Akamai Technologies, Inc., the cloud company that powers and protects life online, and NESN, broadcast home of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins, announced that they are partnering to use Akamai’s media delivery solutions to live stream all 2022-23 Bruins home games and future Red Sox home games in 4K/HDR through the NESN 360 app. NESN is the first regional sports network (RSN) in the United States to live stream Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Hockey League (NHL) games in 4K/HDR natively via a streaming app.
The partnership between NESN and Akamai – two New England-based companies – allows Bruins and Red Sox fans to watch games at greater levels of video quality across more connected devices. This comes by way of significant investments that NESN has made to produce games at Boston’s TD Garden and Fenway Park in 4K/HDR, and Akamai streaming capabilities that offer the necessary scale and reach to deliver the higher-bandwidth video to viewers watching over the internet.
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Starting with the Bruins home opener this Saturday, October 15th, NESN 360 users can watch home games in 4K/HDR via direct subscription or by authenticating with their TV provider on an iPhone, Android, Apple TV, Fire TV and Google TV. 2023 Red Sox home games will be available in 4K/HDR on the NESN 360 app beginning in April.
“We are so excited to bring 4K/HDR into New England homes on NESN 360. This technology provides a rich, immersive experience for NESN 360 subscribers and those with access through their TV provider,” said Ahmed Darwish, NESN’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Fan reaction when we piloted 4K/HDR during the Red Sox season was spectacular, and we look forward to wow’ing Boston sports fans this Bruins season.”
“Akamai has been a crucial partner in providing the streaming infrastructure that we need to deliver 4K/HDR. The NESN team broke new ground, testing around the clock, to produce and package live home games in native 4K/HDR. Akamai media delivery solutions helped get it all into viewers homes as fast as possible,” said NESN’s VP of Technology, Kenny Elcock.
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Adding 4K/HDR live streaming to the NESN 360 app is the latest in a long string of innovative “firsts” for NESN. With its introduction of NESN 360 earlier this year, the network was the first RSN to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming service. During the 2022 baseball season, NESN became the first RSN to broadcast MLB games in native 4K/HDR when it announced availability of all Red Sox home games in the high-quality format on DIRECTV, Verizon Fios and fuboTV. Bruins home games on NESN will also be broadcast on 4K/HDR for DIRECTV, Verizon Fios, and fuboTV customers. In 2015, the network was the first RSN to fully automate studio production and the first to deliver all professional MLB and NHL games in HD.
“NESN is proving that the technology to live stream 4K/HDR at scale and consumer demand for the content have both finally arrived,” said Will Law, chief architect, Edge Technology Group, Akamai. “Akamai is proud to partner with NESN in this cutting-edge streaming service and excited to help bring it to our hometown base of avid Boston sports fans.”
NESN is using Akamai Adaptive Media Delivery (AMD) to power 4K/HDR live streaming for the NESN 360 app. AMD has been proven by broadcasters globally in delivering the world’s largest sporting events. Built on the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform, a network spanning more than 4,100 locations across 135 countries, AMD is optimized for adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming to provide consistent, high-quality viewing across varying network types and connection speeds.
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