New ballgame for YES, DirecTV By Paul J. Gough http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060726/tc_nm/directv_dc_2
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Satellite broadcaster DirecTV has thrown out the first pitch in its new deal with YES Network, offering YES subscribers an interactive baseball application that gives live statistics and scores of other games on demand and a camera angle available only to YES viewers. ADVERTISEMENT YES Interactive pairs the nation's highest-rated regional sports channel with the News Corp.-controlled satellite channel that has other interactive applications with "NFL Sunday Ticket," March Madness and this year's Winter Olympics. Terms of the deal weren't announced, and DirecTV declined to discuss how many YES subscribers it has in the New York region. But in an interactive application that could eventually spread to other regional sports channels, YES and DirecTV have come up with a robust series of applications that in effect give viewers of its New York Yankees broadcasts live updated individual statistics, an in-game box score and live scores just like you'd find on MLB.com, which also is a partner through Major League Baseball Advanced Media. YES president Tracy Dolgin and other executives from YES and DirecTV talked up many of the innovations, including a live "bonus cam" dedicated exclusively to the DirecTV subscriber. It follows the secondary action that isn't seen in the non-DirecTV telecasts, such as the trailing runner in a scoring play, the Yankees dugout after a home run or other views that aren't typically seen on the telecast in full. In a recent telecast, after Yankees slugger Jason Giambi struck out, the main feed showed a replay of the last pitch to show if it was a ball or strike while the "bonus cam" showed Giambi screaming at the umpire. Also part of the interactivity is instant onscreen access to other baseball scores with updates on outs and baserunners as they occur. Always leading the list: the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees' rivals in the Eastern Division. "It's no coincidence that the Red Sox score will be first because as a Yankees fan you want to know how the Red Sox are doing," said Ray Hopkins, YES' chief operating officer. David Feldstein, senior project manager for DirecTV in El Segundo, Calif., said the interactive application starts during the pregame and ends after the postgame show. "This takes you as a fan far deeper into the game," Feldstein said. The deal isn't exclusive to DirecTV, though Hopkins and Eric Shanks, executive vice president of DirecTV Entertainment, said Tuesday that YES will be the only network to have it this year. "We've fielded a lot of calls from RSNs about this capability," Shanks said. Only New York-region DirecTV viewers who have an interactive-capable receiver can take advantage of the service, though Shanks said viewers can upgrade for free for a time. Out-of-market YES subscribers on DirecTV and the bulk of the YES viewers, on such cable systems as Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, are so far left out, though YES said it would be interested in branching out in the future. Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
