M+E Connections

The NeuLion Digital Platform has been selected to live-stream the upcoming Mayweather vs. McGregor fight that Showtime will air live via traditional pay-per-view (PPV) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Aug. 26, according to NeuLion.

In the latest win for NeuLion, the company said Aug. 23 that it was tapped to live stream the fight on behalf of several rights holders globally, including Eleven Sports Network, Sky New Zealand, Sky Sports and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The event brings together the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA). Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a professional boxing champion, while Conor McGregor is the current UFC lightweight champion.

The NeuLion Digital Platform will handle authentication and purchasing for the PPV event as viewers visit each of the four participating streaming services: UFC.TV, Sky Sports Box Office, Sky Fan Pass and the Eleven Sports Network’s over-the-top (OTT) service, NeuLion said in its announcement. NeuLion will also ensure that each of those services delivers the fight into each of the rights holders’ respective licensed territories, it said.

“These partners recognize the value of our depth of global experience and continued focus on delivering outstanding quality,” said Roy Reichbach, NeuLion CEO and president, adding: “To be working with four fantastic NeuLion partners for the streaming, purchasing, and fan experience for one of the largest online events of the year, is very exciting for us.”

NeuLion also said it designed and developed the consumer experience that UFC, Sky Sports, Sky New Zealand and Eleven Sports Network fans will interact with as they view live streaming of the fight on mobile phones, tablets, computers and other connected devices including smart TVs from LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Vizio. NeuLion will deliver and monitor the live event from its technical operations centers located in New York and London, it added.

The NeuLion Digital Platform provides digital video broadcasting, distribution and monetization of live and on-demand sports and entertainment content to any connected device, according to a company brochure. The end-to-end turnkey video distribution platform uses NeuLion technology to provide a flexible solution that it said “spans the entire digital video workflow and supports the latest technologies,” including AVC, HLS, HEVC, MPEG-DASH and Ultra High-Def (UHD) 4K.

Advantages that the platform provides to NeuLion clients include reduced complexities for content rights holders, as well as the ability to create an experience that engages, retains and grows customers or viewers, it said. Content rights holders using the platform can also opt to monetize content using any combination of business models to deliver multiple services within a single unified experience and unlock additional revenues, including transactional, ad-supported, electronic sellthrough, subscription VOD and authentication, it said.