Twitch takes over streaming duties for PAX, New York Comic Con
The folks in charge of running America's largest biannual gaming event are teaming up with gaming's most popular streaming solution to offer streams of PAX Prime, PAX East, and New York Comic Con going forward. The company behind all three conventions, ReedPOP, are working in conjunction with Twitch.tv to offer live broadcasts from the aforementioned three shows, as well as Chicago's Comic & Entertainment Expo. ReedPOP also runs PAX Australia, though it looks like Twitch isn't handling that streaming as well.
Twitch's biggest competitor in the streaming space, Ustream, secured a deal with Sony to handle streaming from the company's forthcoming PlayStation 4 game console. Microsoft's Xbox One can also handle streaming -- Xbox One distinguished engineer Nick Baker told Engadget, "We architected in several components to allow that. We have a video hardware encoder, h.264, and the ability to essentially screen scrape. Take your output without having to render two separate images. Take your output, feed that back to memory, compress it, save it, stream it to a companion device. The hardware has the capability." Microsoft has yet to announce a plan for how its streaming will work on Xbox One, but we imagine we'll know much more as of next week.
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Twitch Announces Exclusive Broadcasting Partnership with ReedPOP
PAX Prime, PAX East, New York Comic Con and C2E2 among initial pop culture conventions streaming live content exclusively on Twitch
SAN FRANCISCO- June 5, 2013 - Twitch, the world's leading video platform and community for gamers, today announced it has teamed up with ReedPOP, the largest producer of pop culture events in the world, as their exclusive streaming partner. Twitch will be the live broadcasting home for some of their largest pop culture conventions, including PAX Prime, PAX East, New York Comic Con and the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2).
"Given the growing popularity of pop culture conventions, many of them are selling out, leaving a lot of fans out in the dark and having to trawl the internet for bits and pieces of news that relate to these events," said Emmett Shear, Twitch CEO. "With our new partnership with ReedPOP, the ability to enjoy compelling convention content from the comfort of home is now a reality."
Twitch and ReedPOP have a long standing relationship which have involved partnerships surrounding their biggest pop culture events, such as PAX, C2E2 and New York Comic Con. This new partnership bundles all of these events and more on the horizon into a cohesive package for greater synergy between brands and offerings.
"We are all about reaching as many fans as possible and anything we can do to connect our fans with the incredible talent that comes to our shows is awesome," notes Lance Fensterman, Global Vice President, ReedPOP. "This partnership with Twitch ensures that everyone interested in our shows will have a consistent destination for some of the best pop culture content in the world whenever they want!"
The partnership with ReedPOP is a significant milestone for Twitch as the company approaches its two-year anniversary. With a growing number of broadcasting partners and visitors-which have both more than quadrupled since its launch in June 2011-having secured a large scale exclusive with an industry leader like ReedPOP is indicative of Twitch's preeminent role in the live streaming movement.
For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jason Scorrano at jscorrano@ReedPOP.com.
About Twitch
Twitch is the world's leading video platform and community for gamers. More than 35 million gamers gather every month on Twitch to broadcast, watch and chat about gaming. Twitch's video platform is the backbone of both live and on-demand distribution for leading video game broadcasters including casual gamers, pro players, tournaments, leagues, developers and gaming media organizations. Twitch is leading a revolution in the gaming community, working to create a participatory experience that transcends gameplay. Learn more at http://twitch.tv.
About ReedPOP: ReedPOP is a boutique group within Reed Exhibitions which is exclusively devoted to organizing events, launching and acquiring new shows, and partnering with premium brands in the pop culture arena. ReedPOP is dedicated to producing celebrations of popular culture throughout the world that transcend ordinary events by providing unique access and dynamic personal experiences for consumers and fans. The ReedPOP portfolio includes: New York Comic Con (NYCC), Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) Prime & East, Star Wars Celebration, and the UFC Fan Expo. In 2013 ReedPOP has added Star Wars Celebration Europe and PAX Australia to its rapidly expanding portfolio of international events. The staff at ReedPOP is a fan based group of professionals producing shows for other fans, thus making them uniquely qualified to service those with whom they share a common passion. ReedPOP is focused on bringing its expertise and knowledge to world communities in North America, South America, Asia and Europe.
