Video software provider Synamedia indicated that Israeli telco Cellcom used Synamedia Vivid Workflow as a Service (WaaS) low latency streaming to enhance its FIFA World Cup viewing experience.

Cellcom was able to stream matches in full HD with broadcast-equivalent latency on its Cellcom TV streaming service running on Android TV set-top boxes using LL-DASH. According to Synamedia, Cellcom reduced the previous latency of up to 30 seconds to under three seconds from ingest to playout.

Synamedia flags Cellcom World Cup win

Elke Hungenaert, Synamedia

This low latency would allow Cellcom TV subscribers to see all the action live ahead of any spoiler push notifications or updates in chats on their mobiles, Synamedia added.

Elke Hungenaert, VP of product management at Synamedia, said: “Recognising that football fans in Israel have a choice of satellite and streaming options, Cellcom’s goal was to deliver broadcast-equivalent latency streaming in time for the World Cup in November 22. Live sports streaming is one of the industry’s toughest challenges but Vivid’s flexibility, scalability and efficiency all came into play to create a proof of concept in a matter of days. We then fine-tuned the encoder to optimise image quality and partnered with AWS to ensure a robust, scalable solution to meet Cellcom’s needs and deliver for the fans.”