Poland’s premier football league Ekstraklasa has scored a first for Central and Eastern Europe by launching its own OTT platform.
By doing so, it has followed in the steps of a select few on the continent including UEFA, which launched one only a matter of weeks ago, and Spain’s La Liga, which gave a debut to LaLigaSportTV earlier this year.
Ekstraklasa’s plans were first reported last month and the platform’s official launch announced this week. Known as Ekstraklasa.TV, its platform is produced by Ekstraklasa Live Park, which provides all the video content and cooperates with OZ Sports, the developer.
OZ Sports is a tech company that specialises in football projects, sports production and global broadcasting. Listing CONCACAF (The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) among its clients, it has also helped to create online video platforms for the BBC (iPlayer) and Sky (Sky by Wire).
Ekstraklasa already claims to among the most technologically advanced football leagues in Europe, having been one of the first to buy its own production vehicles (OB, Van HD and 4K) and introduce the 4K Ultra HD HDR transmission standard. It uses the TRACAB tracking system and fitness statistics and organised FIFA’s Ekstraklasa Games in Poland.
However, Ekstraklasa.TV takes things to a higher level and will undoubtedly raise the profile of Polish football on the global stage. This will especially be the case once the service, currently offered in Polish, also becomes available in English and introduces additional functionalities.
Now available at www.ekstraklasa.tv and via a test mobile app (initially on iOS and then Android), it will also become accessible on smart TV and Apple TV in the next few months.
