Announces partnership with Spiideo and Visaic
Bethesda, MD – Black Bear Sports Group, Inc (“Black Bear”) has launched Black Bear TV as the new streaming service for all games played inside Black Bear-owned arenas beginning in the 2024-25 season.
Beginning September 16, 2024, all youth and scholastic games played inside the 38 Black Bear venues will be streamed exclusively on Black Bear TV, including all Tier 1 Hockey Federation, Atlantic Hockey Federation, Atlantic Girls Hockey Federation, high school, middle school tournaments, and showcase games. BBSG has partnered with Spiideo to equip all Black Bear venues with Spiideo’s unparalleled cloud-based camera system powered by artificial intelligence for automatic recording and tracking of every situation and player movement. Each HD camera provides high-quality and reliable footage for analysis and broadcasting. Spiideo’s award-winning AI capture technology is trained and designed specifically for hockey, to ensure fans never miss a play. Black Bear, the largest owner-operator of ice rinks in the U.S., was founded by CEO Murry Gunty in 2015.
Several packages to watch and stream games will be available including yearly monthly, and single-game options. Each game will feature a high-quality HD feed, live stats integration, and a 180-degree VIPR panoramic feed of the entire ice. Black Bear TV is designed and supported for viewing on PC, MAC, Android phones and tablets, and iOS phones and tablets. Fans will also be able to watch on one of several OTT devices including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV, either live or on-demand, and will feature such benefits as multiple accounts, clipping, downloading access, and a dedicated app powered by Visaic. BBSG has partnered with Visaic to create an interactive web platform and site. Starting immediately, fans can go to blackbearsports.tv to create their account and choose from one of three different types of plans, which include pricing for pay-as-you-go per game viewing with 48-hour access, a monthly plan, or a yearly plan. Game broadcasts will begin on September 16, 2024 inside Black Bear rinks and selectively inside non-Black Bear rinks. Black Bear has hired Alex Kyrias, former Director of Communications at the North American Hockey League, to head Black Bear TV.
In addition, clubs will benefit from access Spiideo Perform, to the world’s leading ice hockey video and data analysis platform, using the same cameras installed for live streaming. For each play, a full crystal-clear panorama video is always captured and available for analysis, with AI AutoFollow powering the live broadcast. This integration allows for comprehensive performance insights, helping teams to refine tactics and improve player development. This enhanced analysis capability provides a competitive advantage for all participating clubs, making the game more exciting.
“We would like to thank our partners at Spiideo and Visaic for helping us launch our new streaming service,” said Murry N. Gunty, CEO and Founder of Black Bear Sports Group. “We believe Black Bear TV will be the best viewing product in the market and combined with our enhanced analytics platform, will provide unparalleled service to our customers. As with all our innovations, we believe we are introducing something that simply does not exist in the market anywhere and will become the market standard in the near term.”
“I am excited to lead Black Bear TV in its launch and beyond,” said Alex Kyrias. “We look forward to establishing our presence in all of our Black Bear rinks and selectively expanding to other nearby rinks with our industry-leading streaming technology.”
About Black Bear TV
Black Bear TV is the official streaming network of Black Bear Sports Group, Inc., a privately held company formed by Murry Gunty and Blackstreet Capital Holdings, LLC in 2015 that seeks investments in sports and entertainment facilities, teams, and youth sports events. Black Bear TV will officially begin streaming on September 16, 2024 and will service 38 Black Bear facilities across the United States with 74 sheets of ice in addition to certain non-Black Bear facilities. Black Bear TV uses industry-leading Spiideo cameras and has fully integrated video production, breakdown, and analytics capability using Spiideo Perform, the top hockey video breakdown and analysis tool used by the National Hockey League and the United States Hockey League.
About Black Bear Sports Group, Inc.
Black Bear Sports Group, Inc. is a privately held company formed by Murry Gunty and Blackstreet Capital Holdings, LLC in 2015 that seeks investments in sports and entertainment facilities, teams, and youth sports events. Black Bear arenas are clean, professionally managed, and offer world-class recreational programs. Black Bear focuses on ice arenas in metropolitan areas with compelling demographics, markets with a National Hockey League club presence, and arenas with existing youth hockey clubs. Black Bear not only features the ability to acquire healthy and stable arenas but also the expertise required to turn around mismanaged or under-performing facilities. The largest owner/operator of ice arenas in the U.S., Black Bear’s footprint totals 38 facilities across the United States with 74 sheets of indoor ice, four indoor turf fields, 36 youth hockey clubs, four hockey leagues (Atlantic Hockey Federation, Atlantic Girls Hockey Federation, Tier 1 Hockey Federation, and National Girls Hockey League), two tournament businesses (Defender Hockey Tournaments and The Show Tournaments), five Junior “A” hockey franchises with membership in the United States Hockey League, North American Hockey League, USPHL NCDC, USPHL Premier and Elite, and Foundry Adult Hockey, the largest adult hockey organization in the USA.