Hockey Podcasting

POD HOCKEY

Is Podcasting for Hockey an idea whose time has come??? Especially now that the NHL has a media/tech partner like Comcast that has a HEAVY involvement in broadband. It seems like a great 21st century way to reach the fans that has a lot of creative cutting-edge potential. Downloadable customized Hockey packets of video, sound and text for playback at your leisure on various digital devices. Imagine the possibility of podcasts of your favorite hockey team, players or fighters delivered via the net or wireless to your Tivo, DVD-R, computer, laptop, iPod, PSP, or even cell phone in the near future. Already in Sweden hockey fans can have their mobile phones programmed to ring when their team scores and then can watch a 20-second video clip of the goal being made.

Hmmm, let me think about that... my cell programmed to announce the arrival of a video highlight file of my favorite team scoring.

Sweet, sign me up.Also...

for those who are interested in following the matches of their favourite team can do it easily, right on their mobile phone. Team photos, analyses and inside information can also be downloaded. In addition, Telia subscribers can download the music that is usually played at arenas and use it as ringtones

The Swede's can also view the highlights of evening matches after the games have ended. I'm sure we'll be able to do all of this here soon too. If that's not the case already.

Anyways, getting back to Podcasting there's a great deal of potential in this new media that the NHL and we as Bloggers could and should definitely explore.

Can podcasting save hockey?:

... we're most of the way there: a sports league and a television network both with a vested interest in reaching people more people than they currently have access to. This is a great situation for podcasting, and even better for video in RSS enclosures. I don't think we're quite ready for full-game feeds, and we may never need them, given the real-time nature of sporting events. But OLN will be creating hockey-related content around their coverage, and that's no good to them if nobody is watching it at 11pm. They will already be offering it on demand. Why not serve an MPEG for download on their own broadband network?

... what if there were a daily podcast of, say, five to ten minutes, for each home team? Many of these shows could be hosted by Comcast's regional sports network personalities -- who, naturally, would have access to the players themselves via the OLN deal. And finding podcasters to cover each of the Canadian teams would be like trying to find a cat who likes to watch mice. These are low-cost activities that would bring real fans in, wherever they may live. Fans who buy tickets, gear, and Internet access.

While the other major sports in the US are all still swirling their toes in the online water with monthly subscription charges for streaming content, the NHL has a real chance to rebuild by letting more people in. There are millions of monthly impressions to be had. Even OLN and Comcast stand to benefit in this arrangement by increasing their own profile. It would be fascinating for everyone involved to see the league and the network take such a bold step.

I think the NHL/Comcast/OLN should really explore the possibilities of this emerging podcasting media movement since they already have the content, delivery and demand elements in place to take full advantage of it. Plus, it's the wave of the future so I'd love to see them catch and ride that wave now.

If your interested in what the near future world of digital sports media will look like check out this WIRED article on the subject.

...the idea that you'll only watch television by plunking yourself in front of a 60-inch plasma screen is growing quaint. Home networks will put TV on your desktop; a proliferation of wireless technologies, from 3G to WiMax, will let you take it anywhere. And in a few years, when the cable companies finally dump their bandwidth-hogging analog channels and go all-digital, they'll be able to offer broadband at speeds that will put TV-quality video on the Net.

In Other Nooz:Penguins beat Stars for Stanley Cup

At least that's the outcome of a season simulation by the developers of the PC hockey management game, NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005. The simulation sees Pittsburgh winning the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the best regular season record. The Penguins then cut a swath through the playoffs before sweeping the Dallas Stars in the final.
Rookie defenceman Ryan Whitney, Pittsburgh's first-round pick in the 2002 draft, scored the winning goal in the Penguins' 3-2 win in Game 4 of the final.

...The hockey game, released this week in North America, features more than 32,000 players and staff from the NHL and 20 other leagues. It also draws on some 500 researchers around the world who follow the leagues and grade players and teams.

Read all about it >>> here.

(as always all emphasis found in this post is mine)


The wife and I are heading for the hills for a couple of days, catch you again sometime over the weekend. Everyone have a good one, ya hear?