Simplestream builds OTT Video Platform for the Channel 4 Parasport and 2020 Paralympics Online Service

Simplestream, the leader in live, live-2-VOD and on-demand OTT services, announced today that it has built an accessible video platform and responsive website for Channel 4’s online coverage of Para Sport and Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. The service is provisioned to handle multiple live concurrent streams, on-demand video and includes adaptive bitrate encoding (ABR) for up to 10 profiles.

“The time difference between some of the Parasport and Paralympic events in Tokyo 2020 and the UK means that our digital offering is more important than ever for our coverage,” said Pete Andrews, Channel 4 Head of Sport. “Basing our Parasport online video offering on the tried and tested, low latency, accessible Simplestream Sport Video Platform solution meant that we could work with Simplestream to spend more time and energy on editorial features that make our offering better. The website is now live with VOD assets and we’re looking forward to Simplestream ensuring that our online video service thrills millions of viewers during the heat of the Paralympics action, starting with the World Para Swimming Championships on the 9th of September.”

Key features of the website and video platform for the Channel 4 Parasport offering, include:

• The website built by Simplestream complies with WCAG 2.0 accessibility to ensure that the online experience can be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible
• Through supporting responsive web design principles, the content is automatically optimized for each device type
• Built using Simplestream’s Sport Video Platform, the platform handles up to 16 concurrent live streams and 10 ABR profiles, with live event scheduling and the management of news articles and video metadata
• The website is integrated with Channel 4’s Freewheel and Adobe Analytics platforms
• DRM support includes FairPlay, Marlin, PlayReady and Widevine
• Simplestream provides a fully managed support team 24/7 throughout the live events including the Paralympics.

“Four years ago, a video platform of this scale and complexity would probably have been handled as a bespoke engineering project. The power of the cloud and our modular, white-label approach to building video platforms means that we can build ambitious live and VOD video projects for major broadcasters such as Channel 4 at a fraction of the time and cost, with all the technical and operational support and back up expected around such high interest sporting events,” added Dan Finch, Chief Commercial Officer of Simplestream. “We’re incredibly excited to be part of Channel 4’s flagship online Parasport and Paralympics coverage and look forward to making sure all the action from these great sporting occasions is available to everyone, anytime, anywhere.”

Key features of Simplestream’s Sports Video Platform include: low latency streaming, live event management, global scalability, multi-language support, automated generation of video highlights and data integrations for real-time match, league and player stats, plus immersive HTML5 based applications that can sit across any device, so that sports fans can be entertained and delighted for hours on end. When it comes to monetisation, Sports Video Platform comes with AVOD/SVOD and PPV models out of the box, so that any broadcaster, league or federation can now generate revenue whilst at the same time learn about their customers through valuable, real time return path data – something that traditional methods of TV delivery can never deliver.

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