
FAST Channels Part One: Samsung, ATP Media, Telstra Discuss Ins and Outs of Launching, Managing Free Ad-Supported Streaming Sportel Monaco session dives deep into the elements of FAST success By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Monday, December 4, 2023 - 10:14 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The rise of FAST (free ad-supported streaming) has been undeniable in the past two years, and a recent Sportel Monaco panel, moderated by SVG Co-Executive Director Ken Kerschbaumer, featured three key entities either involved in or seriously investigating a FAST sports service: Samsung (represented by Chris Gregory, strategic content partner, lead, Samsung TV Plus); Telstra Broadcast Services (Anna Lockwood, head of EMEA/Americas, Telstra Broadcast Services); and ATP Media (Alan Bruno, head of broadcast development, ATP Media). Below is Part 1 of a two-part edited transcript from that conversation, which examines what FAST channels are, how to get started, and more.
FAST Channels will also be front and center at SVG's Digital Engagement Workshop on Dec. 11 as part of the 2023 SVG Summit in New York City (click here to register today!).
FAST panel at Sportel: (from left) ATP Media's Alan Bruno, Samsung's Chris Gregory, Telstra Broadcast Services' Anna Lockwood, and moderator SVG's Ken Kerschbaumer
Chris, can you walk us through what FAST is from the Samsung-platform perspective?
Gregory: Sure. So, what is FAST? Free ad-supported streaming television. And Samsung, which is the number-one TV manufacturer in the world, was the very first adopter of the FAST platform, launched in the U.S. in 2015. My remit is Europe, [with] 16 countries in the European service and around 1,300 channels across 250 partners. That's a lot of partners to look after, and they range across all genres.
I think what we're looking at now is more broadcast-quality partners, moving into that space rather than potentially digital first. Sport is a big driver at a television-sales level as we know from the data that we see whenever there's a World Cup. Whether that be male or female football or even the recent Rugby World Cup, there are big sales at a device level. We want to flow that down into our own service as well.
Can you explain the user experience if you own a Samsung TV?
Gregory: The service runs on 2016- to 2023-year TV models, and we're also available on selected Galaxy mobile and tablet devices. We sit prominently on the home screen next to the biggest SVOD and BVOD players as well. We're taking FAST very seriously. It's our own service, and whilst there has been huge progress over the last three, four years, there's still more to come.
Alan, you are with ATP Media, and you are looking at FAST. Please give us a sense of the rights landscape, your current offerings around apps and streaming, and where you see FAST fitting into that equation.
Bruno: We look at FAST as a potential additional vertical of our wider content strategy. We are not a channels business, we're in broadcast. We monetize 60-plus tournaments across the ATP Tour each year and also operate an SVOD service, Tennis TV. We also have short-form content across social and a publisher network as well. We are looking at FAST as potentially an additional vertical, maybe using some archive content, potentially looking at dark-market solutions for some of our tournaments. We don't have many dark markets left, but we are looking at that as a potential option.
But we are also looking at it as a way potentially to find a more general audience, a different audience. We're certainly super-serving the tennis fan. Could we perhaps use this as a way of reaching the wider, more general sports fan or general entertainment fan? We're looking at it closely and, obviously, speaking to guys like Chris around the distribution solutions. But what we need to make sure is, we are looking at it probably on a market-by-market basis with the broadcast partner in a market or with our SVOD platform in mind.
What are some of the questions that pop up when your internal team discusses FAST?
Bruno: We want to make sure it's got the right brand identity. We didn't want to launch just an archive channel. I think, a few years ago, the FAST landscape was very focused on people monetizing their archive, the content that was sitting on the shelf. We want it to form part of our wider content strategy. Yes, it would utilize some of the archive, but we also want it to connect with our other touchpoints with our fans.
Gregory: When it comes to sport, live is a big push, and I think the launch of the DAZN FAST Plus, which happened last December, gave us premium football content that we never thought we were going to get from three of the biggest leagues in the world. We also had an exclusive Champions League highlight show. This is the kind of thing that we speak to partners about. We don't expect partners just to launch blindly into this space; we're very hands-on, and we'll see what's working, what's not and advise from there.
Chris, how did the DAZN deal come about?
Gregory: The initial conversation started about two years ago. We've got a very strong relationship with DAZN because they've got the app business that's prominent in Germany as well as on our home screen and other markets. They've got loads of archive, but, at the same time, because DAZN looked to disrupt the market, they had carved out live rights to add into their FAST channels. It was just making sure that they weren't necessarily impacting their day-to-day business. And then we worked together on the Champions League show. I don't think there's any free-to-air highlights package for the Champions League in Germany and Austria, so it was, How can we make this channel someth
North America Stories
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...
02/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...
01/07/2026
Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...
01/07/2026
Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...
01/07/2026
As AI moves from model development to production inference, compute demand is ac...
30/06/2026
As Brazil's only way for fans to see all 104 matches, YouTube channel proves the power of digital...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
MainStreaming, the award-winning and innovative Edge Video Delivery Network, today announced that it has been selected by ITV to support the delivery of ITVX, I...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
When Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! needed to upgrade their wireless communications system, they turned to Clear-Com FreeSpeak wireless for their iconic televi...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...