Sky News has chosen LiveU as a key technology partner for the UK general election, to be held on 7 May. The deal has been overseen by LiveU’s UK partner Garland Partners.
The broadcaster has described its forthcoming coverage as “the most ambitious and wide-ranging results service available and will ensure customers have the most up-to-date information as it happens”. This will include a specially created studio at Sky News’ Osterley location.
On 7 May Sky News will be live from over 270 declarations. The Sky News team will broadcast from key constituencies across the UK including Kay Burley from Witney, David Cameron’s seat, Anna Botting from Sheffield Hallam, Nick Clegg’s constituency, Andrew Wilson from Margate where Nigel Farage will be hoping to gain the Thanet South seat, Jeremy Thompson from Ed Miliband’s constituency in Doncaster, and Eamonn Holmes will be in Sunderland where the first result of the night is expected to be announced.
Sky News will use multiple units from across LiveU’s range, including the small form-factor LU200, as well as its existing LU500 lightweight backpacks. LiveU units are managed and controlled by LiveU Central, the unified, cloud-based management platform, which enables fleets of units to be centrally controlled using geo-location capabilities.
LiveU cellular bonding technology has already been used for election coverage around the world, including last year’s Indian general election as well as those in Sri Lanka and also the 2015 Greek election.
John Ryley, head of Sky News, said: “This will be the most exciting campaign and election night for decades. Sky News has created compelling and innovative content across all platforms which will give Sky customers all the details they need from the campaign trail and on election night itself. Sky News will offer the latest news and analysis with clarity and speed but with a wealth of in depth digital features that will allow customers to delve deeper into what this election means for the UK.”
Samuel Wasserman, LiveU CEO, said, “Sky News continues to innovate and we are pleased to assist with that innovation. Our approach and highly resilient technology allows broadcasters and other media outlets to select products from across our range and unify its use with LiveU Central, our management platform. Newsgathering has changed forever with LiveU playing a major part in the transformation.”
