4-page Case Study - Posted 4/22/2009

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Setanta

Leading TV and Online Sports Broadcaster Raises the Bar with Microsoft Silverlight

International sports broadcaster Setanta wanted to strengthen the lineup of services it offered. Although the company’s TV channels were gaining greater distribution and market share, Setanta executives were concerned about the performance of the company’s aging Web-based streaming video service. It lacked spark. It looked old. Setanta worked with Microsoft and Microsoft partner EMC Conchango, the interactive agency team of EMC Consulting, to redesign and refresh this streaming video subscription service. Using Microsoft® Silverlight™ and partner technologies from Swarmcast and Irdeto, Setanta and EMC Conchango have built a high performance user interface, with support for high definition video and powerful personalization features that will raise a cheer from sports fans. At the same time, Setanta is operating more efficiently and cost-effectively than ever, raising a cheer from management.

Situation

Setanta Sports delivers the sports fix fans need, when they need it—over cable, satellite TV services and the Web in the U.K., Ireland, North America, and Australia. Whether a fan wants to watch soccer, rugby, golf, boxing, racing, or something else, Setanta delivers live and on demand video, news, scores, statistics, and more.

But increasingly, with the passage of time, the Web-based service Setanta had been offering—Setanta by Broadband—was starting to resemble a star player whose best days were a few years in the past. Setanta by Broadband could still deliver the content that subscribers craved, but the interface was aging, its functionality was limited, and the video streams themselves were not of high definition quality.

“It no longer had a premium feel,” says Stephen Michael, Director of New Media for Setanta Sports, “and Setanta is all about delivering premium content to our subscribers. We needed a content delivery system on par with the premium content we deliver.”

Michael and other Setanta executives had a sense for what they wanted: a more modern user interface, with live video embedded in the Web page, more options for personalization, and content delivered in high definition so that subscribers could watch this Web-streamed content on a large display with no degradation of quality.

To meet these goals, though, Setanta needed a new suite of technologies. For those, Setanta turned to Microsoft, Microsoft partner EMC Conchango, Irdeto, and Swarmcast.

Solution

Setanta choose to build its next generation Internet content delivery system, called Setanta-i, using Microsoft Silverlight, the Microsoft .NET Framework, and partner technologies from Swarmcast and Irdeto.

Microsoft Silverlight is the cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. The Microsoft .NET Framework is an integral component of the Microsoft Windows® operating system that provides a programming model and runtime for Web services, Web applications, and smart client applications. By choosing Silverlight, Setanta gained a delivery mechanism supporting high definition video and cost-effective advanced streaming, and unparalleled high-resolution interactivity—and with these capabilities Setanta could quickly and effectively create the cutting edge experience that it wanted to present to subscribers through Setanta-i.

A Premium Frontend Interface

Microsoft Gold Certified partner EMC Conchango worked closely with Setanta to develop both the new Silverlight-based client interface. Using the Microsoft Visual Studio® development environment and Microsoft Expression Blend™ 2, EMC Conchango has actually helped Setanta build three distinct client interfaces based on Silverlight.

• An interface for presenting free content to casual visitors to the Setanta site.
• A more sophisticated, feature-rich interface for subscribers to the Setanta-i service, which includes embedded video, personalization features, and more.
• An embedded interface that other Web sites can use on their pages to present syndicated news and content from Setanta.

The free content interface has been in use since late 2008. The Setanta-i interface is scheduled to go live in April 2009. The syndication interface is scheduled to be available in May 2009.

A Premium Backend, Too

Setanta also worked with Irdeto and Swarmcast to upgrade and enhance the content delivery infrastructure that would stream content to these new interfaces. Using software from Irdeto, Setanta built out a new infrastructure for ingesting sports content and preparing it for distribution over the Internet. Subscribers to the Setanta-i service can watch content streamed to their computers in high definition Windows Media® Video (VC-1) format through the Swarmcast Internet TV platform—or they can select from a deep library of on-demand content to catch the action from events they may have missed or simply want to see again. Using software from Swarmcast, which optimizes streaming media for delivery using hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), Setanta, EMC Conchango, and Irdeto have been able to create a client/server connection that ensures a smooth, buffer-free, high-quality video stream.

Also emanating from this powerful backend content management system is a linear channel that feeds sports content to those external Web sites using the syndicated Setanta interface. The software from Irdeto also integrates with the Setanta customer care and billing systems, ensuring that customers can access the protected content to which they have subscribed and are billed appropriately for the services they use.

Benefits

Setanta wanted to bring a new star on the field, and with Microsoft Silverlight it has succeeded. The interface of the new Setanta-i service is modern and slick, yet it in no way detracts from the experience of the content itself—a key design goal that Setanta worked through with EMC Conchango.

Similarly, with its new content management system feeding content to its different channels, Setanta has gained greater content delivery efficiency and greater flexibility to bundle services, cross-sell, and upsell services.

Feeding the Fans

Microsoft Silverlight has enabled Setanta to deploy the next generation client interface that sports fans have been wanting. It is fast, easy to navigate, and flexible. It pulls the viewer into the content and delivers the experience that fans love.

“With Microsoft Silverlight, we're able to deliver the premium experience we wanted to provide,” says Michael. “There are features and tricks that Silverlight has enabled us to deliver that we simply could not do with other products. For example, when you go to the U.K. home page you get live streams of four different channels, all of which you can watch simultaneously in miniature. You can select one of those streams, though, and it goes to full-screen. That's a very cool design feature, and Silverlight made it possible.”

Silverlight has also made it possible for Setanta-i subscribers to personalize their viewing experience. Subscribers can be watching a live match in one window, for example, and open up another window showing real time scores from other matches that they want to follow at the same time. They can select the matches they want to follow and only the scores from those matches will be displayed.

We are able to administer Setanta-i with a very small team of people, and that keeps costs low. Stephen Michael, Director of New Media, Setanta Sports

Subscribers can also create video playlists of favorite sports moments and then relive those moments using the VOD assets on Setanta-i. Among Setanta executives there is even talk of creating a social networking environment within Setanta-i where a subscriber could share lists and experiences with friends. “

We wanted a serious ‘wow’ factor in the new service we offered,” says Michael. ”Both for existing Setanta by Broadband customers as well as new customers. We do offer a free service tier, but in the end Setanta is a pay TV company and we really wanted to build a subscription service experience that would impress viewers and make them find the idea of subscribing very appealing. With Microsoft Silverlight we’ve been able to do that.

Fostering Efficiency and Lowering Costs

The new backend content management system that Setanta and Irdeto have created is key to the success of the new Setanta-i service. It makes possible the distribution of ingested content and ensures the uninterrupted flow of content. At the same time, it has introduced automated workflows that streamline the ingestion and preparation of content for delivery. These automated services have introduced significant efficiencies that in turn have reduced the costs associated with manual management and delivery of these services.

“Because of the level of automation that we have achieved, we are able to administer Setanta-i with a very small team of people and that keeps costs low,” says Michael.

Raising the Bar on the Competition

“As a broadcaster, I think we're being fairly bold in embracing these new technologies,” says Michael. “Silverlight and Swarmcast are both fairly new, but I think people will see that what we’ve created in Setanta-i is a market-leading product We hope our customers will agree that we’ve built a great interface, but one of the things that’s really great about it is that it doesn't get in the way of your enjoyment of the content. That's one of the things that should make Setanta i a great service for sports lovers.”

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com

For more information about Setanta Sports products and services, visit the Web site at: www.setanta.com.

For more information about EMC Conchango products and services, visit the Web site at: http://www.conchango.com. For more information about Irdeto products and services, visit the Web site at: http://www.irdeto.com. For more information about Swarmcast products and services, visit the Web site at: www.swarmcast.com.

Microsoft Media and Entertainment Practice

Microsoft Communications Sector Media and Entertainment practice provides media vertical services and supply chain companies with business and people-ready software and services to optimize their business process management throughout the media lifecycle, from advertiser/partner relationship and business management to the consumer experience and action. Microsoft’s enterprise software platforms and solutions enable media supply chain players to be seamlessly, dynamically, and securely connected to any point in the media business value chain, driving agility, accuracy, and efficiency.

For more information about Microsoft Communications Sector Media and Entertainment practice, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/mediaandentertainment/default.mspx.