The COVID-19 pandemic hindered much of Canada’s live events and sports productions, leaving broadcasters and production houses looking for new ways to connect their audiences to content happening in the country and around the globe. LiveU delivered a complete live video solution – part of a REMI (remote production) workflow – that allowed crews to capture content anywhere in the world and share it with audiences in Canada without a huge crew or investment. This production revolution helped the company gain market share in Canada with many customer wins, high-profile production deployments, and new strategic reseller partners.
“At the beginning of the pandemic many productions were completely shut down, which crippled the industry in Canada. We provided a REMI workflow solution that gave content creators a way to produce high-quality, reliable live programming, while adhering to COVID social distancing restrictions. Our technology helped customers like CBC cover the Summer and Winter Games with a lean crew on site. The heavy lifting was conducted at CBC control centers in Montreal and Toronto,” noted Mike Savello, LiveU VP of Sales, Americas.
LiveU’s customer lineup features some of the biggest names in Canada such as Groupe TVA, MAtv, Woodbine Entertainment, TV2GO, CHL TV, and Jetwerx International. Coverage of live events from the Queen’s Plate horse racing event, the 2022 Memorial Cup Canadian Hockey League Championship, and the Papal visit to Canada to the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon brought in new audiences and the potential for sponsorships and advertising thanks to the flexibility and efficiency introduced by the live production element. The company expects even more growth in Canada as corporate, government, and educational institutions leverage the technology to adopt live production into their internal/external communications.
“The LiveU brand has been widely adopted in Canada with customers who need more efficient ways to gather content – whether it be from remote locations such as motocross racetracks in Northern Ontario or around the grounds of horse racing tracks,” said LiveU Canadian Country Manager, Mark Moore. “LiveU provides Canadian customers with the tools to keep producing unique content from anywhere.”
In 2021, LiveU added new strategic reseller partner, Matrix Video Communications Corp., with offices across Canada and expertise in both broadcast and enterprise/AV markets. LiveU also added a warehouse in the Toronto area to streamline logistics and provide a more efficient way to deliver products to its customers.
“As customers in Canada embrace REMI production and LiveU continues to enhance its product offering, LiveU Remote Production solutions give our customers peace of mind that they can reliably produce game coverage, press conferences, and player/coach interviews no matter where they are,” added Moore.