football

Because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco) and on our new EBIF Intensive event (March 5th in San Francisco), we will be covering most stories in summary/round-up form over the next few weeks. Here is a round-up of broadband video news for the past few days:

Deutsche Telekom announced last week that it has added more interactive TV features to Liga Total!, a subscription-based package of coverage of German soccer's Bundesliga that it offers on its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV platform, Entertain.

Imaging and video technology specialist, HDlogix (note: the company's main product lines are ImageIQ, a suite of image and video optimization and enhancement technologies; Clique, a set of mobile and desktop video communications client software applications; and Hue, a range of HD Web cameras), contacted [itvt] Monday to let us know that it powered what it says was the first live 3D broadcast ever to be shown on giant screens at a major sporting event--during last Sunday's football game at Cowboys Stadium between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Diego Chargers, which was attended by 80,000 fans who were given

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

Verizon announced last week that has launched a range of free on-demand programming on the New England Patriots American football team to subscribers to its FiOS TV service in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The programming, which is located in the company's locally themed VOD service, FiOS1 Local Zone, is being offered as part of a multi-year marketing partnership with the New England Patriots.

UK commercial terrestrial broadcaster, Five, said Wednesday that it has teamed with broadband video specialist, Livestation, to offer live streaming of Europa League soccer on the Apple iPhone. It claims to be the first UK broadcaster to offer live streaming soccer via an iPhone app.

Concurrently with the launch of the subscription-based NFL RedZone channel (offers live coverage of critical plays whenever any of the NFL's teams is inside its opponent's 20-yard line) on its FiOS TV service, Verizon has made available a free RedZone Widget in its recently launched FiOS TV Widget Bazaar applications marketplace. According to the company, the interactive TV widget, which is displayed on the right side of the screen and can also be viewed in full-screen mode, provides various features to all FiOS TV customers, including instant access to real-time NFL stats and scores and news headlines from around the league.

US incumbent telco, AT&T, on Monday announced the roll-out on its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered U-verse TV IPTV platform of various interactive and on-demand products for the upcoming football season.

According to the company, a new "College Football Extras" VOD category will provide "free, unique" content from top college football programs, including those of Georgia Tech, the University of Connecticut, the University of Kansas, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, and all the Big Ten Conference teams. At launch, the company says, it will offer highlights from the 2008 season and a preview of the 2009 season, and will add more content from each featured university throughout the season.

NBC and the NFL announced Thursday that, for the second straight season, NBC will stream the 17-game Sunday Night Football schedule live on NBCSports.com and NFL.com. The coverage, which is the result of a new one-year deal between the broadcaster and the sports organization that will see them sharing the revenues from advertising that NBC sells around the coverage, will be comprised of NBC Sports' "Sunday Night Football" broadcast, enhanced with four additional camera angles and several other new interactive features, NBC says.

Terra USA, a Miami-based Internet company and original digital content producer that targets a Latino demographic, and NBC Universal-owned Spanish-language broadcaster, Telemundo, are claiming success for the socially enhanced streaming coverage of the August 12th soccer World Cup qualifier match between Mexico and the US that they offered free-of-charge on the co-branded site, FutbolEstelar.tv. According to the companies, the event generated over 360,000 streams on the site, 205,000 of which were live.

Broadband video publishing solutions provider, Brightcove, contacted [itvt] last week to let us know that it is powering online video for UK Premier League soccer club Manchester City's new Web site (mcfc.co.uk).

--Rolls Out its Interactive Media Guide in Multiple New Markets
--Expands its Line-Up of VOD Programming

--Secures New Deals with the NBA, New York Giants

Dublin, Ireland-based interactive TV authoring solutions provider,
emuse, has been tapped by T-Home, the Microsoft
Mediaroom-powered IPTV service of German incumbent telco,
Deutsche Telekom, to develop an ITV application to complement
T-Home's coverage of German soccer's Bundesliga (note: Deutsche
Telekom, which signed a development agreement with emuse late last
year, holds the IPTV rights for Bundesliga soccer for T-Home).
According to the companies, the "Bundesliga Interaktive" application
features coverage of up to nine concurrent live soccer matches every
game weekend; lets viewers watch a variety of those games
simultaneously; and also lets viewers access catch-up footage of select