Earlier this year, Twitter purchased and subsequently re-branded Periscope, a free application that allows users to broadcast live videos from their mobile devices. Periscope’s re-launch late last month followed the almost instant success of Meerkat, a similar application that made its debut during Austin’s South by Southwest festival in early March. It’s too early to tell whether one, both, or neither application will become a staple for mobile users, but the possibilities for mobile live-streaming have already begun to materialize in the sports world.
Only two days after Twitter’s rollout of its shiny new acquisition, the Seattle Reign FC of the recently formed National Women’s Soccer League announced they would be using the application to live-stream their matches. While the app’s still-limited popularity and technological limitations shouldn’t concern those in the sports broadcasting industry, the streaming of Reign matches may be the first step in an industry-shaking overhaul that could alter the way we watch sports in the near-future.
Get The Latest Sports Tech News In Your Inbox!
Broadcasting sports today requires cameras, sound equipment, studio technicians, technical producers, on-air talent, off-air talent, satellite capabilities, and lots of manpower to operate it all. Even smaller broadcasts that operate under an online service like Ustream still require significant investments to create a product that consumers consider worth watching. No matter the quality of the broadcast or the breadth of audience the broadcast reaches, those that wish to broadcast sports have up until recently faced significant financial hurdles that could only be overcome with outside investment, particularly from corporate advertisers.
The Seattle Reign FC will not face these hurdles. They are able to broadcast their games to anyone with an internet connection using nothing but a smart phone mounted on a tripod, and the only direct cost comes from the electrical outlet used to charge the phone. As of right now, these broadcasts include no announcers, no graphics, no advertisements, and no revenue; only a stream as unfiltered as one would experience watching the game live.
Of course, Periscope does not come without its own hurdles. For one, early users have detected widespread sexual harassment through the app’s live comment section. For another, Periscope compounds legal questions brought about a decade ago by the proliferation of YouTube and other mobile video sites. But if these problems can be resolved without much legal action, sports teams around the country will theoretically have access to a service that could cut broadcasting costs to almost zero.
This shouldn’t impact how we watch the country’s biggest sports anytime soon, however. So long as broadcasting companies pay billions of dollars for the right to broadcast sporting events, and so long as televised sporting events remain as profitable as they are, advertisers are in little danger of losing their precious audience to the profitless corners of the internet.
Sports are intrinsically valuable only as live events (with rare exceptions), and as long as sports can be broadcasted more reliably through cable and satellite television than through the Internet, broadcasting companies like Disney, Turner, and Viacom will always have control over our most watched sporting events.
Though we will be watching sports on television for some time to come (at least until the most lucrative contracts expire), the landscape of television as a whole is changing drastically. Netflix and Hulu have successfully established themselves as major players in cordless television, with Internet giants Yahoo! and Amazon looking to get into the mix. HBO, the largest and most prestigious subscription channel on television, has announced plans to cut ties with cable and satellite providers in favor of pairing with a third party streaming service (perhaps with MLBAM?).
And even in the world of sports, ESPN has kept one foot out the door for the past five years with the expansion of their WatchESPN online service. If an ever-improving digital infrastructure soon provides consumers with reliable streaming services, televisions may become obsolete devices before these deals between networks and leagues expire.
But for anyone who has had to deal with the frustrations of live-streaming sports (minus those broadcasted through MLB.tv, which is and always has been the industry standard), that change does not seem to be approaching rapidly. It’s entirely possible that Periscope will become the standard for broadcasting Sunday league baseball, NAIA athletics, and your niece’s AYSO soccer games within the next few years, but no one should anticipate anything already broadcasted on television to make the switch to a yet-profitless platform anytime soon.