Embracing Simplicity, Efficiency, and Value

With the wide array of choices available to media consumers regarding what, when, and where to watch, ‘appointment television’ is now limited to highly anticipated events such as live sports, show premieres/finales, and real-time coverage of significant global events. These are specific times when OTT providers need their performance to be flawless. This can be a difficult scenario for OTT providers and broadcasters, who are valiantly trying to meet these demands. It’s a conundrum at best.

But a recent partnership between Edgio’s Uplynk Media Platform and diversified media company, Sinclair, Inc., might just have found a customer-centric solution to that conundrum, particularly for those customers with large-scale events.

With this innovative partnership, streaming platforms can now slash bandwidth usage, unlocking significant cost savings while delivering personalized ad experiences at scale.

This partnership is significant considering Sinclair is the second-largest television station operator in the United States by number of stations (after Nexstar Media Group). The Maryland-based company that started in the 1950s as a radio broadcasting trade school has grown a bit since then.

Sinclair now owns or operates 193 stations across the country in over 100 markets (covering 40% of American households) and is the largest owner of stations affiliated with Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, and over 20 regional sports network brands.

But why all the buzz now?

Sinclair has launched “Broadspan,” a datacasting platform that enables data distribution capability across all current Sinclair NextGen Broadcast (ATSC 3.0) markets, where it serves as the host station to any device with a 3.0 receiver, a range of devices that now includes cars, phones, and tablets beyond the old standby of the television set. This opens the door to multiple new business opportunities for broadcasters and greatly enhances efficiency for data distribution.  

Edgio will serve as the first Broadspan commercial partner by using the new platform to deliver a true 4K experience to viewers, supplementing streaming over the internet with over-the-air data. This takes advantage of the unique capability of ATSC 3.0 to deliver both video data as well as IP data.

Broadspan’s ability to deliver the video data stream to the consumer over the air is a game changer. It will be able to offload significant video and audio data from the internet, reducing congestion and enhancing user experience. All while allowing increased bitrates without any loss of service due to internet congestion during the largest viewership events. 

Edgio and Sinclair also share the belief that their people are their most important asset. The combined expertise of a company with over 50 years of terrestrial broadcasting experience with a company with over 20 years of OTT experience allows Edgio and Sinclair to deliver the hybrid solution that is truly more than the sum of its parts.

This will be simplicity and efficiency at their core.

Customers can immediately visualize the network availability across markets and submit a tailored distribution request. They know exactly where their data is headed, and they will be able to keep tabs on their request’s status, all while saving money.

For broadcasters, they will be able to create additional revenues to support their investments in local news production. The delivery of data across the country will be made more efficient and less costly by ATSC 3.0, a superior replacement to the hundreds of thousands of wireless sites.

Hold on tight! Get ready to experience innovation like never before—innovation we look forward to sharing with our customers once again!