For years we’ve heard many promises about the future of television and its convergence with the Internet, companies such as LiveHive System, based in Waterloo, Ontario are bring that reality to a screen near you. The company has recently signed another agreement with the Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, this time involving the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and will feature content from the 2008 playoff games. Starting on April 20th, fans can go to www.raptors.com or http://raptors.nanogaming.com and play a free interactive game called Raptors Shot Caller which is being sponsored by Ford Canada and offers NanoGaming features such as real-time game predictions, basketball trivia, and instant recall challenges.
“We want to further engage our fans in the Raptors’ playoff experience and this partnership with LiveHive allows us to do just that,” said Chris Hebb, Senior Vice President of Broadcast & Content, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. “It is a lot of fun and free to play. We think that it will bring Raptors fans from across Canada even closer together.”
The campaign also leverages Facebook where an application has been developed that allows for polling, group play and chat features. LiveHive has also helped another NBA team, the Philadelphia 76ers power an interactive experience for their fans.
After seeing the nano-gaming platform at the ICE08 conference, I can understand why sports organizations want to get involves with Live Hive. I also imaging the broadcasters themselves would want to ensure they have a stake in the relationship to engage TV audiences beyond the show and keep them from channel surfing, thus increasing advertiser loyaty to shows.