Taking advantage of its free preview week, I test drove NBA League Pass Broadband last night, and I was pretty impressed.
My cable company (Time Warner) offers the NBA League Pass, and access to the Broadband package is included. Unfortunately, Time Warner does not offer the package in my area in HD, so the picture is pretty crummy. After using Broadband, I think I may instead watch NBA action on my computer.
The interface is intuitive and powerful. There is a list of games at the bottom, and users can pick up to three games to watch at once. One game is bigger (on the left) while the other two games are on the right. Audio can be instantly switched by clicking on the game. Tired of watching a game? No problem. Any of the three windows can be swapped out by clicking on a game in the list below. Want to watch one of the games full screen? No problem. It’s just a click of the mouse. Want to see a replay? No problem. Each game has DVR functionality, so you can pause, rewind and fast forward, just like you would on a TiVo.
Fantasy hoopsters can easily check the stats of a game by clicking a button. There’s also a function (“My Players”) that allows users to track the stats of up to 12 players, which makes it easy to check the status of a fantasy team.
The picture quality leaves a lot to be desired, but with all the motion in basketball, it’s going to be tough to get clear, clean picture without going full HD. But the picture isn’t much worse than the standard video feed that I get from Time Warner, so no harm, no foul.
Another downside is that the nationally televised games (and local games) are blacked out on Broadband, so if there’s a game on TNT, ESPN or ABC, users won’t be able to watch it on their computers. This was a little inconvenient last night, since I wanted to catch some of the Hornets/Spurs game. I had to run into the kitchen to do so. Radio broadcasts of the blacked out games are available, however.
There are only two games on tonight, and they’re both on TNT, so if you want to check out Broadband, give it a test drive tomorrow (Friday), when there are 13 games on the docket. It’s worth a look.
The free preview lasts through Nov. 3.
FX’s original broadcasting has a reputation for being pretty racy and adult-oriented — after all, this is the network that brought us “The Shield,” “Rescue Me,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “Nip/Tuck” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
