Tata Communications has signed a five-year contract with global sports organization World Athletics as the latter’s technology broadcast partner across the globe.Known for hosting track and field running events, World Athletics’ partnership is expected to add over 20 international events to Tata Communications’ media business which has grown 20-25% over the last few years and enabled the company to acquire 25% market share in global sports, Dhaval Ponda, Global Head, Media and Entertainment Services at Tata Communications told ET.

“World Athletics is the third most watched sport across the world hosting events such as road running relays, track and field events, marathons, race walking, cross country etc. and reaching hundreds of millions of households across the world,” he said.

“Their Championship event alone draws a global viewing audience of one billion people across 180 countries. So the partnership is going to deliver thousands of million hours of content watched over multiple platforms such as mobile phones, TV and web.”

The company will deliver live content to broadcasters across continents ensuring low latency, quality video feeds over dedicated bandwidth on 5G networks, localized content, analytics of viewership habits and training feeds for athletes.

“And in terms of technology that we’ll deploy, Tata Communications has already invested in next generation cloud and edge capabilities that have been fine tuned for the media and entertainment industry,” Ponda added.

Majority of Tata’s media business comes from North America and European markets. In India, the company is a leading managed video services provider for all major sporting events including the Indian Premier League.In May last year, Tata Communications had acquired New York-based video production and distribution company The Switch Enterprises LLC for $58.8 million in an all-cash deal. In 2023, the company carried more than 80,000 live sporting events.

The M&E business falls under Tata Communications’ digital portfolio, which saw a 10.5% growth in the previous financial year. Its cloud services business continued to be the major contributor to revenues at almost 85%.

Tata Communications has signed a five-year contract with global sports organization World Athletics as the latter’s technology broadcast partner across the globe.Known for hosting track and field running events, World Athletics’ partnership is expected to add over 20 international events to Tata Communications’ media business which has grown 20-25% over the last few years and enabled the company to acquire 25% market share in global sports, Dhaval Ponda, Global Head, Media and Entertainment Services at Tata Communications told ET.

“World Athletics is the third most watched sport across the world hosting events such as road running relays, track and field events, marathons, race walking, cross country etc. and reaching hundreds of millions of households across the world,” he said.

“Their Championship event alone draws a global viewing audience of one billion people across 180 countries. So the partnership is going to deliver thousands of million hours of content watched over multiple platforms such as mobile phones, TV and web.”

The company will deliver live content to broadcasters across continents ensuring low latency, quality video feeds over dedicated bandwidth on 5G networks, localized content, analytics of viewership habits and training feeds for athletes.

“And in terms of technology that we’ll deploy, Tata Communications has already invested in next generation cloud and edge capabilities that have been fine tuned for the media and entertainment industry,” Ponda added.

Majority of Tata’s media business comes from North America and European markets. In India, the company is a leading managed video services provider for all major sporting events including the Indian Premier League.In May last year, Tata Communications had acquired New York-based video production and distribution company The Switch Enterprises LLC for $58.8 million in an all-cash deal. In 2023, the company carried more than 80,000 live sporting events.

The M&E business falls under Tata Communications’ digital portfolio, which saw a 10.5% growth in the previous financial year. Its cloud services business continued to be the major contributor to revenues at almost 85%.