NBCUniversal has built an Olympics app for Verizon Fios TV and NCTC members so both distributors can offer an enhanced consumer experience for the Games.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games app will aggregate NBCUniversal’s new and previously developed Olympic content offerings into one place, making Olympic events available in participating Verizon Fios TV homes and NCTC (National Cable Television Cooperative) member homes. The app, which was built by NBCUniversal’s content distribution team, will feature more than 1,000 curated Olympic Games videos on-demand, improved discovery and navigation features, personalization by sport, up-to-date medal standings by sport and dynamic tune-in to NBCUniversal networks in select homes.
“Premium multi-platform experiences drive greater linear ratings and VOD engagement,” said Matt Bond, chairman of content distribution at NBCUniversal, in a statement. “The combination of NBCUniversal’s editorial and technological resources with NCTC’s and Verizon’s footprints around this global event is a win for all involved. We look forward to working with all of our distribution partners on opportunities to scale this work around tentpole events for years to come.”
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This new Olympic Games experience will be available to NCTC Members with certain capabilities and in Verizon homes, totaling an estimated 3 million homes nationwide, according to NBCUniversal. Most NCTC members use the MobiTV Connect, a software-as-as-service video delivery platform, and most have stuck with it after TiVo bought MobiTV’s assets in a bankruptcy auction in May, according to Light Reading. Last month, TiVo and NCTC signed a new master services agreement to preserve MobiTV’s deal with the organization.
NBCUniversal said it plans to scale its new “tentpole offering” to more events and providers in the future.
NBCUniversal has promised 7,000 hours of content for the Tokyo Games and all of that will be available in its entirety on X1 and Stream. The Olympics on Xfinity Flex will take advantage of Peacock Premium, which is included free for Comcast subscribers and will be front and center on Flex during the Games. X1, the company’s pay TV platform, has for years served as an advanced aggregation hub for NBCUniversal’s Olympics content. But that platform is only for Comcast’s video subscribers and so this year Flex will be used to give Comcast’s broadband subscribers a similar experience.