Sports Technology & Communications News from Around the World

Never one to be late to the party, ESPN on Thursday announced that its highly-popular ScoreCenter app is now available for download on Internet-enabled televisions.

The application, which gives fans an interactive, real-time view of scores and statistics of every major sport, will initially be available on Samsung's (News - Alert) line of Web-enabled TVs through the company's online app store. Although it is still unclear whether the worldwide leader in sports programming will launch the app with other manufacturers, there is a very good chance that it will.

After downloading the app, Samsung users can position it anywhere on the screen that they want, including the top, the bottom and on both sides of the television. Users can get a quick view of updated scores or click one button on their remote to get more in-depth information, such as player stats and schedules. Similar to the iPhone (News - Alert) app, Samsung TV owners can also customize the software to only scroll the scores of their specific teams and leagues.

“Bringing the ScoreCenter application from mobile devices to televisions shows how good content and utility can start on any screen,” Sean Bratches, executive vice president of sales and marketing, ESPN (News - Alert), said in a statement.  “This was a natural progression of a great product and one more way we’re serving sports fans.”

If the app turns out to be a success for Samsung, you can probably expect that Apple TV, Google (News - Alert) TV and Microsoft Kinect will carry it in their online stores in the near future. For now, the free app will not include advertising; however AdAge.com is reporting that ESPN may open up the software for custom sponsorships at some point down the road. 

Sean Bratches, ESPN's executive vice president of sales and marketing, also told the news source that the company will toy around with the idea of creating TV apps that don't rely on manufacturers. If that plan comes to fruition, ESPN could offer the service through cable and satellite providers and reach more consumers.

"We're focused on serving the fan, and to the extent that there is a smart deal to do with the participants in the interactive television food chain we would be willing to do that," Bratches told AdAge.com.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf