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Google's YouTube in Talks to Stream Live NBA, NHL Hockey Games

Discussion in 'Other Sports' started by ryano2009, Feb 23, 2011.

  1. ryano2009

    ryano2009 Member

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    Google Inc.’s YouTube said it’s in talks with the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League to broadcast live games, building on the popularity of cricket’s Indian Premier League last year.

    YouTube aims to show more live sports in the second half of the year, said Gautam Anand, Google’s director of content partnerships for Asia Pacific, in an interview in Seoul yesterday. He declined to give details of the discussions with the NBA and NHL.

    Adding live sports broadcasts may help YouTube expand revenue by keeping viewers on its site longer to woo more advertisers. YouTube’s contract to show cricket from the Indian Premier League, which gives the Google unit a share of ad revenue from games and the league’s website, brought in 55 million visits from more than 250 countries, Anand said.

    “It’s fair to say that there will be a lot more appealing sports content you’ll see on YouTube,” Anand said. “We have ongoing conversations with pretty much everyone.”

    Mountain View, California-based Google is in negotiations with “most pro sports leagues” including the NBA and NHL, as well as soccer leagues in Europe, said Brian Suh, head of YouTube Partnership at Google’s Korean unit, in a separate telephone interview yesterday.

    Boosting YouTube Content

    “We’re pleased that YouTube recognizes the value of live sports,” Michael Bass, senior vice president for marketing communications at the NBA, said today.

    Gary Meager, senior vice president for public relations at the NHL, did not reply to a phone message and e-mail request for comment.

    Where new live-streaming services will be offered depends on each deal, said Lois Kim, a spokeswoman for Google Korea. YouTube streams Major League Baseball games in Japan, where major TV broadcasters don’t feature the sporting events.

    One of the key goals for YouTube this year is to offer longer clips of movies and shows under the lead of former Netflix Inc. executive Robert Kyncl, Anand said. Google also hired Claude Ruibal, former chief executive and chairman of Universal Sports, as the head of sports content partnerships for YouTube this year to boost sports content, Anand said.

    Google, which runs the world’s most used Internet search engine, paid $1.65 billion to buy YouTube in 2006. YouTube competes with premium-content site Hulu LLC and rental service Netflix.

    Indian League

    During the Indian Premier League broadcast, viewers spent on average 40 minutes watching each match, he said. The company needs to do more to keep its viewers on the site for longer than the average daily 15-minute session, compared with the multiple hours consumers spend in front of televisions, according to Hunter Walk, director of product management at YouTube.

    “One of the good things about IPL was that it really proved to a lot of sports leagues that broad-scale live- streaming type of exercise is something that’s possible,” Anand said. “They took notice of IPL and have come to us, and entered into a lot more serious discussions.”

    Google is also trying to offer more live-streamed video clips in music, such as concerts, Anand said.

    YouTube is running advertisements on videos more than 3 billion times a week, a 50 percent increase from May, Shishir Mehrotra, director of product management at YouTube, said this month.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...otiating-to-broadcast-live-nba-nhl-games.html

    Wow that could be very sweet, I wounder how much they gonna charge people.
     
  2. Ricksmith

    Ricksmith Contributing Member

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    During timeouts and commercial breaks, would YouTube show their own ads like they do now with featured videos?
     
  3. shastarocket

    shastarocket Contributing Member

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    If the price is right, and no blackout nonsense to worry about, i'll be all over it
     
  4. roflmcwaffles

    roflmcwaffles Member

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    I don't see why they don't have a site/contract like this already.

    NBA is not thinking ahead by charging whatever they do for league pass, rather than just broadcast for free on internet and play commercials, they are losing a lot of money to sites like ATDHE.

    If they get millions of more viewers/game they could easily charge advertisers more, and in turn make up (or make more than) league pass money + get more fans.
     
  5. Mr. Clutch

    Mr. Clutch Contributing Member

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    Well, if they do this I can cancel Uverse.
     
  6. lionaire

    lionaire Member

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    lolol same!
     
  7. ryano2009

    ryano2009 Member

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    Yeah i think so.
     
  8. Mathloom

    Mathloom Contributing Member

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    I love this. and I love google.
     
  9. A_3PO

    A_3PO Member

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    The NBA has diminished the value of LPBB by putting so many games on NBATV, which for some reason removes them from LPBB. Seems like a YouTube deal would take it a step further.

    I'll wait for the details..
     
  10. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost not wrong
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  11. VanityHalfBlack

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    Google owns!!!!
     
  12. tested911

    tested911 Member

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    OMG if they can do this I would cancel my directv... I already have netflix and the only reason why I have directv is to watch my Rockets/Astros...
     
  13. Jontro

    Jontro Member

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    If it goes through, does it mean the NBA will stop removing "unwanted" clips such as fights and them kinds?
     
  14. Dave2000

    Dave2000 Contributing Member

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    FWIW, Google came out with their own video service, Google Video, before buying out Youtube back in 2005? One of their first offerings was downloading full games for like a buck or 2 the morning after it ended. I thought it was an interesting way of selling games since NBA has strict rules on redistributing rights. But it only lasted till the end of that season.

    If they strike a deal to stream on Youtube, that would be sick, especially with all of different TVs, BluRay Players, and Media players have Youtube channels preinstalled.
     
  15. what

    what Member

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    This would be my tipping point as well. If I could stream basketball in HD, there is not another station that I really care about that I couldn't get. Netflix and broadcast TV plus streaming sports.

    If I were Cable and Satellite companies, I'd invest my resources into better internet architectures. They've had their run of charging arm and a leg for their monopoly services.
     
  16. ryano2009

    ryano2009 Member

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    what Morey has to do with this..? :)
     

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