Posing an ever greater competitive threat to pay-TV under its first full season under partnership with streaming shop BAMTech, the National Hockey League has unveiled its new-look over-the-top platform, NHL.TV.
For $139.96, users will have access to every out-of-market game played this season by the NHL’s 25 teams.
They’ll be able to view content in 60 frame-per-second HD on iOS and Android mobile devices; PlayStation 3 and 4, and Xbox One and 360 gaming consoles; as well as Google Chromecast, Roku — and for the first time — Apple TV streaming boxes.
Users will be able to watch games live with DVR controls, as well as on-demand. They’ll also be able to switch between local feeds. So, if you’re, say, watching a Kings-Red Wings game and you don’t like the play-by-play of Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond, you can switch to the dulcet tones of longtime Kings announcer Bob Miller.
Other pricing models include $111.96 a season, or $24.99 a month, for access to a single team’s out-of-market games.
Other new products under the BAMTech partnership include Arena, which will offer a number of mobile app conveniences, such as ticket and food purchasing, for fans visiting the homes of 12 NHL hockey teams this season.
The upgraded digital platform stems from an equity partnership established last year between the NHL and BAMTech, the streaming shop recently spun off from Major League Baseball Advanced Media.
Under the agreement, BAMTech is paying the NHL $100 million a year for its content rights, and it will give the hockey league a 7 percent to 10 percent stake in the proposed streaming-tech spinoff.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the streaming shop beat out competitors including Comcast's NBCUniversal, Google, Amazon, Verizon and AT&T for the NHL business.
Disney recently invested $1 billion in BAMTech and is developing an ESPN-branded over-the-top product with the company.
For more:
- read this NHL press release
- read this TechCrunch story
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