As I am watching the Billabong Pro Tahiti 2011 surf competition right now, I remembered writing a wiki article in my Media Convergence class back when I was studying at San Diego State University. The article I wrote focused on high-speed broadband and how it has changed the face of media coverage for competitive surfing.
Since my wiki article at the time was viewed by my professor and classmates, I wanted to repost on my wiki article on here for a wider audience:
The advancements of high-speed broadband have changed the face of media coverage for competitive surfing. According to Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) international media director, Dave Prodan states that streaming elite surfing contests over the Internet is proving a powerful marketing tool for the sport. Surfing fans from around the world have instant access to live video streaming of each event of the ASP World Tour.
Surf competitions are hard to schedule traditional live television coverage because surfing relies on a set of ideal weather conditions. For example, during the events of Van’s Triple Crown of Surfing (Reef Hawaiian Pro, O’Neill World Cup, Billabong Pipeline Masters), each event has an extended holding period for more than 10 days. Between those days, surfing contests are “ON” during the best/biggest 4 days of that holding period. Therefore, it is hard to predict when to schedule traditional live television coverage. However, live video streaming on the Internet does not need any scheduling which ASP can easily upload a link of the event for surfing fans to watch in real time.
“We are committed to continuing our free webcasting, for us it’s about reaching the biggest audience possible,” says Prodan. Staying current with technology and social networking sites are key factors in increasing audience development.
Here is the article that helped me dig more information for my wiki article about media technology influencing surfing: Student story about the ASP and media/technology influence on the sport
Watch live webcast of Billabong Pro Tahiti 2011: http://www.billabongpro.com/tahiti11/live-gb/
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