Fox Sports teams with Wirecast for FIFA World Cup Now Show live Twitter programme

Fox Sports and Twitter have announced they have been collaborating on a brand new live daily online show called FIFA World Cup Now. The show is streamed directly to Twitter using Telestream’s Wirecast live video streaming production software.

Hosted by Rachel Bonnetta, the show is being streamed from Moscow’s Red Square on each match day. It provides post-game recaps of all events, news, analysis, player and manager interviews, social media reaction from around the world, as well as original segments produced by Fox’s team in Moscow.

The Fox Sports studio embraces elements that showcase Russian culture

The streaming show is an extension of everything the audience sees on linear TV, produced in a slightly different way, with a raw, in the moment feel. The same graphics packages and set location and desk at Red Square are being used, as well as high quality broadcast cameras. Live coverage is available in the US to Twitter’s audience and can be viewed via @FOXSoccer on computers, tablets and mobile devices. 

Said Daniela Mayock, who oversees the technical operations for the FIFA World Cup Now show: “As soon as we started working with Wirecast, the quality of our productions increased dramatically. We’re now at the largest sporting events in the world and we’re happy with the partnership.”

Added Michael Jankolovits, senior director of video production for Fox Sports Digital: “Wirecast is helping us extend our reach and increase engagement, particularly with a growing audience that is consuming their content on mobile, and many via social.”

Fox Sports’ digital content group chose Telestream Wirecast to create a professional looking live stream that mimics the Fox Sports TV broadcast while offering digital elements such as responding to social media. The Wirecast switcher enables operators to switch sources and feature guests from anywhere in the world. The layers interface inside Wirecast enable operators to feature multiple picture-in-picture displays with graphics such as scores, stats, Tweets, and other relevant match data. Wirecast’s internal encoder packages and send the resulting live stream to Twitter.

The FIFA World Cup represents one of the most challenging and rewarding productions yet undertaken by the Fox Sports digital content team, claimed the company.