Kings games could be streamed via broadband this year?

[CruzDude]

Over in the NBA thread I posted this general article but thinking about the aggressive nature of the Maloofs to bring the best to us Kings fans I realized a Kings tilted version is appropriate here.
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An article by John Lombardo and John Ourand in Sports Business Journal on August 18 indicated:

"The NBA is poised to become the first major U.S. sports league to stream live games in local markets, an aggressive offering that will set up a showdown between cable operators and regional sports networks."

Full article here: http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/59753

This will certainly open up a rats nest of issues for regional sports network and their cable and satellite carriers, such as Comcast Sports Network serving the Kings.

There are a ton of us "out-of-town" and "out-of-area" Kings fans, throughout the USA, some in Europe and Mexico (Bajaden, you reading this?) and the Far East. So would hope the Maloofs would not support a "geolocating technology" that would restrict such streaming to the specific geographic market for the Kings. The article seems to hit on "local" a lot tho'.

But this can also open up interactive viewing of NBA and Kings games with all the fun stuff that would breed.

Check out the article. It gets into the gory details. And there are a ton of questions that can't be answered yet. Technology. Gotta love it.
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[Bricklayer]

I would think the advantage of streaming would be precisely to reach the fans outside the market. And accordingly also reach people who would not hurt the bottom line for the cable/regional providers (since they would not be watching at all otherwise). So wouldn't you be trying to restrict access to streaming inside the market? In other words block Sacto area people fromt eh stream so they would have to watch on cable, but let in people outside the area so they get to see what they otherwise could not? Or would that cut into league pass revenues?

Also, the Maloofs have a half filled building and are taking cash considerations back in trades at this point -- not at all sure hwo eager they are going to be to give local fans another reason/excuse to not come out to the old barn.

 

[Sac.1989]

hopefully this gets me some games out here in australia. Currently i can only go off the audio provided on the nba.com site and the live box scores so any vision would be welcomed

 

[RunNGun]

Yeah, now that I am located in Japan I need some way to get my Kings fix and audio streaming is just not going to get it done.

 

[RaY Z]

hopefully this gets me some games out here in australia. Currently i can only go off the audio provided on the nba.com site and the live box scores so any vision would be welcomed

totally agree... having cable tv is nice... but when all you mostly get is andrew bogut games and laker games... it sucks!!!

 

[bajaden]

Living in mexico it would be a real plus for me. Although, I'm able to see a lot of games because I can pick up the Sacramento feed down here. Just luck though, and Dish is always trying to find a new way to cut me off..

 

[Amory]

That would be amazing being that I am not going to have cable where I will be living when the season starts and I don't want to pay the cable bill when the ONLY thing I will be watching is the Kings games.

 

[uolj]

It would seem to make more sense to open it up to out of towners, but that would cut into league pass profits, so maybe that's why they wouldn't allow it.

I think letting locals watch would be good for the regional sports networks. The more interest you can drum up by letting people watch online, the more likely they'lll switch on their TV to watch a game on a bigger screen in their living room.

 

[CruzDude]

I think the NBA thinking is that if you see a game on a computer screen it will only make you want to go to a real game or get the NBA package on a big screen TV. Streaming therefore being kind of a marketing tool whose end goal is to get more NBA customers to buy access.

Great idea the more I thunk about it. Also the interactivity will attract the more hard core sports fan and the younger folk who can't afford to go to games but who could get their folks to get the NBA package. This is the part I'm hoping to see and have fun with.

 

[Section 101]

glad I don't have to worry about it. slingbox for the win!!! even better I have the mobile client on my phone.

I want to see how they block it by geography. kinda hard to do on the web.

 

[CruzDude]

I want to see how they block it by geography. kinda hard to do on the web.

NO not really. The geeks have developed the ability to correlate IP addresses to geography and there is little you can do about it. Geo-marketing is the driver but then so is geo-streaming based on the geography of the internet addresses. It's already happening now but to do it for 30 NBA cities is a bit of a challenge but not a problem.

 

[creAtivetfh]

If they made you watch the streamed games inside of a web browser and then sold advertising that was based around where the viewer was watching the game they could make a fortune. Then start a league wide profit sharing situation that would be divided by the amount of viewers for each team.

makes sense to me as long as the profits are shared.

 

[SCKingsfan]

I watched nearly all of the KIngs games last year via NBA leaguepass broadband. The quality is really not good at all, compared to even analog television. almost not worth watching, especially the full court perspective where it it almost impossible to tell what player is who. i know technology is improving b/c with the NBC olympic coverage, at about the same broadband speed, the picture quality was much better. who knows what they'll go with next year. sucks for people like me who don't live in Cali and can't get cable but still are willing to pay to see games if I could watch them online. heck i'd pay the leaguepass price for games, just can't pay the monthly cable bill that would sit on top of it.....

 

[SkinnerBox]

This is all I have wanted for a long time. I don't know why we are constantly being jerked around as consumers. I'm willing to pay to watch Kings games here in Napa, just give me the option.

 

[JerN820]

I watched nearly all of the KIngs games last year via NBA leaguepass broadband. The quality is really not good at all, compared to even analog television. almost not worth watching, especially the full court perspective where it it almost impossible to tell what player is who. i know technology is improving b/c with the NBC olympic coverage, at about the same broadband speed, the picture quality was much better. who knows what they'll go with next year. sucks for people like me who don't live in Cali and can't get cable but still are willing to pay to see games if I could watch them online. heck i'd pay the leaguepass price for games, just can't pay the monthly cable bill that would sit on top of it.....

Yeah it does suck for us. I am still probably going to try and get the NBA League Pass. It sounds like a decent amount of money, but you get a lot in return. Up to 40 games a week for about 6 months. Most importantly, I'd get to see all of the Kings' games. BTW, how much is the League Pass broadband?

 

[SCKingsfan]

Yeah it does suck for us. I am still probably going to try and get the NBA League Pass. It sounds like a decent amount of money, but you get a lot in return. Up to 40 games a week for about 6 months. Most importantly, I'd get to see all of the Kings' games. BTW, how much is the League Pass broadband?

Broadband is free with your League Pass subscription. You just have to verify that you have an active account. There is no way to get it/buy it separately from having a cable/sat account. At least that was the case last year..... which makes this whole situation discussed above something new...

 

[CruzDude]

Yeah it does suck for us. I am still probably going to try and get the NBA League Pass. It sounds like a decent amount of money, but you get a lot in return. Up to 40 games a week for about 6 months. Most importantly, I'd get to see all of the Kings' games. BTW, how much is the League Pass broadband?

If you buy League Pass on Direct TV or Comcast before the season it is about $160 now but can be paid for in 4 equal payments the first 4 months. League Pass Broadband via the Internet is a lot less but not sure as have never really used it.

 

[bajaden]

NO not really. The geeks have developed the ability to correlate IP addresses to geography and there is little you can do about it. Geo-marketing is the driver but then so is geo-streaming based on the geography of the internet addresses. It's already happening now but to do it for 30 NBA cities is a bit of a challenge but not a problem.

Your absolutely right. There are many offers that I have tried to take advantage of and have been refused because the offer isn't good in mexico. So even that I still have a mailing address for all my business affairs in sacramento, they know that my computer is in mexico.

 

[JerN820]

If you buy League Pass on Direct TV or Comcast before the season it is about $160 now but can be paid for in 4 equal payments the first 4 months. League Pass Broadband via the Internet is a lot less but not sure as have never really used it.

I just got DirecTV installed today and went ahead an ordered the League Pass. It is $169 for the early bird special. I guess they said pricing became available today. LOL talk about perfect timing.