Though the next NFL season will proceed with its kickoff being only days away, it'll look quite a bit different than past seasons, and you already know why. The pandemic is still underway, particularly in the US, and social distancing remains a key way to reduce the spread of the disease. For obvious reasons, packed stadiums aren't an option right now, meaning there won't be many people cheering.
Advertisements have been around since the earliest days of mass media and they have reviled just as long. While some ads can be tasteful, ingenious, and even entertaining, most are just "in your face" attempts to grab consumers' attention. While those have more or less been accepted facts of life in some media, like print and the Web, other channels actually have ways to make consumers' voices be heard, something that EA Games learned the hard way in its latest attempt to put full-on commercials in the middle of a video game.
Though fans were concerned that it may not happen this year due to the pandemic, the National Football League (NFL) is gearing up to launch its next football season later this month, giving fans the ability to watch the content from the safety of their homes. Here to make that easier is YouTube TV, an over-the-top live television streaming service that just made some major changes to its football offerings.
Amazon's Audible audiobook service has teamed up with the NBA to launch a new sports podcast that builds upon a recent hit documentary called The Last Dance. The announcement comes amid Audible's big change in how the platform works, giving the public unlimited access to thousands of pieces of audio content under a new monthly subscription tier.
Spotify has introduced a new 'mixed-media' playlist that offers its users daily sports content, the company has announced. Simply called 'Daily Sports,' this playlist brings a variety of personalized music recommendations alongside brief sports commentary, this being similar to its other mixed playlists, including Daily Wellness and Your Daily Drive.
Disney's ESPN+, the streaming version of the popular sports network, is getting a price increase...but only for new customers. Existing subscribers will continue to pay the $4.99/month rate they signed up for, but that will only last for around a year, after which point the price increase will roll their way, as well. ESPN+ remains a bundled option with Disney+ and Hulu, the trio of which cost $12.99/month combined.
This week the folks at Verizon revealed a pair of new cities in which their 5G Edge tech would launch. This system works with AWS, making it the "world's first mobile edge computing platform with AWS." That means it's the first commercially available MEC with AWS cloud services, and it's launching in Boston and the Bay Area.
With Peacock's launch date quickly approaching, NBCUniversal continues to trickle release information about the streaming service. Today, NBC announced that Peacock will be home to a lot of NBC Sports Premier League coverage when it launches on July 15th. This seems to be a one-day-only promo meant to give those exploring the service a taste of NBC Sports' soccer coverage.
This week the folks at Hulu announced they'd be releasing an update for platforms from Roku to tvOS (Apple TV, that is). This update will be rolled out to all systems eventually over the next few months, but it'll start with some of the most-used systems. Navigating collections is the most important change, as it follows with rumors of Google's next-generation update to Android TV, with more focus on content, rather than the overarching services that serve said content.
Strava, the fitness app made specifically for cyclists and runners, has rolled out a big change to its business. While anyone can still download and use the app without paying on iOS and Android, certain popular features are now locked behind a paywall. Users who want access to the segment leaderboards and analysis will need to sign up for the new subscription, which is a way of ensuring the app can stick around in the future.
The THPS (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater) 1+2 release for 2020 is in-effect this week with pre-order bonuses and a bundle with a real skate deck. Assuming you've played the original game and/or THPS 2, you've more than likely seen the Birdhouse Falcon 2. Whether you know the name or not, you'll recognize the image. The design is iconic, and with this release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, the deck's been re-issued with a bit of THPS flare, as the Limited Edition Full Size Birdhouse Falcon 2.
WWE is a sports franchise that sees yearly game releases, but it looks like that schedule might be upended this year. WWE has apparently decided that this year's WWE 2K game, which would presumably be WWE 2K21, has been cancelled. Of course, if the WWE has decided to go in a different direction with this year's game, it wouldn't be surprising given the state that WWE 2K20 launched in.