Shorts: Bt Sport, Hibernian Fc, DAZN
UK Pay-television sports channel BT Sport has selected UK-based global media service provider Red Bee Media’s automated subtitling service, Automatic Real-time Captioning (ARC), to increase the amount of subtitled sports content that it provides.
BT Sport’s use of ARC is the first time a major UK broadcaster has deployed the automated service. From early September 2022, ARC will support a wide range of live sports coverage alongside Red Bee Media’s existing human subtitling service, increasing BT’s subtitled offering by around 200 extra hours per month.
Tom Wootton, Head of Product for Red Bee Access, said, “Providing equal access to content for all viewers is vital for successful and progressive brands. BT Sport has been at the forefront of providing accessible content for several years with Red Bee Media, so we’re delighted to strengthen that partnership with the broadcaster once again as it expands its offering.
“At Red Bee Media, we pride ourselves on our innovation and global team of experts, who bring unrivalled resilience, reliability and industry-leading quality.”
Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) football club Hibernian FC has agreed a deal with UK-based hire company Andrews Sykes, meaning it will become a principal partner of the club for the next two seasons.
This announcement covers the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns and follows on from last season – where Andrews Sykes worked with Hibs as an official partner.
As part of Andrews Sykes’ association with Hibernian FC, the company intends to provide a number of apprenticeships and employment opportunities to people in Edinburgh, with more details on these schemes due to be released in the near future.
Commercial Manager at Hibernian FC, Murray Milligen, commented, “We are delighted to have renewed our partnership with one of Scotland’s leading and most established specialist hire company, Andrews Sykes.”
“It is great that they have shown their commitment to the club by upscaling the partnership to become a principal partner and their apprenticeship offering will provide a real tangible opportunity for the Hibernian community, giving everyone from supporters to ex-players the opportunity to upskill and try something new.”
UK-headquartered global sports streaming platform DAZN has secured the exclusive rights of La Liga Profesional de Fútbol Femenino (LPFF) to broadcast the Primera División Femenina to both domestic fans and global audiences from 2022/23 to 2026/27.
In Spain, DAZN will live stream every single championship match in Spanish women’s football top division, with seven out of the eight matches per matchday on an exclusive basis. This will total 240 matches per season over the next five seasons.
Shay Segev, CEO, DAZN Group, said, “We couldn’t be prouder to build on our commitment to increase the visibility of women’s football by becoming the new global broadcaster for LPFF. We want to make the players, coaches and clubs household names and an inspiration for the next generation of footballers and fans around the world.”
Celina McElevey has been appointed as Sports & Purpose Communications Manager for both the SailGP Great British Team and INEOS Britannia the Challenger of Record for the 37th America’s Cup in a new role with the INEOS Britannia team.
McElevey joins from American public relations company Hill+Knowlton Strategies, where she spent 18 months as a Senior Account Director – Sports Marketing and Partnerships, also working closely with SailGP.
