News

ATLANTA — Octoshape and B2 Broadcasting today announced they have been chosen by Tennis Channel as the exclusive provider of video streaming services for the prestigious multi-venue and multi-week 110th French Open.

The live and on demand stream coverage includes unique Octoshape features such as instant-on, DVR functionality and picture-in-picture viewing options. The player experience also includes bonus features developed by B2 Broadcasting, such as live chat and event stats.

“It’s important to Tennis Channel that our viewers are able to enjoy the French Open online with the highest quality video services available,” said Robyn Miller, senior vice president, Tennis Channel. “We partnered with B2 Broadcasting and Octoshape to achieve this, and are very pleased with the result.”

Tennis Channel has more hours of live French Open coverage than any U.S. television network, approximately 75 overall. The network is available in more than 55 million homes during the tournament, the most prestigious annual clay-court event in tennis. However, for those who do not currently receive Tennis Channel, Tennischannel.com provides a live online stream that allows you to watch all the normal coverage for free.

“We are delighted that Tennis Channel has chosen us to live stream the landmark sporting event — further proof that event webcasters are drawn to the proposition of providing viewers a higher quality viewing experience that’s more affordable than previously possible,” said Scott Brown, U.S. General Manager and Vice President for Strategic Relations for Octoshape.

“The French Open is a fantastic event for B2 to leverage our Octoshape partnership and our core broadcasting competencies in providing a robust broadband player for Tennis Channel,” said Paul Dingwitz, CTO B2 Broadcasting.

The tournament consists of both men and women’s singles and doubles, and draws a mixed doubles event. There are also singles and doubles events for both boys and girls (players under 18) which are part of the Grade A category of tournaments.

About Octoshape

Streaming media innovator Octoshape provides the enabling technology required for content owners to deliver online video over best-effort public networks to the largest audiences and with the highest-quality viewing experience. The company is writing the next chapter of content delivery for IP TV services over the Internet. The Octoshape approach is more scalable, flexible and affordable than traditional CDN schemes, while providing feature-rich, high-quality viewing to the largest of audiences. For more information visit octoshape.com.

About B2 Broadcasting

B2 Broadcasting is a global broadcasting solutions innovator. Specializing in professional broadband and television broadcast solutions, B2 provides custom broadband players, encoding solutions, conditional access options and a revolutionary SD/HD television delivery platform. Based in Dallas, Texas, B2 Broadcasting is a unit of One Media Corp. With offices and technology located in New York, Houston, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Singapore and London, One Media Corp also owns One World Sports, America One and One Sports Plus.

About Tennis Channel

Tennis Channel (tennischannel.com) is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. A hybrid of comprehensive sports, health, fitness, pop culture, entertainment, lifestyle and travel programming, the network is home to every aspect of the wide-ranging, worldwide tennis community. It also has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television, with telecast rights to the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, Olympus US Open Series, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, top-tier WTA competitions, Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and Hyundai Hopman Cup. Tennis Channel is carried by nine of the top 10 MSOs, Verizon FiOS TV, AT&T U-verse, DIRECTV, and DISH Network.