The NBA last night at the Int'l Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas said that it will be part of Samsung’s new Milk VR virtual reality streaming video service. The league beginning next month will contribute game highlights and behind-the-scenes video content to the service, which involves 360-degree, immersive video on Samsung’s Gear VR virtual reality goggles. Several other brands also are involved in Milk VR, including Red Bull and Mountain Dew, but the NBA will be the first U.S. pro league to make a significant move into virtual reality content. The NBA video in particular will focus on courtside-level views of the action, a perspective not accessible to many fans. NBA Associate VP/Global Media Distribution Jeff Marsilio said, “The NBA courtside seat is the best in sports. But making our virtual content available via Milk VR, we have the ability to deliver a first-class, in-arena experience to fans across the country and around the world.” The collaboration with Samsung follows a prior virtual reality experiment the league conducted this past October in Rio de Janeiro during the NBA Global Games there (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
TEST TRACK: FAST COMPANY's Jason Feifer wrote the NBA "has a problem of its own making: It has spent years and many millions of dollars fostering international basketball fandom, and now has large and enthusiastic bases in places like China and India." But "most far-flung viewers ... will never be inside an arena." That is the reason why the league "is now toying" with using virtual reality. After testing the NBA virtual reality service on a Galaxy Note 4 as league HQ, Feifer noted the screen resolution, "good as it is, can't maintain crispness" when using the product. There "are no camera cuts, no graphics, no instant replays." Marsilio: "It's not 100% reality yet. And I think the guys who are in charge of selling tickets are grateful that it's not. But it does get you probably as close to the game as you could otherwise hope to get, aside from actually being there." Feifer reported the league "is now looking into how to make its virtual reality experiences more dynamic -- allowing the viewer to move around the court to follow the action, say, or even change perspective to peer down from above the basket." The cameras used so far "were contained in a box that Marsilio estimates is about 18 inches tall and wide" and was "placed on the scorer's table." Feifer wrote that "unlike gathering around a television, virtual reality is an isolating experience." Marsilio said that "a good portion of the NBA's audience tunes in alone anyway." Marsilio: "Maybe we’ll hear each other’s voices. Maybe see avatars next to us, and that’s our friends" (FASTCOMPANY.com, 1/5).
