March 19, 2025

Online Video News

Number of Sports Channels Grows by 105% Since Middle of Last Year Per New Gracenote FAST Report

A new report on the state of FAST by Gracenote has found that the number of sports channels has grown by more than 105% since the middle of last year. Sports programming and the broad distribution strategies in FAST mean that audiences don't have far to look to find the content they want. Viewers can watch the NFL Channel, MLB Channel, and PGA Tour Channel on Pluto TV, Tubi, and The Roku Channel. These channels primarily showcase recaps, highlights, and sports-related programming.

Short Cuts

Direct vs. Programmatic for Improving FAST Fill Rates and CPMs

FAST and AVOD are struggling to fill inventory and CPMs are sagging in much of the CTV world. Is programmatic the problem or the solution? Is brand or direct advertising better equipped to turn the tide? Would a hybrid strategy work better? Fremantle's Laura Florence, Roku's Charlie Goodman, Philo's Aulden Kaye Yi, and Vevo's Melissa Sofo debate the best solutions to free streaming's fill and pricing problems in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2025.

Why Premium Sports Streaming Is Shifting to Watermarking at the Edge

For ad-supported streams, one of the many benefits of server-side ad insertion (SSAI) is the ability to protect the stream against piracy by encrypting it at the point of origin when the ad is already inserted in the bitstream. Bu for premium sports streams that are subject to what BuyDRM CEO Christopher Levy calls "high-value gate-crashing"—sophisticated piracy ring-level content theft—watermarking at the edge has become "the model that works the best," Levy says, as he enumerates the reasons for a growing shift to edge-side watermarking in this interview with Streaming Media's Tim Siglin at Streaming Media Connect 2025.

Can Multicast Level Up Live Sports Streaming to Parity With Broadcast?

Is multicast the solution to all of live sports streaming at scale's problems that will help it reach the "it just works" level of broadcast TV? How broadly applicable is multicast across different streaming applications? And can it be secured? YouTube's Sean McCarthy, Akamai's Will Law, EZDRM's Olga Kornienko, TATA's Tom Buffolano, and SVTA's Jason Thibeault discuss in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2025.

Industry News

Harmonic Amps Up Video Streaming Efficiency with New Origin Capabilities

New Video Streaming Innovation Delivers Unmatched Flexibility and Cost Savings for Service Providers and Broadcasters

Miri Technologies to Make NAB Show Debut with X510 Dual-Cellular Bonding Router

Innovative, purpose-built hardware fuses numerous wired and wireless links to deliver resilient, high-performance internet connectivity anywhere

MwareTV showcases no-code app design with Lightning 3.0 integration at NAB

• Lightning 3.0 for high performance apps on smart TVs, Linux set-top boxes and browser-based devices • Ultra-responsive user interfaces for remote actions, smooth animations, and seamless page transition • MwareTV App Builder for drag and drop design a

LTN unveils live sports, channel distribution, and real-time versioning on its video-first network at NAB 2025

Fulfill your wildest streams. On the world’s only IP network built exclusively for video LTN empowers sports leagues, broadcasters, and streaming platforms to maximize media rights value and reach new global audiences.

Bitcentral’s ViewNexa® Partners with OneBill to Elevate Subscription Management and Monetization for Media Companies

ViewNexa customers will have AI-driven analytics, flexible pricing models, and seamless payments, to scale their businesses more efficiently.

Synamedia unveils Quortex Switch: the industry’s first standards-based CDN switching solution for enhanced multi-CDN management

Quortex Switch optimizes CDN switching to cut streaming costs while boosting quality and reliability