Sport and Technology News - September 2003  

AOL/NFL broadband content partnership

America Online (AOL) has signed a deal with the US National Football League (NFL) that will give its broadband members access to a wide variety of NFL video and audio content, including programming previously unavailable to the public. The multi-year agreement expands on an existing relationship between the NFL and AOL. The content will be free to AOL subscribers, and available at NFL.com for $10 per month or $35 for the season.

CRIS gets into P2P

Caribbean-based offshore bookmaker CRIS has launched a person-to-person (P2P) betting facility on its site, www.betcris.com. The betcris.com exchange will enable punters to place bets on a host of European and US sporting events while they are in-running. Featured events include the 2003-04 NFL and NBA seasons and the English soccer Premiership. The betcris.com exchange will be powered by TradingSports Exchange Systems, the UK junior bourse AIM-listed provider of P2P exchange software. P2P exchanges now account for as much as 15% of the UK gambling market alone.

Dabs deal for Bolton Wanderers

Sam Allardyce

TiVo adds 90,000 subscribers

Personal video recorder manufacturer TiVo has announced that it has added 90,000 new subscribers during second quarter 2003, twice the number of subscriptions added in the same quarter of 2002. The company now says it has 793,000 subscribers for its service, and has raised its forecasts for the number of new subscribers it expects to add in 2004 to between 550,000 and 650,000 - compared with its previous estimate of 450,000 to 600,000.

X3D Technologies presents Garry Kasparov v X3D Fritz

X3D Technologies has announced an ultimate 'X3D man versus machine' contest, where chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov will take on X3D Fritz in virtual reality, with the chessboard floating in the air between man and computer. The championship will be held at the New York Athletic Club in New York City from 11-18 November in four games with classic time control. The games will be broadcast by X3D Technologies, live on the internet at www.x3d.com. The International Computer Games Association (ICGA) and the United States Chess Federation (USCF) have sanctioned the match as the First Official World Chess Championship match in virtual reality. The X3D PC is the first computer to show 3D, with the images appearing to float both inside and in front of the monitor.

New technology features at ESPN's X Games

US broadcaster ESPN implemented a number of innovative features to cover the action at the 10th annual X Games in August 2003. New technology included a robotic camera that travelled across a 1,000-foot-long diagonal span of cable over the surfing course just a few feet above the surfers' heads at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour. In addition, a 'stedicam' was mounted to a camera operator's waist who skated the park course (filled with jumps and obstacles) directly behind the athletes to provide a true follow shot. A similar camera was used for Winter X Games telecasts with camera operators on skis following the athletes through the runs. Audio systems on equipment and athletes, as well as their friends, families and coaches, also provided commentary from inter-team communications.

Inter Milan goes Thai

Italian soccer club Inter Milan has signed a three-year deal with Samart Info Media for the translation of its website www.inter.it into a Thai-language version. Under the terms of the agreement, Samart has obtained exclusive rights to manage, maintain and promote the Thai version of the site and also includes licensing rights to produce and sell products such as phone cards and mobile phone covers.

New HDTV transmissions in the US

CBS' primary game each week of the 17-week 2003 NFL regular-season schedule will be transmitted in high definition television (HDTV) live on the CBS Television Network for subscribers of DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket package. The agreement between CBS and DirecTV is for the 2003 regular-season only and will be evaluated for renewal after then. Meanwhile, CBS Sports and Thomson's RCA brand have teamed up to present CBS' entire coverage of the 2003 US Open Tennis Championships in HDTV. In a separate move, Major League Baseball (MLB) has signed a new multi-year television deal with HDTV broadcaster In Demand, which will offer three live matches each week in HD format via cable and satellite broadcasters. Under the terms of the deal, In Demand will broadcast MLB regular season matches until the end of the 2005 season, showing its first match on 16 September 2003 this year when the Baltimore Orioles take on the New York Yankees.

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US Open website launched with advanced features

USOpen.org has been launched for the 2003 US Open Tennis tournament with enhanced features including video programming, expanded match analysis, interactive behind-the-scenes access and exclusive product offerings. USOpen.org also features the IBM Realtime Scoreboard, providing point-by-point scores for all matches. The US Tennis Association produces, designs, manages and creates all of the content and programming for the site, which in 2002 generated traffic of 12.9m visits and 125m page views from 166 countries. IBM, the USTA's exclusive information technology partner for the past seven years, develops and hosts www.usopen.org.

PVI completes sale of assets

US virtual imaging company Princeton Video Image (PVI) has announced that it has completed the sale of substantially all of its assets pursuant to Section 363 of the US Bankruptcy Code to PVI Virtual Media Services, a newly formed entity owned by PVI's two secured creditors and largest stockholders.

Intelsat in asset purchase agreement

Global satellite provider Intelsat has signed a $1bn definitive asset purchase agreement with Loral Space & Communications Corporation for six satellites and the rights to their orbital locations. The proposed acquisition of the Loral assets will complement Intelsat's global network, which includes capacity on 26 satellites, by adding complete coverage of the North American market and by increasing Intelsat's customer base in the cable television and broadcasting segments. The total consideration for the assets may increase or decrease based on business performance and as provided for in the agreement.

TNSSport's new tracking device

Sports research company TNSSport is developing advanced image recognition technology (SportSi) to track the television exposure and value of brands within sport. TNSSport is partnering with BrandTraX, which is leveraging advanced image recognition technology originally developed by Bell Labs, the R&D division of Lucent Technologies. Requiring relatively little manual input, the recognition software measures the exposure time a brand receives during a sports broadcast.

Jumbuck Entertainment launches new wireless soccer game

Australian wireless messaging and mobile game publisher Jumbuck Entertainment has announced seven new game titles, including English Premier League Manchester United player Ryan Giggs Soccer 2003, developed for Qualcomm's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) platform. The company intends to offer the games in a variety of languages including English, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese. Meanwhile, according to a poll released on by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) in the US, a video game industry trade group, women over 18 now represent 26% of the video gaming population, as opposed the 21% who are boys under 17. Men over the age of 18 make up the largest group, representing 38% of gamers. ESA's survey also indicates that the total household incomes of game players is now divided evenly between those making less than $50,000 per year (39%) and those making more than $50,000 per year (41%).

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