ITV to bring niche live streaming sports content to viewers with Vualto
British broadcaster ITV has implemented technology from live and on-demand video streaming and DRM provider Vualto to help deliver niche live streamed events, as well as protect content.
In order to drive incremental views and enable the broadcasting of more niche events via the ITV Hub, the partnership with Vualto will allow ITV to explore more of its existing sports rights.
ITV has chosen to implement Vualto’s dynamic event orchestration technology to deliver live streamed events via its ITV Hub video on demand (VoD) service, integrated with Vualto’s scalable DRM solution to protect the broadcaster’s valuable video content.
The broadcaster has expanded its VoD service, ITV Hub, over recent years. ITV Hub is available on 28 platforms and on over 90% of connected televisions sold in the UK. It has also recently announced an increased focus on on-demand content.
The broadcaster selected Vualto to deliver the necessary infrastructure to enable the spinning up of pop-up channels for the streaming of live events via ITV Hub.
Vualto’s Control Hub provides ITV with dynamic event orchestration, allowing for the scaling up of resources for a live streaming event immediately before it begins and the ability to scale down once it is over, enabling the broadcaster to save on cloud-hosting costs that would otherwise be accrued from having the service continuously running.
Integrated with this solution is Vualto’s VUDRM service, which ensures protection of ITV’s valuable content. The scalable service ensures compatibility with the three leading DRM technologies and a range of different browsers, enabling protected content to be delivered to as many end users as possible, regardless of device chosen.
Following a successful first test with ITV via ITV Hub for the British Touring Car Championship, Vualto will deliver further support for a calendar of live event streams, including more sporting events.
Vinay Kumar Gupta, senior architect for ITV Video Platform, commented: “We are committed to providing our viewers with the best range of content, and our long-term focus is on delivering that choice via our ITV Hub platform. Vualto’s solutions and expertise have been invaluable in delivering the necessary infrastructure to ensure the commercial success of some of our more niche sporting events, and we look forward to the next stage of the project.”
Camilla Young, CEO and co-founder, Vualto added: “We’re proud to be working closely with ITV to deliver support for its live event streams in a cost-effective and flexible manner. We look forward to helping the organisation expand its portfolio of niche live streaming content in 2021 and beyond.”