BAMTECH’s Whitney Howard: NHL Platforms are ‘a Battle-tested Product We’re Excited To Stand Behind’

Exec discusses the importance of video at 60 fps, the new NHL season

Entering its second full season of its digital-media–rights partnership with the NHL, MLBAM spinoff BAMTECH Media has brought dramatic changes to fans’ user experience across all the league’s platforms, including GameCenter Live, NHL Center Ice, and NHL.com.

BAMTECH Media has remained committed to bringing video streaming (both live and on-demand) at 60 frames per second (fps). And it has expanded to more platforms across the company’s suite.

Whitney Howard, SVP/GM, hockey, BAMTECH Media

According to Whitney Howard, SVP/GM, hockey, BAMTECH Media, commitment to boosting the quality of streaming video is an essential part of the relationship’s evolution, and the company will continue to push the envelope in a live-streaming business where it has long been established as the market giant.

“Video streaming is at BAMTECH Media’s competitive core,” says Howard, who is in her first year with BAMTECH following stints at Conde Nast Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, and 21st Century Fox. “We have a legacy of providing unmatched video quality and the ability to scale better than anyone else in the industry. Streaming video over the internet is very challenging because, at its core, the internet was not designed for video. But BAMTECH Media has solved this and many other challenges associated with streaming video, entering the 2017-18 NHL season with a battle-tested product we’re excited to stand behind.”

MORE: NHL.tv Expands 60-fps Streaming Across More Digital Platforms

On the video end, this year’s iteration of the NHL app also introduces DVR functionality, which Howard believes is critical for users who want to view key plays on mobile devices. She notes that she is excited for the start of the new season and is proud of the work done during the offseason to improve this year’s product.

“We have incredible engineering and product teams that have been heads-down this past offseason, building, testing, and optimizing the NHL digital experiences. And there’s still more to come,” she says. “We are always developing, with the fan experience at the core of our roadmap. We’ll continue to release new features and platforms as the season gets under way.”

This season, BAMTECH has also put significant effort into its apps for streaming devices designed for the television screen. Apple TV features special exclusive game-preview content, and PlayStation has a refreshed look with all of the previously mentioned bells and whistles. Roku and Xbox One users can expect their apps to be upgraded very soon.