HACKENSACK, N.J.—The National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia has reported growing popularity of its NBL1 professional semi-elite basketball league—even during the pandemic—with the deployment of 75 LiveU Solo wireless video encoders at arenas around the country that have made games more accessible to fans.
Streaming via the LiveU cloud platform to online video platforms made it possible for fans to watch more than 900 NBL1 games live, including final matches and highlights, as well as to follow their favorite teams and players, the company said.
Australian broadcast services company 5Stream was responsible for remote production using the Cloudmix cloud-based production platform. LiveU local partner Pacific Live Media provided the LiveU Solo solution and technical support.
“LiveU has been a game changer for Australian basketball, enabling us to engage sports fans nationwide with exciting, high-quality live coverage for the best video experience,” said NBL1 general manager Dean Anglin.
Total game views throughout the 2021 NBL1 season numbered 733,000 with more than 16.2 million total minutes of the live streams viewed. That translated to 3.36 million views of LiveU Solo streamed video during the season of NBL1’s Instagram page.
“Live streaming the games has strengthened the NBL1 brand and generated a steep rise in interest in basketball. We've managed to increase the number of eyeballs online using cost-effective production,” said Anglin.
LiveU Solo enables wireless live streaming directly from cameras or other video sources to online platforms or customizable web destinations using the LiveU Solo cloud platform. LiveU Solo combines bandwidth from multiple network sources for reliable, high-quality video delivery to power the live video production.
Depending on the arena, single or multi-camera capture and streaming feed the cloud-based production workflow, which is managed from a central location. The Solo encoders are seamlessly integrated with the league’s Canon cameras and other production equipment. Live feeds are directly streamed by 5Stream to Sportsradar and the NBL1’s OTT broadcasting platform as well as the NBL1 website and NBL app, said Anglin.
“The set-up has been unbelievably simple, requiring minimal training for our ground staff. One training session with the kits, and they're ready to go,” said Anglin, who plans to increase the number of LiveU Solo encoders to more than 100 for the upcoming season.
“We had a dream to deliver NBL1 games from states around Australia, and LiveU's 4G bonded IP technology made it possible, enabling us to stream reliably from every venue, at any time, removing our previous single-point-of-failure issue,” said Anglin.
More information is available on the LiveU website.
