MUMBAI: NBC Sports Group has partnered Microsoft to use the latters Windows Azure Media Services across its digital platforms, including NBCSports.com, NBCOlympics.com and GolfChannel.com.
Through the agreement, which rolls out this summer, Microsoft will provide both live-streaming and on-demand viewing services for more than 5,000 hours of games and events on devices, such as smartphones, tablets and PCs. These services will allow sports fans to be able to relive or catch up on their favorite events and highlights that aired on NBC Sports Group platforms.
"NBC Sports Group is thrilled to be working with Microsoft. More and more of our audience is viewing our programming on Internet-enabled devices, so quality of service is important. Also, our programming reaches a national audience and needs to be available under challenging network conditions. We chose Microsoft because of its reputation for delivering an end-to-end experience that allows for seamless, high-quality video for both live and video-on-demand streaming," NBC Sports Group SVP and GM of digital media Rick Cordella.
NBC Sports Group‘s unique portfolio of properties includes the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, "Sunday Night Football," Notre Dame Football, Premier League soccer, Major League Soccer, Formula One and IndyCar racing, PGA Tour, US Open golf, French Open tennis, Triple Crown horse racing, and more.
"Microsoft is constantly looking for innovative ways to utilize the power of the cloud, and we see Windows Azure Media Services as a high-demand offering," said Microsoft corporate vice president Scott Guthrie.
"As consumer demand for viewing media online on any available device grows, our partnership with NBC Sports Group gives us the opportunity to provide the best of cloud technology and bring world-class sporting events to audiences when and where they want them."
Microsoft has a broad partner ecosystem, which extends to the cloud. To bring the NBC Sports Group viewing experience to life, Microsoft is working with iStreamPlanet Co. and its live video workflow management product Aventus. Aventus will integrate with Windows Azure Media Services to provide a scalable, reliable, live video workflow solution to help bring NBC Sports Group programming to the cloud.
