E-Media Inc. and VideoSport.com have teamed to deliver live, pay-per-view Webcasts of more than 150 professional European soccer matches over the next two years.
VideoSport.com will use e-Media's new Atlanta on-site encoding appliance to encode in real time.
The soccer matches will be transmitted via satellite to a video production center at VideoSport.com headquarters in Dallas where graphics, advertising, text and live commentary will be added. The signal will then be encoded by the Atlanta appliance in Windows Media Format and sent to e-Media's distribution center, which manages the registration and distribution of the two-hour pay-per-view matches to soccer fans.
“Our mission as a content provider is to deliver high-profile international soccer events to markets where this game is underserved by traditional media, most notably in the USA,” said Sergey Bougaev, president of VideoSport.com. “E-Media has the best solution to meet the intense demand created by tens of thousands of fans registering in the minutes just before game time without any of the headaches or delays sometimes associated with live pay-per-view Webcasting.”
Using e-Media's technology, VideoSport.com will Webcast UEFA Cup matches, Champions League and World Cup qualifying matches at 100, 300 and 650 kilobytes per second in Windows Media. The first Webcast was Feb. 15.
On Feb. 22, Celta de Vigo (Spain) will play against Stuttgart (Germany) at 4 p.m. EST. It will be Webcast at http://www.VideoSport.com. The charge is $6.99 per two-hour game.
“The key to Internet success is to give your audience exactly what they want,” said Michael Terretta, e-Media's chief technology officer. “VideoSport.com is a terrific content provider because they understand the absolute need for a truly reliable technology required to deliver quality entertainment to soccer fans. Our network can handle the entertainment-driven spikes other streaming providers simply can't provide without losing video integrity or speed.”
Founded last year, VideoSport.com Inc. is a U.S.-based subsidiary of UFA
Sports GmbH, which is part of RTL Group and media giant Bertelsmann.
E-Media, founded in 1995 and headquartered in New Canaan, CT, said it originated the concept of “e-commerce streaming,” which combines micro-marketing and e-commerce applications with high-quality video streams.
