Every Sunday, sports-bar owners face a perilous decision: of all the football games on all the channels on all the bar's TVs, which one matchup gets piped into the house speaker system? It's enough to make a Redskins fan in a Jets city, forever watching the burgundy and gold on mute, go crazy.
New technology offers hope in this critical area. TableSound is a wireless audio system that lets bartenders beam up to four audio feeds to special battery-powered speakers on each table, with a selector that allows patrons to hear the color commentary of their choice. "You could be listening to the Yankees while the guy next to you is listening to the Mets and the next guy down is listening to MSNBC," says Scott Schaefer, the company's president, who envisions a role for TableSound--which was originally designed for educational uses--in homes, retail stores and even churches.
Multiscreen sports bars remain the most obvious home for the technology. And such play-by-play versatility isn't cheap. A basic four-speaker setup is $755, while a deluxe package with 24 receivers runs to $1,955--but worth it, some proprietors may find, if it keeps fans from each other's throats on the nights both basketball and hockey are on the tube. Now, if they can just figure out how to make the speakers beerproof.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
