When millions hit play at the same time, things break.

The London Media & Entertainment Mixer – On The Mic focused on the reality of running media platforms at scale - live sport, peak traffic, new codecs, delivery costs, piracy, ads, and everything in between.

Two sessions set the tone for the night.

A fireside built around what actually happens when live sport goes big.
And a lightning round putting one of the industry’s most experienced voices in the hot seat.

No slides.
No rehearsed answers.
No pretending everything works perfectly.

Just honest conversation, strong opinions, and a room full of people who actually build this industry.

FIRESIDE CHAT

When Live Sports Scales - What breaks first?

Matt Stagg - Neutral Wireless
Xavier Leclercq - Broadpeak

Everyone talks about live sport like it’s solved.
It isn’t.

When millions hit play at the same time, platforms creak, networks stretch, and the fixes aren’t always pretty.

This fireside dug into the reality of delivering global live events.

Topics included:

• What it really takes to deliver events like the Olympics and World Cups

• Traffic spikes and where platforms feel it first

• Multicast vs CDN - what works and what doesn’t

• Ads in live sport - when they work and when viewers switch off

• Piracy, blocking, VPNs, and the knock-on effects nobody likes owning

No slides.
No sales pitch.
No pretending everything went smoothly.

ASK THIERRY ANYTHING

Thierry Fautier - The Media League

Short questions.
Short answers.
Straight opinions.

We put Thierry in the hot seat and let the room ask anything.

Topics ranged across:

• AV1, VVC, LCEVC

• Media over QUIC (MoQ)

• AI in media workflows

• FAST channels

• Scaling live streaming

• XR and immersive media

• The future of the set-top box

The timer was on.
No long explanations.
No hiding behind “it depends”.

Just fast, honest takes from someone who’s spent decades in video technology.

A massive thank you to our partners for backing the Mixer and helping make the night happen.

Broadpeak

Broadpeak designs and delivers video streaming solutions for content providers and network operators worldwide, helping optimise performance, reduce latency, and scale live and on-demand delivery.

Nokia

Powering the future of networks, video, and connectivity — supporting the infrastructure behind modern broadcast, streaming, and IP delivery.