SN NOW to relaunch with suite of new features, backed by leading tech innovators

Sportsnet has partnered with Deltatre and Firstlight Media, two industry-leading OTT technology providers, to reimagine and relaunch SN NOW – Canada’s premier sports streaming service – to deliver the best fan experience, highest quality streaming, and most personalized and engaging viewing features available anywhere in sports media.

By collaborating with these global technology powerhouses, Sportsnet will redesign SN NOW with a suite of integrated next-generation OTT features and a refreshed user interface, on the Firstlight Media platform, powered by Microsoft Azure. Phased in enhancements will include greater stream quality and reliability, personalized content offerings, advanced stats overlays, and other innovative features to drive the ultimate sports viewing experience.

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“Sportsnet was the first mainstream sports brand in North America to launch a direct-to-consumer streaming service, offering our premium content and the most innovative distribution right from the start. Our new partnerships with Deltatre and Firstlight Media will help make Canada’s best sports streaming product even better,” said Bart Yabsley, President, Sportsnet. “The all-new SN NOW will engage our fans with more games, the latest technological innovations, more exclusive content, and a personalized experience on the most reliable platform available anywhere in the world.”

“The ability to build world-class consumer experiences will increasingly involve great partners from around the globe. As the pace of change continues to accelerate, building the future can’t be done alone. These partnerships are just some of many ways Sportsnet is continuing to foster innovation to lead sports and media into the future,” added Alfredo Tan, SVP, Strategy, Data, & Products at Rogers Sports & Media, Sportsnet’s parent company.

Firstlight Media will build the technology foundation for the new SN NOW. A global company that is innovating the next wave of sports OTT solutions, Firstlight Media has created a sophisticated, cloud-native technology stack that powers an end-to-end platform – delivering step changes in performance, flexibility, agility, and scale, and offering best-in-class user engagement and monetization. Firstlight Media has created a vast portfolio of broadcast-quality platforms for Tier 1 operators and content providers worldwide.

“Sportsnet is way out in front in showing how a visionary approach to technology can turbocharge engagement between sports’ most storied properties and their dedicated fan bases,” said Andre Christensen, CEO and Co-Founder of Firstlight Media. “We’re delighted to provide the technology foundation that will power SN NOW’s journey from raw ideation to unmatched reality, and to engage Sportsnet viewers with unparalleled, immersive experiences.”

Deltatre is a leading sports and entertainment technology provider, specializing in fan-first video and digital experiences, including large-scale, end-to-end OTT systems integration across live and on-demand video content. As it innovates the front-end user experience of SN NOW, Sportsnet will benefit from Deltatre’s market leading streaming technology, experience integrating the world’s leading third-party partners and solutions, and its expertise in powering platforms such as WWE Network and NFL Game Pass.

“We are delighted to partner with Sportsnet to rebuild and relaunch SN NOW. We believe our experience and expertise in creating and running some of the most high-profile streaming services across global sport, as well as the opportunity to collaborate with a market-leading international provider in Firstlight Media, will enable Sportsnet to offer a game-changing OTT experience to Canadian sports fans across every major platform,” said Alex Drosin, Head of Worldwide Business Development, Video Experiences, Deltatre.

In addition to enhancing the platform’s back-end technology and user-facing experience, the new and improved SN NOW cloud-native streaming platform runs on Firstlight Media’s microservices architecture, fully built on Microsoft Azure.

Kevin Peesker, president, Microsoft Canada added: “With Microsoft Azure cloud capabilities, Sportsnet will have unparalleled access to high availability, scalability, agility, and disaster recovery to help ensure Canadian sports fans don’t miss any of the action.”

Sportsnet will unveil the first phase of the all-new SN NOW this Fall with additional development phases planned going forward.

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