The UK’s newest broadcast venture, BT Sport, has tapped Accenture (News - Alert) for an end-to-end video solution spanning live streaming, VOD, mobile app development and cloud services.

The multiplatform, broadband-based TV channel was launched on August 1, ahead of the start of the Barclays Premier League football season. It will build on BT’s (News - Alert) acquisition of live broadcast rights to 38 Barclays Premier League football games for three seasons, along with Aviva Premiership Rugby, Women’s Tennis Association matches and MotoGP beginning in 2014. BT Sport is available on a wide range of devices – from set-top boxes to smartphones – and is free to BT’s seven million broadband customers as well as Virgin Media (News - Alert) XL customers. Online viewers have access to additional content, including interactive programming, highlights and real-time statistics.

“What we’re seeing today – and BT Sport is a great example – is innovation not only in digital content and platforms but also in business models that align with consumers’ expectations for multi-screen entertainment,” said Sef Tuma, managing director of Accenture’s media and  entertainment industry group. “Through our software and services, we are able to help our client support these now critical objectives by rapidly delivering and operating complementary solutions at scale – such as the BT Sport app, which passed one million downloads two months after its launch.”

Accenture specifically provided an end-to-end digital solution based on its Accenture Video Solution (AVS (News - Alert)), which delivers video to BT Sport’s subscribers across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets and computers. The service also leverages AVS specialized managed services to provide multiplatform live digital broadcasts 24/7 at scale, in addition to encoding and publishing of live streams.

“Given the complexities of launching a channel across a number of platforms, it was good to have a partner like Accenture,” said Greg McCall, COO for television and content at BT. “Accenture brought delivery experts as well as the latest technology in digital video, live events, cloud and mobility. So not only did we have access to the innovation we needed to craft the solution, but Accenture provided the predictability required to deliver against such an important and inflexible launch date. Their ‘one team’ ethos was a major factor in our success.”