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Project Sky Media Player

Challenge

Sky wanted to develop a bespoke software tool for a news delivery platform. Sky had recently won the pitch over the incumbent provider – the BBC – and wanted to push forward the technical possibilities on news delivery.

Planning

With a one month fixed deadline, planning and specification were critical. A solution of this type had not been developed before and was therefore completely bespoke to Sky. Our application development team consulted extensively from the outset on devising a solution which could take XML feeds and video from Sky News and process down to unique Flash-based players sitting on each screen within the highly secure Titan networks.

Technical

Development encompassed a whole range of technologies from Java to C++ and ActionScript. The ‘Media Manager’ (MM) middleware application retrieves data and media content from a Sky repository, runs through a variety of error checking and XML parsing processes and then pushes it down to the 17 screens across the UK. Our solution was to create a layer that would interact with Sky and Titan, and still work in conjunction with the current dynamics of the advertising scheduling software. A variety of techniques including RSync and SSH were used for connectivity and security. With localised flags set, unique content could be displayed at each station on the Flash-based players.

A Massive Success

A credit to impeccable project management and commitment the solution went live hours before the deadline, with our team working literally round the clock for one month solid. With a hyped launch at Victoria station in London, James Murdoch himself even attended to see the fruit of our endeavours. Additional screens have since been added in both the UK and Ireland.