LAS VEGAS — April 9, 2013 — Today at the National Association of Broadcasters Show, Microsoft Corp. and NBC Sports Group announced they are partnering to use Windows Azure Media Services across NBC Sports’ 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.
Rick
Cordella, senior vice president and general manager of digital media at
NBC Sports Group discusses how they use Windows Azure across their
digital platforms.
“NBC Sports Group is thrilled to be working with Microsoft,” said Rick Cordella,
senior vice president and general manager of digital media at NBC
Sports Group. “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’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, U.S. 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 Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president at
Microsoft. “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.
NBC Sports Group and iStreamPlanet
join a growing list of companies, including European Tour, deltatre,
Dolby Laboratories Inc. and Digital Rapids Corp., which are working with
Windows Azure to bring their broadcasting audiences or technologies to
the cloud.
In addition to Media Services, Windows Azure core services include Mobile Services, Cloud Services, Virtual Machines, Websites and Big Data. Customers can go to http://www.windowsazure.com for more information and to start their free trial.
About NBC Sports Group
When the Comcast-NBCUniversal transaction was completed in January
2011, the sports assets of the two companies combined to form the NBC
Sports Group, which serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events,
insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. The sports
media company consists of a unique array of broadcast television, cable
television, radio and digital sports assets, including NBC Sports, NBC
Olympics, NBC Sports Network, Golf Channel, 11 NBC Sports Regional
Networks, NBC Sports Radio and all of their respective digital
properties. The NBC Sports Group possesses an unparalleled collection of
television rights agreements, partnering with some of the most
prestigious sports properties in the world: the International Olympic
Committee and United States Olympic Committee, the NFL, NHL, PGA TOUR,
PGA of America, USGA, Churchill Downs, Premier League, MLS, Tour de
France, French Open, Formula One, IndyCar and many more.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader
in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses
realize their full potential.
Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news.
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other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.
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