Access to more content unlocks new revenue opportunities for broadcasters
Colt, the information delivery platform for European business, today announced it has reached an agreement with BT Wholesale, the largest wholesale telecoms business in Europe*, to allow customers to access content from Europe’s largest media market exchange at the BT Tower in London. Under the terms of the agreement, Colt customers will benefit from access to a wide range of high quality broadcast content including major sporting events.
As the largest media switch in Europe, the BT Tower in London is responsible for 95 percent of all UK and 75 percent of all UK to Europe video traffic. Building on its existing broadcast specific services, Colt will be able to provide broadcasters with access to key live dedicated and occasional use content from BT’s network of around 350 sports and news locations in the UK. This will include the ability for broadcasters to use the Colt network to transport content from national and international sports fixtures taking place in the UK.
Greater access to televised content and worldwide markets will enable broadcasters to unlock potential distribution or syndication revenue opportunities by delivering more sports and news coverage to viewers.
“This agreement helps BT Wholesale’s media and broadcast division in our mission to create a next generation media community that leverages digital media to reduce costs, improve collaboration and exploit new business models,” comments Mark Wilson-Dunn, BT Wholesale’s Media & Broadcast Director of Global Sales. “Our agreement with Colt will give our broadcast customers in the UK,US and Asia additional options to reach broadcast destinations across Europe.”
“The broadcasting sector is currently going through a number of significant transformations with the onset of digitisation, transition to high-definition services, convergence of IT networks and content delivery platforms, and the proliferation of devices consumers use,” comments Mark Webb, Business Development Manager, Media, Colt Technology Services. “This agreement on top of Colt’s existing impressive broadcast specific service capability ideally positions us to help our customers offer reliable, high quality content from sporting and news events to a wider geographic reach.”
The new agreement will also enable Colt’s customers to transmit content to locations on the BT network outside of Europe, such as Hong Kong, Delhi, Sydney and numerous locations in the US.
* BT Wholesale is the largest wholesale telecoms business in Europe by revenue and market share. (Source: Ovum)
About Colt and the Media Sector
Whether content is delivered in Standard Definition, High Definition or 3D, it needs to be both high quality and reliable. With more wholly owned fibre links to Europe’s media companies than anybody else, Colt is already an established provider of high quality and reliable broadcast specific services. Based on customer feedback, Colt’s point to point fibre connections provide high bandwidth which removes several problems associated with satellite transmission and provides a consistently high level of service. Key European media broadcasters in London, Madrid, Milan, Munich and Paris are already using Colt’s network.
About Colt
Colt is the information delivery platform for Europe, enabling its customers to deliver, share, process and store their vital business information. An established leader in delivering integrated computing and network services to major organisations, midsized businesses and wholesale customers, Colt operates a 21-country, 35,000km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 39 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 18,000 buildings and 19 Colt data centres.
In 2010, the Colt Data Centre Services business was launched to deliver innovative high quality modular data centres which are rapid to deploy and power efficient.
Colt is listed on the London Stock Exchange (COLT). Information about Colt and its services can be found at www.colt.net.
About BT Global Media Network
BT’s Global Media Network provides access to all the key locations around the world where content is either created or distributed. It offers low operating costs, fast connectivity, bandwidth and low latency. It provides 99.999% availability with no single point of failure and the functionality to control bandwidth allocation through online scheduling.
BT’s continues to invest in its Global Media Network year on year and as well as expanding the footprint, this investment is enabling M&B to offer additional internet based applications and media file transfer capabilities.
For places beyond the reach of our terrestrial solutions, M&B offers satellite solutions to over 100 countries, with hubs in a number of locations around the world, with our greatest capabilities being developed in the UK, Europe and across Africa
Colt Press contacts
Tim Focas, Weber Shandwick
DDI: +44 20 7067 0538
Email: ColtUK@webershandwick.com
François d’Essertaux, Colt
Mob: +44 (0)7538095485
Email: francois.dessertaux@colt.net
Industry analysts’ contact
Loudhouse, Agi Donnithorne
DDI: + 44 (0)8453 700655
Mobile: +44 (0)7595 003328
Email: ColtAR@loudhouse.com
BT Group Newsroom on its 24-hour number: 020 7356 5369. From outside the UK dial + 44 20 7356 5369. All news releases can be accessed at our web site: http://www.btplc.com/News.
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