NewTek recently announced it has completed work with YouTube to ensure the compatibility of TriCaster and 3Play as powerful and affordable tools for sports enterprises of any size to live stream a wide range of competitive events over YouTube’s live sports streaming service. With more than a billion visitors every month, YouTube is playing a growing role as an online distributor of live sports coverage. TriCaster is the industry standard for high quality yet affordable HD multi-camera video production and live streaming. 3Play is a professional slow motion replay server, a must-have for sports broadcasting, available at a fraction of the cost of traditional replay systems. Together they level the playing field for sports producers on YouTube.
“Viewers today expect professionally produced sporting events. They will not watch sports programming that lacks essentials like instant replay and on-screen graphics. Professional looking broadcast studio sets are also vitally important, which can be achieved using TriCaster’s virtual sets,” said Andrew Cross, chief technology officer of NewTek. “TriCaster and 3Play let you look like you are on broadcast TV. The Internet has made it where you no longer need a huge antenna and an FCC license. Ensured compatibility with YouTube means teams of any size can reach fans in ways they could only dream of before.”
Traditionally, high quality live sports productions come with high price tags, requiring a multi-camera TV production truck costing tens of thousands of dollars to rent for a single game.TriCaster and 3Play allowsports entities to enhance the production quality of their shows, whether they are being live streamed or broadcast, without requiring the capital outlay needed to buy traditional video gear, or incurring the operating expense necessary to roll in a TV production truck.
“In the past, cost has been prohibitive,” said Perry Tobin, technology manager for YouTube Sports. “Fortunately, products like TriCaster and 3Play have lowered the barrier of entry into this space. Where you used to have to pull in a satellite truck, now all you need is an Internet connection, a TriCaster and 3Play, and you are good to go to have instant replays, huge virtual sets shot on a small green screen, and all of the things you’ve come to expect with cable TV-produced content.”
The availability of affordable production tools like TriCaster and 3Play could not have come at a better time for YouTube Sports. A convergence of technologies, economics, and easy-to-use production gear is making it possible for every sport imaginable from local bowling leagues to high school and collegiate athletics programs to major professional sports leagues and TV sports networks to reach audiences, extend their brands and generate revenue online. YouTube is at the forefront of driving the technologies required to live stream content to an array of devices from smart TV’s to smartphones.
“I think we have hit that interesting sweet spot in time where bandwidth is coming down in price and becoming more accessible, and the cost of doing a decent production and the skill level needed to do that is also coming down,” said Tobin. “I believe sports is the next big, untapped video frontier on the Internet. As we keep pushing down costs and increasing quality, I think we will see more, and more, interesting times.”
Ready to learn more about NewTek’s Tricaster? Contact MCC’s Audio Visual Solution Division today!