SVG Sit-Down: Videon Central CEO Todd Erdley on Connecting Sports Fans Through Live Streamed Experiences Current strategy centers around an augmented and streamlined process By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Wednesday, March 3, 2021 - 12:45 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Since its founding, Videon Central has been supplying affordable live streaming and encoding solutions for a wide variety of production verticals. With EdgeCaster, VersaStreamer SDI, and VersaStreamer 4K leading the way, the company has made significant headway in supporting digital productions of some of sports' biggest events. SVG sat down with CEO Todd Erdley about how the company is virtually bringing fans together throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, overcoming technological challenges to provide this content, simplifying the user experience for better engagement, and where these at-home models of live streaming go after the pandemic ends.
Videon CEO Todd Erdley
How has the ongoing pandemic accelerated Videon's efforts in digital streaming?
Since people can't get to the venue, we're trying to come up with unique ways to bring content to the viewers by working with different sports leagues. We want fans to engage in an event in a meaningful way that feels like they're sitting next to each other but they're actually in two different households. Some of these examples include gamification, opportunities for micro betting, or a different camera angle. Since the start of the pandemic, another level of storytelling that's popped up is the larger idea of a second-screen experience. We want viewers to have the broadcast on the big screen, but also have people watch their favorite player on another screen.
What technological challenges is the company overcoming to produce a quality product?
Some leagues want a particular camera location to be streamed and delivered for remote operators to use. In addition, we might also blur some things that would otherwise be visible because we don't want full access to that type of video. We're really trying to produce elements in low latency video because that's extremely important for real-time engagement points. We're also talking about a rapid deployment of assets in a low-cost way to hook up video streaming and edge computing at every camera like a pylon cam and an in-car cam.
Aside from a production standpoint, how are you changing your behind-the-scenes workflow to better enhance the experience?
[The industry] hasn't put in the effort to create a quality product in live streaming that we have with broadcast. The typical video workflow has been encoding a video, pushing it up to the cloud, letting it re-encode in the cloud and break apart into pieces, and then send it to different destinations. That complex process takes time, requires money, and reduces reliability, so we've decided to simplify this workflow. We're now treating the supply chain of video in a way that we optimize it. For example, let's encode that video, put it in the right packaging, and deliver it directly to the CDN by bypassing the cloud. We want it to be correctly formatted so that it's going to play [efficiently ] on your phone, tablet, or computer. We also want to reduce costs and increase the number of opportunities that people have to deliver that video.
How do you see the streaming sector of the industry growing over the next 6 to 12 months? Will second-screen experiences have a lasting impact on viewing habits?
There are a couple of things that are going to happen. When fans go to a stadium and it's in between plays, they're going to be watching a specific angle of a replay or something that's personalized on a phone that's delivered in real-time. 5G in sporting venues will also be a perfect application of technology and will help with delivery. If they're not in the stadium, the experience will be able to include video, social media, and enhanced graphics.
Ultimately, we're not going to see a decrease in second screens, but actually an increase. The phrase second screen isn't going to be used within a year because it'll become a huge part of the primary screen. If you think about ad placement, there will be all sorts of different monetization opportunities for major sports leagues.
Lastly, the industry has controlled what we watch and what the pandemic has taught us is that live streaming is becoming democratized. Anybody can watch anything at any time. People want to watch corn hole or ax throwing league and they want to bet on sports like cricket. At the end of the day, we need to solve the steps that are within the supply chain. We want to automate complex elements like GOP structure and frame alignment to give an impressive user interface.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
SVG Sit-Down: Videon Central CEO Todd Erdley on Connecting Sports Fans Through Live Streamed Experiences Current strategy centers around an augmented and streamlined process By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
