Sky Sports has chosen EVS’ live multicam media delivery technology, C-Cast, for the launch of Sky Sports 360, a multi-camera video highlight selector within the Sky Sports iPad app which will debut during the channel’s Champions’ League Final coverage on Saturday.
The Sky Sports 360 second screen feature makes use of EVS’C-Cast live multicam media delivery technology to allow viewers to choose replays of saves, tackles, and goals from over 20 different camera angles during the game, including slow-motion clips. Sky Sports subscribers will also be able to access an up-to-date aggregated Twitter feed and match statistics.
“Our investment in C-Cast technology means we can provide our viewers with an enhanced experience and allow them to re-live key moments of the game,” explains Keith Lane, Director of Operations at Sky Sports. “EVS’ C-Cast easily integrated into our existing infrastructure allowing us to bring in the second screen feature. We worked very closely with EVS to make sure that the end-user gets the same great quality from Sky Sports 360 that they do from all our other services and expect it to be a big hit with our subscribers.”
The C-Cast Agent – a 1U server – is located in the OB truck communicates with EVS’ XT/XS production servers to retrieve, process and transfer the media to C-Cast Central. EVS’ IPDirector content management suite then selects and creates clips along with associated metadata, such as keywords, describing the action. Pacakaged media clips are then fed via the C-Cast Central database out to the Sky Sports 360 app.
“C-Cast is a platform that feeds an app and integrates with any live EVS multi-camera production infrastructure – whether in OB or studio facilities – and gives content providers a way to deliver exclusive content on their own application interface,” explained Luc Doneux, EVP Sports division, at EVS. “C-Cast allows broadcasters to take advantage of the vast amount of unused content recorded on EVS servers during live sports events, and makes it available as additional premium content for consumption via a second screen, thus enriching the live viewing experience.”
EVS’ C-Cast technology has also been deployed for second screen media delivery by Canal+ for its Canal Football App and by Eredivisie in the Netherlands.
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