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   The NFL Arrives on Apple TV

   Josh Centers

   The Apple TV has a lot to offer sports fans: NBA basketball, MLB
   baseball, NHL hockey, MLS soccer, and ESPN, but the large missing piece
   for American sports fans has been NFL football ' until now. [1]NFL Now,
   the NFL's new streaming service, is now available on the Apple TV (as
   well as the [2]iPhone and iPad).

   [3][tn_NFL-Now-Apple-TV.jpg]

   NFL Now offers free news, highlights, and original shows, as well as
   game schedules and scores. You can tailor the video feed to focus on
   your favorite teams, via the My Channel feature, but to do so, you must
   create a free account at [4]http://nfl.com/now/appletv if you don't
   already have an NFL.com account.

   Unfortunately, NFL Now doesn't offer clear instructions on how to
   customize My Channel, so here's how you do it:
    1. Visit [5]http://now.nfl.com and sign in with your NFL.com account.
    2. Click the big gear in the upper right, and then click My Favorites.
    3. Add favorite teams by clicking the box with the plus sign under the
       Favorite Teams heading. Select the team logo from the grid.
    4. Add a favorite player by entering the player's name under Add
       Player and selecting the player's name from the suggestion list.
       [6][tn_NFL-Favorites.jpg]

   Now, if you play the My Channel program on your Apple TV, you'll see
   continuous coverage of your favorite teams and players. I listed the
   Denver Broncos as one of my favorite teams, and the first segment of My
   Channel was about their defensive lineup this season. Pretty
   impressive, and with over 100 hours of new original content every week,
   you'll never run out of things to watch.

   Unless you want to watch live games, that is. Unfortunately, viewers in
   the United States, the UK, and Mexico don't have that option. The
   consolation offer is that, for $1.99 per month, viewers in these
   countries can upgrade to NFL Now Plus, which offers same-day game
   highlights, commercial-free video, and NFL Films. While it's sad that
   there's no option to stream live games, this is a great alternative to
   ESPN's SportsCenter for cord-cutting NFL fans.

   For NFL fans outside the U.S., UK, and Mexico, the situation is both
   better and worse. To start, NFL Now Plus costs $4.99 per month, but for
   the money, you get a live stream of the NFL Network, which includes
   some games, as well as NFL RedZone, which shows live touchdowns for
   every Sunday NFL game. Here in the United States, NFL RedZone costs
   about $11 per month, so the international NFL Now offer is a fantastic
   deal if you can get it. And if you can, I hate you.

   Hopefully this is a first step toward the NFL streaming games via the
   Apple TV. In the meantime, the free tier of NFL Now is a great way for
   time-crunched fans like me to keep up with what's happening in the
   league.

   What Else Is New on Apple TV? -- The Apple TV has seen a flood of new
   channels over the past few months. Here's what's new on Apple TV in the
   United States.
     * A&E, History, and Lifetime: Three television channels owned by A+E
       Networks are now available on the Apple TV ' [7]A&E, [8]History,
       and [9]Lifetime ' but activation with a participating cable or
       satellite provider is required. 'Participating' is worse than
       usual. If you get your cable TV through Comcast, Charter, or Dish
       Network, you're out of luck. (However, my local ISP, North Central
       Telephone Cooperative, is supported. Go figure.)
     * ACC Sports: A free channel for college sports fans, [10]ACC Sports
       offers highlights and inside analysis of college sports in the
       United States.
     * CNBC: Yet another live cable news channel for Apple TV, but unlike
       Bloomberg, Sky News, and WSJ Live, [11]CNBC requires activation
       with a cable or satellite provider. Happily, CNBC will activate
       with mainstream providers like Comcast and Dish Network.
     * Fox Now: Offering shows broadcast on the Fox network for free the
       day after they air, [12]Fox Now also requires that you activate
       with a pay TV provider. Unfortunately, DirecTV customers are out of
       luck.
     * Red Bull TV: Mostly angled as an extreme sports channel, [13]Red
       Bull TV is completely free. You might be tempted to scoff at what
       appears to be a product placement channel, but Red Bull scores some
       occasional gems, like a live stream of this year's [14]Lollapalooza
       music festival. And some of the sports shows are worth a look for
       the sheer insanity of it all.
     * Willow: If you're a cricket fan, [15]Willow offers live games for
       $14.99 per month.
     * WWE Network: Perhaps one of the boldest online 'sports'
       initiatives, [16]WWE Network offers 24/7 live content, including
       all pay-per-view events, and hundreds of hours of archives for
       $12.99 per month ($9.99 per month with a six-month commitment). If
       you're a diehard professional wrestling fan, you'd be crazy not to
       get this.

   A Growing Problem -- As more channels are added to the Apple TV, it's
   becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with every individual
   channel activation or subscription. Activations are especially painful,
   since many of them seem to require reactivation every few days. It's
   good that Apple made it easier to hide channels (see '[17]Apple TV 6.1
   and Remote 4.2 Bring Welcome Interface Improvements,' 10 March 2014),
   but the company now needs to do something to unify all of these logins
   and activations.

References

   1. http://now.nfl.com/
   2. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nfl-now/id883870964?mt=8&at=10l5PW
   3. http://tidbits.com/resources/2014-08/NFL-Now-Apple-TV.png
   4. http://nfl.com/now/appletv
   5. http://now.nfl.com/
   6. http://tidbits.com/resources/2014-08/NFL-Favorites.png
   7. http://www.aetv.com/apple-tv-app
   8. http://www.history.com/apple-tv-app
   9. http://www.mylifetime.com/apple-tv-app
  10. http://www.theacc.com/#!/news-detail/ACC-Digital-Network-Launches-ACC-Sports-on-Apple-TV_03-17-14_vuawko
  11. http://appletv.cnbc.com/activate/
  12. http://www.fox.com/foxnow/apple_tv
  13. http://www.redbull.tv/Redbulltv
  14. http://www.redbull.com/en/music/stories/1331667465744/lollapalooza-live-stream-on-red-bull-tv-schedule
  15. http://www.willow.tv/EventMgmt/iptv.asp
  16. http://www.wwe.com/wwenetwork
  17. http://tidbits.com/article/14582