NFL game broadcasts coming to iPods

PMSNBC ^ | 1/18/2005 | Associated Press

[bedolido]

NEW YORK - Starting next week, football fans will have a new way to listen to games: on their iPods.

The National Football League on Tuesday announced an agreement with Audible Inc., an online distributor of audiobooks and other spoken-word programming, to make recordings of this year's remaining playoff games available for portable audio players, including Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.

The recordings will be available for purchase through Apple's iTunes Music Store, which has an existing relationship with Audible, and other sites that sell audio over the Internet, according to the NFL and Audible.

The first recordings of football games for sale under the agreement will be this Sunday's NFL conference championships, which will be available on the Internet the following morning.

Replays of the Super Bowl will also be available under the deal.

Chris Russo, senior vice president of new media and publishing for the NFL, said complete recordings of games, including versions that feature local sportscasters, are expected to cost around $10 each, while highlights of games are expected to cost between 95 cents and $4.95.

"This is not a replacement for watching games," Russo said. "It's really for fans who want a keepsake of the event or who to want hear the local call of the event."

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Do NFL fans really have enough room for another cord/tube running down the side of their head? : )

[Question_Assumptions]

Apple also made most of the major speeches at the RNC Convention available on their iTunes store. I have them all on my iPod.

[ambrose]

you don't need an iPod to listen to Audible.com programs.

[ChefKeith]

I can see it already.

Car wrecks because some idiot is paying attention to the game instead of driving.

Bad enough with cell phones out there.

[ambrose]

I can see it already. Car wrecks because some idiot is paying attention to the game instead of driving. Bad enough with cell phones out there.

Ronald Reagan got his first "big break" broadcasting football and baseball games over the radio. This is hardly something new.

[tellw]

Are there any recordings preserved of Ronald Reagan calling a ball game on the radio?

[GOP_Raider]

No need, I can grab an AM transistor radio at Radio Shack for $5 and listen to Raider games that way.

[marblehead17]

ping

[ambrose]

Not that I am aware of.

[cyborg]

I would love to see an ipod satellite radio.

[Question_Assumptions]

What I think could really sell is an AM-FM radio that lets you record a broadcast straight onto an iPod for later listening. Since they have microphones for the iPot, it should be quite possible. That would allow everyone who wants to time-shift a talk radio broadcast to do so. Heck, limit it to AM radio and I bet it would sell.