Advanced Television

DAZN opens Network Operation Centre in Italy

March 29, 2023

From Branislav Pekic in Rome

DAZN Italia has opened a Network Operation Centre (NOC) in Cologno Monzese (Milan) to monitor network performance and streaming quality. Before the setting up of the Italian NOC, these tasks were carried out by DAZN’s Network Operation Centre Global, which is located in Leeds, UK.

Before a football match, the NOC controls the allocation of technical resources, while during the match it monitors traffic, network performance and handles any technical problems. After the live event, engineers analyse the recorded performance data and any improvement plans for the next event.

The rollout of the new NOC has also been coupled with an increase in servers across Italy, now totaling 60 units.

The opening of the new NOC was a request by Italy’s Communication Authority (AgCcom) and the government following service disruptions.

The sports streaming broadcaster has also upgraded the quality of streaming for those viewers who still do not have access to fibre or decent broadband.

The coverage of the HD signal has been improved, now requiring 23 per cent less bandwidth than before, which means it can be received with a 3 Mbps connection. For viewers that have even lower speeds, a lower quality SD signal can carry images even with a connection of only 400 Kbps.

DAZN Italia says it has reached 15 million unique devices in Italy, with a 30 per cent increase in mobile services and a 20 per cent growth in content enjoyed on demand.

Other features include, the rollout in Italy of a service active in Spain and called ‘Watch Party’, a virtual room where users can comment live on the event they are following, with text messages, or take part in quizzes and view polls proposed by moderators.

Future plans include the selling of tickets and merchandising as well as sports betting and gaming on the platform, in addition to the introduction of a ‘freemium’ model as an alternative to the monthly subscription.

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