U.S. Open Golf Goes Interactive on DBS
DirecTV, Dish Network Ready Multiple Feeds from Oakmont Country Club
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 6/7/2007 4:27:00 PM
DirecTV and EchoStar’s Dish Network will take interactive television to the greens for coverage of the upcoming U.S. Open Championship gold tournament.
On June 14 and June 15, DirecTV will offer a U.S. Open mosaic channel featuring four feeds of coverage from the tournament, according to the company. Each of the four feeds on the mosaic channel can be enlarged to encompass the full screen with a click of a remote control button.
The first mix channel will offer ESPN’s national telecast of the championship and, during the 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET window, NBC’s weekday national broadcast.
During the morning and early afternoon, the second channel will the play of specific players, while during the late afternoon and evening, the channel will feature coverage of championship play specific to the 8th, 9th, 17th and 18th holes.
The third channel will feature a mix of player interviews as well as press conferences with players and championship officials, while the fourth channel will offer a continually updated loop of U.S. Open highlights.
Dish will offer the same four channel feeds as well as a fifth channel that will feature highlights of the day and a sixth channel will feature video from previous U.S. Open Championships.
Overall, ESPN will televise more than 30 hours of U.S. Open coverage, including live first- and second-round action June 14-15.
Along with the interactive satellite channels, the ESPN360 broadband video service will offer approximately 30 hours of U.S. Open coverage.
Along with a live simulcast of ESPN’s on-air coverage, ESPN360 will offer live Webcasts of standout golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and their morning groups. The broadband service will also offer driving range footage and live press conferences; historic U.S. Open Championship moments best shots of the day and highlights, according to ESPN.
On the mobile side, ESPN Mobile TV will also feature ESPN’s live U.S. Open coverage, along with live video coverage of Tiger Woods’ and Phil Mickelson’s morning groups on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
ESPN’s mobile services will also feature a “Tiger Cast” which will alert users on his performance throughout the championship as well as provide on-demand video clips from the tournament.
In other U.S. Open developments, USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, Sci Fi Channel and Universal HD will all simulcast NBC’s June 14 coverage of the opening round tee shot of Woods and several other golfers as part of the tournament’s traditional “champions pairing.” The NBC U.S. Open Roadblock presented by Lexus begins at 8 a.m., and can also be seen live on the NBC.com, NBCSports.com, MSNBC.com and CNBC.com websites, according to NBC officials.
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