Vimond Media Solutions has announced that they have teamed up with Fox Sports Australia to create a global service that will stream Australian Football League (AFL) matches to fans around the world. Fox Sports launched the subscription-based Watch AFL application in February, in time to broadcast the inaugural AFL Women’s League. The 121st season of the men’s league commenced on March 23.
Together with Vimond, the News Corp Australian-owned Fox Sports designed Watch AFL to stream every AFL game live and offer it afterwards as a video on demand (VOD) service. By using the Vimond platform as its software foundation Fox Sports Australia was able to develop the Watch AFL App to stream live content.
The Vimond Platform is reportedly built around modular, service-oriented architecture, which enables a multitude of configurations and easy integration points. The online video platform allows broadcasters to manage live television feeds, as well as on-demand video files, associated metadata, users, bundles, business rules, offers and promotional material.
The Watch AFL deployment involved the Vimond Control Center (VCC) and Vimond Business Center modules, integration with two payment systems (PayPal and Braintree) and additional development by Fox Sports.
Thomas Kaurin, head of platforms and development at Fox Sports Australia said “With its modular multi-tenant architecture, the Vimond Platform offers sophisticated tools and controls for every aspect of an OTT service. It allowed us to customize several aspects related to our services including integrated payment systems.”
“We create our modular, customizable and efficient products for the needs of broadcasters and content owners, and aim to be a complete partner with our customers, seeing the value of collaborating with all parties,” said Miguel Silva, CCO Vimond Media Solutions. “The Vimond Platform is an especially good fit for sports and global events. It makes it easy to ingest content from different assets and formats, and then to distribute that content to different channels. It also enables quick, drag-and-drop content management and facilitates the administration of rights and contracts.”
Australian football, represented at the professional level by the AFL, is one of the country’s most popular and participated sports. Watch AFL is available to AFL fans who are living or travelling abroad.
Average attendance per AFL game exceeds 33,000, and the historic launch of a women’s league this year should expand the game’s reach.
