NBA to Offer Live Games Online


by Nigel Kerry - Date: 2006-12-04 - Word Count: 301 Share This!

Since the league extends its television subscription package to the Internet, 40 NBA games will be available live online every week. However fans will be restricted in their ability to follow hometown teams. Indeed technology will be used to block access to local games in order to preserve television rights. Another restriction games broadcast on television nationally will not be online too.

The NBA League Pass package for a cost of $179 will give subscribers access to the regular-season games both online and through cable or satellite. However, fans can only sign up through a cable or satellite provider, and the broadband service will not be available separately. In addition the league will also offer a free ad-supported service giving fans highlights of top plays, news conferences, interviews and other coverage.

The package will be available only in the United States. Indeed another distinct service is currently designed to be sold in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Nearly 90 regular-season and playoff games will be available and most of them live. The games will have commentary in Mandarin too.

NBA was lagging behind in terms of online service. For years, baseball has been already selling Internet packages of live games including similar restriction technologies to preserve profitable television deals. Last month, the NFL also launched a service with Yahoo! Inc. to show games live on computers outside North America. College sports are also making their way online.

But NBA will use different technologies than NFL and MLB. As the NBA is selling games through cable and satellite providers, the league will block games based on the provider's location while Baseball and football employ technologies that can pinpoint an individual's location by checking a computer's Internet address. That means a New York fan will have Knicks and Nets game blocked even when traveling to Los Angeles.


Related Tags: nba, nba live games online, nba offers games online, nba live games

About the writer: Nigel Kerry is an American free lance writer born in Los Angeles, California. Kerry writes among others for Sportus.com - Sportsbook reviews, UsBookies.com - Sports Betting Online and Get-best-mortgage-loan.com - Mortgage lenders, get the best mortgage loan

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