Alibaba and Olympic Broadcasting Services Partner To Put Paris Olympics on Cloud

Olympic Broadcasting Services and Alibaba have partnered to launch OBS Live Cloud 3.0, making it the main method of remote distribution for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The new platform has replaced a satellite system that had been operational since 1964 and now manages two-thirds of remote services across 54 broadcasters.

It includes two UHD broadcasters, 379 video feeds (11 UHD and 368 HD), and 100 audio feeds, all transmitted through a live cloud.

This marks “the first time in the history of the Olympic Games” that a cloud platform is the main method of content distribution, taking over from satellite, which was launched during the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964," Alibaba said in a statement. 

Yiannis Exarchos, OBS CEO, said, “With approximately half of the world’s population watching the Games, technologies like Alibaba Cloud help us tell the stories of the best athletes in the world but also bring the world together in ways that are more exciting and inspirational. Broadcasting the Games is fundamental in trying to do that, and having partners like Alibaba that help us bring this dream to life is very valuable for us.”

Selina Yuan, President of International Business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said, “We are very excited to see the evolution of Olympic broadcasting from Tokyo 2020 to Paris 2024, enabled by Alibaba Cloud’s extensive global infrastructure and proven AI technologies. The partnership between Alibaba Cloud and OBS amplifies our commitment to help transform the viewer experience at the Olympic Games, turning technology innovations into practical applications for tangible results. We are honored to support Paris 2024 as the most digitally compelling Olympics ever.”