In NFL deal, an extra point for Adobe's Flash

Adobe Systems' Flash technology may not have qualified for the Olympics, but it is in tip-top shape for the National Football League season just getting under way.

With the bulk of NFL teams hitting the gridiron in earnest Sunday, it'll be Flash that delivers the live video streaming on the Web of NBC's Sunday Night Football games. This marks the first time that full-length NFL games are widely available online in the U.S., according to Adobe and the NFL.

(Credit: Adobe Systems)

The NFL-Adobe partnership wouldn't normally be quite so notable--after all, Flash is one of the most well-established technologies on the Web. But it was only a few short weeks ago that NBC had delivered streaming video from the Beijing Olympics courtesy of a technology that's looking to overturn Flash's dominance: Microsoft Silverlight.

The Olympics deal no doubt stuck in Adobe's craw; NBC has said that it initially expected to use Flash for the Olympics. Adobe's press release on the NFL deal certainly doesn't mention the upstart Silverlight by name, but it does get in a subtle bit of trash-talking--the widespread, existing installation of Flash on desktop PCs "will enable fans to access NFL games on the Web without having to download additional software."

Anyone who wanted to watch NBC's online streaming of the Olympics first had to download Silverlight, an additional step that some folks may not have been ready to take.

Its name notwithstanding, the Web-streamed Sunday Night Football Extra (delivered via NFL.com and NBCSports.com) made its debut Thursday, with the season's inaugural game between the Washington Redskins and last season's Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants. On Sunday, the streaming video will start up on its namesake day with the Week 1 nighttime contest between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts.

Beyond the live streaming, fans get some interactive extras, including alternative camera angles, in-game highlights, live statistics, and a live blog.

The experience may be something of a mixed bag. Writing at Silicon Alley Insider, Michael Learmouth had this to say about Thursday night's streaming video:

We gave it a try and there were some hiccups. Inititally, we couldn't get the live stream, and were told we had been placed in a queue 'due to overwhelming demand.'

Once the video began, it was pixelated and jumpy, and there's no full-screen mode. But there were some cool features, such as a 'star cam' trained on individual players like Fred Smoot and Plaxico Burress.

We were asked to watch a Sprint pre-roll ad to get to the video, and there were a few online ads within the broadcast, but not nearly as many as on TV. In fact, during most TV ad breaks, online viewers were sent to the NFL network studio for recaps of other games, which is nice but perhaps a sign advertising for the Webcast wasn't sold out.

As for the Flash-Silverlight competition, that will have to play itself out over time. As noted by Paul Glazowski at the Mashable blog:

It's not an impossibility for Silverlight to grow, mind you. Given the right level of attention to the platform, Microsoft could mark its Olympic foray as only the first big starter in the long slog toward mass adoption. But 'could' is the key word. The hill climbs (yes, climbs plural) will be trying.

One key challenge, Glazowski says, is "to convince the public of its validity and utility in the presence" of a "semi-household" name like Flash.

[deiogn]

did you see how pixelated it was?? it was horrible. not getting into how badly the nfl needs to fire there camera crew... zooming in and out and moving from one part of the filed to another like a kid wih a personal camcorder.. .. i was happy to hear the nfl finally decided to reward there fans instead of forcing them to directtv. and all there other monopolistic practices.. but thats another story. at any rate. shame on nfl. the picutre was so pixelated and distorted. you couldnt watch for more then a minute withotu getting hammering headaches. youd think theyd use h264. but nope. why not use the old an dmoldy h263 flash.. :( tisk tisk. guess thats why there not in the movie making business. though.. they are in the tv b usiness.......... :( ill chalk i up to old uppity ups who have no clue what the internet is.. they probably got a barrell of cash from adobe and in teh end thats all they care about anyways...

[eee444]

Flash is to remain and get better and better. Why again Microsoft should make additional product to mess the whole things up.

[rk2469]

Again, another person who doesn't understand what silverlight is...
Also, if take this guy's logic, we would all be burning candle to light up the house.
And what logic does he provide that any additional choice is equal to "messing the whole things up."
I guess for him choice is messing things up. I think the beer company is looking for the extra for the "The Real Men of the Genius" Commercial.

[joe1172]

eee444 - damn competition and market forces, what's it ever done for the consumer?
(sarcasm)

[Kwasiowusu]

Adobe Flash has the NFL?
Well Silverlight has both the NBA and MLB.
Competition is good.

[iertry]

does anyone know if it can be viewed outside the US (in the UK). I know the NBC olympics overage was US only I hope this isn't.

[dukeoconnor]

Competition most certainly is good for consumers. That's why many of us dislike Microsoft for it's failed attempt at making the Web Windows only, not to mention being found guilty of anti-competitive practices in various courts around the world. When MS or anyone else has the power to get away with that all of us -- even Microsoft fans -- suffer.

[Kwasiowusu]

"That's why many of us dislike Microsoft for it's failed attempt at making the Web Windows only,"

When was that?
No one has ever attempted to, nor ever had the power to make the web "Windows only". The internet (ARPANET) existed before Windows was even released, and the web itself was neither invented by Microsoft, nor has it ever been under the control of Microsoft. Please do try and make some sense will ya?

[Lerianis]

Why use either of these products in the first place for this (flash or Silverlight)? Use 'Move Media Player' like ABC does for their website. It allows MUCH higher resolutions than either Flash or Silverlight to be streamed, and would probably cost less as well.

[professionaladventurer]

People still watch sports? At home? Online? How quaint. Good for flash, cornering some little market I have never heard of, this NFL.

[cdotspace]

The Olympics are short (what? 4 weeks?) why not try something that might fail (like it did for me, I never could get Silverlight installed) The NFL season is long, stick to something that works.

I am glad that Flash has competition. It's coming up on time that it needs some.

[ewelch]

I'd go for Quicktime streaming any time. h.264 is better than either Flash or Silverlight for streaming video. If it's good enough for Blu-ray and DVD, as well as movie trailers by most studios, it's good enough for me.

[FourWheelVibe]

Flash fully supports H.264 streaming and is far more ubiquitous than Quicktime. Flash was a great choice for the NFL. 98% of people already have Flash and the quality argument doesn't hold water. Flash can provide full HD quality streaming with HW acceleration - it is up to the publisher to determine what quality stream to provide. I watched the Giants game on NFL.com on Thursday and it was great - 5 camera views, good quality video. The only *minor* complaint is that it didn't have true full screen (Flash supports this so I am not sure why the NFL chose not to implement it)

[Kwasiowusu]

ewelch : "I'd go for Quicktime streaming any time. h.264 is better than either Flash or Silverlight for streaming video. If it's good enough for Blu-ray and DVD, as well as movie trailers by most studios, it's good enough for me."

Microsoft's Windows Media Player 11 does all that and more. And its better than Quicktime to boot.

[llknyc]

You're missing the big selling point, INTERACTION. In the Flash experience, you can do things like changing the camera angle, live chat/comments, etc. This is the game that Microsoft is trying to catch up in with Silverlight. They obviously haven't yet. Quicktime, Windows Media and Move Networks technologies aren't comparable.

[badasscat]

Silverlight sucks. Couldn't watch a damn thing during the Olympics - just constant stuttering and freezing. Flash works fine...

[streamOG]

"Anyone who wanted to watch NBC's online streaming of the Olympics first had to download Silverlight, an additional step that some folks may not have been ready to take."

Once again News.com makes some completely bogus comment to throw question and doubt into the mix that don't exist today.

Anyone who want's to watch Flash encoded content will ALSO have to download the Flash player. No biggie though because nearly 100M have done this with Silverlight already. I am sure it's not a problem right CNet "We Hate Microsoft" CBS?

[brickman5721]

What REALLY needs to happen in order for our dream of high-quality, live, streaming events using Flash to come true is for such events to use multicast. This would make bandwidth at NBC's end a non-issue, and as such, would allow them to stream the live event in multiple resolutions, including HD, all at the same time.

[tim_acheson]

This article and many of the comments are comical.

NFL is now using the awesome new Silverlight player.

http://team.silverlight.net/announcements/sunday-night-football-powered-by-silverlight/

On Twitter last night the editor of Macworld magazine, who was watching NFL at the time, said "Silverlight is much better than Flash":

http://www.timacheson.com/Blog/2009/sep/macworld_editor_says_silverlight_is_better_than_flash_for_video

When the editor of the magazine for Mac users said "Earth to Adobe" he was echoing the sentiments shared by others who actually understand browser plug-ins, and how far behind Flash has fallen. Flash is a legacy technology, it's dated, because Adobe enjoyed a monopoly for too long and they got complacent.