Video technology and services outfit Edit.TV says sports rights holders are leaving thousands of hours of archive content on the table when they could be monetised, writes Adrian Pennington. The rise of IP connected devices, notably connected TVs however could swing control of sports content away from broadcast and cable operators back towards rights holders.
Edit.TV company director Matt O’Connor says the fragmented nature of the sports media industry means that thousands of house of content is left undigitised, unlogged and therefore unavailable for online syndication or video on demand.
“The rise of IP connected devices means that the value of rights which have traditionally been held by the broadcaster is shifting toward clubs and others who can facilitate new distribution deals.”
Edit.TV is in discussions with Samsung and LG about repurposing sports content for customers over connected TV platforms.
“We’re also talking with automated data companies in Silicon Valley about marrying their technology with ours,” said O’Connor. “We have done exploratory work with XML providers in the industry so that when watching a soccer match on TV, for example, our platform is able to take in, in real time, statistics such as amount of team possession stats, number of completed passes, goal mouth action. Our software is able to map that against the video feed either live or offer it against on-demand streams.”
Subscribers to the service can flick back and watch events that have happened by icon – such as goals or a red card – and then jump back to the live stream.
Edit.TV’s Event Driven Interactive Technology also enables matches to be automatically synchronised with relevant game data files to create event-driven highlights, while the VoD facility allows for instant search by events or players from a particular league’s VoD channel.
The concept is remarkably similar to that of DeltraTre’s DIVA platform and there would appear to be intense rivalry here.
“We’ve had talks,” said O’Connor, adding: “We have a sizeable IP.” Edit.TV’s technology is backed by 17 patents.
Edit.TV recently clinched a deal with Allied Pacific Sports Network (APSN), Asia’s leading internet TV provider of sports media streaming, which will see Edit TV’s technology manage, stream and distribute sports content across the Asian region via mobile and internet platforms.
“This is a tremendous deal for Edit.TV, one that propels the company into an exciting period of growth and demonstrates the value of providing customers with innovative content solutions,” said O’Connor.
It also works with Liverpool FC to provide the club with a VoD service for full match archiving and search. Edit.TV is also a partner with Motorola, Adobe and Press Association Sport to deliver comprehensive end-to-end video for worldwide rights holders.
