American NFL (National Football League) flags are displayed above Regent Street, central London, in preparation for NFL on Regent Street – the traffic free event on Saturday 28th September ahead of the NFL’s forthcoming International Series in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday September 23, 2013. Regent Street will be traffic free on Saturday 28th September to kick start NFL’s International Series preceding the NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers at Wembley on Sunday 29th September. Photo credit should read: John Phillips/PA
Deluxe Entertainment Service Group Inc. announced a three-year contract with the NFL to broaden digital content distribution throughout Europe. Deluxe’s contract with MP & Silva will enable broadcasters to deliver live NFL games to that region with an IP-based platform MediaCloud. From a financial standpoint this is poised to be a cost-effective digital content delivery service for the NFL.
“Deluxe’s technology enables the NFL to bring our games to our existing and future European fans in a high quality and cost-effective way,” said Jeff Lombardi, Senior Director – International Operations of NFL. “I have seen the quality and reliability first-hand from our offices at NFL Films using Deluxe MediaCloud.”
With the deal Deluxe will distribute up to seven games a week of the NFL regular season, all playoff games, and the Super Bowl. Other features include the NFL RedZone and other NFL content and media assets to highlight the sporting events. MP & Silva simultaneously distribute regular season games and have the capacity to extend other games simultaneously too.
This announcement has come at no surprise as the NFL has been pushing to expand its brand in Europe. The league recently announced that the NFL will play three regular-season games at two London stadiums in 2016 in the next incarnation of its “International Series.”
“The passion our UK fans have shown for the NFL is overwhelming,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We are very appreciative of the strong and growing fan support, not only for the games, but for all of the related NFL events we host in the UK throughout the year. We look forward to welcoming new fans to their first NFL game in 2016 and welcoming back thousands of others that are helping our sport grow to new levels of popularity in London and beyond.”
Deluxe’s Broadcast Delivery Network (BDN) will be in control of the content delivery. The platform aims to ensure high quality video delivery to any Deluxe-registered destination point. The BDN is known for its security and resilient quality video signals throughout the world.
Deluxe reaches all these regions with playout and linear distribution to traditional broadcast, digital delivery to OTT platforms, a multi-screen VOD solution, live and syndicated broadcast distribution, and digital cinema distribution.
“We see Deluxe’s technology solution as the future of our content delivery,” said Damon Garwood, MD Digital and Technology Services from MP & Silva. “MediaCloud is innovative, reliable, and cost-effective. Ultimately, we believe working with Deluxe will enable us to enhance our clients’ content into new territories whilst creating synergies for our properties. We’re excited about this driving further business benefits through our partnership and extending our ability to deliver any content to anywhere in the world to the highest quality.”
