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Tag: BAMTech

  • IPL chief Shukla recuses from ‘live-streaming’ media rights auction

    IPL chief Shukla recuses from ‘live-streaming’ media rights auction

    MUMBAI: The BCCI has planned to live-stream the bidding process for awarding media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights on 4 September. Although an appeal by Rajya Sabha MP Subramanium Swamy’s for e-auction was struck down by the Supreme Court, this seems to be ‘transparent’ part of the process, which will bring in Rs 200 billion for BCCI in a five-year deal — a growth of 455  per cent from the last deal.

    Efforts are reportedly afoot to live-stream the auction either on iplt20.com or bcci.tv or both.

    Meanwhile, IPL chairman (Congress leader and a television channel co-owner) Rajeev Shukla, who faces allegations of conflict of interest despite getting a clean chit from former BCCI ombudsman retired justice AP Shah, has recused himself from the auction of the T20 League to be held in Mumbai. Shukla has refuted allegations that BAG Films, which is owned by his wife, had an understanding with the potential bidder Star Sports.

    Considering recent entries of Yahoo, Airtel, BAMTech and DAZN/Perform Group, the list of bidders has reportedly gone up to 24 including Star India, Followon Interactive Media, Taj TV India, Amazon Seller Services, Sony Pictures Networks, Times Internet, Supersport International, Gulf DTH FZ LLC, Reliance Jio Digital, GroupM Media, beIN, Econet Media, SKY UK, BTG Legal Services, ESPN Digital Media, BT PLC, Twitter and Facebook Inc.

    Two significant changes can be seen in this time’s auction. The rights would now be auctioned for a five-year period up to 2022), and rights for seven territories are being auctioned as opposed to 2008’s two sections — India and international rights. Television rights in India are believed to see a neck-and-neck race. Conditions stated in the tender make it compulsory for the digital partners to delay the live-streaming by five minutes and allocate 80 per cent of the bidding amount to broadcast rights, eventually making the equation favourable for Star India and Sony Pictures.

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  • Disney parts ways with Netflix, plans sports & TV shows VoDs, buys BAMTech majority

    MUMBAI: Traditional studios too would want to take advantage of the changing viewing habits. Disney has agreed to acquire a majority ownership of the streaming and marketing service BAMTech, LLC and will launch its ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service (VoD) in early 2018, followed by a Disney-branded direct-to-consumer service in 2019. It will be Netflix-like services — one for films and television shows and another for sports. To that end, Disney is paying $1.58 billion for majority ownership of BAMTech.

    Meantime, Disney, in one of the boldest moves a traditional studio took against a leading digital platform, is ending its distribution agreement with Netflix for new releases. The subscription services (SVoD) would appeal to the millennials who are turning away from traditional media and subscribing to digital platforms Netflix. The ESPN service may feature 10,000 sporting events annually including Major League Baseball games.

    Under terms of the transaction, Disney will pay $1.58 billion to acquire an additional 42% stake in BAMTech—a global leader in direct-to-consumer streaming technology and marketing services, data analytics, and commerce management—from MLBAM, the interactive media and Internet (HHH) company of Major League Baseball. Disney previously acquired a 33% stake in BAMTech under an agreement that included an option to acquire a majority stake over several years, and today’s announcement marks an acceleration of that timetable for controlling ownership.

    “The media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers, and our control of BAMTech’s full array of innovative technology will give us the power to forge those connections, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to shifts in the market,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “This acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the Company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands.”

    The ESPN-branded multi-sport service will offer a robust array of sports programming, featuring approximately 10,000 live regional, national, and international games and events a year, including Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Grand Slam tennis, and college sports. Individual sport packages will also be available for purchase, including MLB.TV, NHL.TV and MLS Live.

    The new service will be accessed through an enhanced version of the current ESPN app. In addition to the multi-sport service, the ESPN app will include the news, highlights, and scores that fans enjoy today. Consumers who are pay TV subscribers will also be able to access the ESPN television networks in the same app on an authenticated basis. For many sports fans, this app will become the premier digital destination for all their sports content.

    The new Disney-branded service will become the exclusive home in the U.S. for subscription-video-on-demand viewing of the newest live action and animated movies from Disney and Pixar, beginning with the 2019 theatrical slate, which includes Toy Story 4, the sequel to Frozen, and The Lion King from Disney live-action, along with other highly anticipated movies. Disney will also make a significant investment in an annual slate of original movies, TV shows, short-form content and other Disney-branded exclusives for the service. Additionally, the service will feature a vast collection of library content, including Disney and Pixar movies and Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD television programming.

    With this strategic shift, Disney will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases, beginning with the 2019 calendar year theatrical slate.

    Plans are for the Disney and ESPN streaming services to be available for purchase directly from Disney and ESPN, in app stores, and from authorized MVPDs.

    “We’re very proud of the content distribution innovations driven by MLBAM and BAMTech over the past 15 years,” said Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. “Major League Baseball will continue to work with Disney and ESPN to further grow BAMTech as it breaks new ground in technologies for consumers to access entertainment and sports programming.”

    “This is an exciting validation of our team, its achievements and the customer-centric platform it’s built,” said Michael Paull, Chief Executive Officer of BAMTech. “Yet, we’ve merely scratched the surface of what can be accomplished in a future where we combine Disney and ESPN’s world-class IP and our proprietary direct-to-consumer ecosystem.”

    The BAMTech transaction is subject to regulatory approval, and upon closing, Mr. Iger will serve as Chairman of the BAMTech Board. MLBAM and NHL will continue as minority stakeholders in BAMTech, with seats on the Board. Mr. Paull will report to Kevin A. Mayer, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, The Walt Disney Company. John Skipper, ESPN President and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks, will manage the new ESPN-branded service.

    The BAMTech transaction is expected to be modestly dilutive to Disney’s earnings per share for two years. Additional dilution as the Company implements its direct-to-consumer strategy will be dependent on the Company’s licensing approach and the level of investment in original programming.

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  • Amazon’s Michael Paul joins MLB’s video streaming service BAMTech

    MUMBAI: Amazon’s digital media executive Michael Paull has been hired to lead the $3 billion video-streaming company BAMTech. The announcement was made by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which sold one-third of BAMTech to Walt Disney in August. Disney bought a 33 per cent stake in BAMTech for $1 billion Baseball still owns a majority of BAMTech. Disney in three years will have the option to take a controlling stake.

    Paull is due to take up his new role next month and is expected to oversee Disney-owned sports network ESPN’s upcoming subscription streaming service. He will relocate from Seattle to New York and report directly to BAMTech’s board of directors. He replaces Bob Bowman, who will remain MLB’s president of business and media. Bowman will also serve on the seven-member BAMTech board of directors, along with Rob Manfred, ESPN President John Skipper, Disney executive Kevin Mayer and commissioner of the National Hockey League Gary Bettman, which is also an investor in the company.

    “Michael will deliver on the incredible potential and promise this venture has for building powerful viewing experiences for its clients and their customers,” Manfred said in a statement.

    For the last three years, Paull has been vice president of digital video for Amazon Inc. He oversaw the introduction of Prime Video and significantly increased the production of original series and films. Prior to joining Amazon, Paull also held leadership positions at Sony Pictures, Sony Music, Fox Entertainment and Time Warner.

    BAMTech started out as the interactive media and internet company of Major League Baseball and is now jointly owned by Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), The Walt Disney Company and the National Hockey League (NHL). It claims to have 7.5 million global paid subscribers through OTT products for sports, news and entertainment partners including HBO Now, the NHL, MLB, the PGA Tour, WWE Network, Riot Games/League of Legends, and Ice Network.

    Through a partnership with Discovery, BAMTech also jointly formed BAMTech Europe to move into this market and provide technology services to a broad set of clients across the continent, including Eurosport’s digital products.

  • Discovery, BAMTech partnership to deliver world-class tech to content owners

    Discovery, BAMTech partnership to deliver world-class tech to content owners

    MUMBAI: Discovery Communications and BAMTech have announced a long-term partnership, including the formation of BAMTech Europe, a new digital technology provider, dedicated to working with content owners, broadcasters and OTT platforms to enhance their digital capabilities, reach and performance across Europe. As part of the partnership, Eurosport Digital will become the new entity’s first client, and gain access to select European sports rights from worldwide sports properties, including current and future rights acquired by BAMTech and jointly by Eurosport and BAMTech.

    BAMTech Europe will be formed through a joint venture between Discovery Communications and BAMTech LLC, a subsidiary of Major League Baseball’s digital business, MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM). This new venture will represent BAMTech’s expansion in Europe and will provide world-class digital technology services to a broad set of sports, news and entertainment clients in Europe. BAMTech has successfully designed, developed and delivered direct-to-consumer streaming services over the past 14 years, currently serving 7.5 million total global paid subscribers with its U.S.-based clients’ OTT products. With hundreds of millions of mobile data subscribers and growing OTT momentum via connected TVs and other devices, Europe provides a significant strategic opportunity to bring together BAMTech’s world-class technology and Discovery’s deep presence and relationships across the continent.

    Eurosport Digital is the first partner for BAMTech Europe through a long-term digital services agreement. BAMTech’s state-of-the-art back-end video platform and services will be implemented in 2017 across all of Eurosport Digital’s products, which today include Eurosport.com – the continent’s number one sports news website, and Eurosport Player – the leading subscription-based OTT sports platform across Europe giving fans an all-access pass anytime and on any device in 52 countries.

    In addition, Eurosport and BAMTech will work together to make premium sports events more widely available across multiple screens. This will include current and future rights acquired by BAMTech as well as joint acquisitions for other compelling European sports rights, from across the globe, for Eurosport’s digital platform.

    “Discovery has been investing internationally in new business models and brands for decades, resulting in the most extensive global footprint in media,” said Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav. “The formation of this world-class technology provider, BAMTech Europe, with our partners at BAMTech, accelerates Discovery’s long-term strategy to bring our premium content to more viewers across more screens than ever before.”

    “The collaboration of Discovery’s breadth of live sports content, including the Olympic Games, and BAMTech will bring European fans access to these valuable events like never before,” said MLB president, business & media Bob Bowman. “Discovery has been a global leader in media and will be a great partner in expanding BAMTech to Europe, with an eye to developing new models for delivering content in the best interests of customers. We can’t wait to get started.”

    “Across Europe, Discovery has led the way in pay-TV and free-to-air services, and expanded into new content genres such as general entertainment and sports,” said Discovery Networks International president and CEO JB Perrette. “This partnership with BAMTech is an important next step in our evolution to develop more consumer centric capabilities and services – focused initially on Eurosport.”

    Discovery’s partnership with BAMTech follows the recent appointment of Ralph Rivera as the managing director of Eurosport Digital. Rivera previously spent six years at the BBC as Director of Future Media, where he was responsible for all of the BBC’s digital media services, leading the implementation and operation of BBC iPlayer as it grew by over 300% and delivering the first truly digital Olympic Games for London 2012, which set a new standard for live sports coverage online.

    Additionally, the announcement comes less than two weeks after Discovery announced its groundbreaking digital content partnership to form Group Nine Media, which immediately became one of the largest digital content and social video companies in the world.

  • Discovery, BAMTech partnership to deliver world-class tech to content owners

    Discovery, BAMTech partnership to deliver world-class tech to content owners

    MUMBAI: Discovery Communications and BAMTech have announced a long-term partnership, including the formation of BAMTech Europe, a new digital technology provider, dedicated to working with content owners, broadcasters and OTT platforms to enhance their digital capabilities, reach and performance across Europe. As part of the partnership, Eurosport Digital will become the new entity’s first client, and gain access to select European sports rights from worldwide sports properties, including current and future rights acquired by BAMTech and jointly by Eurosport and BAMTech.

    BAMTech Europe will be formed through a joint venture between Discovery Communications and BAMTech LLC, a subsidiary of Major League Baseball’s digital business, MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM). This new venture will represent BAMTech’s expansion in Europe and will provide world-class digital technology services to a broad set of sports, news and entertainment clients in Europe. BAMTech has successfully designed, developed and delivered direct-to-consumer streaming services over the past 14 years, currently serving 7.5 million total global paid subscribers with its U.S.-based clients’ OTT products. With hundreds of millions of mobile data subscribers and growing OTT momentum via connected TVs and other devices, Europe provides a significant strategic opportunity to bring together BAMTech’s world-class technology and Discovery’s deep presence and relationships across the continent.

    Eurosport Digital is the first partner for BAMTech Europe through a long-term digital services agreement. BAMTech’s state-of-the-art back-end video platform and services will be implemented in 2017 across all of Eurosport Digital’s products, which today include Eurosport.com – the continent’s number one sports news website, and Eurosport Player – the leading subscription-based OTT sports platform across Europe giving fans an all-access pass anytime and on any device in 52 countries.

    In addition, Eurosport and BAMTech will work together to make premium sports events more widely available across multiple screens. This will include current and future rights acquired by BAMTech as well as joint acquisitions for other compelling European sports rights, from across the globe, for Eurosport’s digital platform.

    “Discovery has been investing internationally in new business models and brands for decades, resulting in the most extensive global footprint in media,” said Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav. “The formation of this world-class technology provider, BAMTech Europe, with our partners at BAMTech, accelerates Discovery’s long-term strategy to bring our premium content to more viewers across more screens than ever before.”

    “The collaboration of Discovery’s breadth of live sports content, including the Olympic Games, and BAMTech will bring European fans access to these valuable events like never before,” said MLB president, business & media Bob Bowman. “Discovery has been a global leader in media and will be a great partner in expanding BAMTech to Europe, with an eye to developing new models for delivering content in the best interests of customers. We can’t wait to get started.”

    “Across Europe, Discovery has led the way in pay-TV and free-to-air services, and expanded into new content genres such as general entertainment and sports,” said Discovery Networks International president and CEO JB Perrette. “This partnership with BAMTech is an important next step in our evolution to develop more consumer centric capabilities and services – focused initially on Eurosport.”

    Discovery’s partnership with BAMTech follows the recent appointment of Ralph Rivera as the managing director of Eurosport Digital. Rivera previously spent six years at the BBC as Director of Future Media, where he was responsible for all of the BBC’s digital media services, leading the implementation and operation of BBC iPlayer as it grew by over 300% and delivering the first truly digital Olympic Games for London 2012, which set a new standard for live sports coverage online.

    Additionally, the announcement comes less than two weeks after Discovery announced its groundbreaking digital content partnership to form Group Nine Media, which immediately became one of the largest digital content and social video companies in the world.

  • Disney acquires 33% stake in video streaming company BAMTech for $1 billion

    Disney acquires 33% stake in video streaming company BAMTech for $1 billion

    BENGALURU: The Walt Disney Company (Disney) announced that it has acquired a thirty three percent stake in Direct-To-Consumer video streaming company BAMTech for $1 billion to be paid in two tranches. One instalment will be paid immediately and one will be paid in January 2017, with Disney having the option of acquiring a majority stake in the company. BAMTech was previously formed by Major League Baseball (MLB). As part of the transaction, BAMTech was separated from MLB’s broader digital business, MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM).

    “Our investment in BAMTech gives us the technology infrastructure we need to quickly scale and monetize our streaming capabilities at ESPN and across our company,” said Disney chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger.

    Commissioner of Baseball Robert D Manfred, Jr. said, “Every day the powerful partnership of technology and content becomes more important to consumers. We are excited to get to work with Disney and our longtime partners at ESPN in the important and ever-changing area of content distribution.”

    “Bringing a multi-sport service directly to fans is an exciting opportunity that capitalizes on BAMTech’s premier digital distribution platform and continues ESPN’s heritage of embracing technology to create new ways to connect fans with sports,” said ESPN Disney Media Networks president and co-chair John Skipper. “As WatchESPN continues to grow and add value to the multichannel video subscription, this new service will be an outstanding complement.”

    Disney’s investment in BAMTech will provide the latter capital to accelerate growth of its proprietary video-delivery platform, deliver greater flexibility to clients and develop new technologies and capabilities says a Disney release. BAMTech will become a key partner for Disney in the delivery and support of streaming video and other digital products from Disney|ABC Television Group and ESPN, as well as its future digital initiatives.

    BAMTech will also collaborate with ESPN to launch and distribute a new ESPN-branded multi-sport subscription streaming service in the future. The direct-to-consumer service will feature content provided by both BAMTech and ESPN, and include live regional, national and international sporting events. Current content on ESPN’s linear networks will not appear on the new subscription streaming service.

    BAMTech is a player in direct-to-consumer streaming services, data analytics and commerce management with nearly 7.5 million total paid subscribers to its clients’ OTT products BAMTech’s roster of sports, news and entertainment clients includes HBO NOW, the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, the PGA TOUR, WWE Network and Ice Network (a digital platform for professional figure skating).

    Following Disney’s acquisition of a stake in BAMTech, the National Hockey League received a minority interest in BAMTech, as the result of a previous agreement, says the Disney release.

  • Disney acquires 33% stake in video streaming company BAMTech for $1 billion

    Disney acquires 33% stake in video streaming company BAMTech for $1 billion

    BENGALURU: The Walt Disney Company (Disney) announced that it has acquired a thirty three percent stake in Direct-To-Consumer video streaming company BAMTech for $1 billion to be paid in two tranches. One instalment will be paid immediately and one will be paid in January 2017, with Disney having the option of acquiring a majority stake in the company. BAMTech was previously formed by Major League Baseball (MLB). As part of the transaction, BAMTech was separated from MLB’s broader digital business, MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM).

    “Our investment in BAMTech gives us the technology infrastructure we need to quickly scale and monetize our streaming capabilities at ESPN and across our company,” said Disney chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger.

    Commissioner of Baseball Robert D Manfred, Jr. said, “Every day the powerful partnership of technology and content becomes more important to consumers. We are excited to get to work with Disney and our longtime partners at ESPN in the important and ever-changing area of content distribution.”

    “Bringing a multi-sport service directly to fans is an exciting opportunity that capitalizes on BAMTech’s premier digital distribution platform and continues ESPN’s heritage of embracing technology to create new ways to connect fans with sports,” said ESPN Disney Media Networks president and co-chair John Skipper. “As WatchESPN continues to grow and add value to the multichannel video subscription, this new service will be an outstanding complement.”

    Disney’s investment in BAMTech will provide the latter capital to accelerate growth of its proprietary video-delivery platform, deliver greater flexibility to clients and develop new technologies and capabilities says a Disney release. BAMTech will become a key partner for Disney in the delivery and support of streaming video and other digital products from Disney|ABC Television Group and ESPN, as well as its future digital initiatives.

    BAMTech will also collaborate with ESPN to launch and distribute a new ESPN-branded multi-sport subscription streaming service in the future. The direct-to-consumer service will feature content provided by both BAMTech and ESPN, and include live regional, national and international sporting events. Current content on ESPN’s linear networks will not appear on the new subscription streaming service.

    BAMTech is a player in direct-to-consumer streaming services, data analytics and commerce management with nearly 7.5 million total paid subscribers to its clients’ OTT products BAMTech’s roster of sports, news and entertainment clients includes HBO NOW, the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, the PGA TOUR, WWE Network and Ice Network (a digital platform for professional figure skating).

    Following Disney’s acquisition of a stake in BAMTech, the National Hockey League received a minority interest in BAMTech, as the result of a previous agreement, says the Disney release.