nba

The National Basketball Association's (NBA) NBA Digital arm (note: NBA Digital is comprised of a portfolio of digital assets, jointly managed by the NBA and Turner Sports) contacted [itvt] Wednesday to let us know that it has experienced "significant growth" across all platforms so far this season.

According to NBA Digital:

Verizon announced Wednesday that it has launched an NBA League Pass interactive TV widget on its FiOS TV service. According to the company, the free widget allows viewers to order NBA League Pass, an NBA subscription package that provides up to 40 out-of-market live NBA games per week, via their remote control; and also provides them with instant access to headline news, player reports, game-time alerts and more.

The National Basketball Association's (NBA) NBA Digital arm has launched a two-screen interactive TV application, called NBA TV Companion, that is available on NBA.com and on individual NBA team sites. According to NBA Digital, key features of the new application, which is designed to be used in conjunction with live game telecasts, include:

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

DVR vendor/service provider, TiVo, announced Thursday that it has signed a deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA) that sees the latter using TiVo's interactive TV advertising solutions to promote the NBA finals.

Turner Sports announced Wednesday that it is using social media platforms, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, to promote corporate stablemate TNT's "40 Games in 40 Nights" coverage of the 2009 NBA playoffs.

The company says that TNT will have a major presence on YouTube with a "homepage takeover" on April 20th that will feature player-specific videos, in order to drive tune-ins for that night's match-ups, as well as TNT-messaged overlays on sports-related featured videos.

Turner Sports and the NBA have announced an interactive offering
called "Fan Night" that will give viewers the chance to vote for which
basketball games they want to see televised nationally on NBA TV
each Tuesday night. According to the companies, viewers will be able
to log onto NBA.com and cast their vote from a list of the available
match-ups taking place around the league; the match-up that receives
the most votes will then be televised on the channel the following
Tuesday night. The first Fan Night vote will begin on October 28th, to
determine which game will be televised on Tuesday, November 4th.
"We're proud to launch the new NBA season on NBA TV and
NBA.com with the introduction of Fan Night, a landmark
multiplatform experience that takes fan interactivity to an

--Teams with NBC on Two-Screen App for 2008 Figure Skating Championships

LiveHive Systems, an Ontario-based company that specializes in
two-screen interactive TV solutions, said last week that it has signed an
agreement with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to provide a
synchronized interactive experience on www.raptors.com to
accompany broadcasts of the Toronto Raptors' NBA playoff games.
Dubbed "Raptors Shot Caller presented by Ford," the new service
debuted last Sunday in conjunction with the start of the Raptors'
first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic. Fans access the
service by going to the Raptors' Web site and clicking on a "Shot
Caller" game banner, or by simply going directly to