Tata Scores TV5MONDE CDN Deal

Tata Communications (news, filings) announced today that they have been selected by TV5MONDE to stream live events via the internet.  TV5 is a global French-speaking broadcast network, that reaches 180M households from some 200 countries and has programming that originates on three continents.  The global nature of its viewership is undoubtedly the driving force behind this deal, as most content delivery networks remain heavily focused on the US.  Tata’s network, which is comprised of the former Teleglobe and Tyco Global Network assets, and the CDN services they have been building on top are more geared toward wider international distribution.  No doubt the assets in and around Quebec helped some.  

Tata of course entered the CDN business by investing in and partnering with BitGravity last fall, and the BitGravity platform is what is powering their offering.  Does this deal serve notice that Tata’s CDN is emerging as a force to be reckoned with?  It’s certainly a nice contract win, but it is a bit early yet to make that leap. TV5 and Tata have had a long relationship, one which makes such a deal much easier for Tata’s young CDN offerings get a foot in the door.  The question is, just how much is TV5 going to be streaming over the internet?  Of those 200+ countries, how many have are likely to have an appreciable number of streaming customers?

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Categories: Content Distribution · Internet Backbones