NBA introduces live games on mobile devices
Previously league offered only game highlights on mobile phones
 | The National Basketball Association is introducing complete live games on mobile phones, including Apple's iPhone, for $40 a year. |
Jeff Haynes / REUTERS |
 | Slideshow |
 | more photos |
 | Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
 Abdul-Jabbar managing his illness Nov. 15: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wants to be very clear that his cancer was caught early and that he's not dealing with a death sentence. |
Ask the NBA expert: Ira Winderman |
Do you have a burning question about your favorite team or player? Submit it now, and then check back for our reader mailbag on the 1st and 15th of each month. |  |
CHICAGO - The National Basketball Association will give its digital offering the full court press, introducing complete live games on mobile phones, including Apple Inc's iPhone, for $40 a year.
Previously the NBA, whose season tipped off on Tuesday, offered only game highlights on mobile phones. The league already offers subscription packages to watch live games on PCs as well as an added package on cable and satellite TV.
NBA league attendance hit 21.5 million last year. Research firm IDC estimates there are potentially 59 million mobile phones in the U.S. that can carry the new package.
Major League Baseball began selling live games to iPhone users in June. The National Hockey League offers live games through mobile phones in Canada, but not the United States. The National Football League offers live games on mobile devices to some DirecTV customers.
The NBA package allows fans to watch more than 40 live games each week. It also offers digital video recording technology to pause and rewind 30 seconds of action and access to up to two days of archived games. Users also will be able to get game statistics while watching the action.
Like the TV and Internet packages, locally broadcast games will be blocked for users in their markets, as well as nationally televised games.
Carriers include AT&T, exclusive U.S. provider for Apple's iPhone, and T-Mobile USA, a Deutsche Telekom unit that sells phones based on Google's Android. Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile service provider, will begin offering its first Android phone on November 6.
By year end, the NBA product also will be available to users of Research in Motion's BlackBerry. The product works on high-speed cellular networks and Wi-Fi, a short-range network technology.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
LowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM NBA |
 NBA Section Front |
| Add NBA headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links