NBCUNIVERSAL EXECUTIVES -- Pictured: Rick Cordella, Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group -- (Photo by: Heidi Gutman/NBC)
Rick Cordella, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group. (Photo by: Heidi Gutman/NBC)

NBC Sports today unveiled a new streaming service that will power the network’s Olympics online coverage this summer, along with “end-to-end” support for other clients needing to stream live and on-demand content online.

Called Playmaker Media, the service is built on technology that NBC Sports Digital already uses to stream events like the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Finals, and more. NBC’s first client is the International Olympic Committee, which will use PlayMaker for its Olympic Channel (NBC also owns U.S. broadcast and digital rights for the Summer Olympics). Playmaker will also power live streaming video support for NBC News’ coverage of the 2016 presidential election.

NBC Sports Digital Senior Vice President and General Manager Rick Cordella, who will speak at our upcoming GeekWire Sports Tech Summit in July, said that it was a “perfect” time to launch the service. Playmaker today announced partners like Adobe, Akamai, Microsoft, and others.

“The growing demand for live streaming support in the marketplace combined with our experience and expertise make this the perfect time to launch Playmaker,” he said in a press release. “Whether it is live streaming the biggest sporting events in the world or hosting on-demand video clips or live-event replays, our clients can expect best-in-class service that will provide their viewers with an enjoyable and seamless streaming experience.”

Playmaker will compete directly with MLB Advanced Media, the video streaming arm of Major League Baseball — also known as BAM —  that is preparing to spin out into its own business valued at $3 billion and counts customers like ESPN, HBO, and WWE.

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