FOX to Stream Super Bowl Free to Desktops and iPads

Credit: FOX

Fox Sports is planning to use Super Bowl XLVIII as a launching pad for its online and mobile authentication service for pay-TV subscribers by offering a free, one-day preview during TV’s biggest event.

FOX will live stream the Super Bowl — complete with the halftime show starring Bruno Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers — via the free preview of its Fox Sports Go service. The live stream will be made available on iPad via the Fox Sports Go app, and on desktops at FoxSportsGo.com. However, the stream will not be available on smartphones due to the NFL’s preexisting deal with Verizon Wireless. If you want to watch the big game on your phone, you'll have to subscribe to NFL Mobile from Verizon.

But there's plenty to encourage viewership via Fox Sports Go, as the preview will allow users to access content from 12:00 AM ET on Sunday, Feb. 2, until 3:00 AM ET on Monday, Feb. 3. So you'll have a brief window of opportunity to relive your favorite moments after the big game.

But that's not all: The Fox Sports Go preview will also include all supplementary Super Bowl content, from the Super Bowl Sunday Pregame Show to bonus content from Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.

Further details via Variety:

Ordinarily, the Fox Sports Go service is accessible only to subscribers of pay-TV providers. Today, that’s limited to six providers: Comcast, AT&T U-verse, Cablevision Systems, Suddenlink, WideOpenWest and Midcontinent. Fox restricted access to the online video streams of the NFC playoff games this year to those partners.

The goal is to encourage more cable, satellite and telco TV partners to sign up for the authentication service, said Clark Pierce, senior VP of mobile and advanced platforms for Fox Sports. “We want to showcase the product. This is as good an opportunity as we’re going to get,” he said.

As for the famous Super Bowl ads, online and mobile viewers will not see exactly the same ads that appear in the TV telecast. Fox is selling the digital inventory separately from the linear feed. While the TV inventory has long been sold out since early December “we are still working on digital,” Pierce said, declining to identify advertisers for the Internet feed. (Meanwhile, both YouTube and Hulu are hosting Super Bowl ads on their websites.)

In 2012, NBC was the first broadcaster to stream the Super Bowl on the Internet for free, attracting 2.1 million users. CBS followed suit with last year’s Super Bowl, and 3 million users watched the live stream on CBSSports.com, up 43% from the previous year.

Ultimately, FOX will offer two separate live streams of the big game: an English-language telecast and a Spanish-language broadcast via Fox Deportes, making this the first time the Super Bowl will be streamed in Spanish in the United States. All in all, FOX is looking to provide the Fox Sports Go service with a huge platform to succeed.

Super Bowl XLVIII will air live from East Rutherford, N.J., on Feb. 2, pitting the Denver Broncos against the Seattle Seahawks.

Via: Variety