World Surf League Turns to LTN for Live-Event Versioning

Lakey Peterson of the United States surfs in Heat 4 of the Opening Round at the Lexus Pipe Pro on January 29, 2025, at Oahu, Hawaii.
Surfer Lakey Peterson competes in a World Surf League event in Oahu, Hawaii. (Image credit: Tony Heff/World Surf League via Getty Images)

COLUMBIA, Md.—The World Surf League (WSL) is expanding its relationship with LTN to include content versioning for worldwide distribution this year, bringing a wider range of tailored live events to international audiences.

The expanded relationship builds on the WSL’s use of LTN services, including remote production, monetization and distribution technologies. LTN enables the surfing group to deliver year-round coverage from coastal locations in multiple languages and across global broadcast, digital and free, ad-supported TV (FAST) platforms, the video vendor said.

The multiyear deal with LTN will enable the WSL to deliver more than 1,000 hours of live content per year to millions of global viewers across the surfing circuit’s digital platforms, social media and broadcast and streaming partners, including expanded coverage on ESPN+ in the U.S. and Disney+ in Latin America and the Caribbean, it said.

“We want to bring as many live surfing events as possible to our fast-growing global fan community—on every continent and any platform,” Rob Hammer, WSL senior vice president of broadcast and studio operations, said. “LTN enables us to reliably deliver live feeds at low latency from remote venues and customize content at scale for downstream partners, all within one connected IP video distribution ecosystem. Our partnership gives us the flexibility to produce more high-quality live events and engage new audiences worldwide.”

The WSL relies on a full suite of LTN intelligent IP video-distribution technologies, including live video acquisition, routing, ad signaling, master control and playout, to enable reliable connectivity in challenging coastal locations while delivering live events across all platforms.

To engage global audiences with language-tailored live experiences at scale, WSL uses LTN’s live event versioning solution, LTN Arc, to seamlessly create multiple versions of live-event feeds for domestic and international distribution, including remote local-language commentary in Spanish and Portuguese, tailored graphics, closed captioning, subtitling and custom ad-trigger insertion for localized advertising, it said.

The WSL 2025 Championship Tour began Jan. 27 at surfing’s spiritual home of Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii. The tournament schedule includes 11 regular-season events, including the debut of Surf Abu Dhabi and the return of iconic venues Snapper Rocks, Australia; Lower Trestles in San Diego; and Jeffreys Bay, South Africa. For the first time, Fiji's legendary Cloudbreak will host the WSL Finals to determine the 2025 world champions in late August and early September, the WSL said.

Alongside immersive live coverage of the Championship Tour, LTN enables the WSL to offer global audiences a diverse range of live surfing events across its full-season calendar, including the Longboard Tour, Big Wave surfing in Nazaré, Portugal, and Championship Tour qualification via the Challenger Series and Qualifying Series.

More information is available on LTN’s website.

CATEGORIES
Phil Kurz

Phil Kurz is a contributing editor to TV Tech. He has written about TV and video technology for more than 30 years and served as editor of three leading industry magazines. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.

Read more
Pro Volleyball Federation
Pro Volleyball Federation Leverages LTN To Grow Broadcast, Streaming Audiences
NAB
LTN to Highlight Features of its Video-First network at 2025 NAB Show
DAZN studio
DAZN Delivers Live Soccer to Bettors With LTN’s Channel Creation, Playout
TV Tech Summit with moderator George Winslow (top left), Jason Wormser, senior vice president CW Sports (top right) Scott Warren, president and general manager, CBS Bay Area (KPIX/KPIX+) (bottom right) Tim Hinson, vice president, technology ABC13 KTRK, ABC Owned Television Stations (bottom left).
TV Tech Summit: Networks, Stations Explore the Future of News and Sports Production
Future
Summit: Scripps Sports Carves Out its Unique Niche in Sports TV
An interior view of last year’s Super Bowl betting odds video board and prop bets at the Westgate Superbook sports book in Las Vegas.
Real-Time Streaming Gains Foothold In Sports Production, Online Betting
Latest in Sports
ESPN data on viewing of women's basketball, second highest
ESPN Platforms Scores Strong Ratings for NCAA Women’s Tournament
Root Sports app
Root Sports Launches New Seattle Mariners Streaming App
NCAA
ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge Sets New Record with 24.4 Million Brackets
NEP's Supershooter 64 is the newest addition of NEP units designed for remote productions.
NEP Expands Fleet of New Mobile Units Designed for Remote Productions
Young people watching sports
Sponsored: NBC Airs NextGen TV Coverage of Olympics for First Time in Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos
Gray Media headquarters signage
Gray Inks Deal to Air at Least 10 Cincinnati Reds Games
Latest in News
Pixabay
DirecTV Joins IBCAP Anti-Piracy Group
LG
NBCU to Launch 40 FAST Channels on LG Channels
WNET Group logo
The WNET Group Names Dana Roberson GM, Thirteen and Production Operations
VENICE Extension System Mini (CBK-3621XS), the latest addition to its CineAlta lineup.
Sony To Feature New VENICE Extension System Mini At 2025 NAB Show
ESPN data on viewing of women's basketball, second highest
ESPN Platforms Scores Strong Ratings for NCAA Women’s Tournament
Appear
NAB Show: Appear to Introduce VX Media Gateway