NBC Sports Digital is starting a new tech service, Playmaker Media, that will give the company a video live streaming service. The service’s first partner is the International Olympic Committee and it will be streaming the summer Olympics and other major events like the presidential election coverage. The goal of the service is to allow NBC to sell its service to other partners and gain more sports rights.
NBC Sports Digital will live stream 10,000+ events this yr. It was 1st to stream Olympics, NFL game & Super Bowl https://t.co/KndRAxGYPo
— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) May 23, 2016
Playmaker Media is the next evolution of the service that NBC has already used to stream popular events that started in 2006 with the men’s ice hockey gold medal game between Sweden and Finland at the Torino Olympics.
Rick Cordella, Senior Vice President and General Manager of NBC Sports Group said in a press release, “ The growing demand for live streaming support in the marketplace combined with our experience and expertise make this the perfect time to launch Playmaker.”
This new service is entering an already competitive field with MLB Advanced Media being its biggest competition, as they already work with HBO and Disney is reportedly close to investing in the streaming service. But Playmaker also has big partners in technology companies like Adobe, Microsoft, Akamai, iStreamPlanet and Comcast Wholesale, creating a large reach for the new service.