NeuLion has won a multi-year deal to provide HD-quality live sports streaming to the Xbox One, the next-gen Microsoft console that has shipped about 3 million units worldwide since its debut on Nov. 22.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but Microsoft has licensed the NeuLion Sports Platform, along with other services from NeuLion to develop, host and operate the delivery of certain live sports content "to be determined by Microsoft on the Xbox One." That partnership will include 24/7 linear channels integrated with real-time sports stats and access to related on-demand content.
In the early phase of the collaboration, 24/7 streaming of the NFL Network is being offered to authenticated cable customers who also have an Xbox Live Gold subscription, according to Microsoft.
On the technical end, NeuLion said its platform will ship HD video to the Xbox One at up to 6 Mbps at 60 frames per second, a rate considered friendly to fast action live sports. NeuLion is delivering video to the Xbox One using seven different bit rates, which can be adjusted up or down based on the amount of bandwidth that's available.
