Ardent sports fans love having access to info as it happens. What’s the score right now? Who is winning the race? How many fouls have already been committed?

But answering questions like these along with watching videos of spectacular plays or events can use up a lot of a mobile user’s monthly data plan, but ESPN is apparently considering a way to help those poor sports-obsessed folks out.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, “ESPN is considering a plan to pay wireless carriers for the mobile content used by the sports channel's subscribers.” That way, any usage of ESPN mobile content wouldn’t count against a user’s monthly data plan. Such a deal isn’t imminent, but it has been discussed with at least one major carrier, the Journal notes.Continue reading...

Trying to understand what’s actually in a cell-phone contract can get a little hairy, but consumers in Orlando, Tampa and Houston won't have to bother now that AT&T has launched its new, prepaid wireless phone service, Aio.

There is no annual contract involved in the new plan, which AT&T plans to roll it nationwide in mid-June, according to Fierce Markets. 

According to AT&T's press release, the brand name (pronounced as a cheery "A-O") "encapsulates Aio’s brand promise: simply, delightfully, more."

“We talked with no-annual-contract customers and created our service around what they want. They want simple, easy plan choices with unlimited offers; first-class service at affordable prices; great devices; nationwide voice and data coverage; and no annual contracts. Today’s wireless customers don't want to compromise,” stated Jennifer Van Buskirk, president of Aio Wireless. “We are set up to win over value-conscious customers who are increasingly moving towards smartphones and mobile broadband."Continue reading...

You'll never know how much you miss something until it's gone, right? Well, that seems to be the case for the NHL, who, after spending months fiddling around with contract negotiations and delaying the start of the season, is seeing record viewership numbers for televised games. 

The abbreviated season finally got under way in January (after Nike reminded the big wigs at the NHL who's really the boss). But NBC Sports had a few tricks up their sleeve to ramp up excitement in a shorter amount of time. 

Viewership during the regular season went up 18 percent over last year, Forbes reports, making this the most-watched regular season in 19 years. Seven of the top eight NHL telecasts of the season came during NHL Sports Network’s new Wednesday Night Rivalry, which featured games between some of the league’s longest and feistier rivals. It drew some of the larger sponsors, too, including Discover and Verizon.Continue reading...

Apple dodges $9 billion in US taxes with bond deal.

Google named Advertiser of the Year. 

Volkswagen makes $10 million donation to the National Mall.

Adidas sales drop on weakening Reebok brand.

Barnes & Noble begins support of Google apps on Nook.

Beam sales rise because of "formula run" on Maker's Mark.

Diet Coke slims down its vending machines.

Ford adds jobs and raises capacity to make pick-up trucks.

Geritol seeks new life with younger consumers.

Huffington Post brings rapid-response "native" ads to its home page.Continue reading...

Starting last Thursday, bigwigs from the NFL’s 32 teams gathered at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to select young players in the hopes that they would become the next John Elway, Gale Sayers, or O.J. Simpson. (Well, OK, maybe not O.J.)

Since 1980, the Draft has been televised and it audience has grown exponentially, with an expected viewership of 50 million for this past weekend's broadcast, Ad Age reports. With that kind of captive audience, sponsorships and advertisers have grown as well. There were 19 official sponsors of the event this year, up from 16 last year. The list included Anheuser-Busch, Nike, Verizon, Pepsi, GMC, Visa, EA Sports, Under Armour, Gatorade and Castrol. It's no doubt that the big names spent more than the $15 million spent across ESPN and the NFL Network last year and the $11.9 million spent the year before.

"To the credit of the NFL, it's the most robust league," Ernest Lupinacci, founder of branding consultancy Ernest Industries, told Ad Age. "They announced the [2013 regular season] schedule and people went crazy. It was as if they let us know they were bringing the McRib sandwich back."Continue reading...

Starbucks raises outlook after strong second quarter.

Boeing gets clearance for re-launching Dreamliner in Japan and United's planes in May.

Altria Group plans to enter e-cigarette market.

3M cuts outlook as demand sputters.

Amazon outstrips growing profits with growing spending.

Best Buy tries to reduce "pain points" for customers, staff.

Cap'n Crunch launches new YouTube channel for adults.

Exxon Mobil oil output falls again.Continue reading...

Dish Network, the No. 2 US satellite television provider, has submitted a 11th-hour merger proposal to Sprint Nextel Corporation for $25.5 billion, a gutsy move that challenges a near-complete aquisition of Sprint by Japan's SoftBank Corp.

“The DISH proposal clearly presents Sprint shareholders with a superior alternative to the pending SoftBank proposal,” said Charlie Ergen, Chairman of DISH Network in a company press release. “Sprint shareholders will benefit from a higher price with more cash while also creating the opportunity to participate more meaningfully in a combined DISH/Sprint with a significantly-enhanced strategic position and substantial synergies that are not attainable through the pending SoftBank proposal.”Continue reading...

T-Mobile may be in fourth place when it comes to cell-phone carriers in the United States, but it is making a big move on April 12th in an attempt to change its position.

That's when T-Mobile will finally become an iPhone distributor, and it is asking current iPhone owners to come turn theirs in and upgrade to the new phone. The incentive to switch phone companies? For those who trade in their iPhone 4S or iPhone 4, they can get a iPhone 5 for $0 down plus monthly payments, according to a press release. If the phone is in decent shape, the consumer will get a $120 credit to apply to the payments, buy accessories with or pay off a T-Mobile bill.

Couple that with T-Mobile’s recent acquisition of MetroPCS and its announcement that it wouldn’t hold consumers to annual contracts and the company is clearly doing all it can [update: including new ads, below] to pull itself up into the ranks of Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.Continue reading...