Playmaker Media is a new service owned by NBC Sports that will power “end-to-end” coverage of this summer’s Olympics online.
Not only will it cover the Olympics, it will also cover other sporting events such as the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Finals, and more.
“The growing demand for live streaming support in the marketplace combined with our experience and expertise make this the perfect time to launch Playmaker,” said Rick Cordella, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group. “Whether it is live streaming the biggest sporting events in the world or hosting on-demand video clips or live-event replays, our clients can expect best-in-class service that will provide their viewers with an enjoyable and seamless streaming experience.”
This is not the first time NBC sports has live streamed sports online as they have a long history of online streaming.
| February 2006 | First live stream of an Olympic event — the men’s ice hockey gold medal game between Sweden and Finland at the Torino Olympics. |
| August 2008 | First broad-scale live streaming effort for an Olympic Games, covering 25 sports and 2,200 hours for the Beijing Olympics. |
| September 2008 | First live stream of an NFL game, including the introduction of multi-camera streams in addition to the traditional broadcast. |
| June/July 2009 | First NBC adaptive bitrate HD stream for broad-based U.S. consumption of Wimbledon. |
| February 2012 | Prior to Super Bowl XLVI, NBC Sports Digital launches NBC Sports Live Extra, the consumer-facing brand for its live streaming product. |
| February 2012 | First live stream of a Super Bowl. NBC Sports Digital sets a then-record with more than 2.1 million users for its live stream of Super Bowl XLVI. |
| July/August 2012 | First live stream of all Olympic competition occurs at the London Olympics. In addition to a record 20.4 million hours of streaming video consumption, Team USA’s women’s soccer gold medal game vs. Japan sets a then-record for most streams for an event with more than 1.4 million. |
| February 2014 | First live streaming of all Winter Olympic competition occurs at the Sochi Olympics. A Winter Olympics-record 10.8 million hours of video are consumed. |
| February 2015 | NBC Sports Digital sets a then-record with 800,000 average viewers per minute, 1.3 million concurrent users, and 213 million minutes for its live stream of Super Bowl XLIX. |
| April 2015 | NBC Sports Live Extra launches on connected TVs for the first time, initially partnering with Apple TV and Roku. |
| 2016 | Including the 2016 Rio Olympics, NBC Sports Digital will live stream more than 10,000 events in the calendar year. |
No details on cost or amiability to non-cable subscribers are known right now but it is expected that content available on NBC will once again be streamed for free and other events may be available with or without a fee.
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