Just a  week after getting added to the WatchESPN iOS app, the SEC and Longhorn programmes are now available on the Apple TV channel too. Both streams deal with college sports and should enable students to follow their teams’ games via Apple TV.

SEC content on WatchESPN is a result of the quite recent partnership between SouthEastern Conference Network and ESPN, which will be covering over 1000 games each year in 21 of their sporting events. The content is distributed as SEC Network which is the same stream as their television channel and the SEC Network+ which features extra content.

SEC Network + — exclusively available on SECNetwork.com and via WatchESPN — will add live and on-demand coverage of more than 550 digital-exclusive sporting events to the SEC Network multi-screen output in the first year. Ranging across multiple sports from all member schools, SEC Network + events will all be high-quality, multi-camera productions – enabled by extensive new technological and production capabilities built out by ESPN and SEC schools in support of the SEC Network launch.

Longhorn Network has been around for about 4 years now and deals exclusively with broadcasts of University of Texas athletic meets.

The Longhorn Network features events from 20 different sports involving the Texas Longhorns athletics department, along with original and historical programming. The network also features academic and cultural content from the UT Austin campus.

However cord-cutters won’t be able to enjoy these programmes as both SEC and Longhorn require you to sign in via a supported cable subscription accounts.

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With just a day left for the FIFA World Cup 2014 to kick off, everyone is busy buying popcorn and coke and figuring out the best way to enjoy the game. For Apple TV users, seeing the clash of legs on their HDTVs is a tempting option. So here is a guide on how you can catch all the World Cup action on your Apple TV.

Method 1. Watching FIFA on Apple TV from United States

This is probably the easiest way to watch the World Cup on Apple TV, thanks to WatchESPN, which is bringing the live coverage of all matches, previews and some related content to the native channel.

However, to access this stream, you’ll need an active cable subscription with any of the providers affiliated with ESPN or at least get a username and password from one of your friends.

According to CNET, the supported providers include:

AT&T U-verse, Bright House Networks, Charter, Comcast XFINITY, Cox, DISH, Google Fiber, Midcontinent Communications, Optimum, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon FiOS TV.

To watch the games, just fire up your Apple TV -> open the WatchESPN channel -> login with your cable provider ID -> find your match and enjoy!

Here is the official WatchESPN schedule for their live world cup coverage.

US Hispanics will be pleased to know that Univision will be broadcasting all 64 games in Spanish. They don’t have a native Apple TV channel, so you’ll need to either AirPlay them from their website (using OS X AirPlay Mirroring or from a PC using AirParrot) or via their exclusive iOS app for the FIFA World Cup.

Univision will stream the first 56 games without the need to sign in with a pay TV provider login. However…

…the quarterfinals, semifinals and the finale will only be made available to customers of pay TV providers the network has a deal with, which at this point include AT&T, Bright House, Optimum, Cox, DirecTV, Dish, Time Warner Cable and Verizon, but not Comcast.

Method 2. Watching FIFA on Apple TV from United Kingdom

In the UK, there is no native channel on Apple TV which will let you stream the matches live. However, if you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you can get the BBC iPlayer and iTV apps on it to AirPlay the content to the HDTV.

It’s been officially confirmed that BBC and iTV will be splitting the rights for the matches to be shown, with each streaming 31 and 34 games respectively.

The iPlayer also offers VOD for past matches and also a better commentary as claimed by many fans. And the best part is that it is free and doesn’t require any active subscriptions like WatchESPN.

Check this schedule for the live broadcast of World Cup matches for the two apps and get BBC iPlayer and iTV apps from the App Store for free.

When your favorite match is live, turn on Apple TV and open the corresponding apps -> select the live stream of the game -> pull up the Control Center and select AirPlay -> choose your Apple TV and enjoy!

Besides the official apps, the matches will also be available to stream from their official websites (iPlayer,  iTV). So you can just stream the match on your browser and AirPlay to the Apple TV (using OS X AirPlay mirroring or from a PC using AirParrot).

Don’t want to use your iOS device? Check out some other methods below.

Method 3. Via your country’s national providers

Most countries already have a specific cable provider who has the rights for streaming the whole World Cup. It is highly likely that these providers have their own iOS apps or atleast a dedicated website for broadcasting the matches. GigaOM has detailed on a few countries:

Australia: SBS will stream each and every game on its website as well as through its iOS and Android apps.
Canada: CBC will stream all 64 games of the World Cup on its website as well as through its iOS and Android apps — no pay TV subscription required.
Ireland: RTÉ will stream all 64 games live on its website as well as through its mobile apps, including 8 that won’t be broadcast on TV.

You can check this article to find which channel provider in your country has the world cup’s broadcasting rights and then a quick Google search should give you the links to their website or iOS app. AirPlay directly from their app or use OS X mirroring with Safari or AirParrot on PC with your browser, to get the World Cup matches on your HDTV.

Method 4. Using SportsDevil addon for XBMC

The best thing about this method is that it is completely free and works for just anybody. However, this method may not be legal in certain countries, so please check before you attempt to stream. It may also have below average quality for streams when compared to other official ones.

Here’s how you get this done:

A. For jailbroken Apple TV 2
Things are much easier when you have a jailbroken Apple TV because XBMC can be installed directly on it. You can follow our guide on how to install XBMC 13.0 Gotham on Apple TV 2.

B. For non-jailbroken Apple TV 2 or Apple TV 3
In this case, you’ll need another device like a Mac, PC, jailbroken iOS device or an Android device to install XBMC and then use some third party software to AirPlay to Apple TV. Here is a detailed guide on how to get XBMC on your HDTV via Apple TV 3 (or non-jailbreakable Apple TV 2).

C. For Apple TV 1
In this case, you’ll be using a software called OpenElec and you won’t be able to install XBMC as a separate channel on your set-top box, but instead you’ll need to install XBMC as a stand-alone operating system on it. In short, your old Apple TV will boot directly into the XBMC home screen. Find our detailed tutorial here.

Once you have the perfect setup of getting XBMC to show up on your Apple TV, follow our guide on how to Watch live sports on Apple TV with SportsDevil XBMC video addon and access any of the hundreds of Sports Channels to stream the FIFA World Cup 2014 live.

If you’re having any issues with compatibilities, please check out this guide.

Method 5. Using UnoTelly

Unotelly is a DNS service, which will help you securely spoof your IP address and thereby your digital location, allowing you access to country specific websites and services from anywhere in the world. So in this method, we’ll change our iOS device’s location to UK and make use of the BBC iPlayer and iTV apps (Method 2) to stream and AirPlay FIFA matches to Apple TV.

The best part is that UnoTelly now has a World Cup offer by which you can avail a free trial of 8 days to view some matches and if you like the results, you can subscribe for just $4 per month. You can avail this offer here and get started with their guide here.

Others DNS clients: HideMyAss, Unblock US

CONCLUSION

Did we miss any methods? Have you checked out any of these methods? Do share you thoughts in the comments below.

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I woke up this morning to the news of two major content additions to Apple TV. This has been a routine lately but the difference here is that neither of these adds a new channel icon to the home screen, but instead streams within existing apps. Thank God they do!

First and the more exiting one is that The Oscars will be available for live stream first time ever. Yep! ABC is bringing live telecast of the Academy Awards night and the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Oscars‘ show to the Watch ABC channel on Apple TV and the corresponding iOS app. But apparently not everyone is entitled to the privilege as they’ve laid down a pretty complex and long list of restrictions on who can access the stream.

The show’s livestream will be available to Watch ABC authenticated users through eight providers: Comcast, Cablevision, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Midcontinent Communications, Verizon FiOS, Google Fiber and AT&T U-verse. The service is available only in ABC’s eight owned-station markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Fresno, Calif.

To know whether you can watch the content or what you need to do the get access, visit this link. However if you can’t get it, a special highlights show ‘Oscars Backstage‘ will be released soon after the event for all users.

Coming to the other half, ESPN has added about 15 Collegiate Sports Conference channels to its WatchESPN channels on Apple TV. Thankfully, these are much less complicated than the former as anyone can follow their favourite College conferences with just a click.

The included channels are America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big West, MEAC, SWAC, CIA, Horizon, MAC, MAAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern, Sun Belt and Southland.

However analysts are confused to see the ACC Network among these new channels ‘coz this sports streaming giant was rumoured to be in talks with ESPN for a full-fledged dedicated network. Anyway, these channels are planned to cover more than 2000 men’s and women’s events starting with the Basketball tournament.

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You might remember the latest over-the-air content update for the second and third generation Apple TV, released a couple of days back. This introduced some new apps like VEVO, Disney Channel, Disney XD, The Whether channel and Smithsonian. On closer scrutiny, users have pointed out brand new channels in the refreshed WatchESPN app.

Launched in April 2011, WatchESPN has been bringing sports content online through browsers and to mobile devices via dedicated apps. This is a streaming client which provides access to multiple channels, after validating with an authorized cable operator. Till now, the apps for Apple TV and iOS have been limited to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Goal line.

Thanks to this update, ESPNEWS and ESPN Deportes will be available for subscribers on Apple TV. ESPNEWS  “complement ESPN and ESPN2’s increasing event and show programming with a narrower news and highlights format. It has retained that focus while adding replays and time-shifted episodes of news and information programs“. While, ESPN Deportes is the Spanish sports channel that focus on Hispanic cable users.

ESPN Deportes – first launched in January 2004 and currently available in more than 5.8 million Nielsen Hispanic cable households nationwide – is a 24-hour Spanish-language sports network devoted to serving the U.S. Latino sports fans by offering high-quality, culturally relevant sports programming.  The network currently provides the most diverse sports programming available on Spanish-language television and more than 117 hours of original studio content every week. Live events include: Mexican League Soccer (Liga and Copa MX), 2014 & 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying, UEFA Europa League, International Friendlies, Spain’s Supercopa & Copa del Rey Final, MLS, Brazilian League Soccer, UEFA European Football Championship (Euro2016), Euro 2016 qualifying matches, Dutch League, Major League Baseball, Caribbean Series, NFL’s Monday Night Football, the College Football Bowl Championship Series, NBA, exclusive telecast of Friday Night Fights, among others.

WatchESPN is currently accessible to fans who receive ESPN’s linear networks as part of their video subscription from Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast Xfinity TV, Midcontinent Communications, Cablevision’s Optimum TV, Cox, Charter or AT&T U-verse (coming soon to NRTC members’ customers).

ESPNEWS and ESPN Deportes  are among the most viewed channels of the sports media giant and hence, ESPN seems serious about the audience across all screens. These new channels are now available on the iOS app too. On the other hand, Apple has also been busy with the content on Apple TV, as we’re hearing a lot of rumors on Apple’s own cable service in cooperation with Time Warner.

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Apple has just released a big update to the second and third generation Apple TV. Apple TV software version 5.3 adds HBO GO and WatchESPN, which are now available directly on our little black boxes. In addition, three new content providers are also available today on Apple TV including Sky News, Crunchyroll and Qello offering live news, sports and current TV programming.

HBO GO users get unlimited access to their favorite HBO shows, including HBO original programming, hit movies, sports, documentaries, comedy specials and more. This includes full seasons of the best of HBO, plus bonus features and special behind-the-scenes extras. HBO GO on Apple TV requires a subscription to HBO through participating television providers.

WatchESPN on Apple TV delivers a one-stop video destination for sports fans with live access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Buzzer Beater/Goal Line to those who receive ESPN’s networks as part of their video subscription from affiliated providers. Popular sports and fan-favorite shows include college football and basketball, Monday Night Football, MLB, NBA, major golf tournaments, all four Grand Slam tennis events, SportsCenter, PTI and more. Additionally, curated on-demand video featuring the most recent and relevant content—including highlights and news clips from ESPN.com as well as short-form segments from programs such as E:60, Outside The Lines, SC Featured, Sport Science and others—will be accessible through WatchESPN for the first time via Apple TV to all users.

Sky News on Apple TV delivers a live 24/7 news feed to users in the US, UK and Ireland, including breaking news and headlines from business, politics, entertainment and more. In addition to the live feed, users can catch up on specific stories at any time via the extensive on-demand news library.

As always: if you are on jailbroken ATV2, stay away from this update for now if you don’t want to lose your jailbreak.

The latest jailbreakable Apple TV software version is 5.2 (untethered) or 5.2.1 (tethered).

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to be first to know when the jailbreak for Apple TV 5.3 comes out.

Here are the direct download links:

AppleTV2,1_5.3
AppleTV3,1_5.3
AppleTV3,2_5.3

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ESPN has finally updated its WatchESPN app with AirPlay support. The update includes AirPlay support for all channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN3) and support for AirPlay in background. This is a great news for sports fans and the owners of older iDevices that don’t support AirPlay mirroring feature.

The free WatchESPN iPhone, iPad and iPod touch app gives you 24/7 access to live streaming feeds from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU. The app features:

Live streaming access to the top events from the ESPN family of networks, including:
* NBA Regular Season and Playoffs
* Major League Baseball
* The Masters, US Open and The Open Championships
* College Football and Basketball
* Barclay’s Premier League, Spanish Primera Division and Euro 2012 Soccer
* All 4 Grand Slam tennis events
…and thousands more live events airing on the ESPN networks

Up-to-the-minute news, highlights and analysis with live streaming access to your favorite ESPN shows, including:
* SportsCenter
* PTI
* Mike & Mike
* SportsNation
* Baseball Tonight
…and every other ESPN original show

Note: Access to WatchESPN live video is determined by your TV provider and, in some instances, your internet service provider.

WatchESPN is a free download from the App Store.

Also read:
How to watch live sports on Apple TV
Watch live sports on Apple TV with SportsDevil XBMC video addon

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