(ATR) Can’t find the Paralympics on TV? Not a problem now that the International Paralympic Committee is broadcasting the Games on its website.
ParalympicSport.TV, the IPC’s broadcast system for the Paralympics, features live online coverage of the Games as well as a "smart player" showing real-time statistics superimposed on footage – a world broadcasting first.
"To push out data is one thing. To integrate for video-on-demand is another," head of IPC broadcast operations Jochen Faerber told Around the Rings during an exclusive tour of ParalympicSport.TV’s studio in London.
Developed in conjunction with TOP sponsor Atos, the project started just six months before the Games and is available only for basketball and swimming events.
Faerber said another new development for London is enhanced capability to filter video-on-demand searches, allowing users to pick a specific moment of competition to watch. In the past, if a viewer wanted to watch one particular swimmer, for example, he or she would have to watch the entire meet. Viewers can also pause and rewind live coverage.
"People are happy, the reactions are positive," Faerber said of ParalympicSport.TV’s performance. Two stats to back that up: there are one million downloads of VOD footage and 36,000 concurrent users of streaming video at any one time.
Inaddition to the five channels streaming coverage online and the video-on-demand service, the IPC is providing broadcast footage to networks around the world, including Al Jazeera and SuperSport in South Africa.
"Planning was quite hard with last-minute requests," Faerber said, adding that broadcasters "got into the hype" just prior to the Games.
More time and more staff for the IPC projects are his big requests going forward.
"That is one of the transfers of knowledge," he told ATR. "That is crucial."
Helping his cause, Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 each have a staff member working with him to understand the nuts and bolts of the operation.
"They are keen and like it," he said of his colleagues.
About 25 support staff help with broadcast operations during the Games; Faerber says he would like 50.
One of the live streaming channels features broadcasting in Spanish. Faerber said the IPC wanted this to appeal to viewers in the Americas – ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, of course.
When asked how to describe his experience at the London Paralympics, Faerber was direct.
"Very cool," he said.
Reported in London by Ed Hula III
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