Work · Case study
Tennis Channel International: multi-region SVOD and FAST
A digital-first OTT operation across multiple European regions, three Samsung TV+ FAST channels, and the cloud-master-control workflows behind live tournament coverage.
Overview
Tennis Channel International (TCI) launched in May 2020 as a digital-first OTT platform in partnership with Sportradar. It carried a 24/7 linear-programmed streaming channel, an instructional channel, 18+ original series, multi-region SVOD across the UK, Greece, Monaco, DACH, and the Netherlands, and FAST distribution on Samsung TV+. I owned the operational side: how content moved from the editing side of the house to every one of those endpoints, and how the live and VOD pipelines stayed reliable through tournaments.
The problem
A platform that wanted to do everything: live linear, instructional, originals, region-specific SVOD, and FAST. Each surface had its own packaging requirements, its own metadata expectations, its own delivery deadlines, and its own audience. The risk wasn't any one of those pieces individually. The risk was that without a clear operational model, the pieces would fight each other every time a tournament hit.
We needed one operational backbone that could feed all of it without the team running on hero mode every weekend.
Context
The audience was different in every market. Tennis fans in DACH had different appetite than fans in the UK. Acquired content, original series, and live tournaments all had different rights windows and packaging requirements. The team was small and spanned multiple time zones. Live events ran on weekends. Subscribers expected the SVOD apps to behave like the giants they were used to.
My role
I led OTT International operations:
- Built and maintained the project management systems, content workflows, and metadata standards across regions
- Coordinated the live event operations for tournaments, including the cloud-master-control workflow and remote contribution endpoints
- Owned vendor relationships with the platform side (the CMS partner that powered the OTT backend), the playout side (the cloud-playout partner that fed the FAST channels), captioning, subscription management, and contribution
- Ran quality control across SVOD apps and FAST feeds on every supported device
- Worked with the technical teams on roadmap, future features, and live event readiness
- Translated analytics and customer feedback into improvements the development team could act on
What the operation looked like
Content in
Editors produced VOD assets and packaged them via secure file transfer. Live contribution came in from tournament venues via Aspera and similar contribution paths.
Master CMS
A single OTT CMS (run by a platform partner) was the source of truth for VOD assets, metadata, and scheduling for the SVOD products.
Live production
Live events used a cloud master-control product to mix and switch feeds. During COVID this enabled remote-cameras-only productions that kept the lights on when on-site crews couldn't travel.
FAST playout
A cloud-playout partner ran the 24/7 channels feeding Samsung TV+ across regions.
Captioning and subs
A captioning partner handled compliance across markets. A subscription management partner handled billing, entitlements, and churn flows.
Delivery surfaces
Multi-region SVOD apps across iOS, Android, web, and CTV; FAST channels on Samsung TV+ in the relevant regions.
Product decisions and trade-offs
- One CMS as the source of truth. The earlier alternative would have been region-specific CMSes that drifted apart. A single master with regional scheduling layered on top kept the operation sane.
- Cloud master-control over on-prem live production. Higher per-event cost than a traditional truck, but it made the multi-region multi-court tournaments feasible with a small team, and it was what unlocked remote production during COVID.
- Samsung TV+ as the FAST landing spot. A focused partnership instead of distributing across every FAST aggregator made the integration depth pay off. Samsung TV+ became one of the first homes for premium live tennis on FAST in DACH.
- Operational documentation as a product deliverable. The diagrams, playbooks, and metadata standards I built were what let the team grow and weather staff changes without rebuilding the operation from scratch each time.
Outcomes
Public numbers shared at the time of the pitch:
- 40 percent subscriber growth in certain markets
- 50 percent increase in viewing time on originals
- 200 percent viewership lift and a 15 minute session-time increase around Tennis Bundesliga
- 20K daily viewers on the FAST channels in DACH
- 80 percent viewership lift on the Dear Fans premiere month
- 35 percent additional subscriber growth around the German Indoor Championships
Beyond the numbers: a platform that could carry live, VOD, originals, and FAST simultaneously, in multiple regions, without burning out the team operating it.
What I learned
Cloud is what makes small teams compete with big ones. The same operation done on traditional infrastructure would have needed two or three times the staff. The technology choices weren't ego choices, they were headcount choices.
Multi-region is not a copy-paste. Subscription handling, captioning rules, rights windows, and audience taste all differ by market. The operation has to handle that complexity without forcing every market to look the same.
Operations is product. The diagrams I drew, the metadata standards I wrote, and the vendor relationships I owned weren't separate from the product. They were the product, from the perspective of the team building on top of them.