Digital tracking service Teletrax has signed a deal with Major League Baseball to watermark its content and evaluate content usage of the sports league’s postseason games.
In addition, Teletrax has partnered with former CBS Sports President Neal H. Pilson of Pilson Communications and Dave Berman of DPB Communications to develop TV sports rights and content-management opportunities throughout the worldwide broadcast intelligence community.
“Major League Baseball is proud to be pioneering the use of digital watermarking and broadcast tracking technology in the American sports industry with Teletrax,” said Elizabeth Scott, vice president of programming and business affairs for Major League Baseball Properties. “Its broadcast verification services will allow us to thoroughly ascertain the reach of our game content—and, in turn, better protect the valuable live game assets we license our broadcast partners, increase footage licensing revenue and provide valuable information to our sponsors about the impact of their brands beyond the live game broadcasts.”
The league’s deal with Teletrax will assess the broadcast use of its game content by watermarking footage and by tracking where and when that footage is used on satellite, cable and terrestrial television outlets.
Under the company’s partnership with Pilson Communications and DPB Communications, the group will serve as an international watchdog over the use of licensed sports content globally.
“There is a rapidly growing need for greater transparency and accountability in the world of television sports coverage,” Pilson said. “Billions of dollars, euros, pounds and yen are involved in the payment for broadcasting rights and the sale of advertising and sponsorship. With so much value at stake, an electronic watchdog such as Teletrax is not a luxury, but a critical tool.”
Teletrax operates a proprietary network of detectors that monitors the television broadcasts of nearly 1,500 channels from more than 50 countries, including all 210 markets in the United States. Internationally, the network covers TV stations across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, South and Central America and Canada.
“Neal and Dave bring unique skills, extraordinary contacts, industry knowledge and business savvy that will help expand Teletrax—already an established presence in the television news, entertainment and advertising sectors—into the very dynamic sports arena,” said Laurence Moskowitz, chairman of Teletrax and chief executive of Medialink. “Sports leagues, teams and associations face an increasingly difficult task in tracking and protecting their valuable content. Neal and Dave will help us bring the power of digital watermarking technology and the global reach of Teletrax into this vibrant marketplace.”
(Editor: Horowitz)