New Zealand’s Cello Sport taps Pixellot to Give Community Sports Production a Lift

Cello Sport, a New Zealand organization focused on increasing access to community sports, have announced a new partnership with Pixellot that will make community hockey games available via live stream.

As part of the initiative, CelloSport has installed several of Pixellot’s fully automated sports production systems, enabling fans to watch professional quality coverage of community sports when they cannot attend in person.

The associations currently using the AI-enabled sports production technology include North Harbour, Wellington Hockey, Manawatu Hockey, and Waikato Hockey. As of August 16, they have broadcast 39 hockey games between them, with associations responsible for choosing how many games they will live-stream each weekend.

Parent company Cello, New Zealand’s leading business network provider, is the owner and operator of Cello Sport.

“At Cello we understand that great network solutions are the platforms for digital innovation,” says Mark Jurgeleit, CEO at Cello and CelloSport. “We set up CelloSports to connect men, women, and youth athletes at every level. Pixellot supports this mission, helping our hockey associations engage their communities effectively and affordably.

Jurgeleit says Cello has already ordered a second shipment of Pixellot systems to extend the opportunity to football clubs.

“Communities are the reason behind this whole project: CelloSport is about connecting communities, and we’re already seeing sponsors sign up to support the initiative,” he says.

Riki Burgess, CEO of the North Harbour Association, says everyone is excited by how easy Pixellot makes it for us to broadcast TV-like footage.

“The cameras provide great quality video coverage, allowing families and fans throughout New Zealand to enjoy the excitement of community hockey,” he says.

“We are delighted to be able to help community sports teams in New Zealand engage their fan bases via professional-quality live streams” adds Alon Werber, CEO at Pixellot. “The cost of production used to prohibit local clubs from broadcasting games, but Pixellot changes that. Our fully automated production workflow can generate and deliver high-quality footage without a person in the loop.”

Scott Horton, owner of McDonald’s Newtown, one of the local sponsors of the Wellington Pilot, says sports teams often play a central role in bringing these communities together and that’s why it’s crucial to help clubs use technologies like Pixellot to enhance this dynamic.

The award-winning, AI-automated technology is now used in thousands of venues worldwide, live-streaming upwards of 80,000 games per month.