Mediapro Canada To Produce Seven Games of the Canadian Elite Basketball League With AutomaticTV

Mediapro Canada has been selected by the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), Canada’s first division professional men’s basketball league, to produce live television coverage of all 26 games in the league’s 2020 CEBL Summer Series, which tips off on July 25 and culminates in the Championship Final on August 9.

Mediapro Canada will produce seven games, including the semi-finals and the final, for live broadcast on the CBC, Canada’s national public broadcaster, as well as the remaining 19 games which will be carried live and on-demand on CBC GEM, the corporation’s streaming service, available across all connected devices.

The company will supply all the technical facilities, production crew and transmission services to bring exciting live CEBL basketball coverage from the 2020 Summer Series, which will be held at the Meridian Centre in St Catharines, Ontario, and is distributing live and highlights rights to the Series to broadcasters around the world.

“We are extremely excited to partner with Mediapro, a world leader in broadcast production, and we look forward to them showcasing our talented players across the country and internationally,” said Mike Morreale, Commissioner and CEO of the CEBL. “We are thrilled to be the first in Canada to benefit from the Mediapro AI platform AutomaticTV, and to be a leader in utilizing new technology to deliver our amazing product to our fans.”

Mediapro Canada will use AutomaticTV, the group’s proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven fully automated sports production system, to produce High Definition live multi-camera coverage of the 19 games for CBC GEM – marking the first time the technology has been used in Canada. AutomaticTV offers a unique multi-camera broadcast-quality production solution with a 60 frames-per-second 1080p rate, allowing rights-holders to maximize their investment and generate new revenue streams.

“We are delighted to partner with the CEBL as they embark on their second season of play,” says Oscar López, CEO of Mediapro Canada. “Mediapro’s basketball pedigree is extensive – we produce live coverage of the FIBA World Cup, the Euroleague, Spain’s ACB Liga and the SINA 3×3 Elite League among others – and we are excited to introduce our innovative AutomaticTV system to the Canadian market.”

The CEBL, the new men’s professional basketball league, launched in 2019 with six teams; the Fraser Valley Bandits, Edmonton Stingers, 2019 league champions Saskatchewan Rattlers, Niagara River Lions, Hamilton Honey Badgers, and Guelph Nighthawks, and expanded to include the Ottawa BlackJacks for the 2020 season.