English Premier League webcasting to US

Stephen Withers
Friday, 24 August 2007 11:57

Your IT - Home IT

A deal between video streaming company Vividas and Fox Soccer Channel means English Premier League matches will be webcast in high-quality full-screen resolution.

The coverage will be available to US viewers on a subscription or pay-per-view basis. PPV prices will range from $US4 (delayed) to $US8 (live).

"Vividas' unique live technology enables delivery of broadcast quality live vision to a mass audience without the serious quality of service issues that plague competitor technologies when delivering to a large audience of concurrent users," claimed Dave Winter, CEO of Vividas Asia-Pacific.

Multiple games will be streamed each week, and subscribers will also get to see classic EPL matches. Further ahead, the partners have plans to add FA Cup, UEFA Cup and certain European Champoinship matches to the program.

The project follows a successful trial of Vividas' technology involving matches from the Copa Liberadores and the European Championship.

"The Barclays Premier League is the world's best soccer and with the start of our new three year broadcast agreement with the Premier League, FSC is  committed to delivering these games to the widest audience possible," said David Sternberg, executive vice president and general manager of Fox Soccer Channel. "Vividas' streaming technology is uniquely suited to deliver this thrilling content. The quality full-screen experience that customers will experience will change the way people think of Internet video."

The Vividas technology works with Internet Explorer on Windows and Safari on Mac OS X, with a Linux version in test.