Global Crossing Genesis Solutions Delivers Australian Open to Worldwide Audience

Global Crossing Genesis Solutions provided extensive on-site transmission services for several major rights holders at the 2011 Australian Open in January, including the Tennis Channel (U.S.A.), Fox Sports Australia, and Russia’s NTV-PLUS.

Global Crossing Genesis Solutions provided the Tennis Channel an array of services, including SD and HD video transmission paths, HD frame rate conversion, multiple Ethernet data circuits, and a combination of MPEG2 and MPEG4 compression technologies.  All services were network protected, diversely routed end-to-end and monitored and managed by Global Crossing Genesis Solutions’ on-site technical support, as well as by Genesis Solutions Network Operation Center and network engineering teams.

“Global Crossing’s stable, consistent service during the Australian Open enabled our production team to bring Tennis Channel viewers the second-to-none tournament coverage they expect,” says Larry Meyers, SVP production, and executive producer, Tennis Channel.  “Whether it’s one of tennis’ Grand Slam competitions, the World Series, Olympics or any of the other championship events in sports, there are always seemingly endless moving pieces to deal with when you’re talking about live television.  Knowing that the Global Crossing infrastructure was behind the Genesis system gave us even more confidence to focus our attention where it belonged — on bringing the sights and sounds of Melbourne to millions of American televisions on the other side of the planet.”

Fox Sports Australia distributed the 2011 Open throughout its host nation via Global Crossing Genesis Solutions’ on-site transmission services. Global Crossing supplied SD and HD video transmission paths and a combination of MPEG2 and MPEG4 compression technologies.

“We’re extremely gratified when marquee clients like FOX SPORTS Australia allow us to deliver their high-quality HD coverage of all major national and international sports events and news,” says Elio Parente, VP of operations for Global Crossing Genesis Solutions.  “Global Crossing Genesis Solutions offers an unrivaled package of services for world-class events and serves top-tier broadcasters with unparalleled global network support and special events expertise.”

NTV-PLUS supplied Australian Open coverage to European Russia, Siberia, and Ukraine. For the third year in a row, NTV-PLUS relied on Global Crossing Genesis Solutions for transmission services at the event. Global Crossing Genesis Solutions provided SD and HD video transmission paths, a data path to support communication services, and a combination of MPEG2 and MPEG4 compression technologies.

“We understand the need of world-class programmers like NTV-PLUS to have the highest quality HD coverage possible for high-demand, popular sporting events like this,” says Mike Antonovich, managing director of Global Crossing Genesis Solutions.  “We’re privileged to serve the top-tier broadcasters who rely on Genesis Solutions’ global network and special events expertise.”

Global Crossing Genesis Solutions’ support for clients broadcasting the Australian Open kicks off its annual support of all four major tennis grand slam championships in Australia, France, the UK and the United States.