SIS LIVE has signed an agreement with Sky Sports News for the provision of satellite capacity for its newsgathering operations. The four-year contract delivers 73MHz of capacity on the Eutelsat E16A satellite for the Sky Sports and Sky Sports News fleet of satellite newsgathering (SNG) vehicles, which are also supplied and operated by SIS LIVE.
Sky Sports will make use of this satellite bandwidth for its live coverage of weekend football matches, which are also transmitted by SIS LIVE SNG vehicles. SIS LIVE is able to provide full resilience for the Sky downlink system, using its two broadcast teleport/MCR systems which offer round the clock coverage. The teleports, located in Milton Keynes and MediaCityUK in Salford, are connected to the SIS LIVE national fibre network which has direct reach into locations around the UK, including Sky’s facility in Osterley.
“SIS LIVE has provided Sky Sports with uplink facilities and satellite capacity for a number of years and we are pleased to be signing a new contract for satellite capacity for Sky Sports and Sky Sports News,” said James Clement, head of operations at Sky Sports. “It is difficult to predict what the future will hold for live sports and sports news, but we have confidence that SIS can deliver whatever we might need and after our successful 4K trials with SIS back in August, we look forward to continuing to offer the best viewing experience for our customers, supported by SIS, one of our most dedicated suppliers.”
The agreement marks latest in a series of new contracts with customers which SIS LIVE hopes will allow it to remain at the forefront of the provision of SNG services to the UK market place. SIS LIVE now provides satellite newsgathering capacity for every single news and sports news broadcaster in the UK.
