| Following a pioneering collaboration between WebcastSport, Hawk-Eye Innovations, Skysports.com and the British Basketball League (BBL), LIVE coverage of BBL & Women’s British Basketball League (WBBL) games is to return to screens worldwide in January 2016.This exciting deal has been made possible by cutting edge technology supplied by UK sports technology innovators, Hawk-Eye Innovations, best known for its electronic line calling service for the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships and its Premier League football goal line technology.The first stage of this ground-breaking partnership will see an initial pilot of four BBL events streamed live in January 2016 via Webcastsport.com and Skysports.com.Dates, times and competitions are as follows:
* Fri Jan 8, 2016 – Live Stream from 19.15
The Copper Box, London: BBL Championship
London Lions v Leicester Riders
* Sun Jan 17, 2016 – Live Stream from 11.45
Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham:
WBBL Trophy Final,
BBL Slam Dunk,
BBL Cup Final
* Fri Jan 22, 2016 – Live Stream from 19.15
University of Worcester Arena, Worcester: BBL Championship –
Worcester Wolves v Esh Group Newcastle Eagles
* Sat Jan 30, 2016 – Live Stream from 15.45
New Leicester Community Sports Arena, Leicester:
WBBL Championship – Leicester Riders v Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters
BBL Championship – Leicester Riders v Surrey Scorchers
The four pilot BBL events are to be produced by sports broadcaster, WebcastSport, using Hawk-Eye’s SMART production service, a solution that significantly reduces the cost of live basketball production by up to 75% without impacting on the quality of the output.
Employing four to six automated broadcast quality HD cameras, which utilise Hawk-Eye’s cutting edge, vision processing techniques, and combining Hawk-Eye’s IT-based software platform, WebcastSport will deliver a live, HD quality sports programme ready for streaming, which will also be available free on demand.
A further element of the collaboration will enable basketball fans worldwide to watch the live streaming of BBL games for free on their PC, and on their tablet or smart phone via the Sky Sports’ app.
Bob Hope, Commercial Director, BBL, WBBL and GB Basketball commented, “This is a hugely exciting first step towards our goal of bringing British basketball to fans worldwide.
“I would like to thank all parties involved who have worked both hard and selflessly to pull this ground-breaking collaboration together.
“Not only will the partnership give fans the opportunity of watching live games on their PCs but also on their tablets and Smartphones, and all for free.
“This, coupled with accessibility worldwide, was for us, an important element of this project.”
Hawk-Eye’s Managing Director, Stephen Carter said, “We are delighted to be part of this innovative collaboration with the BBL.
“Following our trials with networks across multiple American sports, including basketball and baseball, we feel our technology is the perfect match for the BBL and we look forward to developing this partnership in 2016.”
Meanwhile Kevin Magee, Managing Director of WebcastSport, added, “WebcastSport is proud to be the web streaming partner for the BBL.
“We are excited to be able to bring our many years of broadcast expertise to one of the UK’s largest sports and to be able to deliver the league live to webcastsport.com viewers free of charge.
“The opportunity to collaborate with Hawk-Eye and its new technologies, and the added bonus of our partnership with Skysports.com, will see us take the sport into a new era of interaction with the fan base.”
For further information and a rights-free image (which can also be taken directly from www.bbl.org.uk) of Tayo Ogedengbe of Surrey Scorchers and Stephen Carter, Managing Director, Hawk-Eye Innovations with a Hawk-Eye automated HD camera, please contact:
British Basketball League:
Paul Nilsen, BBL and WBBL Media Operations
E: paul.nilsen@bbl.org.uk
M: +44 (0) 7454388369
Hawk-Eye Innovations
Grace Fenton, Sales & Marketing Officer
E: grace.fenton@hawkeyeinnovations.com
T: +44 (0) 1256 483227
WebcastSport:
Kevin Magee, Managing Director
E: kevin@webcastsport.com
T: +44 (0) 7971 612 962
Chris White Smith, Commercial Director
Chris@webcastsport.com
T: +44 (0) 7836 256639
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Hawk-Eye:
Hawk-Eye is a sports technology company that provides officiating, broadcast and digital solutions that raise the game for fans and players. Hawk-Eye is an integral part of the sports experience and has become a trusted partner to many of the world’s largest sports federations, media companies and sponsors by providing award winning, innovative solutions that make the game fairer, smarter, safer and more entertaining. Hawk-Eye is part of Sony and has offices around the world.
www.hawkeyeinnovations.com
About WebcastSport:
WebcastSport brings together decades of sports broadcasting experience to bring webcast technology to a new fan base. We come from solid mainstream broadcasting and have the sensibilities of that world embedded in our processes, along with embracing the new technologies available to bring more sport to more people, while not compromising on the quality of the broadcasts. Our aim is to get more people into sport participation by giving under exposed sports a home where they are assured of quality in the presentations.
www.webcastsport.com |
