The BBC is to use a data driven service from Deltratre to power all of its TV graphics, online statistics and analysis and online video during the London Olympics, writes Adrian Pennington. The media service provider’s technology is also behind Sky Sports’ online coverage of Heineken Cup Rugby, which begins this weekend.
During the Olympics Deltatre will adapt an Olympic Data Feed (ODF) supplied by the host broadcaster OBS. The ODF contains all statistics related to events at the Olympic venues and is collected on behalf of OBS by ATOS Origin and Swiss Timing.
A version of ODF for broadcasters will also be created and includes transmission schedule and video logging metadata.
Deltratre will re-engineer the ODF into a single data set called the Olympics Results Pipeline that will power all the BBC’s TV graphics and online video.
“Data has had a value for a number of years but now data is being used to power video it is a real game changer opening up whole new applications, business models, ways in which fans can interact with a sport or means by which rights holders can extend the reach of their brand,” said Jim Irving, Deltatre’s Head of Video and Commercial. “The Olympics will be a catalyst for change in the use of data in the industry.”
“Video has been and will remain the focus, but data is the next thing to focus on. Data takes a different form for different audiences – results, scheduling, athletic data, data which explains who the favourites or countries are – the kind of data that increases value to an audience and helps them understand the event,” explained Tim Plyming, Project Executive, Digital & Editor Live Sites, BBC London 2012.
“For example, we want to incorporate data about the sport of diving which explains why it is a good dive, which may not be immediately obvious to newcomers to the sport. The viewer can customise the data either for the same screen or for a complementary screen.”
Heineken Cup Rugby
This weekend Sky Sports is also launching its online coverage of Heineken Cup Rugby, the second sport on the Event Centre to be powered by Delatre’s online video platform DIVA. Heineken Cup data is supplied by Opta Sports to Deltatre.
In April this year Sky launched the UEFA Champions League on Event Centre – a platform that is white labelled to Sky by Deltatre (pictured).
Deltatre is the official agency for collecting all in-game data for UEFA (and also FIFA). Sky Sports’ subscribers have complete control over how they experience the football match. Games are available live or on demand, with the option to swap between simultaneous live matches.
At the click of a button supporters can navigate their way through all the significant moments of a game, consulting player or match stats and reliving action through PVR-type features, watch match related video and even interact with other online football fans during a live match.
