Global broadband television channel boosts world premier match racing sailing series

In response to continual increasing viewers on www.swedishmatchtour.tv, Narrowstep the TV on the Internet Company, has developed a new Broadband Player for the Tour.
The Swedish Match Tour, recognized as the training ground for many of the America’s Cup Teams, launched the channel last July to offer the Tour additional exposure and sponsors, sailors and industry members a sophisticated and unique medium to view the sport which does not enjoy the luxury of mainstream TV coverage.
The channel, www.swedishmatchtour.tv, airs on demand all the Swedish Match Tour television programs and is available free of charge. Viewers can either watch the rolling 24-hour TV schedule, or search the highlights section to find a specific programme, either from the current TV series or a previous show.
“Broadcasting these shows on broadband TV and making them available globally on demand, rather than restricting the shows by territory, is the way of the future,” said Cliff Webb, Chief Operating Officer of Narrowstep. “And the Swedish Match Tour is leading the way.”
In the month of May, which featured Tour events in Italy, Germany and Croatia, the TV player served almost 64 days of viewing time to more than 1,500 people. Since January the player has served more than 226 days of viewing time to nearly 5,000 viewers.
Webb continued: “We’ve seen a continual increase in the interest of viewers each month, with people from over 55 countries actively watching the channel. The sailing community is very tight knit, and I am sure the word will spread about the advantages the new style player offers.”
The player has been upgraded to include pause, fast forward and rewind options. There are three different viewing modes, small, normal and full screen, and there’s an option to mute the sound. All content is available at different data rates up to 1.8mb for excellent viewing quality.
The full schedule for the day’s programming is listed, and individual shows may be chosen to view on demand. The list of shows includes all events from the current 2004-’05 season and most from the 2003-’04 season. There are also special interviews, news updates and music montages under “Highlights.”
There are also plans to move to Live broadcasting later this year, whereby viewers will be able to see the racing in real time, live and exclusively on SwedishMatchTour.tv as it happens, with a multi-camera shoot from right on board with the some of the top skippers in the world.
The Swedish Match Tour contracts Sportshows Television (London, England) the film production arm of Narrowstep, to produce and distribute the Tour’s television shows. Sportshows Television has been commissioned this year to produce 10 one hour TV programs that will be distributed throughout 100 countries around the world. The broadband TV player is a unique product of Narrowstep.
(GB)