NAB Universal Sports Network Deploys Brightcove

Brightcove Video Cloud is being used for live and on-demand coverage of Olympic, adventure and endurance sports at UniversalSports.com

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/19/2012 7:15:33 PM

Complete Coverage: 2012 NAB Show

Cloud content services provider Brightcove has announced that Universal Sports Network has rolled out the Brightcove Video Cloud online video platform to deliver live and on-demand sports coverage to its website UniversalSports.com.

Universal Sports Network, which is a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, is using Video Cloud to deliver more than 2,000 hours of original, Olympic, adventure and endurance sports programming to both Adobe Flash and HTML5 desktops and devices.

"Brightcove Video Cloud plays an instrumental role in meeting our aggressive requirements to offer significant quantities of both live and on-demand video content across multiple screens while providing a great viewer experience," said Elliott Gordon, VP and general manager of digital for Universal Sports. "Video Cloud also gives us access to critical analytics and reporting tools that we use to measure the performance of our programming and fine-tune content to best meet the demands of our passionate audience and dedicated advertiser base."

As part of the deployment, Video Cloud was integrated into Universal Sports Network's existing WordPress content management system so that all of Video Cloud's features and functionality are available within the native WordPress environment.

Other vendors include Adobe Pass, which provides authentication of cable or satellite subscription credentials. Viewers can also subscribe to content packages, such as all cycling events, through a content management platform provided by CSG International.

"Universal Sports Network is serving a passionate, underserved sports audience who want to access content on any device and at any time during a big Olympics year," said Eric Elia, VP of TV solutions at Brightcove in a statement. "Video Cloud's ability to support high quality live and on-demand video will make it easier for Universal Sports Network to meet the needs of its demanding viewers both now and in the future."

Separately at NAB, Brightcove also unveiled its Video Paywall Solution Framework and announced it has become a Certified Widevine Implementation Partner.

That will allow customers of the Brightcove Video Cloud online video platform customers to package and securely distribute video content on more than 440 million consumer electronics devices through Google's Widevine multi-platform digital rights management (DRM).