Case study
LIVE STREAMING mush ado about streaming The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is the epitome of extreme. Otek TV’s Art Aldrich reports on its broadcast evolution, after 15 years transforming production into a global event //// WORDS BY VERITY BUTLER //// H istorically, documentation of the great American gold rush tends to centre around the mass migration of 300,000 people
production, you may be wondering? It’s because May 2022 saw the return of the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. As the centenary of Alaska becoming a US territory neared in 1964, historian Dorothy Page – working with Joe Redington – thought up the concept of a dog sledding race. This was fuelled by her fascination for the trail’s past, paired with an enthusiasm for sled dogs. The event commenced in its early stages in 1967, but 1973 saw the first official winner of Iditarod,
BACKING UP Aldrich’s team must be ready for anything – one year, a GroPro cable snapped in half from the cold! Spares are absolutely essential
to California in the mid-1800s. However, Alaska’s began in the 1890s, when gold was discovered in the Klondike, way up in Canada’s Yukon Territory. This inevitably triggered another wave of settlers, rushing north in boats to coastal towns Seward and Knik – and then via land to the gold fields. The trail that emerged from this was dubbed the Iditarod Trail, which had a route so remote, it was only fully accessible by dog sled during winter. How could this history lesson relate to sports broadcast and
“It possesses an international fan base, with a 24-hour dedicated streaming platform for paying subscribers”
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