Bringing MLB to India With Cloud-Native Live Production
Major League Baseball Network (MLBN) has long explored ways to grow its global fan base, and in late 2024, it identified India as a promising new market. With the world’s largest population and a deep-rooted passion for cricket — a sport that shares some conceptual similarities with baseball — India offered a new opportunity for engagement.
MLBN looked to bring the excitement of the MLB playoffs to Indian audiences in a way that felt localized and relevant. But the network faced a familiar set of challenges: International production is costly, logistically complex, and traditionally dependent on significant infrastructure and travel. Creating a regionally tailored broadcast — complete with local play-by-play talent and distribution — typically requires physical facilities and boots on the ground. For this experiment to make sense economically and technically, MLBN needed a radically different approach.
Why BitFire
BitFire’s all-in-one, cloud-enabled model was essential to making this possible. Unlike traditional approaches that rely on dozens of vendors, each managing a different component, the BitFire platform unifies production and transmission. With modular production tools in the cloud, as well as active monitoring and management of streams in real time, BitFire provided a robust toolset and straightforward workflows that MLBN could count on for simplicity and reliability. During the live event, 24/7 support ensured that with one phone call, the production team could solve any issue.
Solution
To reach viewers in India without the cost and complexity of traditional production, MLBN partnered with BitFire, whose virtualized production and IP transport technology offered a streamlined, cloud-native alternative. The plan was to produce the playoff broadcasts remotely, using BitFire tools and transport infrastructure to enable a new kind of workflow.
A clean feed from the playoff venue in the U.S. was transmitted via IP to MLBN’s production facility in Secaucus, New Jersey. There, a small crew of three produced the entire show using BitFire’s cloud-based systems, handling switching, audio, comms, and monitoring virtually. At the same time, two local commentators based in India received the multiviewer feed and delivered real-time play-by-play for Indian audiences. Despite the distance, the remote talent communicated fluidly with the U.S.-based production team.
Once produced, the broadcast was handed off to Star Sports India, MLBN’s local partner, for regional distribution. The result was a localized, culturally relevant playoff broadcast that was produced across continents, powered entirely by cloud tools, and delivered without the cost or logistical burden of traditional live production models.
Design & Implementation
Feedback
Conclusion
The India broadcast proved to be a major success on both technical and strategic fronts. From a production standpoint, the event demonstrated that high-quality, localized broadcasts could be created and delivered entirely through the cloud. BitFire’s virtualized workflow handled everything from signal acquisition to final output, and it did so using minimal personnel and infrastructure.
Economically, the benefits were even clearer. By avoiding international travel, on-site facilities, and large crews, MLBN dramatically reduced production costs. The entire show was produced by three people in a control room and two remote commentators — a model that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. And yet, the viewer experience was seamless and regionally resonant.
With the model proven, MLBN has since replicated it for games in Tokyo and Mexico, using the same BitFire infrastructure. In Tokyo, the approach was reversed, as teams played on-site in Japan while the production and distribution occurred in the U.S. The success of both configurations highlights the flexibility of BitFire’s platform and the repeatability of the workflow across global markets.
As sports leagues look to unlock new revenue streams through international expansion, BitFire is helping remove conventional challenges and obstacles. The company’s technology enables global reach without global travel, and it creates opportunities for localized content that builds regional loyalty and advertising potential.
For MLBN, this successful test was the beginning of a new strategy that will allow the network to engage fans in new markets without having to rethink or rebuild its production operations each time.