American Athletic Conference Taps LiveU for Digital Network

Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced that the American Athletic Conference has selected LiveU to power its new digital sports network in a package that includes live video production, transmission, and asset delivery.  LiveU will be responsible for the production, uplink, and asset delivery of 38 games and events in the 2013-14 academic year.

The fall production package is highlighted by the conference’s first live coverage of its Cross Country Championship from Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, CT, thanks to LiveU’s ability to easily transmit live video on the move. Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championship semifinals will also be produced. Additionally, championship coverage will continue in the winter and spring seasons with the swimming and diving, baseball, softball, and indoor and outdoor track and field championships.

Additionally, the conference and LiveU will produce and distribute 30 regular-season conference women’s basketball games.

All the live events will be free of charge and available for viewing online and on mobile devices.

“We are pleased to be able to provide unprecedented coverage of our Olympic sport championships and to enhance our women’s basketball distribution with this agreement,” said Aresco. “As we go through our first year as the American Athletic Conference, we are confident that LiveU will provide a sound, reliable and versatile live video platform that will allow our digital network to be a model in college athletics.”

LiveU is the leader in mobile uplink solutions and offers deep expertise in addressing the video needs of sports organizations. As part of the package, LiveU will offer guaranteed uplink of all games, regardless of the Internet infrastructure at the venue, through a combination of its cellular uplink backpacks, Xtender enhanced antennas for transmission in congested environments, and a cost-effective hybrid solution of cellular and KA-Band satellite. All the solutions will be managed and controlled via the LiveU Central browser-based management system on the cloud.

LiveU will also provide the complete suite of production services and equipment, including cameras, switching and editing equipment, and production staff.

Finally, LiveU will be responsible for delivering all the footage to three destinations simultaneously: The American’s official streaming platform; to the conference’s studio in Providence, RI, for post-game highlights; and to XOS digital, which manages the digital asset vault for the new digital sports network.

Tim Prukop, Head of Sports and New Media, LiveU: “LiveU has developed a very strong team, product, and service offering tailored for the video needs of the college sports market, and we’re excited that The American has selected us.  We have expanded our capabilities by offering an end to end solution including the production and asset delivery of live events, enabling sports organizations to seamlessly enhance the quality and accessibility of their live events .”