Streaming Media - June/July 2008 - (Page 50) DRC-Stream software and encoder boards from Canada-based Digital Rapids are being deployed in Beijing to populate NBCOlympics.com’s encoding farm, but other than committing to VC-1, NBCOlympics.com has yet to confirm encoding bitrates, frame rates, or frame sizes. (Without offering more specifics, Miller says NBCOlympics.com will be streaming through a managed bitrate solution to optimize the user’s connection, with a target maximum bitrate of 650KB/sec.) Digital Rapids is also supplying software to enable transcoding from other digital media formats into VC-1. Miller promises hundreds of hours of online HD video, but again, bitrates and other encoding parameters are still up in the air. The NBCOlympics.com player is also still being tweaked, with input from all parties. “There’s a room here at Schematic in our NY offices,” says Rechs. “When I walk past it, sometimes I see There may not be enough fans of archery, field hockey, or tae kwon do to justify a share of network prime time, but for those who live and breathe these sports or who may be working the swing shift when their favorite sport is happening live, the ability to log on 24/7 and select a stream from hundreds of available hours could be a big deal. In fact, the Olympics may be the perfect internet/streaming event. Each sport has its own niche with thousands of devotees hungry for stats, features, and video of the events, and no matter where the games take place or where in the world the viewer is, much of the action occurs at inconvenient times. With on-demand video, every event is on “when you want it, where you want it.” streaming the olympics Conclusion Every Olympics since 1976 has turned a profit. That’s because the IOC can command top dollar for media An April 2008 prototype of the main Silverlight player window, which offers interactive features on the left-hand side. Mexico City-based Televisa, the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world, is working with Move Networks to stream the Olympics to Spanish-speaking audiences. Above is a screenshot of the basic Move publisher interface. Schematic people in there, sometimes I see Microsoft people, and sometimes I see NBC people.” Streaming’s Niche The shift from virtually no live streaming of previous Olympics to hundreds of hours of live streaming from Beijing may be dramatic, but online coverage is not intended to replace the television broadcast—at least not this year. Millions of people will still convene in living rooms across the country to watch the gymnastics finals on TV, and advertisers will still pay millions of dollars to reach that audience. (The IOC shifted the gymnastics and swimming finals to the morning in China so they can be shown live in prime time in the U.S.) “The broadcast is the dramatic engine of the Olympics,” says Miller. “We feel that that’s going to be the source and the destination for people.” But while broadcast television may be the most appropriate medium for live events that attract a mass audience, the web is designed for niche audiences. 50 STREAMING MEDIA June/July 2008 and sponsorship rights. Media companies such as NBCU pay the IOC big bucks because they, in turn, can charge advertisers big bucks and then some. The 2008 games will be the biggest test yet of the market value of online video ads relative to broadcast TV ads for similar programming. This will be the first year for serious steaming from the Olympics, and it’s unclear what expectations NBCU has for the short term. For the long term, though, NBCU’s commitment to streaming from Beijing anticipates online video making a substantial impact on the advertising landscape in the coming years. If online video’s impact is as significant as NBCU is betting, whether this year or down the road, that could presage the evolution of another very, very big business. Max Bloom (max@maxbloom.com) is a freelance writer living in New Mexico. Comments? Email us at letters@streamingmedia.com or check the masthead for other ways to contact us. http://NBCOlympics.com http://NBCOlympics.com http://NBCOlympics.com
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