2080 Media scores $3M and ownership of PlayON for streaming campus sports
The game is on at fledgling startup 2080 Media. Within a week, it landed $3M in a first round of funding and bought PlayON Sports from Turner Sports International Enterprises. With this kick-off purchase, the Atlanta-based company expects to launch a niche online network streaming live high school and college sports.
Specifically, it will sell both the hardware and software needed for its clients (the schools themselves in most cases) to deliver high-resolution webcasts of typically untelevised sporting events, and also to archive content for video on-demand services. This also benefits the schools, which will have the opportunity to monetize their footage with online and video advertising, the company says.
Before the acquisition, PlayON was known for distributing live coverage of college and other sports over the web, counting the Atlanta Coast Conference, the Atlantic Sun Conference and the U.S. Soccer League among its clients. The digital media firm has been on the auction block for a while now, with Turner announcing that it would be shut down back in June after failing to bring in enough revenue.
While there has been more focus recently on live streaming sports in general, what with the launch of similar services through Swarmcast for Sports, Digital Fountain and Move Networks, but 2080 has a chance to be unique for a while in its strategy to carry regularly unaired campus sports.
The recent funding round came from Imlay Investments, Buckhead Investment Partners and Noro-Moseley Partners.
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