This is short and sweet to write. If you’re a sports fan but are concerned you’re going to lose out on live sports if you cut the cord, then you’re going to want to read this entry:
On Tuesday of this week, Twitter announced a landmark deal with the NFL to live stream Thursday night games. You can read about it here.
Unfortunately because we live in Canada, Rogers has exclusive rights to broadcast the NFL, and therefore will block any Canadian twitter users from viewing the games. The Globe and Mail has a write up about it here.
I applaud Twitter and the NFL for embracing change. This is the future and if it succeeds I wouldn’t be surprised if other major sports leagues find other unique and interesting partnerships to broadcast their games on in the near future.
As for Rogers and the NFL agreeing not to broadcast the games via Twitter, I think it shows you that the problem in Canada isn’t so much the technology or knowledge of the medium. It’s more the legality and the monopoly Bell and Rogers have developed over the last half decade in this country. It’s making them slow to embrace change and to start charting a course for where they want to be in the 21st century.
Joel MacLeod.ca 