CenturyLink To Provide Live Feed For FIFA World Cup

CenturyLink has been selected to transmit international distribution and unilateral feeds for this summer's FIFA World Cup in the US and Latin America.

The networks – including Fox in the US, TV Azteca in Mexico, and RCN and Caracol in Colombia – will use CenturyLink's high quality, broadcast-based Vyvx Solutions to provide diverse routes in the transmission of tournament and content feeds from Moscow, Russia to each programmer's master control facilities.

"Fox's networks will broadcast 64 matches live, more than the previous four tournaments combined and the most ever for an English-language network," said Keith Goldberg, vice president of global operations and transmission services for Fox. "That's more than 350 hours of total programming, and CenturyLink will play a critical role in enabling us to deliver that content to millions of viewers across the US."

Some of the largest Latin American programmers are also leveraging CenturyLink's Vyvx for the event.

"Football is not a sport we take lightly in Mexico, and this particular competition is by far the biggest sporting event we broadcast, both in terms of number of viewers and the amount of technical expertise needed to deliver it to fans across our network," said Pedro Carmona Ortiz, technology director at TV Azteca, the second-largest mass media company in Mexico. "We trust CenturyLink – with their secure, global network and extensive technical experience transporting live feeds for large-scale events – to help us deliver an unparalleled tournament-watching experience."

CenturyLink's Vyvx Solutions will provide a variety of services for the event, including HD transmission, JPEG2K, MPEG4 encoding, decoding, onsite operations, monitoring and support, PTP data and internet, and frame rate conversion. For the first time in its delivery of the tournament, CenturyLink will offer 4K encoding, as many broadcasters and distributors now have the capability to deliver 4K and other high resolution content.

"RCN is dedicated to broadcasting the tournament in its entirety for our millions of viewers. By collaborating with CenturyLink, we will be able to provide our customers with smooth, uninterrupted access to every match," said Andrés Emilio Galeano Rey, technical vice president at RCN Television, which reaches 97 percent of the Colombian population through its 13 stations. "By collaborating with CenturyLink and using its Vyvx product, we will capture all of the emotions that come with this monumental event, as well as provide special coverage of the Colombian team."

For more than 20 years, Vyvx has delivered video for some of the most-watched television events and programmes around the world, providing both acquisition of content and delivery to global audiences.

"Caracol is committed to giving our viewers across Colombia a comprehensive football viewing experience, including live, up-to-the-minute coverage of this summer's global football tournament," said Augusto Cardona, chief channel officer for Caracol Televisión, one of the largest networks in Colombia. "Delivering large-scale, live events on a national scale is a complex endeavor, but with CenturyLink's depth of knowledge and experience, we're confident we'll meet our viewers' expectations."

Vyvx Solutions delivered more than 28 million broadcast minutes of live sports, news and entertainment services globally in 2017.

"In 2014, this soccer event reached 3.2 billion viewers, which is nearly half the world's population," said Bill Wohnoutka, vice president of global internet and content delivery services for CenturyLink. "The stakes for broadcasters providing this event, like Fox, TV Azteca, RCN and Caracol, are high. CenturyLink has a proven track record of delivering these large-scale events on a global scale, and we look forward to helping our customers provide a seamless viewing experience throughout the tournament."   

www.centurylink.com