Everyone who is interested in soccer by now has got a healthy dose of world cup action from ABC, ESPN and Univision (the only choice for all games if you do not have access to ESPN on cable).
I have noticed many fans among friends have been very happy with the amount of TV coverage we got compared other non-USA hosted world cups. ESPN getting TV, Broadband, Mobile, VOD and Radio rights might have had something to do with it.
However, one thing I have been very disappointed with is the replay technology during the telecast. Many times over the last few weeks, I and co-watchers were wondering why it takes so long for the crew to replay a shot at the goal till several minutes have elapsed and the ball has gone up and down the field a few times. Look for it in the final (if they manage to have more shots than the lethargic first half of Germany-Spain). It feels as if the crew is working with bad technology if they cannot cut in the replay and cut back just in case of more interesting live action.
A friend surmised that the fast counter-attack could be one reason that the television crew doesn’t cut back to the replay immediately. Soccer is arguably more continuous game than American Football which is broken up into TV friendly chunks (plays). However, Basketball is still almost as continuous and I have seen the replay of the most critical few seconds of the last play patched in smoothly into the live telecast before the ball is inbound or crosses the half-court. The soccer tv crew definitely has a much longer time window, especially when the ball flies past the goal and is out of play as opposed to a save from the goalkeeper.
). I find an iphone less than ideal remote for regular use since I do have to wake it up, unlock and find the app, wait for app to reconnect and then control the pc which takes too long.