Microsoft and ESPN bring media convergence to sport

Beginning in November, if you own an Xbox 360 and subscribe to Xbox Live, you will be able to watch ESPN3 live and on-demand through your magical Microsoft box.  The entertainment device already boasts connections to Netflix and other kinds of entertainment content, but it's safe to say that today's announcement at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) opens the world of sports broadcasting to an intriguing new medium.

Two SportsCenter anchors were on hand at E3 today to

show this picture of USC players hugging.

Importantly for both companies, however, this new feature will be exclusive to the Xbox, leaving Microsoft competitors Nintendo and Sony out in the cold.  Both console-developing companies, however, have made strides within the past year to make their mark in the streaming sports world.  Just a few months ago, Sony made a deal with Major League Baseball to supply a live streaming service through the Playstation.

The kids are going to want to do this, ESPN thinks.

It also means that there are some new features forthcoming as a result of the convergence.  According to their presentation, the Xbox/ESPN experience will also feature "live trivia, polls, and clips from ESPN shows  like SportsCenter."  For ESPN's Digital Media GM, John Kosner, streaming programming through the Xbox can create a "live even experience" that "reach[es] a group that we don't normally reach."

ESPN Rolls Out its WC Coverage

This is an impressive start.  Mike Tirico handling the on-location studio-hosting duties for ESPN's World Cup coverage, a first for World Cup coverage in the U.S.

With pre-match shows and post-match shows, as well as a daily evening show to recap and analyze the day's action - all broadcast from South Africa - it's like soccer finally getting its due from the Worldwide Leader.

I'm sorry, what?!!?

The latest advert for ESPN's World Cup coverage is here, again with some help from U2.

So, is the lesson don't watch this year's World Cup with your sister?

The Sports/Media Complex at an apex?

Before I headed off to school this morning, I caught a couple minutes each of Mike & Mike and First Take on ESPN2.  In the span of just a few minutes, I saw last year's Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes hawking a rather ugly pair of Reebok trainers and a First Take host open her interview with Detroit Lions quarterback Drew Stafford with the following: "Drew, what does it take to have girl-approved hair?"  In case you're curious, that line is adapted from Axe's hair products, for which Stafford is a spokesman.

These help you train better.  Whatever you say, science.

Santonio Holmes with Greeny & Golic and his shirt matched his shoes.

I realize it's the Super Bowl and everyone is cashing in, but it's more indicative of what's happening at in the world of sports - and at the World Wide Leader - the past several years.

Advertisements are a big part of ESPN's SportsCenter

Looking specifically at ESPN, from their partnership with EA Sports that produced the strangest NFL Countdown segment ever...

...to asking their analysts which player in a given game needs to taste greatness the most...

What might greatness taste like?  Miller Lite thinks they have the answer.

...the commercial/infotainment element of sport is certainly at its apex.  But it's not just ESPN, as noted in posts from the past couple of days.  Television, advertising, and sport are more intertwined now than ever before, across all sorts of sports - professional, amateur, or otherwise.

Is there any way for consumers to opt out of this growing machine?  Well, more and more sporting contests are available online.  Also, blogs are also doing some good work right now - when it comes to insightful information and analysis - especially if you are interested in a sport that doesn't receive much television coverage.  And finally, players have opened themselves directly - some more open than others - with technological tools like Facebook and Twitter.

It may not be the end of the world, or even the end of sports, just that the line between advertising and content is getting more and more blurry, and we fans have seemingly so little input in that process.