Super Bowl XLV: Level 3 Delivers Big Game for 22nd Consecutive Year

Level 3 Communications will provide live, HD television broadcast video services to FOX Sports for Super Bowl XLV, using Level 3 Vyvx VenueNet+ technology. For 22 consecutive years, the League and broadcasters have relied on Level 3 Vyvx Services to deliver the most-watched television event of the year.

Level 3 has connected the stadium in Arlington, TX, directly to its fiber-optic network and will provide FOX with advanced voice, video, and high-speed data services through a single connection panel using Vyvx VenueNet+ technology. Level 3’s equipment and connectivity into the venue provide FOX with end-to-end on-net service to ensure better reliability and control over the delivery process. As part of the service, FOX will also use Level 3’s JPEG 2000 compression services, which the broadcaster used at several venues during the 2010 football season.

“Level 3 has a long history of supporting FOX in the delivery of professional sports content to our viewers around the country,” says Keith Goldberg, VP of Transmission and Resiliency at FOX Networks Engineering & Operations. “For a game like this, where performance is critical, Level 3’s unmatched experience delivering this event and the improvements they’ve made to simplify the event delivery process with VenueNet+ were important factors in our decision to work with them.”

Level 3 rolled out the upgraded VenueNet+ technology in 2010, and now provides the service in all 31 major professional football venues across the country. Last year, FOX expanded its work with Level 3 and signed on for VenueNet + services for the 2010 professional football season.

In addition to delivering the game entirely on-net to FOX headquarters in Los Angeles, Level 3 will also carry the pre-game, game, and post-game feeds to league operations centers in Mt. Laurel, NJ; Culver City, CA; and NFL Network master control facilities in Atlanta, as well as other broadcast networks and satellite teleport sites for global distribution. In total, more than 3,000 hours of video content will be acquired, encoded and transported across the Level 3 Vyvx Services platform for Super Bowl coverage.

“When a company is selected to deliver an event as big as the Super Bowl for more than two decades running, as we have been, we believe it’s a pretty good indicator of the level of trust the league and broadcasters have in Level 3 to provide superior performance in high-pressure situations,” says Mark Taylor, vice president of Content and Media at Level 3. “We’re constantly looking for ways to make that delivery experience even smoother for broadcasters – by improving workflows, adding services like VenueNet+ and streamlining processes – all with the ultimate goal of helping ensure a great experience for our customers and the viewers at home.”