Artist One Entertainment Group x Tata Communications announce Arena One: The first globally connected arena

17 December 2024 - Press release

EXCLUSIVE LAUNCH WITH AMC THEATRES SET FOR EARLY 2025 

Artist One Entertainment Group in partnership with Tata Communications, supported by a deep bench of the most revered live production companies, have collaborated to revolutionize live entertainment - unveiling the first Globally Connected Arena. 

Exclusively launching throughout AMC Theatres' robust footprint, Arena One is a collective of interconnected immersive venues, where fans, artists, and creators around the world will be able to see, hear, and interact with each other in real-time. Made possible by next gen tech, global audiences will share in bespoke live shows - all together, all at once.

"Imagine the world's most incredible live concerts, locally accessible, more sustainably produced, and affordable for hundreds of thousands of fans who are together in-real-life in one shared experience,ˮ says Artist One Entertainment Groupʼs Founder, and Chief Creative Officer, Rohit Kapoor. "Every single person, no matter where they are on the planet, is up close and intimately connected to the artist and performance. With boundless visual potential, high-fidelity surround sound, and no such thing as a 'nosebleed seatʼ, he adds, "Arena One heralds an entirely new future-forward category in live entertainment.ˮ 

Arena Oneʼs unprecedented real-time interaction is powered by Tata Communications' next generation media platform, which leverages proprietary low latency technologies and the cloud capabilities of its live production and delivery service, The Switch. Tata Communications carries roughly 30% of internet routes globally, and its Media Entertainment Services (MES) division supports live event coverage for the biggest sports and entertainment organizations in the world. 

"This launch marks a transformative shift in how music fans and artists engage with each other, utilizing cutting-edge technologies to create an unparalleled, interactive real-time experience,ˮ says Dhaval Ponda, Vice President and Global Head of Media and Entertainment at Tata Communications. "We are excited to bring a new immersive experience through this partnership, drawing on our live event expertise and global reach to introduce an entertainment concept that gives audiences unmatched access to their favorite artists.ˮ 

Arena One simultaneously disrupts the theatrical and live entertainment industries - reimagining and revitalizing existing theatres and screens through a new lens. Performers will have the power to shatter the limits of traditional filmed events - as if thereʼs no screen there at all - engaging live with their global fanbases just as though they are in one arena together. With additional production enhancements that physically extend the performance into the theatres, all audience members are in the center of the action. 

"AMC Theatres welcomes the opportunity to offer music fans across the United States and Europe unique and engaging experiences with their favorite artists,ˮ says Elizabeth Frank, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Programming & Chief Content Officer at AMC Theatres. "Arena One will enable exciting artist performances, ranging from fresh takes on fan favorites to launches of brand new music, from tech-infused dance parties to intimate acoustic sets, from tributes and sing-alongs to holiday collaborations, and much more. All of these live performances will be presented through high quality broadcast technology and delivered with the convenience, comfort and affordability of a neighborhood venue.ˮ 

Live performances will originate at purpose-built Arena One studios, and link to theatres everywhere within milliseconds, facilitating universal and multi-dimensional live interactivity between connected studios and venues. These innovative performance facilities give artists powerful studio-level precision and complete control over the quality and content of their creative vision, while boasting multi-stadium reach and revenue generation from a single live performance. 

"Audiences are thirsty for memorable experiences that are unique and deeply special. What weʼre building allows every fan to gain access to the most coveted blue chip events - and sit in the best seat in the house,ˮ says Megan Colligan, Managing Partner of Arena One and respected cinema industry veteran. "Exhibitors all over the world are looking for more content - this is exactly the kind of innovation our business needs.ˮ 

The inaugural Arena One East Coast studio is located on the acclaimed Rock Lititz campus - an epicenter of entertainment industry creativity and innovation. The campus, which is 65% solar and geothermal-powered, is headquarters to several of the worldʼs preeminent leaders in live production, many of whom have participated and invested in the design and development of Arena One. Future performance hubs are planned in Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, London, Singapore, Mumbai, Melbourne, Accra, Brazzaville, Johannesburg, and São Paolo - bringing artists from around the world directly to their fans, no matter where they are. 

Live Arena One performances will be uniquely presented from a single stationary camera, capturing the most realistic, ideal and "best seatˮ audience POV - with high production-value elements taking place on the technically advanced stages, capable of elaborate physical and digitally augmented visual spectacle. The Studios will also be equipped with multiple robotic and 3D stereoscopic cameras, and adjacent Dolby Atmos mixing studios; in addition to putting on a once-in-a-lifetime live performance, artists are able to capture, edit, and release subsequent concert films, downstream releases featuring behind-the-scenes content, and albums of their unique live performance mixed in spatial audio. 

"Providing artists the power to pull up to one comfortable state-of-the-art studio with unrivaled creative tools at their disposal, get that irreplaceable rush of performing live to a packed arena of fans, and simultaneously generate a treasure-trove of content for future applications in one consolidated pipeline - the Arena One model radically shifts the artist experience, the fan experience, and entertainment industry economics across the board,ˮ says Kapoor. 

The launch of Arena One firmly locks in Artist One Entertainment Group and Tata Communications shared vision to originate the worldʼs largest, most advanced live entertainment ecosystem, capable of seamlessly scaling and expanding into limitless territories and formats. 

"This is just the beginning. Music, comedy, sports, e-sports, Broadway and beyond will all find a home here," says Mo Rhim, accomplished technology & entertainment executive and Managing Partner at Arena One. "Not only are we opening new windows of marketing, distribution and monetization, but the underlying data and technology will also provide creators deep insights that empower them to connect with their fans in places and ways never imagined. Arena One is a universal stage that connects communities and brings separate entertainment verticals together to create something completely new." 

With the inclusion of hundreds of traditionally untapped markets, Arena One provides consumers hyper-local, equitable accessibility to premium live shows at groundbreaking price-points and scale. The ability to instantly contract and expand its connected seating footprint from one-hundred to hundreds-of-thousands of available seats, as well as the flexibility to host multiple shows concurrently across different markets, makes Arena One the venue of the future for all artists and fans. 

"We are all about empowering artists with more equity, transparency, control, and scale. Arena One gives a new platform for artists - setting the stage for live special release events, one-night-only live global performances, mini-residencies, and sustainable tours,ˮsays Marcie Allen, music industry pioneer, programming Arena Oneʼs inaugural slate of Artists. 

Rounding out Arena Oneʼs seamless end-to-end offering is a collaboration with Atom Tickets - the social movie ticketing platform for the modern generation. A full-service online and mobile ticketing site will offer concertgoers instant access to Arena One shows, including pre-order options for merch and concessions. 

"With our collaboration, we ensure that planning your concert experience is effortless,ˮ says Bryan Bowles, CEO of Atom Tickets. "For Arena One customers, weʼve added special enhancements during the ticketing process, bringing audiences closer to the artist and delivering unique surprises along the way.ˮ 

Tickets for the up-close-and-personal live Arena One shows, inclusive of all fees, will be an astonishing fraction of the cost of a typical concert-going experience, and vary by artist and connected venue location. Arena One will open doors with 230,000 available seats across 1,600 connected domestic auditoriums this coming spring, with planned expansion to 400,000 seats worldwide by the end of 2025.