Wavexpress to Provide Internet Video Download Service for NBC?s Coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games
Free Service to Allow Media Center Users the Ability to Download Content During NBC?s Coverage of the Beijing Olympics, August 8-24, 2008
http://www.tvtonic.com/news/?p=133
NEW YORK - June 23, 2008 ? Wavexpress, a provider of broadband media technology and services, majority-owned by Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ: WAVX), has been selected by NBC Universal, Inc., to develop, host, and support a service for viewing NBC?s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Microsoft?s Windows Vista Media Center. The announcement was made today by Perkins Miller, Senior Vice President, Digital Media, NBC Sports and Olympics, and Michael Sprague, President of Wavexpress.
The ?NBC Olympics on the Go? service will take advantage of Wavexpress? TVTonic Internet video service to allow Media Center users to watch channels of NBC?s coverage of Olympic events in up-to-HD quality on the go on their laptop. The free service will enable viewers to watch NBC?s extensive coverage of the Beijing Games on a sport-by-sport basis, with channels designated to match the hundreds of events included in the Games. Users can simply sign up for the channels they are interested in, and the service will automatically synchronize NBC?s video clips as they become available, so viewers will have a fresh slate of Olympic content to watch on their morning commute.
?This service will provide a fantastic viewing experience for Olympic fans with Windows Vista Media Center,? said Sprague. ?They can choose their favorite sports, from diving to water polo to gymnastics, and extended coverage is automatically synchronized to their PC in the middle of the night. With a laptop, they will get a high-quality video experience to view on the train, the plane, or in the college quad.?
?As we prepare to broadcast the Beijing Olympic Games, we are committed to reaching as many viewers as possible,? said Miller. ?Our partnership with Wavexpress will enable us to reach viewers seeking high-quality in-depth coverage of the wide range of sports that make up the Olympics. The service will especially appeal to fast-paced fans who want to catch up on their favorite sports offline.?
Certain terms of the business arrangement between NBC and Wavexpress are subject to final documentation.
There’s a post over on TechCrunchIT about how NBC is going to use Silverlight and the Olympics to do some audience research around how people consume digital media. Basically NBC has a ton of content that will come from the Olympics and they’re planning on providing it in a number of different ways including in the browser, on the regular television set, and on mobile phones. I’ve also heard they’re providing a feed or stream directly into Windows Media Player so you could watch it on your desktop.
NBC and Microsoft now have a huge test segment and a number of different ways to slice it. What makes Microsoft so interesting is that with Windows Media as the baseline, they can deploy a ton of different experiences and then deploy more targeted advertising based on the platform. They’ve got Windows Mobile, they’ve got Zune for devices, they’ve got Xbox for television, they’ve got Silverlight in the browser, and they’ve got Windows Media Player on the desktop. They are pretty much alone as the company that can distribute the same basic video file and provide that many different touch points. Update: a reader just sent me this press release that says Wave will be providing a desktop experience around the Olympics through Media Center.
I don’t think they’ll be rolling all of those things out for the Olympics, but since we’re in the infancy of digital media, Microsoft has a lot more room to test than other companies. I think it will also be interesting to see how Microsoft treats the HTML5 video spec. Because the spec essentially leaves it up to the browser to choose the codec, all of those Windows machines would more than likely be using Windows Media. That could give Microsoft more marketshare in the browser than they have now with Flash being the major player for digital media.
