The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and its member broadcasters have launched “Vancouver Live’ (www.eurovisionsports.tv/olympics), a unique video portal for winter sports enthusiasts.
In a first, www.eurovisionsports.tv/olympics will be distributing a selected number of events through the portal’s HD Channel. Live video streams in this channel will be available at a higher definition (1280x720p) providing a compelling online viewing experience.
Furthermore ‘Vancouver Live’ will show the widest possible free to air broadband coverage of the Olympic Winter Games for European audiences and beyond. Live streaming will begin on Friday 12 February and continue for 17 days of competition. The video portal aggregates over 30 EBU Member broadcasters’ simulcast feeds, six EBU live feeds and a 24/7 Olympic News Channel showing more than 3,000 hours of live event coverage.
Building on the success of the “Beijing Live’ platform, which delivered over 22 million video streams during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Summer Games, the EBU will be offering a similar mix of live simulcast coverage from across its Member broadcasters together with extensive video on demand highlights.
Access to www.eurovisionsports.tv/olympics is free for viewers. The EBU has worked with GE, an Olympic Worldwide Partner, to bring this premier event to online viewers across the EBU territories.
“The EBU’s live video portal “Vancouver Live’ promotes broad distribution of EBU Members’ coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games across EBU territories.The EBU and its member broadcasters are committed to making innovative use of Olympic new media rights’ said EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre “European Public media are delighted to offer all, on all platforms, the widest possible coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games’ she concluded.