Fox Sports Go has rolled out Clippers CourtVision for the '18-19 season, a new tech feature for FS Prime Ticket game streams that features augmented reality options offering viewers "three different alternatives as a supplement to the traditional broadcast," according to Andrew Wallenstein of VARIETY. The product, developed alongside data analytics firm Second Spectrum, has mascot, player and coach modes and can be accessed on iOS or Android devices for "subscribers of pay-TV services" in the L.A. market that carry the team's RSN. Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer is "hopeful connected TV devices will eventually provide access to the app itself." The team and Second Spectrum worked on the product for "four years" (VARIETY.com, 10/17). GEEKWIRE's Bishop & Soper note at launch, the AR experience in some modes "happens on a two-minute delay." Second Spectrum CEO Rajiv Maheswaran said that his firm "plans to narrow that gap" to single-digit seconds. The Clippers are also "beta testing a separate CourtVision app that lets fans switch between seven camera angles throughout the arena and pick different audio feeds" (GEEKWIRE.com, 10/17).
SEEING THINGS IN A NEW WAY: Maheswaran said that he will be "very surprised if the Clippers are the only NBA team augmenting their broadcasts with CourtVision by season’s end." Maheswaran: "There will be a day where we look back and say, ‘I can’t imagine we all used to watch the same thing at the same time, that seems silly.’" In L.A., Andrew Greif notes Maheswaran is also "working with soccer and hockey leagues, among others." Viewers have "long become accustomed to broadcasts that augment the game, from football’s yellow first-down line to baseball’s K-Zone." Second Spectrum said that CourtVision is a "leap beyond those innovations because it understands the game through machine learning" (L.A. TIMES, 10/18).
