
With public cloud ready to transform live sports distribution models right now, Arqiva's Greg Burns argues that democratisation - making cloud simple, accessible and cost effective for all - is key to unlocking its true potential.
If content rules, then distribution is the power behind the throne. And increasingly, distribution is changing.
Gone are the days when the only options of delivering live sports content were through fibre in the ground or satellites in the sky. The public cloud has changed all that.
Rights holders and broadcasters can now take advantage of the capabilities of cloud to radically simplify partner distribution, streamline and automate production operations and transform the cost base by moving from traditional CAPEX approaches to OPEX-based models.
So, instead of having to invest in physical fibre or satellite infrastructure (or interchanges) for content contribution and distribution, rights holders can send their live event footage via the internet to public cloud. Broadcasters can pick it up in the same place; process it, then distribute it via the internet to platforms and channel partners all over the world. Suddenly, the world of live sports becomes available all over the world. And all you pay for is the bandwidth and services you use, when you use it.
This allows broadcasters and rights holders to be much more agile. They can test new markets, experiment with new fan experiences and take advantage of a growing cloud-based ecosystem of partners and technology providers to do things differently, more quickly and with considerably less risk than ever before. In short, everyone gets to innovate and learn without the fear (or financial costs) of failure.
Public cloud has, for example, made it possible for golf fanatics to see every shot live from every green. This kind of real-time scale' is simply not possible with traditional fibre and satellite models. It would be too expensive to get all the infrastructure in place.
In the same way, football fans can view highlights mere seconds after the action has happened on their social media apps. If the content's already in the cloud, it can be processed there without the (relative) time and expense of moving content from one infrastructure to another to create the clips, then having to move it back again to deliver to the social platforms. It all happens in one place.
Similarly, racing enthusiasts can analyse engine and driver performance in real time because multiple concurrent feeds are radically easier to manage in the cloud. And, of course, commentators and presenters can share an almost innumerable number of live action stats thanks to AI-driven analysis services that working away in real time (again in the cloud).
This isn't about technology. Cloud is all about reach, audience experience and getting maximum ROI from your rights and channel partnerships.
While this may be nothing new these capabilities and services have been around for a number of years. However, such cloud-enabled innovations havent always been accessible to everyone. Smaller rights holders or broadcasters/platforms lack the budgets and technical expertise to create these advanced, cloud-based models. To put it bluntly, NFL-style fan experiences have necessitated NFL-style budgets.
Happily, as adoption grows in the live sports space, and as service and application developer communities expand, the capabilities previously only available to a few major rights holders and networks are now perfectly accessible by everyone.
Much of this is down to the fact that cloud perhaps uniquely brings services closer to the content. Rather than spending time and money moving content from one physical infrastructure to another, it can be delivered directly into the cloud (whether by traditional or IP delivery) and processed while it's up there. Then it can be distributed in any format, wherever it needs to go. Simple.
More to the point, as cloud maturity grows and wider ecosystems develop, brands be they broadcasters or rights holders no longer have to manage the heavy lifting themselves. They can, and arguably should, plug into existing communities. Not only is there no need to reinvent the wheel but creating more open and accessible ecosystems benefits everyone delivering economies of scale, driving innovation and optimising returns.
Arqiva's Arqade is one such platform that's aiming to do exactly that. Taking advantage of public cloud, Aqade brings rights holders/originators and broadcasters/recipients together. The former have a single virtual interchange where they can showcase and syndicate content to the latter who can rapidly discover, review and request that content to create new channels or fill live event schedules. All in the cloud, without having to invest in masses of physical infrastructure or build their own future-ready cloud environments.
So, let's democratise the public cloud to unlock its very real transformational impact on live sports distribution. Next time, we'll look in more depth at the developing public cloud ecosystem and why integration is the catalyst for ever greater innovation and transformation.
Published
04/07/2022
Author
Greg Burns, Head of Media Products
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
20/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/04/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 Update
Brie Clayton April 20, 2026
0 Comments
New update adds camera control and monitoring ...
20/04/2026
Maxon Announces Free Tools and Mobile Expansion of ZBrush and Cinema 4D
Brie Clayton April 20, 2026
0 Comments
Cinema 4D brings professional 3D workfl...
20/04/2026
Vizrt AI Keyer kills the green screen and creates virtual scenes in any environm...
20/04/2026
Register now - Market & Audience Department Ask Me Anything (AMA) Session 11 February 2026
Screen Australia Head of Market & Audience Rakel Tansley
Talking to...
20/04/2026
Screen Australia announces funding for 44 documentary projects that reflect a s...
20/04/2026
Screen Australia appoints Tanya Phegan as Narrative Content Head of Development 17 March 2026
Tanya Phegan
Screen Australia has today announced the appointmen...
20/04/2026
Applications Open for Skip Ahead 11 19 March 2026
Past Skip Ahead recipients (L-R): Macfarlane Bros, Rainbow Bop, Lyanna Kea.
Screen Australia and YouTube Aus...
20/04/2026
Screen Australia empowers the next games generation, including new creatives fro...
20/04/2026
Official Co-production Ask Me Anything (AMA) Session 26 March 2026
Image (L-R): Mix Tape, Michele McDonald, Flower & Flour.
Interested in international Co-pro...
20/04/2026
Screen Australia announces Narrative Content funding for 91 projects, including ...
20/04/2026
Production Infrastructure and Capacity Analysis (PICA) pinpoints four key workfo...
20/04/2026
Australians in Film and Screen Australia Announce the 2026 Participants in the T...
20/04/2026
Screen Australia relaunches website with new tools and improved user experience 16 April 2026
Screen Australia relaunches website
Screen Australia has relaun...
20/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/04/2026
Manufacturing is at an inflection point. Across every major industrial economy, ...
20/04/2026
AI agents are transforming how work gets done across all industries, acceleratin...
19/04/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP and ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP Plus, two SMPTE 2110-native live production switchers. The ATEM ...
19/04/2026
Grass Valley is finding the right balance between its hardware heritage with an ...
19/04/2026
Oracle's strategy rests on the foundational strengths of Oracle Cloud Infras...
19/04/2026
Program Productions, the live sports production industry's leading crewer, i...
19/04/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, SVG sat down with Joe Scionti, Account Manage...
19/04/2026
At its 2026 NAB Show keynote event, Ross Video came out swinging with one of its...
19/04/2026
Evertz (Booth N817) is set to present new services within its evertz.io platform...
19/04/2026
Evertz (Booth N817) will showcase its IPMX-certified NUCLEUS platform alongside ...
19/04/2026
Evertz (Booth N817) is set to showcase ENX at NAB 2026, a media core platform designed to support hybrid SDI and IP infrastructures in production facilities and...
19/04/2026
Evertz (Booth N817) will introduce Studer VistaVUE Touch at NAB 2026, a control surface designed to integrate audio, video and control workflows within a custom...
19/04/2026
Evertz (Booth N817) will highlight X-CALIBER at NAB 2026, an encoding and decodi...
19/04/2026
Cobalt Digital (Booth N1340) will introduce the blueCORE family of standalone si...
19/04/2026
Chyron and Asport (Booth N2441) will demonstrate an integrated sports video work...
19/04/2026
MediaKind (Booth W1743) provided an update on its Multiview deployments at NAB S...
19/04/2026
Calrec (Booth C6907) and Grass Valley (Booth C2408) announced a long-term broadc...
19/04/2026
Oracle is bringing a multi-partner demonstration of Media over QUIC (MoQ)-based live streaming to NAB Show 2026, showcasing how independent systems from multipl...
19/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media announced an expanded partnership with Oracle Cloud Infr...
19/04/2026
The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...
19/04/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP and ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP Plus, two SMPTE 2110-native live production switchers. The ATEM ...
19/04/2026
Now available in VST3, AU and AAX formats
Waves have recently released an update that extends their vocal-alignment plug-in's capabilities to all DAWs -...
19/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...