Twitch announces new deals with USA Basketball and the NBA; will stream Team USA exhibitions and Jr. NBA games
Twitch was already streaming G League and 2k League matches.
Tech News
Longtime Disney CEO Michael Eisner thinks sports aren’t long for traditional broadcasters
The longtime Disney executive thinks it's when, not if.
Raptors’ title brought ratings and revenue for part owners Bell and Rogers, but outages ruined key moments for thousands of subscribers
Rogers' Sportsnet Now crashed during the first half of Game 5 of the NBA Final. Bell's Fibe TV crashed in the final 30 seconds there. And Fibe TV's app crashed during the final moments of Game 6, causing viewers to miss the moment where the Raptors officially won the NBA championship.
NBA subreddit that provided illegal streams of games gets shut down
The subreddit had over 400,000 subscribers before it was shut down.
DirecTV and Dish Network reportedly considering a merger (again)
While there are no active talks, a merger between DirecTV and Dish Network would likely face much less regulatory scrutiny in 2019 than it did back in 2002.
The Athletic reportedly planning a UK expansion focusing on the Premier League, will include 50-55 writers
The UK coverage is set to launch this August, coinciding with the start of the EPL season.
Cable providers are becoming less inclined to give discounts to customers who threaten to cancel service
One of the last negotiating tactics consumers can use against cable providers is becoming less effective.
FloSports adds $47 million more in funding, led by Discovery and supported by WWE, Fertitta Capital, and more
FloSports has added $47 million more in funding, with some big names attached.
CrossFit deactivates their Facebook and Instagram accounts over privacy concerns
CrossFit was in many ways built on social media and online communities, but the company accounts are gone now.
Jimmy Pitaro says ESPN will continue VR/AR/isocam experiments, especially online: “We do not believe that AR or VR is a fad.”
"We’ve been leaders in the virtual reality and augmented reality space for a long time now. We’ve already developed content for the Oculus [VR headset] and are willing to make our content available in those spaces."
Disney agrees to take operational control of Hulu in deal with Comcast
Hulu is going to become a Disney operation.
Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley wants to offer “pitch-by-pitch” prop bet abilities on their new RSNs
"If you're interested in gaming, we're going to add on extra stats, the ability to do prop bets in the game, pitch by pitch, play by play. You can play along and wager while you watch."
Luminary’s bid to become ‘the Netflix of podcasts’ is off to a rough start as content providers like ESPN & Barstool opt out
Luminary's subscription fee plans, anti-advertising tweet, and (since-changed) podcast distribution practices have all drawn blowback.
FanDuel will stream tennis, Bundesliga in their betting app; could this start a U.S. trend?
FanDuel has become the first U.S. gambling provider to gain rights to stream games in its app, something common in Europe. Those rights are currently focused on tennis and German soccer, but bigger leagues could follow once some current exclusive TV deals expire.
Facebook, MLB cutting back their streaming deal for 2019 from 25 games to 6, removing exclusivity
MLB's deal with Facebook is coming back this season, but will be significantly different.
