Inlet Technologies, the leader in live streaming and video-on-demand solutions for digital media, announced today it is helping to enable HTTP adaptive streaming of content to the Apple® iPhone™ and iPod® Touch® for some of the most innovative broadcasters, entertainment and retail enterprises, and sports organizations around the globe.
Inlet recently teamed with Akamai Technologies to power Turner Sports’ live streaming of the 91st PGA Championship to iPhone and iPod Touch users. Building on the success of 3.4 million video streams across the Turner Sports online golf portfolio during the PGA Championship, video streaming of the FedExCup championship is ramping up. Live coverage of key holes at all four tournaments leading up to the crowning of the champion will be available through the iPhone PGA App, in addition to the online component. In early August, Inlet and Akamai also worked together to help Apple deliver the first live concert streamed to the iPhone – a show featuring electronica band Underworld. Earlier this year, Akamai announced the industry’s first variable bit rate streaming support for live and high quality video content on the iPhone and iPod touch. Variable bit rate streaming was a key feature delivered in the recent iPhone 3.0 update and this new capability expands Akamai’s ability to provide consumers with the highest quality video streaming experience on their iPhone or iPod touch.
HSN, the leading interactive lifestyle network and retail destination, recently announced the launch of its HSN Shop App for the iPhone and iPod Touch, with Inlet’s Spinnaker providing the encoding backbone. With an exceptional viewing experience and diminished latency, HSN customers can now use their iPhones to enjoy a full television experience and move through the purchasing process quickly. Inlet provided encoding services to MLB.com for the upgrade of its At Bat 2009™ offering to allow for delivery of live game streams to the iPhone and iPod Touch and through its Israeli partner, Pocketized, to Reshet TV’s iPhone streaming of the season finale of "The Amazing Race Israel.”
The iPhone 3.0 OS now includes built-in support for adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming for live and on-demand video, providing consumers with faster start-up times and reduced video buffering on all 3.0-enabled devices. Inlet Technologies was one of the first encoding technology providers to publicly demonstrate and support streaming to the iPhone, and Inlet’s SpinnakerTM live streaming solution provides the highest-quality viewing experience while offering exciting features consumers have come to expect in other devices, such as the ability to pause, rewind, or fast forward through content.
“The iPhone is clearly a pervasive consumer device, offering compelling opportunities to reach millions of viewers.” said John Bishop, senior vice president of strategy and business development, Inlet Technologies. “Streaming iPhone content elevates the user experience to an entirely new level – putting more personalized and high-quality content literally into their hands for viewing on the go.”
About Inlet Technologies
Inlet Technologies’ live and on-demand digital media solutions help our customers build intelligent, robust digital media infrastructures. Inlet’s industry expertise, award-winning products and outstanding support enable content owners and distributors to expand their audience and maximize their content’s value. Inlet provides the industry’s fastest time-to-output, sets new standards for quality, and is the first to reach new platforms and screens. Industry leaders such as Major League Baseball, Microsoft, Yahoo!, France Télévisions and Home Shopping Network rely on Inlet for easy implementation, technical prowess and enterprise scale for their mission critical operations. For more information, please visit www.inlethd.com. Follow Inlet on Twitter at InletTech.
