Full NBA Basketball Games Soon Immersive on Vision Pro
Apple will film complete basketball games with the Blackmagic URSA for the first time together with a US cable provider. The problem is copyright restrictions.
Shirt with the logo of the Los Angeles Lakers: Apple has so far kept immersive content quite brief.
(Image: aaddyy/Shutterstock)
Apple will in the future, together with the American TV cable provider Spectrum, broadcast complete sports broadcasts in the format Apple Immersive Video on the Vision Pro. Apple announced this last Friday announced. According to this, it will initially be live games of the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It is scheduled to start with the 2025/2026 season, which begins on October 21st. However, the complex situation with sports rights complicates the enjoyment of the games.
Blackmagic with Suitable Camera
Spectrum and its sports channel SportsNet, which also broadcasts games of the baseball team L.A. Dodgers and other teams from Southern California, will use the Blackmagic camera URSA Cine Immersive, which costs $30,000 per unit. It can record 3D videos with up to 8160 by 7200 pixels at 90 fps. According to Apple, a “selection” of Lakers games is planned to be broadcast.
The experience is said to be like being right on the sidelines, the company writes. A subscription and the Spectrum SportsNet app are required. However, the live games can only be watched in areas where Spectrum SportsNet is available. The area includes Southern California, Hawaii, Las Vegas, and other parts of Southern Nevada. In addition, recordings of full games and highlights will be available for “Vision Pro users in selected countries and regions”—via the SportsNet app for visionOS (which will be released soon) or the official NBA app.
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Highlights and replays via the NBA App
visionOS 26 is required. Apple writes that via the NBA app, which is generally free, replays and highlights of the games can also be watched in France and Germany (as well as other regions such as Great Britain, Japan, Singapore, and Australia). However, this requires an NBA ID, which must be created free of charge.
A schedule of which games will be broadcast when and how quickly replays will be available is still unclear. Apple only speaks of “one to three days” here. The NBA app is already available for the Vision Pro, but those who want to watch (non-immersive) games live there need a paid League Pass. This costs 190 euros per season.
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