NBC Sports has selected Signiant to provide intelligent file transfer software for its production of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, from Beijing, China, February 2–20. The announcement was made today by Darryl Jefferson, VP of Post Production and Digital Workflow, NBC Sports & Olympics, and Mike Flathers, Signiant’s Chief Solutions Officer.
NBCUniversal provides coverage of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games from Feb. 2-20, featuring a Winter Olympics-record 2,800+ hours of coverage across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. The Opening Ceremony was presented on Friday, Feb. 4, live in the morning and again in primetime on NBC and Peacock. Similar to recent Winter Games, NBC’s primetime Olympic coverage began the night before the Opening Ceremony on Thursday, Feb. 3. Coverage began on Wednesday, Feb. 2, on USA Network and Peacock. NBCUniversal is presenting its 18th Olympic Games, 12th consecutive overall, and sixth straight Winter Games, all the most by any U.S. media company.
Aided by Signiant’s software, NBC Sports will be able to move petabytes of HDR and 4K footage from Beijing back to its headquarters in Stamford, Conn., immediately upon capture. Signiant’s patented acceleration technology enables seamless transfer of the footage over standard IP networks, eliminating latency and packet loss, so that NBC Sports’ editors in Stamford can begin creating highlights almost immediately as the action is happening. The software also allows for content to be transferred quickly, easily and securely back to the International Broadcast Center in Beijing. With Signiant, NBC Sports is able to leverage their talent and equipment back home in Stamford, enabling them to efficiently provide enhanced viewing experiences to their audience.
“The foundation and first partnership with Signiant during last Summer’s Tokyo Olympics were a precursor to an expansive strategy of file movement and workflow orchestration,” said Jefferson. “Now handling even more productions at remote locations, our efforts depend on real time collaboration, file synchronization, and raw speed. Signiant delivers each of those, and we look forward to continued partnership at the Olympic Winter Games.”
“Signiant is excited to be working with NBC Sports for the production of this event,” said Flathers. “These types of remote workflows are critical in today’s environment and Signiant is proud to play such an important role in enabling NBC Sports to leverage their team and technology located halfway around the world. These types of complex, mission-critical workflows are a testament not only to our core transport technology, but also to our continued investment in APIs and technology partnerships.”
