EURO 2008 to be broadcast on the web

EURO 2008 in Austria and Switzerland next summer will be the first major international tournament to be broadcast in its entirety over the internet.

UEFA has developed a platform to produce, encrypt and deliver the content to broadcasters and pay-per-view customers at GBP 1.50 a match, using NTT's secure Smart Content Network.

Local broadcasters will film the local coverage, and that is sent to the main UEFA broadcast office in London. The commentary will be overdubbed in English. The Turin office will dub the sound into other languages.

According to Daniel Marion, UEFA's New Media head of technology, The initial push came from the European Commission, keen to drive interest in new technology.

"The European Commission came to us and said that since we were managing a big sport, we should be present in, and exploit, the growing online market," Marion told computing.co.uk

"In the early days the technology was not in place to provide live streaming, but for 2006 to 2009 we decided to sell the internet broadcast rights along with those for TV."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.