BitFire Networks is honored to be awarded a bronze in the category ‘Best Lockdown Solution’ at the 2021 OTT Awards from SportPro.

The awards celebrate the pioneers of OTT and streaming in the sports industry. It was given for our work during the pandemic in the first-ever remote, virtual National Hockey League (NHL) Draft in 2020, as well as the draft in 2021, in deploying 75 simultaneous remotes and more than 100 total IP broadcast transport feeds each year.

As the Covid-19 lockdown led to the cancellation of many events, the NHL was adamant in conducting a draft, refusing to let the pandemic stop one of their premier events. Major League Baseball Network (MLBN), the NHL and BitFire Networks combined forces to implement a remote and distributed production solution to ensure both the 2020 and 2021 NHL Drafts were conducted flawlessly.

Given the scale and scope of the event, prospects, teams and league officials needed a turn-key solution to physically conduct the draft, as well as provide live and digital content distribution to the league’s broadcast partners. The ability to engineer, deploy, implement and deliver a solution for an international event of this magnitude demonstrated the unique technical differences inherent to BitFire’s platform.  

“To receive this award in just our first year of business shines a bright, global spotlight on the depth of BitFire’s talent, technologies and solution-focused capabilities,” said Bob Sullivan, CEO of BitFire. “Our company was created by broadcasting experts who are professional and poised and aren’t afraid to take on challenges and create customized solutions for our clients.

We are so grateful to our partners for trusting us to deliver.”  BitFire is honored to be among such an elite group of nominees and award winners as the Olympics, NBA, NFL and Discovery+, in honoring the most exceptional and creative uses of technology today.