NHL Extends its Power Play with Level 3

The National Hockey League (NHL) took significant strides toward building out its online presence today when it iced a deal with Level 3 Communications (News - Alert) to expand its network services commitment.

 

The NHL, widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world and is one of the North American major professional sports leagues, has enlisted Level 3 to provide content storage, caching and downloading, and high-definition (HD) video streaming for its online properties.

 

These services are expected to complement the existing high-speed IP and video broadcast services already provided by Level 3.

 

As broadband adoption throughout world continues to become more and more accessible, a well rounded online presence for sports leagues with a global audience, such the NHL, is an increasingly important way to keep their fan base satisfied as well as growing.

 

"Level 3 is an important partner in helping to meet our network technology needs," said Grant Nodine, vice president of technology for the NHL. "Level 3 provides a single-source solution for content delivery that enables us to continue to build out our online presence and take advantage of the power of the Internet to reach fans around the world."

 

According to Level 3, the announcement builds on the NHL’s existing deployment of its high-speed IP and video broadcast services, which was announced in February.

 

Now, Level 3’s services will provide essential components of the technology solution to enable the league to offer live and on-demand access to hockey games from the leagues 30 teams, as well as highlight reels and other online video content. Online video will be available in HD, optimized for video quality and download speed, to provide a premium end-user experience at http://www.nhl.com/.

 

"The NHL continues to reinforce their role as a leader in the development and delivery of compelling online content for professional sports," said Grant van Rooyen, president of Level 3's Content Markets Group. "This expanded solution set for the NHL now provides all the building blocks necessary to support their content delivery needs and deliver an enhanced online viewing experience for hockey fans."

 

The league initially made the move in February to ensure delivery of its broadcasts from 30 venues across North America. The multi-year deal with is designed to support the NHL’s content delivery and HSIP (high speed Internet Protocol) needs. In addition Level 3 also will serve as the NHL’s primary provider of video services to NHL headquarters, as well as Internet access to headquarters from each of the league’s arenas.