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Optus Sport Launches Home Fitness Content on App
AS FITNESS PROVIDERS have moved to online delivery of their classes and workouts while people continue to work from home, Optus Sport has seen an opportunity to expand its content beyond competitive football with the launch of OS Fitness on its platform. Optus Sport is the home of premium football content in Australia, including exclusively live coverage of every Premier League, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League match. OS Fitness corrals at home workouts from leading online fitness providers to deliver a variety of fun and effective video workouts that cater to a wide range of interests and fitness levels. According to Optus’ Head of TV and Content Corin Dimopoulos, “So far, we’ve partnered with Flow Athletic and Fitness Playground, creators of Virtual Playground, which means Optus Sport customers can try yoga, dance, cardio, and fast fat-burners, plus core strength sessions and pilates routines. This content is free to all existing Optus Sport users with more partners coming on board.” “We know that some people may have fallen out of their fitness routines in recent months so we want to help people keep both physically and mentally fit at home with a bundle of workouts based on their fitness level.” The launch of OS Fitness creates new connections with the broader Optus Sport community, providing greater value to customers who have an Optus Sport subscription but don’t access its exclusive football content. “We want to provide customers with a range of options to connect with us, so sports lovers outside of our core football audience can jump on board OS Fitness,” Mr Dimopoulos said. “Our goal is to create a streaming service that can be utilised by the whole family, so our customers are getting even more value from their Optus Sport subscription. “It can be accessed via Optus Sport on any compatible device with an internet connection at home or on the go, which means you can head down to the local park for a workout or stream to it to your TV from the comfort of your own home.” Visit https://www.optus.com.au
Ross Enhances Stats Perform SGL Integration with XPression Graphics CONTENT CREATORS WORKING in live sports production know that data is king, and sports fan are always hungry for stats on the performance of their favourite teams and players. Relevant statistics, no matter how obscure, can really help keep viewers engaged, and Ross Video is responding to this need by tightening the integration between its XPression real-time graphics platform and Stats Perform – a leading provider of data and research in the world of sports.
SPORTSCASTING
For sports production professionals, a Stats Perform SGL subscription is like adding a whole team of researchers and graphics producers to your production with the click of a button, providing hundreds of data points for each player in a structured method. An updated Stats Perform SGL interface with a new dedicated connection option for XPression provides access to Stats Perform data which can be downloaded directly in to the XPression engine. This means that automation can create thousands of compelling graphics in a matter of seconds. This enables your graphics team to focus on more creative tasks while guaranteeing that critical data-driven graphics are available at their fingertips.
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Sky NZ Sells Outside Broadcast Assets to NEP SKY NZ HAS ANNOUNCED the sale of its Outside Broadcast (OSB) subsidiary to NEP New Zealand, in a transaction that Sky CEO Martin Stewart says will ensure Sky continues to deliver high-quality sport production to its customers. Upon completion, NEP will own OSB’s assets including six HD OB units and all ancillary equipment, and NEP has secured two OSB warehouse facilities. The majority of OSB team members and some Sky broadcast specialists will transition to NEP New Zealand, and Sky will retain its world-class sports production team who will be working closely with NEP New Zealand to keep the sports action coming. As part of the transaction, NEP will be Sky’s technical production partner in New Zealand for the next ten years. “Sky Sport’s focus continues to be delivering quality sport that New Zealanders love, from grassroots to high performance and professional competitions. It’s what Sky Sport lives and breathes – that won’t change. We’ll be focused on developing creative content and great storytelling, with NEP New Zealand as our outsourced technical production partner,” says Sky Chief Executive Martin Stewart.
“Stats Perform is the premier provider of sports data, and XPression is all about real-time motion graphics,” says Patrick Twomey, Ross Video’s Director of Product Management for XPression. “Having a dedicated XPression interface to Stats Perform’s SGL tools is like adding a virtual graphics producer to the production team.”
Stewart says the sale will enable Sky to reduce its future capital investment in multi-million dollar OB equipment, drawing instead on NEP’s ability to leverage its global network of technology developments so that Sky’s broadcast offering stays at the forefront.
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“The rate of technological change in
the OB space is significant, and the advantage of this transaction is Sky Sport will continue to have access to the best advancements in the OB world without Sky having to make substantial investments to own equipment. “We’ve always been extremely proud of what our Outside Broadcasting team members do – travelling up and down the country 52 weeks of the year to produce hundreds of events. We look forward to continuing to work with the team and NEP New Zealand through our partnership and delivering the best possible experiences to our customers.” President of NEP Australia, New Zealand and Japan, Soames Treffry commented, “NEP New Zealand is absolutely thrilled to begin this partnership supporting Martin Stewart’s vision for content creation at Sky. Sport is in our DNA and we’ll bring the world’s best practices and technology to Sky. NEP New Zealand General Manager Oliver Pitkin is looking forward to welcoming the team from OSB into the NEP family. In the end, people make pictures, so it’s important to us this is Kiwi from top to tail. The addition of OSB’s experienced, professional team further bolsters that position. The expansion will enable us to train, develop and create more jobs in the industry as a whole in New Zealand.” The transaction is subject to approval from the Overseas Investment Office and the New Zealand Commerce Commission, and relevant applications have been lodged. The terms of the transaction, including purchase price and services agreement, are confidential between the parties. Visit www.sky.co.nz and www.nepgroup.co.nz
