Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), the broadcast arm of the International Olympic Committee, has teamed up with Alibaba Cloud, the public cloud service division of e-commerce company Alibaba Group, to develop a cloud-based broadcasting platform to be in place in time for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The partnership between Alibaba and the International Olympic Committee began in January 2017 when the two parties signed a long-term strategic agreement that the two parties say will help transform the Olympic Games for the digital era. Alibaba now serves as the official Cloud Services and E-Commerce Platform Services partner.
In the past, distributors and content creators have kept the use of cloud-based platforms for broadcasting live sporting events to a minimum due to concerns over latency, speed and volume. To address those quality concerns, Alibaba and OBS have also partnered with Intel to deliver higher quality volumetric content over the cloud. Intel expects to also use its virtual reality solution to enhance the Olympic viewing experience.
“We are very pleased that Alibaba Cloud has come up with this innovative and powerful approach to Olympic broadcasting. As the host broadcaster of the Olympic Games, we at OBS see ourselves as a leader in transforming the media industry,” said Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of OBS.
“Tokyo 2020 will be an opportunity for the International Olympic Committee to champion digital transformation in the media industry, as well as empowering broadcasters around the world with a cloud platform that delivers new possibilities for how the Games are enjoyed by fans around the world.”
