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ESPN set for World Cup Webcasts

Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN.com will simulcast 52 World Cup soccer games for USA Internet viewers beginning Friday. They will also be carried by Disney's ESPN and ESPN2 cable channels.  The contests broadcast on the ABC TV Network will not be Webcast.  Here's the schedule.

The biggest games, at the end of the tournament, will also be telecast around the world - and available online - through Disney's broadband Internet play, ESPN360.

Think of the World Cup 'casts as an "open house" marketing opportunity when Disney will allow anyone to logon to the ESPN360.com Web site. Disney hopes the idea of live Webcasts of lots of sporting events is such a compelling idea people will call their broadband Internet provider and ask for the service.  The broadband channel is a no-cost option for ISP subscribers.  Cable/broadband providers which are offering ESPN360 include Charter, Liberty, Verizon, and Adelphia.

March Madness Webcasts will be back

Roundball was very, very good to CBS last month.

During a quarterly results conference call with analysts, company executives said streaming video Webcasts of out-of-market NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament games generated $4 million in ad revenue.  CEO Les Moonves said 19 million streams were served and ratings for the games' broadcast were not affected.

"So, all of the Web hits were incremental, as was the revenue produced," he said.  "The revenue was considerable and we will clear increase (it) greatly every year for the future years of the tournament."

Moonves said digital distribution of content promises to be very important to the company.  He called new media one of the quarter's highlights by "getting new revenue streams from already existing content." 

Audio: Moonves on dollars from digital distribution.

NBA debuts podcasts

The NBA has begun offering MP3 versions of some of the programming of its NBA TV cable service.  NBA Talk has breaking news, updates on games, including interviews, fantasy picks, analysis of trades, streaks, trends, the newest in video games "and insight on the NBA’s personalities," according to the League's Web site. The seven-night-a-week, 30-minute NBA Fantasy Hoops show is also offered to help fantasy league players stay at the top of their games.  Details about the podcasts are here.