Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Federation Summit Spotlights OTT Strategy From UEFA, Olympic Channel, and Red Bee Media

25/02/2020

Federation Summit Spotlights OTT Strategy From UEFA, Olympic Channel, and Red Bee Media It's all about meeting the needs of passionate, demanding fans By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Monday, February 24, 2020 - 1:02 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Olympic Channel, UEFA, and Red Bee Media took to the stage at the International Federation Summit in Lausanne, produced by MEI in association with SVG Europe, to discuss the current and future state of federation-based OTT services. International federations are in a unique position when it comes to OTT, often having participants and fans who are passionate, engaged, and demanding. So, how do they keep them happy?

From left: SVG's Ken Kerschbaumer discussed OTT with Red Bee Media's Steve Russell, Olympic Channel's Luis Fuentes, and UEFA's Craig Hepburn.

Craig Hepburn, head of digital and marketing, UEFA, discussed UEFA TV, which launched only eight months ago. It's a free-to-access platform created to keep up with the changing way fans connect to content: on phones and on demand.

We wanted a platform to deliver that directly in a digital way to fans, he said. There's the youth leagues and the younger audiences and the younger competitions that we have. As much as UEFA is known for those big competitions, we have a whole range of other youth, women, freestyle, and really it is to be the home of those platforms and those competitions.

Hepburn, who has worked for such companies as Microsoft and Nokia, said that step one in building out a platform is to not try to build it on your own.

Unless you're a tech company, why would you build your own OTT platform? I think there are so many good tech products out there, he explained. If you're in the sports business and you're not a tech company, focus on what you know.

Building out an OTT service is a complicated process, and Steve Russell, head of OTT and media management, Red Bee Media, advises beginning with MVP: minimum viable product.

The idea is, you don't over-engineer everything, you don't try to think through every nuance of every bit of function you could ever want, he said. When you focus on getting something to market, make it simple as possible.

The reason? It's not until you get initial feedback from users (and you will get it) that you can reshape it to meet their needs.

You start to read the data so you start to understand how it works, he explained. You iterate, you listen to the fans, you see what people are saying on social forums, and you add functions over time. It's a very different way of managing a product, he added. That's my pitch: get to market, get simple, listen, learn, iterate, evolve.

Along with adding technology comes addition of personnel and figuring out how the product will be overseen, who will oversee it, and how the rest of the organization will get engaged.

You need to set up team structures, said Hepburn. The first thing for me was to set up product managers and actually put in place ownership across the web, the apps, CRM, and even the OTT service. Give accountability to key teams and bring in some key experts or find and identify the right talent in-house. Give them the autonomy, giving them the support to execute that project because that's the key execution and a lot of it is how you get that done. It's challenging, but, if you set the team up properly, it's achievable.

Luis Fuentes, director of special projects, Olympic Channel, discussed one of the biggest challenges facing a federation: how to localize an OTT service. Many jumping into OTT are looking at it as a means to reach fans around the world, and that requires things like not only local content but also translation and subtitling in local languages.

We're up to 12 languages because we recently added Hindi, he noted. Translation and subtitling can be super-challenging from a day-to-day perspective. It sounds very interesting, and it is very interesting. But the risk of getting it wrong is high, and it's costly. Just to give you an example, we have news in our platform. Some things need to go up there very quickly, and you can not spend a lot of time translating them. These things go to translators all over the world, and they come back in less that two hours, an hour and a half.

The need for speed increases the potential for translations to be done by someone who is not an expert in a sport, and that can be an issue.

The risk of getting a message across that is not exactly the message you want to get across is high, Fuentes added. On top of that, you're talking about sports and content for sport fans. They normally have their own words and terms that they use in specific ways. If you talk about sailing, for example, and you get something wrong in the translation because the guy who's translating into Korean is not an expert in sailing, then you may have the sailing community going up in arms, saying, How comes you guys, you're the Olympic Channel, you got this stuff wrong which is a very basic one.'

He recommended working a lot with translation companies to pass on your expertise and try to get their views on how to tackle a number of things. Even Spanish can be a challenge as there is Spanish for Spain and Spanish for Latin America.

Every time you translate something into Latin American Spanish, you get the Spanish consumers saying, We don't understand this very well,' he added. Arabic is also a super-complicated one because you have, as far as I know, a standard Arabic, which is difficult to write properly, and it's difficult to find the proper writers that not only need to be good writers in Arabic but experts in a lot of its disciplines.

Russell noted that Red Bee Media offers subtitling as well as audio descr
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2020/02/24/federation-summit-spotlights-ot...
See more stories from svg

North America Stories

12/03/2026

Gray Stresses Importance of DRM for NextGen TV in FCC Sports Probe

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/03/2026

Nebraska's HuskerVision Deploy Lawo IP Tech for Studio Upgrade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/03/2026

Comcast NBCU, Telemundo Station Group Announce $600,000 In Grants

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/03/2026

EditShare To Highlight Analytical AI Capabilities At 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/03/2026

FreeWheel Launches AI Agent Infrastructure

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/03/2026

COW Jobs: Editor de Vdeo - Direct Response, Performance Ads - Brazil, Remote

COW Jobs: Editor de V deo - Direct Response, Performance Ads - Brazil, Remote Brie Clayton March 11, 2026 0 Comments Editor(a) de V deo (Direct Respon...

12/03/2026

Avatar: Fire and Ash Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Avatar: Fire and Ash Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton March 11, 2026 0 Comments Colorist delivers premium cinematic color across 2D, 3D...

12/03/2026

Boston Conservatory to Timothe Chalamet: We Care About Ballet and Opera

Boston Conservatory to Timoth e Chalamet: We Care About Ballet and Opera Boston Conservatory at Berklee students and faculty respond to the actors recent comm...

11/03/2026

Calrec To Unlock Hybrid Workflows At 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Matrox Video Enables the Next Era of Software-Defined Med...

Matrox Video will showcase its vision for the future of live production at NAB 2026 in Las Vegas, April 19-22, highlighting how broadcasters and media organizat...

11/03/2026

GlobalM Showcases Distributed Video Gateway Architecture...

Geneva-based technology company, GlobalM SA, is presenting its GMX Distributed Video Gateway, a software-defined IP media transport platform designed to replace...

11/03/2026

Video is King - 2026 Iconik Media Stats Report Finds Vide...

Backlight (booth #N2829), the company behind Iconik and Wildmoka, which power video workflows for large media and entertainment organizations, has released the ...

11/03/2026

QuickLinks Latest StudioEdge Models to Make North America...

QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, presents its latest StudioEdge models at The NAB Show ...

11/03/2026

Telestream Expands Its Cloud Services with the Introducti...

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the expansion of Telestream Cloud Services with the introduction of UP, a new cloud-...

11/03/2026

Operative Launches AOS Configuration for Digital-First Mo...

Operative, the preferred advertising management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced the launch of AOS for digital media, an AI-po...

11/03/2026

Calrec Redefines Broadcast Workflows at NAB 2026

Calrec will be located in Central Hall, on Booth C6907 Choice without compromise The broadcast industry is going through a rapid evolution that s signalling a...

11/03/2026

Worldstream and Cubbit launch sovereign S3 cloud storage...

The new service is hosted and operated entirely in the Netherlands, combining data sovereignty, resilience, scalability, and predictable costs without relying...

11/03/2026

Ease Live powers interactive Premier Padel experiences on...

Ease Live, an Evertz company and leader in interactive graphical overlays, today announced the successful deployment of its platform on Red Bull TV for Premier ...

11/03/2026

Mediagenix Title Management Accelerates Content Monetizat...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, is advancing its Semantic Intelligence cap...

11/03/2026

Emergent Launches Fusion- The Interactive Anything Platfo...

Emergent, a leading provider of AI-enhanced media production solutions, today announced the official launch of Fusion, a powerful, no-code application builder d...

11/03/2026

Techex Names Matt McKee as Senior Director of Sales, Americas

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

IAB Tech Lab Announces Content Monetization Protocol for AI LLMs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Mondae Hott Joins Kokusai Denki as Northeast Sales Manager

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Gray Media to Air Cincinnati Reds' Games on WXIX FOX19

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Shure Audio Solutions Deliver Super Bowl Win

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

UK's First Live Broadcast Using New n40 Private 5G Spectrum

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Utah Scientific Expands Technology Partner Program With I...

Utah Scientific today announced the expansion of its Technology Partner Program with the addition of Audinate, Bitfocus, and Skaarhoj, three industry leaders wh...

11/03/2026

DigitalGlue Ends the Post Production Tax creativespace In...

DigitalGlue, creator of the creative.space on-premise managed storage platform, today revealed plans to launch creative.space Intelligence (CSI) at NAB 2026 (Bo...

11/03/2026

Maxon and Tencent Cloud Partner to Integrate HY 3D into C...

Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, gaming, and more, has annou...

11/03/2026

NUGEN Audio Halo Vision Plug In Serves as Spatial Compass...

Composer and Re-recording Mixer Michael Phillips Keeley has built his career around immersive storytelling. Working from his Dolby Atmos-equipped studio, Sound ...

11/03/2026

YES selects Synamedia Iris to power advanced advertising

Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that YES, the pay-TV subsidiary of the telco Bezeq (TASE: BEZQ), has selected Synamedia Iris to delive...

11/03/2026

Cost Savings Scalability and Smarter Monetization Viacces...

As media companies face increasing cost pressures and operational complexity, at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global leader in OTT / TV...

11/03/2026

Digital Alert Systems Unveils Version 6 Software for DASD...

Digital Alert Systems, a global leader in emergency communications solutions for media providers, today announced the release of Version 6 software for its DASD...

11/03/2026

Foundry releases Nuke 17.0

Foundry releases Nuke 17.0 Brie Clayton March 1, 2026 0 Comments Native Gaussian Splat support, new 3D system based on USD, expanded machine learning ca...

11/03/2026

Preserving UNESCO World Heritage with URSA Cine Immersive

Preserving UNESCO World Heritage with URSA Cine Immersive Brie Clayton March 1, 2026 0 Comments The Explorers turned to France's cultural landmark...

11/03/2026

I Clicked This By Accident And It Made After Effects SO Much Faster

I Clicked This By Accident And It Made After Effects SO Much Faster Graham Quince March 1, 2026 0 Comments Discover how Region of Interest in Adobe A...

11/03/2026

Cine Gear Connect Brings a Focused All-Day Experience to Industry City, NY

Cine Gear Connect Brings a Focused All-Day Experience to Industry City, NY Brie Clayton March 4, 2026 0 Comments Registration is now open for Cine Gea...

11/03/2026

La Vorgine Edited and Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio

La Vor gine Edited and Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton March 4, 2026 0 Comments One of Colombia's most ambitious projects goes g...

11/03/2026

SoundMarket Launches 18,000+ Tracks of Real Music by Award-Winning Composers for Editors and Post Professionals

SoundMarket Launches 18,000 Tracks of Real Music by Award-Winning Composers for...

11/03/2026

Capta Center Supports NOVO19 Remote Production with Blackmagic Design

Capta Center Supports NOVO19 Remote Production with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton March 5, 2026 0 Comments The facility provides production and playo...

11/03/2026

DigitalGlue Ends the Post-Production Tax: creative.space Intelligence (CSI) Unifies On-Premise Storage with Forensic AI at NAB 2026

DigitalGlue Ends the Post-Production Tax: creative.space Intelligence (CSI) Unif...

11/03/2026

Kochi Sun Sun Uses Blackmagic Replay for High School Volleyball Finals

Kochi Sun Sun Uses Blackmagic Replay for High School Volleyball Finals Brie Clayton March 9, 2026 0 Comments Versatile Blackmagic Replay system proves...

11/03/2026

Richard Bona Joins Berklee for Signature Series Concert

Richard Bona Joins Berklee for Signature Series Concert The Grammy-winning Cameroonian bassist and vocalist collaborates with students and faculty in a progra...

11/03/2026

New NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super Delivers 5x Higher Throughput for Agentic AI

Launched today, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super is a 120 billion parameter open model with 12 billion active parameters designed to run complex agentic AI systems at sc...

11/03/2026

March 10, 2026

Scripps Research scientists awarded nearly $5 million by NIH to investigate cancer growth Researchers will investigate how a common dietary nutrient may control...

10/03/2026

Harvey Arnold, Bert Goldman to Be Honored at the 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/03/2026

Senators Urge FCC to Preserve Citizens Broadband Radio Service

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/03/2026

SCTE TechExpo26 Issues Call for Content, Technical Papers

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/03/2026

Zefr Receives MRC Accreditation

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/03/2026

Study: Overloaded Sports Fans Fed Up with Fragmented Viewing Options

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...