I had one of the more memorable sports moments of my life last night, rooting for my favorite team in the crowd at an NBA game — without leaving my apartment. My big takeaway: Microsoft and the NBA are on to something with their new tech-fueled virtual fan experience. I gave it a spin during Thursday’s Blazers vs. Lakers playoff game, watching the action in Microsoft Teams alongside other fans doing the same, all of us visible in the virtual stands on the live national broadcast. It was pretty epic — well, not that epic, since the Lakers crushed my… Read More
Amazon is bringing back Hannah Storm and Andrea Kremer to commentate its Thursday Night Football streams on Prime Video next season. The veteran broadcasting duo became the first all-female team to call an entire NFL game this season as part of Amazon’s deal to stream 11 Thursday Night Football games. Now they’ll return for another slate of games that kick off later this year. “Hannah and Andrea raised the bar last year as they became the first all-woman team to call NFL games,” Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports video at Amazon, said in a statement. “Customer feedback has been great… Read More
Amazon bolstered its growing library of live sports programming with the addition of NBA League Pass to Prime Video Channels. The NBA’s live streaming product is now available on Amazon’s video platform for Prime members who also subscribe to NBA League Pass ($28.99/month or $169 for a season) that provides access to live out-of-market regular season games for all NBA teams. The games will stream much like they do on the other 19 platforms where NBA League Pass is available. But those using Fire TV devices will have access to Prime Video’s X-Ray feature that shows fans team stats and player… Read More
The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers will show off their brand of “multiplayer entertainment” in a “Thursday Night Football” clash tonight. And one of the most popular gamers in the world will get in on the action by co-streaming the event on Twitch, the platform owned by Amazon. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, who has more than 12 million followers on Twitch, will join in the fun for the last “TNF” game of the season. Other Twitch personalities such as Jericho, TimTheTatman, and GoldGlove will also co-stream to their followers. Co-streaming is just another feature Twitch unveiled for its broadcast of 11… Read More
Amazon is using Twitch and its Thursday Night Football live streams to test new gamification features that might change the way we watch live sports — particularly if legal sports betting spreads across the country. As part of a two-year deal with the NFL worth a reported $130 million, Amazon is streaming 11 Thursday Night Football games this season. It follows Amazon’s initial one-year deal with the NFL last season. New this season is Amazon’s decision to stream games not only on Prime Video but also Twitch, the popular live-streaming platform it acquired for nearly $1 billion in 2014. I tuned into… Read More