- From the German Bundesliga to the Champions League: Broadcasting of large sporting events over IPTV are becoming more important
- Viewers of streaming expect security and reliability
- eco Association warns against illegal streaming platforms
The Internet is gaining importance as a broadcast media for large sporting events: This 2017/2018 season, several of the games in the German first football league will only be available online or via satellite. In the USA, Facebook wants to offer live streams of the Champions League together with one US broadcaster. “Sport is a driver of live streaming and a playing field for innovative technology trends,” says Markus Schaffrin, Head of Member Services at eco – Association of the Internet Industry.
Online broadcasts increasingly popular for live events
With the trend towards IPTV, the demands on the transmission network infrastructure in Germany is growing. Users expect a consistently good online connection and transmission without much delay. Listening to the neighbors cheering while on your screen the ball is still rolling tends to reduce the fun of a live broadcast. “The Internet industry is well prepared to provide sufficient bandwidth and resources for large live online events,” according to Schaffrin. This is also confirmed by Daniel Melzer, CTO of the largest Internet Exchange in the world, DE-CIX in Frankfurt: “Even for the top games of the Handball World Championship in France in January 2017 – which could only be watched in Germany via the Internet – we didn’t identify any significant increase in the data throughput. Whether the top games in the German first football league will lead to a measurable increase this season is yet to be seen.”
Illegal streaming portals spread viruses
The eco Association advises against using illegal streaming services – these should be left well alone. Cyber criminals transmit an existing signal illegally, save on the costs of a license, and sometimes even demand a fee. “Every game day, users get infected by malware over unauthorized streaming portals,” says Markus Schaffrin. “Many of the computers owned by people who regularly watch illegal streams are part of a criminal botnet that spreads spam and malware.”
Further information on the streaming of live sporting events can be found in the eco white paper “Infrastructure for Live Broadcasting“
