Red Bee Media scores playout, management deal with BT Sport
Editor | 25-04-2013
As the launch date for its flagship offering looms, BT Sport has revealed that it has engaged Red Bee Media to provide playout, channel and media management services.
BT Sport has the rights to show 38 live Barclays Premier League football games a season, including 18 of the top clashes, and will also show up to 69 live rugby union games a season from the Aviva Premiership and up to 800 hours of live tennis, including the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships. The channels, which will be available 24 hours a day in HD and SD, will be available across the UK via various platforms including satellite, fibre broadband and pubs/clubs.
BT says that it chose Red Bee, with whom it has worked previously, for the exclusive multi-year deal because of its “impressive expertise” in supporting such live event broadcasting. “We are delighted to have teamed up with Red Bee Media for playout, channel and media management services," commented Grant Best, senior channel executive producer, BT Sport.
“It’s vitally important that we have complete confidence in our ability to deliver the amazing live sports coverage we’ll be offering to customers of BT Sport … We are happy to extend our relationship with Red Bee Media, having already chosen them to help us with the design the BT Sport logo.”
Added Red Bee CEO, Patrick Tillieux: “We are delighted to be chosen by BT to provide these critical services for the eagerly awaited BT Sport channels. This is a significant win for Red Bee Media and is testament both to our excellent track record in delivering high quality, reliable and cost-effective media distribution solutions, and our expertise and experience in managing the demanding nature of high profile live events and sports programming.”