--DirecTV to Offer Internet, Mobile Versions of NFL Sunday Ticket to Non-Subscribers
Satellite-TV operator, DirecTV, and sports broadcaster, ESPN, have unveiled plans for extensive interactive TV coverage of the US Open tennis championship. From August 30th through September 6th, DirecTV will offer an HD multiscreen interactive TV "US Open Mix" channel (ch. 701) that will allow viewers to watch up to six live matches simultaneously, including the featured match carried on ESPN2's main network feed and five outer-court matches (each with commentary) that will not be available anywhere else.
Like DirecTV's other sports-themed Mix channels (see, for example, [itvt]'s July 12th article on the Mix channel that the company offered for the British Open Golf Championship), the new US Open Mix channel will allow viewers to use their remotes to highlight any of its component channels (which will also be available on slots 702-707 of the DirecTV EPG) in order to listen to that channel's audio, and will also allow them to click on a component channel in order to watch it in full-screen or picture-in-picture mode. According to ESPN, the Mix channel will provide DirecTV customers with over 435 hours of live tennis coverage and 140 extra matches.
In addition, while watching the US Open Mix channel or any of its component channels, viewers will be able to press the red button to access a menu of options, including:
- "Match Guide," which offers scores from matches in progress on any of the court channels, as well as a schedule of upcoming matches.
- "Recent Results," which offers real-time scores from both in-progress and complete matches, as well as a list of the players who are currently getting ready to take the court.
- "Men's Draw" and "Women's Draw," which DirecTV bills as offering "a complete round-by-round chart will show you which players are still in it and which players are headed home."
ESPN also plans to offer extensive broadband and mobile video coverage of the US Open. More information on those plans (which are slated to include 375 hours of coverage on the Web) is available here.
In other DirecTV news: DirecTV spokesperson, Jon T. Gieselman, revealed to the New York Daily News's "The Score" column, Monday, that the satellite-TV operator will shortly announce a new offering that will make its $350 NFL Sunday Ticket premium programming package, NFL Sunday Ticket, available to anyone "with the right broadband connection or mobile phone," including non-DirecTV customers. "For the small number of people that can't get DirecTV service, we did want to provide an option for them to experience Sunday Ticket," Gieselman told the Daily News, adding that the service will be available in 720p HD resolution. The launch of a streaming version of NFL Sunday Ticket follows a test in Manhattan last year.
