3-season contract) would be seen as a groundbreaking moment in top-level sports broadcasting, with the pair both capable of adding live streams to their portable devices (such as the iPad, iPhone, Android tablet and smartphones) as well as on Smart TV. A key issue, though, might be the comparative slow and unreliable speed of Internet connection in many areas that are better served by cable or satellite TV, a fact which may cause any ‘online’ bidders to rethink their strategy.

Online coverage is not a problem with the Premier League at the moment, though, as proven by the current rights holders using new methods to deliver content, with alternatives including Sky’s ‘Sky Go’ app for selected live and catch-up coverage, and ESPN’s free ’ESPN Goals’ highlights app, as well as official Internet highlights rights holder Yahoo.

One bidder that might also be able to maintain a presence on several fronts is Al-Jazeera, who would need to launch a branded channel in England for a move to work, although the Qatari broadcaster would also have the funds to cover all they need to set up an English-language presence with the Premier League.

While it is fairly unlikely that the bidders will claim the key upper end of Sky’s share of rights (which are sold in six ’23 game’ packages) could the new competition involved in the bidding process signal that football is not a TV-only sport as it comes to new platforms?

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Streaming will be available to sports fans on NBC on the TV set, online via NFL.com and NBCSports.com, and also on a number of mobile phones using NFL Mobile only from Verizon.

The Super Bowl is easily the biggest event on TV with the Green Bay Packers beating the Pittsburgh Steelers to win Super Bowl XLV getting a record US audience rating with 111 million viewers. Also available to stream will be the Pro Bowl and NBC’s Wild Card Saturday doubleheader

Super Bowl XLVI comes with streaming

As an extra bonus to online viewers, will come in the form of extra features that will enhance your viewing pleasure, including extra camera angles, highlights in the game, live stats as well as other interactive features.

Speaking about the development, Hans Schroeder, NFL Senior Vice President of Media Strategy and Development said, “We are pleased to work with our partners NBC and Verizon to bring our fans more ways to watch their favorite sport during their favorite time of the year.”

Additionally, the Verizon NFL streaming will include the broadcast of NBC’s Postseason games, for the first time using a mobile application.

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Formula one channel coming to Sky Sports

Sky have announced that the Sky Sports F1 HD channel will launch in March 2012 and subscribers will be able to see behind-the-scenes and in-depth HD coverage of the motor racing sport, and get additional race information across a number of devices including mobile smartphones, tablets, pc and television.

We already knew that Sky had secured the rights to formula one, along with the BBC having a smaller amount. But nobody would have predicted a dedicated F1 channel.

Sky will obviously show every race live for the whole Grand Prix season, including practice sessions and qualifying sessions. But that does not seem enough to fill a channel, but Sky will have thought of that hopefully.

Sky begin broadcasting next years season and are contracted to run through to 2018.

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The 28 October clash, which was the first time that the World Series had gone to a 7th-game decider since the 2002 Angels-Giants series, ended 6-2 to the Cardinals, giving the home team (on a 4-3 record in the 2011 series) their 11th Major League Baseball (MLB) title. On the ratings side, this event brought in a total of 25.4m viewers to the Fox channel in the USA, following statistics published by the Fox Sports division.

This, as expected, made it the highest-rated broadcast in America that night, but the main talking points for these events is usually how they square up to their predecessors. In this case, Game 7 in 2011 saw a baseball TV audience at its highest since the Boston Red Sox played a historic decider in 2004.

On averages, the The 2011 World Series recorded a steady 16.6m over the course of the seven games. This is reported by Fox to be 19% up on the 2010 World Series (Giants-Rangers) average of 14.3m, which across five games recorded the annual event’s second-lowest ratings of all-time. 2011 did not match up to 2009 though, with 3 million under the average produced by the six-game Yankees-Phillies series.

The ratings could be considered as above expectations, as Horizon Media researcher Brad Adgate predicted pre-series that the home TV markets involved (Dallas and especially St Louis) would be likely to produce one of the least-watched World Series of all-time, unless there were a large number of games (6 or 7) amd the games themselves were exciting.

While a wash-out during game 4 of the previous round might not have been the most exciting action for Fox viewers, the rest finals themselves seemed to provide enough action and drama to warrant an acceptable rating. With series such as the X Factor coming closer to conclusion, will the network manage to beat their own high total before the year is out?

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The confusion has been caused by a two-hour washout during the Texas Rangers @ Detroit Tigers American League championship series (game 4). The Rangers would win the game 7-3 (to take a 3-1 series lead) following the break, a traditional feature of baseball seen whenever mother nature intervenes.

This caused east coast viewers in the USA to stay tuned into the game, and west coast fans (where the baseball was not being shown on Fox) were treated to a re-run of a ‘bootcamp’ episode. While Simon Cowell will not be pleased at the fact that viewers of his show were instead tuned into a collection of baseball players waiting for the rain to stop, a reshuffling of the schedule means that for now, the series will be back on track by next week.

An official release from the X Factor USA website said: “The start of the highly anticipated Judges’ Homes round of The X Factor is postponed until tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 13 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT)… part two of the Judges’ Homes round will now air Sunday, Oct. 16 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) (if no ALCS Game #7). As previously announced, the third and final part of the Judges’ Homes round will air Tuesday, Oct. 18 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT).”

A possible side-effect of the delays might be that viewers in other countries, such as the UK, could recieve the episode before the Americans do, though foreign syndication could take a similar path to west coast schedules and air re-runs to maintain American exclusivity. In baseball news, though, game five of the Rangers-Tigers series is due to take place tonight in Michigan tonight, where the PM forecast is for – fairly typicaly - rain. Could the singing competition have to endure another repeat performance?

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Ortis Deley, a TV presenter best-known for his role on Channel 5′s The Gadget Show, had been hired by Channel 4 to front the live coverage, but as the clip below demonstrates, he seems to be more than a bit out of his depth, stuttering on some of his lines and getting the commentator’s names wrong, amongst other issues. As a result of a viewer backlash, his role is now being diminished to a more minor reporting job, with his seat in the main stand being taken up by Rick Edwards, who was previously in charge of presenting the highlights.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: “Channel 4 is committed to developing new presenting talent and this extends to our coverage of sporting events. Ortis Deley’s role in Korea covering the world athletics has been scaled back but he will continue to be on air for the duration of the competition. In total we have a team of ten commentators covering this event from Michael Johnson and well-loved British athletes Dean Macey, Katharine Merry and Iwan Thomas to new presenters.”

Will Channel 4 manage to get their ‘innovative approach to live sport’ back on track, or will the be unable to recover from a false start like sprint star Usain Bolt? To see the compliation made by YouTube users highlighting his catalogue of errors (the clips being titled ‘Ortis Deley – Presenting Masterclass’), please watch the video below:

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Panasonic’s role as the official AV equipment supplier of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), means that in each Olympics they work with the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and host broadcaster (which in this case is the BBC (of England and the rest of Great Britain)) to provide broadcasting equipment and potential innovation.

London 2012 is no exception to this progress, as the company are to help BBC produce 3D broadcasts for ‘all major events’ with both ceremonies, athletics, diving, swimming, and gymnastics amongst the 14 listed categories.

The OBS are being given the mission by the IOC to ensure that over 200 hours of 3D footage during the Games is shot with assistance from Panasonic’s appropriate equipment, with footage then distributed to global rights holders to the Games, with the first priority being the BBC.

Panasonic are not inexperienced in 3D coverage, having previously combined with Eurosport to produce live footage of the French Open Tennis Tournament in the format, where the electronics company were responsible for providing the equipment and infrastructure neccesary for such a broadcast.

Panasonic executive Takumi Kajisha said of the Olympics arrangement, which is has currently gone unannounced by the BBC: ”Panasonic has been proud to support the Olympic host broadcaster since the first digital broadcast in Barcelona 1992, right through to the first HD broadcast in Beijing 2008. Now we are proud to announce the partnership with the IOC and OBS to create another successful era in Olympic broadcasting with the first live 3D Olympic Games at London 2012. There is no doubt that the Olympic Games will provide some of the best content for the 3D market in the future, and that 3D TV will drastically change the way we experience this great sporting event in our living rooms.”

OBS managing director Manolo Romero added: “For the past two decades, Panasonic has been a valued partner of the Olympic movement and of the host broadcasting organisation. We are now proud to announce this partnership to realise the first ever live 3D Olympic Games, and we are confident that this unprecedented broadcast will be a great success in no small part due to the 3D technologies provided by Panasonic. Ultimately, we believe this production of the first live 3D Olympic Games will make the London 2012 Olympic Games one of the most significant in the history of broadcasting technology.”

The Olympics has seen 3D filming before, in Barcelona (Spain) in 1992, and while the BBC have been rumoured for a long time to be planning some live 3D content for the games, they are not confirming what seems to be in-place plans until they can provide full details, thought to come by the end of the year. Their 3D coverage will have a little competition with the public screening of ‘Super HD’, but which Japanese-aided viewing technology development will be best showcased next summer?

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BBC’s head of Olympic broadcasting Roger Mosey added that while news on live 3D coverage (both public and private) will come nearer the turn of the year, viewers in Bradford (England), Glasgow (Scotland), and Olympic Host City London (England) can look forward to 600-inch screens airing live coverage throughout the 17 days in July & August.

The development has been an innovation of Japanese public service broadcaster NHK, who are teaming up with the BBC for a platform to showcase their new technology, with ’Super HD’ coverage expected to include the opening ceremony (highlights only), and selected live events throughout the games.

The Super Hi-Vision screens are currently in the process of being produced in Japan, and are already being advertised as capable of supporting a 4320 x 7680 pixel signal (compared to the current TV maximum of 1080 x 1920), with a potential of 120fps (though the transmissions next summer will run on around half that).

The move follows a previous partnership between BBC and NHK, after a first-ever broadcast of Super Hi-Vision was achieved in September 2010, when a concert by The Charlatans was aired between London and Tokyo. Since then, the pair have managed to compress the connection speed needed for  transmitting video signals (from 24Gbs to 350Mbps).

The BBC are stating a belief that Super Hi-Vision can become a ‘better long-term prospect’ than 3D broadcasting depending on further reducing production  and operation costs, though NHK believe they can achieve this (and bring Super Hi-Vision to home use in Japan) by the year 2022.

The relatively slow growth of 3D is noted by the BBC, who claim that their coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games will require a key balance between ‘minority’ innovation such as 3D (the recent experiment of Wimbledon Tennis in 3D drew a peak of 140,000 viewers), and the more mainstream coverage, including, digital, HD, online and interactive services.

The broadcaster recently stated that they intend to broadcast every event: “From first thing in the morning to last thing at night.” With up to 24 live online streams available to users of desktop, smartphones, and tablet computers through a newly-designed website.

Regarding 3D and Super HD, though it is not the first time that the Olympics has been used as a platform for broadcasting innovation, with a potential global audience seen as the perfect chance to premeire features such as televised events in colour (1948 in London (England)), HD filming (1984 in Los Angeles (USA)), and trials of 3D (1992 in Barcelona (Spain)).

With the 2012 Olympics likely to witness athletes attempt to push the boundaries of their sports to new limits (with the world especially wanting to see dominant Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt break his 100m record (9.58 seconds)), will similar efforts be seen in the broadcasting technology studios next summer?

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For the opening match of the 2011-12 FA Cup, Wembley will travel to face Ascot United FC (both clubs are in tier-9 leagues in the English football league system), with the notable factor of the fixture at the Racecourse Ground being the first football match (or any sporting event) to be broadcast live on social networking website Facebook. While sport, football, and the FA Cup in particular have previously aired live online elsewhere, it is surprising that such a wide potential audience on Facebook had not yet been targeted.

A free-to-air 90-minute stream of Ascot United v Wembley is to be found on the official (UK) Facebook page of American beer company Budweiser, the new title sponsors of the FA Cup, who will be responsible for covering all the costs of this historic occasion. Facebook users (who are over the legal drinking age of 18) need only to become a fan of the Budweiser UK page, and then log into the stream on Friday evening to watch the action unfold.

Budweiser marketing director Ian Newell said of the unique deal: “Budweiser is committed to bringing the world’s most prestigious knockout competition closer to the fans. What better way to demonstrate this than by broadcasting the very first kick to a global audience via Facebook? This is the first time an FA Cup fixture has been broadcast live on the social network, which is great news for football fans and clubs alike.”

Wembley player-manager Ian Bates said of the match at hand: “We don’t pay a penny to our players but we’ve got a good side. If we play our game, we have a great chance. The FA Cup is an extremely difficult competition.”

Wembley’s club chairman Brian Gumm added: “The revenue isn’t that important. It’s all about being in the competition and hopefully doing well.”

The chairman of opponents Ascot, Mike Harrison, had his eyes more on the financial benefits: “We had 88 people for a league match last night. But we might get 500 or even 800 for Friday’s match. The fact millions more might well be watching on Facebook is astonishing. The whole place has gone bananas.”

While fans that make it to the match will be treated to a free burger and a chance to enter a raffle to take a penalty kick against 1987-88 FA Cup winning player Dave Beasant, how will viewers of the alternative arrangement ‘Like’ the new broadcasting methods?

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Because a small-capacity provider such as Freeview does not have enough bandwidth capacity to just give the hours away, another channel’s schedule had to be temporarily dropped to allow the change, and the BBC Trust have confirmed that the BBC Parliament channel will be sacrificed between 19 July and 12 August next year. This will give 24-hour broadcasting rights to BBC Three, who usually operate between 7pm and 7am each day.

BBC Parliament on Freeview will remain a title card for the duration of this period, but will return as usual after the temporary switch, and will remain available on cable and satellite services for people who still want to tune in.

The move is part of the BBC Trust’s approved plans for 2012 Olympic coverage by the public broadcaster, which includes over 1,000 hours of online video coverage of the games, and a dedicated temporary digital radio station under the name of BBC 5 Live Olympics Extra. BBC Three’s budget for this period will now be raised by £4.5m to help the switch to all-hours, while the new radio station comes at a projected cost of £200,000.

With the BBC promising the International Olympic Committee the outlets to bring ‘every minute’ of the event to local audiences (helped by the additional online coverage), something had to give to allow room, and BBC Trust have been quick to defend the temporary removal of BBC Parliament (which has an average rating of 120,000 viewers), with Parliament itself not scheduled to be in-session at that time. A similar stance has been taken on the regular schedule of BBC Three, which will also be withdrawn across the Olympic period, but the defence of small audiences and it only being a temporary arrangement should be understandable to most viewers.

An official BBC Trust statement on the arrangement read: “Having assessed the proposed temporary service and offers against these criteria, we have reached the conclusion that they do not represent a significant change to the BBC’s UK Public Services and so do not require a public value test. We are approving in outline the launch of this temporary service and offers. We will consult publicly on the radio service, as set out in its draft service licence, before finalising the terms of its service licence.

The statement finalised: “The BBC’s mission is to inform, educate and entertain and its main object is to promote its public purposes. The Trust considers that coverage of major sports events, such as the London 2012 Olympics, fits closely with the BBC’s role to promote the public purposes and so is fully in keeping with the BBC’s remit and mission.”

With a projected local audience of over 75% of the UK population set to tune in to the 2012 Olympic Games, the BBC intends on going all-out to provide top-quality and detailed coverage, including plans for selected 3D coverage following a trial of the technology at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships earlier in the year.

Of course, it is a lot easier to justify this commitment when the event is being hosted in England, as plans are already afoot to offer rival broadcasters ITV and Channel 4 the chance to co-broadcast the following Summer Olympics (2016 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)) alongside regulars BBC and Eurosport as a cost-cutting measure, but the current question has to be if the 2012 coverage will live up to its high expectations…

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Following their official 3D content deal with Discovery, Virgin’s XL TV customers will now be able to see key filmed events such as Men’s BMX Street, Women’s ‘Moto X’ Racing and Men’s Vert Skateboarding.

X Games 17 saw a total of 200 adrenaline junkies take to ramps and tracks to compete in 4 alternative sporting categories (Skateboarding, BMX, Moto X and Rallying) in an Olympics-style get-together. The 4-day event took place in Los Angeles (USA) as usual, in high-profile venues such as the Staples Centre between 28-31 July.

The move could be seen to be one to rival Sky, who used their Sky 3D channel to air repeat coverage of the Winter X Games in Apsen (USA) earlier in the year, having been provided by ESPN, who had filmed the event in America on no less than 15 different 3D cameras (a record which was broken for the summer edition this year with 19 cameras). ESPN is fast gaining a reputation of being one of the leaders of 3D sports coverage around the world, having been responsible for developing new techniques and operational methods.

With ESPN’s X Games set to expand to six events (an increase from the current three per year) in 2013, what will be their next move in 3D technology and broadcasting?

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Unfortunately for those that do not want a costly satellite or cable subscription, there is no other outlet to watch games live without paying Sky for the pleasure, or watching ‘dubious’ streaming, but what options are in place?

The main method being advertised is through Apple’s flagship iOS products, such as iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad tablet computer, all offering an app for the new ‘Sky Go‘ service, which permits live streaming of selected Sky channels based on the contract. This will cost a subscription of some sort, but to existing Sky customers, the service is free (based on your TV package) once you attain a username and password from the satellite broadcaster. For all iOS systems, though, version 4.2 or higher is a requirement.

For other mobile devices as well as the iOS systems, the ‘SlingPlayer’ app is availiable as another option, which will cost around £20 for Slingbox owners, but provides live streaming. For users of Android devices, Sky Go is said to be in the works for an official ‘app’, but for other providers this is uncertain. Sky Go and Slingbox are also readily avaliable on computer desktops as well, with a range of big-name browsers supportive of the platforms.

For viewers that don’t feel the need to spend big for live content, there is the option of just watching the highlights, by downloading the official ‘ESPN Goals’ app for Android or iPhone, which uploads all the goals scored just a couple of minutes after they actually happen (apart from on Saturdays, which are legally required to be shown after 5.15pm from matches before that time). This service is, as of this season, free to download and to use, giving a great option for the more frugal fan. If all else fails, though, you can always check out the live football streaming websites or there is always Match of the Day highlights on the BBC…

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The rights deal sees the BBC’s exclusive contract, which had been in place since 2009 end at the end of the current year, even though their deal with Formula One Management was set to expire at the end of 2013.

The move will see the BBC’s live coverage of the premier single-seater motor racing series halved, with only 10 of next year’s 20 races (and those race’s practice and qualifying sessions) set to recieve full live coverage by the national broadcaster. Sky, on the other hand, will be airing all practice, qualifying, and race sessions live, and in half of the events, exclusive (the other half will be broadcast simultaneously with the BBC).

For additional coverage, the BBC’s set of 10 races (which are already confirmed as including the events in Monaco, Britain, and the final race of the year (usually either Brazil or Abu Dhabi)) are to be streamed live on the BBC Sport website for UK viewers. Highlights of each race will also be available through TV, mobile, and online outlets, even those that are Sky-exclusive.

BBC Sport director Barbara Slater stated of the arrangement, which is thought to be a cost-cutting measure for the public broadcaster: “We are absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC. The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10-year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments. With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence-fee payers.”

While it is the first time that a full season of F1 will be broadcast  on free-to-air TV, it was only natural that Sky would snap up the rights, with the seemingly endless funding that the satellite broadcaster posess a perfect match for arguably the richest sport event in the world, and a likely outcome considering that Sky parent company News Corp recently showed interest in trying to buy the sport altogether.

Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis expressed his delight, and his company’s plans for innovation with the coverage: “This is fantastic news for F1 fans and Sky Sports will be the only place to follow every race live and in HD. We will give F1 the full Sky Sports treatment with a commitment to each race never seen before on UK television.”

He continued: “Subscribers are in for a real treat as Sky Sports gets ready to show every second of every race, qualifier and practice session. And, as you might expect, they can look forward to F1 being given the Sky Sports treatment, with in-depth coverage and cutting edge innovation. Sky was awarded broadcast rights alongside the BBC. As the UK’s two leading sports broadcasters, I’m confident that the partnership will bring increased choice, innovation and breadth of coverage to UK and Irish motor racing fans.”

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For viewers in the British Isles, watching the 43rd running of this event will involve tuning in to ESPN, after the sports network took on the rights from regular broadcaster Sky, while fans in the USA will require Univision or Telefutura. But what about nations that do not have a host TV broadcaster for the tournament in place?

Google have indirectly answered that question, after Google-owned video website YouTube this month announced an exclusive deal with Traffic Sports (the official ’global commercial rights holder’ of CONMEBOL, the organisers of the Copa America). The arrangement will see YouTube become the official online broadcaster of the 2011 Copa America, a move which will include all 26 of the tournament’s matches streamed live online and stored on-demand to viewers in 50 countries.

YouTube have already started work on the official Copa America YouTube channel, having compiled complete footage and compliation videos of the 2004 and 2007 tournaments (both won by Brazil) to give its viewers a taste of what is to come both on and off the field.

Rodrigo Velloso, Google’s Director of Content Partnership for Latin America and US Hispanics said of his company’s move: “This is a phenomenal opportunity. We are delighted to bring all the action from the 2011 Copa America to the YouTube community across more than 50 countries from the Copa America host country Argentina, to the US and European Football enthusiasts following their favorite players. Full-length sports content has been a big focus area for us and we’re excited to partner with Traffic Sports to bring live action from Copa America to fans on YouTube and set a new benchmark in distribution of sports content online.”

Although it is not the first time that YouTube will be streaming sports live, it is a new experience for football, and Velloso hopes that they can cash in on the format, summarising: “This partnership builds on the success we have seen from the live-streaming of the last two Indian Premier League (cricket) seasons which collectively generated over 120 million views.”

Enrique Sanz, The Vice President of Traffic Sports, Enrique Sanz, said of the YouTube deal: ”This Copa America will be the most digital, interactive and social of all time.  And this unprecedented partnership with YouTube leads the way by giving football fans in over 50 countries access to Copa America in a way that no other major sports event has ever offered.”

As Argentina prepares to welcome the rest of South America to their 8 host cities, YouTube will be planning a big step forward for football with its first free online broadcast of live football to multiple countries. Will this ‘fiesta del futbol’ go down well with the online crowd, or will the world’s favourite team sport be sticking to regular TV in the future?

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BURBANK, CA June 13, 2011 – Emmy Award-winning CAMERON – PACE Group (CPG) announces their FUSION 3D systems captured all NBA Finals Miami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks games in Dallas, Texas and Miami, Florida. The company delivered 24 FUSION 3D systems in total, 12 FUSION 3D systems per game and one state-of-the-art 48 foot workflow unit, Shadow One™ for the live 3D HD broadcasts. As one of the year’s most watched sporting events, the games aired in live 3D HD from May 31^st to June 12^th in the US on the ESPN 3D network and across the globe on the ESPN International network in locations such as the United Kingdom, Asia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Sub-Saharan Africa, Caribbean, Brazil and Latin America.

“FUSION 3D gave global viewers the experience of what it’s like to have courtside seats at the NBA Finals games in Dallas and Miami,” said Vince Pace, Co-Chairman and CEO of CAMERON – PACE Group. “CPG continues to lead the Sports Broadcasting industry with innovative solutions for live 3D productions.”

This production marked the first-ever live televised 3D HD broadcast of the NBA Finals and use of duplicate FUSION 3D systems to cover NBA games in two US cities. CAMERON – PACE Group’s (formerly PACE) has a long history of capturing NBA games in live 3D HD and has worked on other highly acclaimed live 3D HD broadcasts including the 2011 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles.

“The NBA Finals footage is spectacular,” said Paul Tobyansen, Sports and Entertainment Department of CAMERON – PACE Group “We’re thrilled that fans from as far away as Australia, France, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and United Kingdom can experience FUSION 3D technology and enjoy this “At the Game” experience.”

CAMERON – PACE Group is currently collaborating with ESPN to supply FUSION 3D for live 3D sports productions throughout the US on the ESPN 3D network. Together, they have worked on over 60 live 3D sports productions including the NBA All-Star Game, Friday Night Fights, Winter X Games 15, Masters Golf Tournament, Summer X Games 16 and much more.

About CAMERON – PACE Group:

CAMERON – PACE Group (CPG) is a trend-creating technology and production services firm. CPG is advancing the future of 3D across all media channels by making the most advanced products, support solutions and creative tools available and accessible to networks, studios, broadcasters, filmmakers and creative teams around the globe.  The company is singularly dedicated to building upon the strong foundation of innovative technology developed by its visionary co-founders, James Cameron, Vince Pace and Patrick Campbell and leveraging its unmatched 3D expertise to help content producers realize 3D’s full potential as a creative and powerful storytelling medium. CAMERON – PACE Group was founded in 2011 by James Cameron and Vince Pace and is headquartered in Burbank, CA.

For more information, please visit www.cameronpace.com

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Today saw the announcement by the BBC that has confirmed plans to make their first-ever live 3D broadcast by experimenting with the technology during the annual Wimbledon Tennis Championships, culminating in a live 3D version of both the men’s and women’s finals.

It will be seen by many as a fitting way to commemorate the event’s 125th run, as the organisers themselves are stressing the importance of tradition and innovation at Wimbledon on this special anniversary year.

While viewers will need a 3DTV to take advantage of the offer at home, the BBC, who are working alongside the All-England Lawn Tennis Club (co-organisers of the Wimbledon Championships) and Sony Professional (3D technology), are to put the broadcast on their existing HD channel, availiable to compatiable users on the Freeview (#54) Freesat (#109), Sky (#169) and Virgin Media (#187) TV providers, meaning that unlike Sky’s official 3D channel, users will not need to subscribe to get a taste of live 3D sport, although the usual glasses will still be required despite the coverage being on a non-3D channel.

The plans also include a deal to cater for those without a 3DTV, with selected cinemas across the British Isles set to screen the men’s final live. The BBC are offering tickets to this unique event, with the window of application open until June 13. The men’s final is to be played on July 3, while the women’s showpiece is scheduled for a day earlier.

The famed tennis tournament, as a whole, will again be given in-depth coverage across the BBC’s selection of outlets, including online (including BBC iPlayer), radio, and TV channels, such as BBC One, BBC Two, BBC One HD, BBC HD, and red-button interactive services, amongst others.

Danielle Nagler, who is in charge of HD and 3D broadcasting at the BBC, said of the implementation of 3D: “I’m delighted that in this anniversary year we’re bringing UK audiences a new way of getting close to the action on Centre Court. I’m sure that 3D will only add to the drama as the world’s greatest players compete for the championship.”

BBC Sport executive producer Paul Davies added: “During our 75 years of televising the Wimbledon Championships the BBC has continually broken new ground in broadcasting techniques. This unique 3D transmission is the latest innovation to bring to life all the tension, drama and excitement on one of the most iconic arenas in the world.”

George Entwistle, BBC Vision director, summarised: “We know how much audiences already enjoy the BBC’s Wimbledon television coverage. This is a hugely important experiment for us and I’m pleased that we have the opportunity to show some of our stunning sports coverage to our audiences, in 3D, for free.”

The move has also started rumours that the BBC are now looking at providing 3D coverage for selected events during the 2012 Olympic Games in London (England), but nothing has yet been confirmed.

Despite Virgin Media having beaten the BBC to the post for the first live 3D tennis broadcast in the UK (via the new EuroSport 3D’s coverage of the recent French Open), will the public broadcaster now be paving the way for bigger and better things with 3D?

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The general response to these trials, which occured in the Maple Leafs-Canadiens, Islanders-Rangers, and Canadiens-Flames (2011 Heritage Classic) games during the regular season, was a comparatively negative one, with reviewers claiming that the coverage was good, but could do a lot better. Reports claim that because of this, the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals (which will be contested by the winners of the Bruins-Lightning & Sharks-Canucks series) will not be shown in 3D.

Canadian national broadcaster CBC, who’s Hockey Night In Canada show was an integral part of the ‘experiments’ conducted by the NHL Network, claim that they are not as ‘confident’ in the idea of 3D ice hockey as they were before the December and March broadcasts.

Fred Mattocks, CBC’s general manager of technology, is still a fan of the 3D format, and was pleased with the results of the two Canadian fixtures aired by the network, but he admits that there are plenty of problems that need to be ironed out. Such problems included filming bugs, high production costs, and the network not having a large enough market to sustain regular three-dimensional coverage.

Mattocks summarised his personal feelings on the matter: “At the end of the day right now, I’m not as bullish on 3D as I was a year ago. We’re in a mode that I call disciplined experimentation, we can’t afford to be all over the place because we’ll go broke.”

Market size of 3D has been fairly slow, according to the Consumer Electronics Marketers of Canada, with only 3% of all new TV’s in the country in 2010 being 3D-compatible.

Mattocks added: “When it comes to people actually using 3D that level is very, very low, so until that level starts to grow we can’t afford to move massively into 3D production, it just doesn’t make any sense. But we’ll keep an eye on it, we’ll try to help it along, we’ll encourage people … because I do believe 3D is the future, it’s a question of when.”

He said of the technical bugs, which were reported to have gone as far as causing physical harm to viewers (due to the nature of 3D and the visual effect a filming error can have on the audience): “The addition of the third dimension changes the creative equation and in television nobody has all the answers. The entire industry, even in the movies, is still trying to figure it out - what you can do and what you can’t do, or put another way, what you should do and what you shouldn’t do.

Mattocks continued, also referring to the need for 3D glasses as an issue: “How do you deal with people popping up in front of the camera - that creates a real issue for the viewer in 3D because all of a sudden your depth and focus becomes jarred. 3D gives us the ability to make our audience sick and you never want to make your audience sick. The industry’s a smart industry and it’s reacting to that. Glasses interfere with the experience, it’s just that simple. … My own view is until the glasses problem is solved we won’t see the kinds of adoption we saw with other high-quality forms of immersive experiences in the living room like high definition.”

With CBC’s efforts to make 3D a permanent NHL fixture slipping, there will no doubt be a search on to find the problem that is stopping them from matching other sports and leagues (such as the NBA, NFL, and golf) in terms of well-recieved and good-quality coverage. Is it the nature of the game (being in an enclosed playing arena with little camera room), or are the producers just not doing their jobs right?

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Roots Sports Network (RSN) covers over 2.4 million homes across the US states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and West Virginia, and with this rights extension with the Penguins (financial details undisclosed) will see them which was due to run through to 2014. will now go on until 2029, a huge commitment to the ice hockey team. RSN will now offer exclusive broadcasts for up to 70 of the Penguins’ 82-game regular season, pre-season face-offs, and a selection of first-round Stanley Cup playoff fixtures, should the team, which is currently captained by Canadian superstar Sidney Crosby, get there.

_Ratings for the Penguins games on Roots (formerly FSN Pittsburgh until April 1 this year) have been leading the entire NHL in the USA for 4 seasons running, with averages in the 2010-11 season reaching 8.68% in its broadcast area.

The Penguins are also performing well in the ticket office as well, with their new arena (the Consol Energy Center) carrying on a span of 200 games completely sold out, and attracting eight seperate investors to sponsorship of the venue.

Mark Shuken, president of DirecTV’s Sports Division, said of the deal: “We value our relationship with the Penguins organization and its fans. The passion and following of the Penguins’ fan base consistently rank among the highest in the NHL and that support is evident in our record-setting television ratings over the past four seasons. We are proud to continue our partnership with such a distinguished franchise.”

Penguins CEO David Morehouse said of the updated arrangement: “This agreement with our partners at ROOT SPORTS means the future of Penguins hockey in Pittsburgh has never been brighter. Together, we have been able to lead the NHL in local television ratings in the United States, and we look forward to building on those numbers with Root Sports creative style and commitment to cutting-edge technology. Combined with our long-term naming rights agreement with Consol Energy, and the support of our eight founding partners and 15,000 season ticket holders, we’ve developed a very strong foundation for future success.”

On the ice, the Penguins were recently eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, with the Tampa Bay Lightning taking a 4-3 series win to end the Steel City’s hopes of regaining the coveted trophy they last won in 2009.

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UFC comes to Facebook

Keen eyed viewers wiill have seen some streaming of prelim fights during early 2011. It appears to have been such a success that more of the undercard is coming.

There will be 12 fights on the card which is headlined by Georges St-Pierre/Jake Shields welterweight title defence. Five fights will be on the main card, two prelim’s on Spike TV and five on Facebook.

UFC fans can see on Facebook the following free:-

Pablo Garza v Yves Jabouin
John Makdessi v Kyle Watson
Jason MacDonald v Ryan Jensen
Ivan Menjivar v Charlie Valencia
Claude Patrick v Daniel Roberts

Facebook are dabbling more in streaming after experimenting with online movies. And for a good reason as viewers prefer to network whilst watching TV.

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