Immersive streaming service for live events NextVR has collaborated with the NBA for a number of years, offering NBA League Pass holders the chance to watch games in virtual reality (VR). Today, NBA Digital – co-managed by the NBA and Turner Sports – and NextVR have announced the live VR game schedulefor the 2019-20 regular season.
Available to NBA League Pass subscribers within the NextVR app for most headsets (Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream, Windows Mixed Reality, PlayStation VR, Oculus Go, HTC Vive, HTC Vive Pro, Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest) things kick off with the New Orleans Pelicans vs. the Houston Rockets on 26th October.
As detailed above, the schedule will feature a game each week throughout the season. For those in the US, the NBA League Pass will be viewable via social app Oculus Venues allowing fans to watch games with friends as well as thousands of others.
“We are delighted to renew our partnership with the NBA as we continue to evolve our VR broadcast to provide the highest fidelity, most immersive NBA experience in VR,” said David Cole, NextVR co-founder and CEO in a statement. “This season comes on the heels of our recent launch on Oculus Quest. By capitalizing on new VR headsets with next-generation optics and highly optimized architecture, we’ll be able to deliver higher-fidelity NBA VR than ever before.”
“NextVR will continue to provide a unique courtside experience,” said Mike Chioditti, NBA Senior Director, New Media Distribution. “We’re also excited to partner with Oculus again to deliver a communal experience for fans to enjoy NBA basketball in VR.”
The NBA League Pass is available in three subscriptions depending on how much you love basketball. The top annual package comes in at $249.99 USD, offering games from all the teams, commercial free. Or if you don’t mind commercials then save some cash and buy the All Teams package for $199.99. For those only interested in watching their team then the One Team package at $119.99 is the smart choice.
The NextVR app is free to download for the aforementioned VR headsets. For further updates on NextVR content keep reading VRFocus.
As part of its yearly broadcast schedule, virtual reality (VR) platform NextVR has held a longstanding partnership with the NBA to showcase highlights of games via its app. As official VR partner of the NBA, NextVR will be able to offer basketball fans free on-demand highlights of the 2019 NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV featuring the Toronto Raptors vs. the Golden State Warriors.
Via the NextVR app fans will be able to access highlights in the NBA Finals channel, following each game, being able to go ringside and enjoy the action first hand.
“NBA Finals highlights are among NextVR’s most popular sports experiences, year after year. We are fired up to provide fans with their favourite experience for the third year in a row,” said Danny Keens, Vice President of Content at NextVR in a statement. “This year with NBA Finals highlights centred on a unique viewpoint, from the stanchion, NextVR is putting fans closer to NBA Finals action than ever before.”
“The NBA Finals is the most anticipated event of our season, and we are excited to once again partner with NextVR to deliver innovative VR highlights following each game,” said Jeff Marsilio, NBA Senior Vice President, New Media Distribution. “NBA fans will have the opportunity to experience the Finals in a unique and immersive way.”
As well as the highlights, viewers can continue to experience NBA feature content available via the NBA League Pass channel.
The NextVR app is now more widely available than ever. Originally a mobile app for headsets like Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream, NextVR brought support to Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, HTC VIVE Pro, HTC Vive Focus, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality. And to help with distribution, the app arrived on Steam earlier this year.
NextVR isn’t just about basketball either. The VR broadcaster puts you up front for WWE fights, NHL games and football matches, as well as concerts, and stand-up comedy gigs. As the company expands its VR content roster, VRFocus will bring you all the latest news and updates so you know what and when to watch.
The weekend is here and that means it’s time for the first of our three regular weekend features here on VRFocus. We begin, as always, buy taking a look back over the last seven days to some of the stories that you may not have known regarding all manner of sports and how they are looking to implement immersive technologies. By which we mean virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality (MR). As usual there’s been quite the variety of things going on, including some that has been on the cards for a while – but has somehow never happened or expressly been confirmed.
Intel Makes Another Broadcasting Deal, Teams With Turner & NBA
We begin with basketball, and news of a multiyear partnership between Turner Sports and Intel, that will see Intel become the exclusive provider of VR content NBA on Turner Network Television, better known as TNT. The deal in the latest in a seriesof moves into live broadcasting, partnering with major sporting events and organisations
Intel will be utilising their Intel True VR technology to produce content beginning with the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, Intel will enable fans to experience some of the biggest showdowns in the championship courtesy of the new NBA on TNT app that is due to be released shortly for Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream. As well as live content Intel is partnering with the NBA and will become its official partner on a global scale for all broadcast partners, through them bringing 360 degree volumetric video to potentially 215 countries.
This would, on the face of things also seem to leave previous partner NextVR out in the cold, although individual teams may well have their own deals.
“This is an exciting time to be a basketball fan, and we are thrilled to be working with Intel and Turner Sports to make virtual reality and 360 degree content from the NBA on TNT games available,” NBA Vice President of Global Media Distribution. Jeff Marsilio said in a statement. “We are committed to bringing the most innovative and immersive experiences possible for our fans.”
“Intel is working with leagues and sports organizations all over the world to develop and deliver the most cutting-edge immersive media experiences that will make sports more engaging for the next generation of fans.” Explained Vice President and General Manager of Intel Sports, James Carwana. “This unique partnership with the NBA will enable us to
work with official league broadcasters, including Turner Sports, to take their broadcasts to an unprecedented level and create new ways to immerse viewers in the game.”
“Turner Sports and Turner Ignite Sports have been at the forefront of delivering thrilling new experiences to fans. This unprecedented partnership, with Turner Sports as the first NBA broadcast partner to offer the latest Intel VR technology, does just that,” added Will Funk, Executive Vice President of Property Marketing and Corporate Partnerships for Turner Sports. “We look forward to bringing this partnership to life through our broadcasts, as well as telling the story behind the power of Intel’s True VR technology in other unique, unexpected ways.”
Manchester United Move Into VR For Training
This Week In VR Sport has been going for well over a year at this point and in all that time we’ve covered many a story about football teams developing an interest in VR and AR, predominantly in two areas: connecting with fans and training. Yet arguably the biggest team in football has been relatively coy in getting involved.
We have featured Manchester United a couple of times on VRFocus before, United players were involved in a 360 degree video back in February, but that was for sponsors Swissquote and not their own doing. Back in 2016 it was also revealed that former Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal had considered the possibility of using VR as part of his training scheme at the club but ultimately the decision was deferred.
Now Mi Hiepa – a partnership of Hiepa, a sports data specialist company and the Manchester based developer Mi – will be bringing their coaching system Mi Heipa Scout, which utilises gamification, to Manchester United’s academy. It is hoped it will help train the next generation of players and help hone their decision making in match situations.
“For the first time, coaches, managers, scouts and sports directors can produce rapid, standardised, measurable and comparable results from talent pools that may have been previously unmanageable.” Explain the company on their website. “At the same time existing talent can be progress-tracked and improved. Our Elite solutions help your best players get better mentally and physically through individual training drills. Our proprietary limb tracking mechanism enables us to track the movement of a player’s feet and shins independently in 3d space.”
“The product has been developed and perfected with input from physiotherapists, sports scientists and football clubs themselves and it’s extremely rewarding that Manchester United has recognised the benefits that Mi Hiepa will deliver to its already incredibly successful youth setup,” explained Andy Etches of Mi Heipa. “We have plans for significant growth and hope to be expanding our 15-strong team in Manchester with a raft of new appointments over the coming months”
“At Manchester United we’re proactive about embracing innovative new ways of learning.” Manchester United’s Tony Strudwick added. “We were impressed by the Mi Hiepa virtual reality tool, which works by homing in on players’ decision making skills and training them in isolation. Gamification works really well with younger players and it provides the motivation they need for improvement. In the modern world of producing young footballers, this is just the kind of innovation that will give us a competitive edge.”
VRFocus will bring you more news on the developments at Mi Heipa in the future as they look to expand and secure additional partners.
VR For WWE? It’s “Custom Made” For It Says HHH
Our thrice weekly look at all things 360 degree video, Life In 360 has featured WWE on several occasions as they have experimented with producing content in that format – and its important for that format they do. Why? Because it may surprise you to know that World Wrestling Entertainment are one of the biggest portals for video on the internet. In 2014 17.7% of all livestreamed video content came from WWE, making it second only to Twitch (43.6%)
It’s important that the company stay on the cutting edge of fan engagement, as Paul Levesque was explaining to CNBC in Lisbon recently. Levesque is better known by his in-ring identity as Hunter Hearst Helmsley. aka Triple H. Nowadays though his work is more outside the ring both as the Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative for WWE, and his continued role as the founder and Senior Producer of its developmental programme NXT.
Speaking at the Web Summit technology conference earlier this week Levesque noted VR could become a part of their flagship event Wrestlemania, going forward.
“In some ways, it is kind of custom-made for what we do and I think as the technology improves it will get better and better.” Said Levesque. “Everybody wants to be there live and in person and if its Wrestlemania and you can put a headset on, or whatever that device is at the time, and you can actually put yourself on that front row sitting there experiencing it… that’s a whole different point of view.”
Taking place tomorrow is the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 tournament by Turner Sports and IMG. While there will be traditional coverage on TBS as well as Twitch, Youtube and other digital channels, virtual reality (VR) esports broadcaster SLIVER.tv will be adding its immersive experience to the event.
Just like SLIVER.tv has done with past esports events like the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2017, the broadcaster will provide CS:GO fans with a unique perspective for the matches. They’ll be able to get inside the game map, follow their favourite teams and players, all in VR.
“These latest technology and product enhancements will further improve the fan experience, creating even more opportunities to engage with our ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier content,” said Robert Occhialini, Vice President, esports Products and Technology, Turner Sports in a statement. “We’re looking forward to working closely with our technology partners as we continue to drive innovation across our growing esports portfolio.”
This would, on the face of things also seem to leave 
Now Mi Hiepa – a partnership of Hiepa, a sports data specialist company and the Manchester based developer Mi – will be bringing their coaching system Mi Heipa Scout, which utilises gamification, 
