NFL touts high-def game replays

By ERIC FISHER
Staff writer
Published January 05, 2009 : Page 07

The NFL is preparing a significant marketing push this month for Game Rewind, its new high-definition online game replay service.

The subscription-based product, which made its debut early last month, marks an extension of Game Pass, its existing TV replay offering. The online product is designed, in part, to achieve several key goals for the league: further establish NFL.com as the leading destination for online football video, continue testing on higher-resolution video online that is only now beginning to reach substantial numbers of people, and increase subscription revenue for the league during what has become a turbulent period for advertising of all forms.

The product is sold either as a $19.99 season pass that runs through March 30, or for $4.99 a week. The full-length video replays are shown commercial-free and are blacked out while any other NFL games are in play. A mosaic feature offers simultaneous viewing of up to four games, and statistics and chat functions are embedded into the video player. Aiding the league on the effort are NeuLion and Move Networks Inc.

"We expect that after the holidays, when people start getting more reflective about the season, we'll make a push on this and seek to communicate more broadly the opportunity to relive the entire season," said Pat McCormack, NFL director of digital media. The promotion will primarily be conducted through NFL-controlled outlets such as NFL.com, NFL Network and e-mail distributions.

NFL officials wouldn’t disclose the number of Game Rewind subscribers so far, but McCormack said: "We’ve been pleased. It’s starting to get some pickup in the blogosphere, which is definitely helpful."


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NFL Taps Move, NeuLion for Online Video Streams (via contentinople)

Ryan Lawler
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The National Football League is now offering streaming video to subscribers in the U.S. and internationally, using adaptive streaming video technology from Move Networks Inc. and management and provisioning from NeuLion Inc.

The NFL opened its streaming video services with its NFL Game Pass service, available to international subscribers that want to watch live NFL games. It followed that up with last week's launch of NFL Game Rewind, which lets U.S.-based fans catch up on games that have already been played for a fee of $4.99 per week, or $19.99 for the rest of the season.

Both services were created and are managed by NeuLion, which built the Move-based video player and all the interactive and social features that are included in the packages. In addition to handling the front-end player design, NeuLion is in charge of the backend integration, billing, and provisioning for the NFL.

The Game Pass and Game Rewind services have a great deal of interactivity built in. Both services allow subscribers to view up to four simultaneous video streams, all with DVR-like controls, including pause, fast forward, and rewind. In addition, the service has integrated statistics and social functions like chat built in.

"The experience is more than just the game. You have chat, you have the ability to watch multiple games at same time," says Chris Wagner, NeuLion's executive vice president of marketplace strategy. "We found that the simulcast experience was not as compelling as the interactive experience."

Both services employ Move Networks' video technology to provide subscribers with the highest-quality video available, regardless of their network connection. Move enables with its adaptive streaming technology, which will provide the highest bit-rate video available, from 300 kbit/s to 2.5 Mbit/s.

For Move, the NFL deal is just one more in a series of wins for high-definition online video. The company's technology was used for more than 650 live events in November, according to CEO John Edwards. And the company claims to be the enabling technology behind about 60 percent of all streams for primetime TV shows online.

"We think of our video very much as a television-like experience," Edwards says. "And if you give consumers a TV-like experience, they will consume it like TV."

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