Sky Deutschland: First Live Streaming App for iPad users

iPad users made the most of the FIFA World Cup by downloading the first live streaming iPad solution of Sky Deutschland, which was launched just before the tournament. With high video quality in streaming and guaranteed mobility via WLAN connections the new iPad solution offers Sky-subscribers live streams for the latest sport events, as well as access to video clips and the latest news via the Internet. The complex iPad application was developed by Reply, syskoplan and bitmama in cooperation with Sky Deutschlands partners for content delivery and ingest.

The Client

• Television by subscription: that is the core business of Sky Deutschland.
• The company offers a wide variety of programmes in Germany and Austria with latest movies, new TV series and live sport events, especially the Bundesliga, the DFB Cup and UEFA Champions League.
• Sky provides seven HDTV-channels in Germany. Additionally the company offers movies, Live Sport and Erotic via Pay-per-View. Sky offers a digital programme, mainly via satellite and cable.
• Technically the company reaches 95 percent of the overall households in Germany and more than 85 percent in Austria. Part of Sky‘s offering is available via internet in Germany as well.

The Challenge

• The application is the first Video on Demand Solution for iPad users.
• Sport events live and mobile, starting with the Football World Championship in June 2010.
• Additional features: live streaming of latest sport events (football, tennis, golf), sport news, clips datacenter for sport results.

The Solution

• The complex iPad application was developed by Reply, syskoplan AG and bitmama in partnership with Irdeto (VoD), Plazamedia (Ingest), Akamai (CDN) and in cooperation with Sky Deutschland partners for content delivery and ingest.
• The iPad application itself was developed in Objective C, the standard programming language for Apple mobile devices.

The Benefit

• First Video on Demand solution for iPad users.
• All important sport events available everywhere (Bundesliga, DFB Cup, Champions League, Formel 1, Golf, Tennis).
• Easy to use lifestyle-product.
• Sky clients have free access to the application until end of August 2010.
• USP for Sky: Access to new markets and target groups, first application of this kind, innovation, technological competence.