TORONTO – Rogers customers can get up close and personal with their favourite NHL players and teams this season with new technology dubbed GamePlus.
GamePlus, available within Rogers NHL GameCentre Live, will offer hockey fans new cameras and angles, plus create an exclusive second-screen hockey experience, the company detailed Monday. The new cameras include:
– In Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, Sky Cam sits at the 200 level and follows the puck red line to red line at six metres per second;
– Ref Cam (pictured) is on the referee’s helmet and puts fans on the ice to get in on face offs, breakaways and goals (no sound though – the kiddies' parent's might not like the language…);
– POV Cam spotlights the hustle from inside the blue lines and for the first time inside the players’ benches;
– Star Cam tracks a single player throughout the game no matter where the puck goes;
– Goal Line Cam provides a top-down view of the ice, directly above the offensive action; and
– MyReplay lets fans select multiple replay angles to analyze key plays during the game, including goals, power plays, penalty kills, and the ref’s tough calls.
In pre-season testing last week, Rogers said that its crew was able to create up to eight camera replay angles of major plays and have them available on mobiles and tablets in less than three minutes after the action happened. The company also noted that it has worked hard on delivering adaptive bit rates and has brought in its wireless division to work on situational bandwidth so that when thousands of fans in the Air Canada Centre pull their phones out to watch a big replay from their seats, the app will still work quickly.
“GamePlus is a game changer. It combines the latest in broadcast technology together with mobile app technology and we've invested more than $10 million to create this outstanding experience”, said Rogers Media president Keith Pelley, in the news release. “We’ve secretly tested a number of high tech cameras since early summer to make sure fans get a completely new and unique way to watch the game on mobiles and tablets. It puts customers in control and gives them access to angles they’ve never had before on any screen.”
The Beta version of GamePlus will launch in time for the start of the NHL season on October 8. Rogers wireless, cable, Internet and home phone customers who subscribe to Rogers NHL GameCentre Live will have exclusive access to GamePlus until December 31st. GameCentre Live is available for $199 for the NHL season.
Available now for download, Rogers NHL GameCentre Live is an online destination for customers to livestream more NHL games this season, including the Stanley Cup Final, on any screen. Rogers wireless data and Hi-Speed Internet customers will get a free subscription until December 31, 2014.
