The Rise of Non-Traditional Sports on TV
It has been a long time since we first saw live sport on television. But in the early days, it was only major sporting events that would gain coverage on TV as they would want events that draw in the most massive possible audiences; this meant football, golfing majors, and significant events such as the Olympic games. But these days, there is barely an organized sport that does not benefit from some coverage.
The Rise of Multi-Channel Digital
One of the first game-changers in the amount of sporting coverage was the introduction of satellite and digital TV platforms in the 80s and 90s respectively. Before this era, there were only a handful of channels. This meant a dramatic rise in the number of available channels, and specifically, the emergence of dedicated sports channels across the world. You saw things like Premier League soccer in England having a huge rise in revenue due to Sky TV pushing it, but in time they expanded to include dozens of sports live on TV as well.
Pay to Watch
There are a lot of services where you can pay to watch specific sports rather than subscribe to the general sports channels. We're not just talking about the Pay-per-view set-up for major events such as wrestling and boxing matches. But instead, the fact that niche sports or foreign ones offer subscription services to watch every game live online if you are in the USA and are a fan of the AFL (Australian Football League), you can subscribe for a monthly fee and see all the games live.
This aspect of live sports broadcasting extends beyond individual viewing at home, transitioning into a shared experience in social settings like bars and restaurants. Broadcasting live sports in bars and restaurants not only enhances the patron experience but also broadens the audience for these sports. Establishments become hubs for fans who may not have access to these niche or foreign sports at home, creating a vibrant community around these events.
For bar and restaurant owners looking to attract sports enthusiasts, JoeHand offers a comprehensive live sports broadcasting service. This allows establishments to stream a variety of sports events live, enhancing the experience for their customers.
Accessible Sports
Another area where progress has become apparent is with accessible sports. You can get coverage of all sorts of versions of traditional games such as wheelchair tennis or even cut down versions of cricket, such as 1-day international. Even something that anyone can play at some level like poker, which has countless international tournaments, and even if you are looking for Pokerstars in Japanese, you can find it.
Social Media
There are many minority sports and local level ones that can gain a considerable amount of exposure by using social media to get the attention that would never have been possible through mainstream media due to the relative lack of interest. You can find recorded highlights or even live streams in some cases on popular platforms such as YouTube. This is because it's so easy to start a channel and upload a video for these smaller organizations.
Illegal Streams
This is not something that we would necessarily encourage, but this article couldn't have been written without at least mentioning illegal streams. Where there are televised sports, there are going to be people trying to offer free, illegal streams of it. Even where something is only available for free in a particular region, people are willing to try and access it using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to trick the website into believing that their PC or device is in a location that it's not.
