Syncbak Partners With Gray To Carry Iditarod On SBTV Streaming Platform

Syncbak, a platform for live local OTT, on Friday announced it will stream long-time station partner KTUU Anchorage’s coverage of the Iditarod Sled Dog race on its streaming platform, SBTV.

This marks the third consecutive year that Gray Television’s NBC affiliate KTUU has offered out-of-market audiences across the nation an exclusive opportunity to view the historic event wherever they are, on any device they choose, via Syncbak’s direct-to-consumer OTT app.

The Iditarod is an annual long-distance race between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. Mushers and their 16-dog teams travel 1,000 miles, with more than 50 teams from around the world competing this year.

This year KTUU has added two new live streams to the event coverage plus daily VOD content along the trail featuring in-field reporters. The three streams include the ceremonial start on March 7, the official start on March 8, and the race finish expected on the morning of March 17.

This year’s live streams will be powered by Syncbak’s proprietary live DAI technology adSync, which will allow advertisers to dynamically replace over-the-air ads in live and on-demand streams. The advertising revenue KTUU will gain from streaming on SBTV is expected to more than offset the costs of production.

“Gray stations are dedicated to the communities they serve,” said Mike Braun, SVP of digital media at Gray Television. “Whenever there is an opportunity to deliver programming from our local markets to OTT audiences across the nation, we’re going to do it. The Iditarod is a long-standing tradition for KTUU and we’re thrilled to carry coverage of the event live on SBTV,” added Braun.

“The Iditarod is the epitome of the kind of live event SBTV was built for — to take a hyper-local live event with worldwide interest and make it accessible to anyone, anywhere, on any device,” said Jack Perry, founder-CEO of Syncbak. “SBTV serves as a perfect complement to KTUU’s local broadcast. This level of live event coverage just isn’t possible on any other streaming solution, especially in such a cost-effective way.”

The opening ceremonies can be viewed live on March 7 at www.sbtv.com or via the SBTV app available in the App Store, on Google Play, Apple TV, Fire TV and Roku.