FOX SPORTS Australia selects IBM Aspera for content delivery

IBM today confirmed that FOX SPORTS Australia Pty Limited has selected high-speed file-transfer solutions from IBM Aspera to streamline and accelerate the content-sharing capabilities of global providers.

FOX SPORTS broadcasts more than 13,000 hours of live sports programming every year across the network’s seven channels, in addition to quality programming it sources from outlets all over the world. As the company expanded and more providers were added to the mix, the process of program sourcing grew increasingly convoluted and time-consuming.

To simplify and accelerate the process, FOX SPORTS turned to IBM’s Aspera Shares and Aspera Point-to-Point software. With Point to Point, providers initiate and manage secure high-speed transfers. Once the transfer is completed, administrators at FOX are immediately notified that the content is ready. The files are then passed through a series of steps including transcoding and QC checks via Telestream Vantage. Once editing and processing is completed, the finished content is uploaded to Aspera Shares for distribution, where it can be browsed and downloaded at high speed by users with appropriate access rights.

“The Aspera implementation immediately improved the way we receive and process content,” said Judd Walliker, broadcast services manager, FOX Sports Australia. “We’re able to receive programs faster than ever before and no longer have to search for physical content. The Aspera solution is trusted and widely deployed in the media industry, so we could leverage digital transfer with multiple partners.”

“FOX SPORTS needed to implement a customizable ingest platform with multiple applications to assist and service third-party content providers that need to push assets to them in a predictable, reliable, and secure manner. The Aspera solution meets their present need with the added benefit of simplifying and speeding up the whole process and providing expansion for the future,” said John Wastcoat, VP, business development, Aspera.

Aspera is demonstrating its entire portfolio of high-speed transfer products for data delivery, sharing, and exchange at IBC 2016 Sept. 9-13, Hall 7, Stand G20.