LiveU Studio Simplifies the Localization of International Feeds for Live EuroLeague Basketball Streams
SKWEEK leverages LiveU's next-gen cloud production solution to add real value to its live basketball coverage while reducing its production costs
Background
SKWEEK is a pay-per-view service with exclusive broadcasting rights for the men’s EuroLeague Basketball in France and Monaco. The company delivers up to 12 live games simultaneously each evening, and provides comprehensive coverage of the EuroCup as well. Specializing in high-quality live streaming, it offers sports fans in-depth localized access to top-tier basketball events, ensuring seamless broadcasts across multiple platforms.
SKWEEK’s mission is “to propel the sport to new heights, weaving it into urban culture through captivating content, thrilling events, state-of-the-art basketball centers, ticketing services, live games and more!”
The Challenge
SKWEEK sought efficient ways to elevate their live streaming of EuroLeague Basketball games in the region, featuring prominent French teams like LDLC ASVEL, AS Monaco, JL Bourg en Bresse, and Paris Basketball. The goal was to seamlessly integrate local French commentary into the international feeds from IMG, while maintaining top-tier broadcast quality and reducing both preparation time and costs. Traditional production set-ups were complex and lacked the flexibility needed for remote commentary. SKWEEK required a more efficient solution that could handle multiple streaming platforms and streamline the overall production process.
The Solution
SKWEEK selected LiveU Studio to help engage its users and simplify the production workflow. They enhanced their EuroLeague Basketball broadcasts by ingesting the international feed from IMG and adding French branding and commentary. Commentators connect remotely to LiveU Studio as a ‘remote guest’, providing greater flexibility and reduced preparation time and costs.
With LiveU, SKWEEK also streams occasional games with live local commentary directly to YouTube and social media platforms, while also publishing to its subscription-based VOD service. This multi-destination capability expands their reach. Additionally, SKWEEK benefits from LiveU’s flexible payment package, which allows them to adjust their costs and scale production as needed throughout the season.
The Results
The use of LiveU Studio has enhanced the fan experience, simplified the production workflow and reduced the video production costs. The solution was up and running very soon after the demonstration and testing by the LiveU technical team. The Skweek team is now fully autonomous and able to control their live remote cloud-based commentary and distribution workflows simply and efficiently.
We wanted to significantly reduce our video production costs and introduce more flexibility to the workflow. The LiveU team were incredibly fast to respond to our initial request and we were up and running in a very short space of time. The Studio toolbox enables us to do complex production easily while only paying for what we use. Delivering live commentary to the cloud is a different way of working for our commentators but they quickly adapted to the change and have found it to be a more streamlined process.
Cyril Méjane, Managing Director, Skweek Studios