For Sports Fans, Live Games Blossom on the Internet

As the quality of Internet video improves, professional and college sports are producing live webcasts of a range of events. Usually  but not always  for a fee, fans can turn their computer screen into a television and watch live Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association games, NCAA basketball, college football, gymnastics, wrestling and baseball. Here is a sampling of what's available.

COLLEGE

NCAA Men's Basketball -- March Madness

Site: NCAAsports.com, in association with CBS SportsLine.com

What's available: CBS Sports TV broadcasts of up to 56 NCAA Division I men's tournament games through the regional semifinals, streamed live online free of charge; streaming video of interviews and pre- and post-game press conferences; video highlights.

Restrictions: Live webcasts are available only for games outside your local television market.

Football and Basketball

Site: espn.com

What's available: ESPN GamePlan Online, $19.95 per week, or $119 per year, gets fans more than 150 college football games delivered live online (subscription is sold separately from ESPN GamePlan for TV). Games include matchups in a range of conferences such as the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and Pac-10. ESPN Full Court Online, $75 for half season, $14.95 per day, streams more than 250 college basketball games live from a variety of conferences (subscription sold separately from ESPN Full Court for TV). Games from both plans are archived for later viewing online. ESPN360, a separate broadband service available through high-speed Internet service providers that have agreements with ESPN, gives fans access to a range of live online sports such as college football, basketball and hockey, Indy racing, X Games and bass fishing.

Restrictions: Local TV blackout rules apply to webcasts; only games not broadcast on ABC are available from archives for on-demand computer viewing.

What's available for free: espn.com has a large range of daily video highlights, analysis and interviews for pro and college sports, via its ESPN motion video platform.

College Sports

Site: cstv.com, a unit of CSTV Networks

What's available: All Access XXL, $14.95 per month or $99.95 per year, includes more than 7,000 mens and women's games streamed live online from 90 schools such as Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame and USC in 12 major conferences such as the Big East, ACC and Pac 10; range of sports includes football, basketball, gymnastics, wrestling, ice hockey, baseball; 2,000 live video events including pep rallies, press conferences, coaches' shows and other features such as GameTracker, which provides real-time scores and information; access to archived classic games in video and audio. Special programming includes live coverage of National Signing Day on Feb. 1, when high school football players commit to a colleges.

Restrictions: Games broadcast on networks other than CSTV are not available.

College Sports

Sites: College sports sites such as Texassports.com, for the University of Texas, UKathletics.com for the University of Kentucky; sites are operated by Host Communications.

What's available: Subscriptions ranging from $9.95 a month to $100 per year (depending on the school) get you about 200 events including live games online, some delayed until after TV broadcast, from colleges including the University of Texas and Southeastern Conference teams such as the University of Kentucky and Mississippi State. Live sports available include some men's and women's basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball and softball. University Web sites also offer free video highlights, classic highlights such as historic Kentucky basketball footage and special events such as the National Championship Celebration held by the Texas Longhorns after their Rose Bowl victory.

Restrictions: Exclusive television broadcast agreements prevent some games from being streamed live online.

College Sports

Site: foxsports.com

What's available: Some college sports for which Fox owns TV broadcasting rights are streamed live online for free. Among last year's football games: Arkansas State vs. Oklahoma State and Indiana State vs. Texas Tech. Site also provides live non-video information on NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, college football and basketball games and Nascar; fans can follow an event's progress in real time through graphics and text that update automatically.

Restrictions: Some blackout restrictions apply to live online streaming.

PROFESSIONAL

National Football League

Site: nfl.com

What's available: No live video of any NFL game is available online  including from the Super Bowl  but the league is considering the possibility of providing video webcasts for some games next year. The site does provide free video clips from the NFL television network, including interviews and analysis. Fan also can subscribe for $9.95 per month to Field Pass, which provides live radio broadcasts of all NFL games, with press conferences and pre-game and post-game coverage.

Major League Baseball

Site: mlb.com

What's available: Offseason coverage, from day after end of World Series to day before opening day of new season, $9.95 for entire offseason, includes live streaming coverage of World Baseball Classic, March 3-March 20; audio coverage of the Winter Leagues; MLB.TV, $14.95 per month, or $79.95 for season, includes every major league baseball game live online. All Access, $99.95 for season, includes every game live online, ability to access game archives to watch on demand and scroll to preferred moments, live radio for all games, access to classic games.

Restrictions: Games blacked out online in both teams' local television markets and in Japan. If you're traveling, however, and want to access your home team, blackout will not apply because you are viewing outside local market.

What's free on site: Internet-only video highlights; eight hours of Internet baseball radio talk show, daily video features including interviews with players, coaches, managers, owners.

National Basketball Association

Site: nba.com

What's available: NBA LEAGUE PASS Broadband, $109 for half season, or $189 for full season, operates as the Internet companion service to NBA LEAGUE PASS for cable or satellite TV broadcasts and includes up to 40 NBA games streamed live online each week; fans can purchase archived video from Google Video Store 24 hours after a game for $3.95 per game.

Restrictions: The same local-market blackouts for TV broadcasts apply to live webcasts.

What's available for free: Video highlights are available soon after the first half of every NBA game, with full highlights after the games, and special daily packages are created for top plays, best dunks and exceptional performances, such as Kobe Bryant's recent 81-point game.

Golf

Site: aol.com

What's available: Partial coverage live online of British Open and PGA Championships free of charge; fans watch golfers pass through one par 3 hole as though camped out on the course. Site also has pre-recorded video highlights of PGA, hockey, including top five plays of the week for football and hockey and the Super Bowl's five most memorable plays in history and highlights from previous Super Bowls; PGA's top five shots of the week is expected to be added this year.

OLYMPICS

Winter Games

Site: NBCOlympics.com

What's available: Complicated broadcasting rights prevent live video webcasts of Olympics events, but video highlights produced specially for the Internet will be available. Site will show the performances of the top five finishers in such sports as figure skating and skiing, plus the American athletes if they're not in the top five; for other sports such as ice hockey and curling, the site will show highlights packages of key games. The site also allows fans to follow results and the medal count in real time; as rankings are determined, or events conclude, the information will be posted on the site. Fans are able to search an interactive television guide to learn when specific events will be broadcast in local areas. Site also will have a special section that consolidates video and information about the American team. NBCOlympics.com will operate a blog drawing on its commentators, producers, researchers and others; Jacob Serino, a friend of gold medalist Bode Miller, will write and post photos from Turino, Italy, as he roots for his buddy.

-- Written and compiled by Stephen Levingston