LiveSphere Provides First Live 360-degree Video Broadcast at Finnish Presidential Independence Day Celebration

Finland's National Public Broadcasting Company, YLE, Experiments Immersive Live Streaming for National Event

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Dec 10, 2014, 03:44 ET

PARIS, Dec. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 6, the Finnish Presidential Independence Day reception was held for approx. 2,000 invited guests at the Presidential Palace, followed by an "After Party" at Helsinki's landmark hotel Kamp. These annual celebrations are consistently among the most-watched television events of the year, attracting more than two million viewers. Utilizing LiveSphere™, a 360-degree video broadcast solution developed by ATEME and its partners Finwe and Kolor, Finnish national public broadcasting company YLE provided its television audience with an immersive panoramic experience of the event on a wide variety of devices. Visit www.livesphere.com to learn more.

The Peilisali, "Mirror Room" as Captured with LiveSphere on Dec. 6, 2014

This industry-first demonstration of LiveSphere sets the stage for future implementations of this game-changing technology.

YLE selects LiveSphere to deliver industry-first panoramic broadcast – YLE operates four national television channels that attract on average 44 percent of the television audience in Finland, www.yle.fi. Through its streaming service, Areena, the broadcaster provides its customers with game-changing programing for Android, iOS, Windows 8 and Chromecast devices, Web browsers with the support of Flash, select smart TVs and game consoles. In October of this year, Areena was launched more than 25 million times in one month, a stunning accomplishment considering the population of Finland is 5.4 million.
Streaming the Presidential Independence Day "After Party" – A tradition since 1919, the historical event known informally as Linnanjuhlat ("the Castle Ball") is attended by dignitaries including the knights of the Mannerheim Cross, members of the Parliament of Finland, past Finnish presidents, various diplomats, entertainers and more. The "After Party" features live music, performances and interviews into the night, attracting more than 50,000 individual "second screen" viewers in 2013. A portion of this year's event was broadcast live using LiveSphere and was made available to YLE Areena users.
LiveSphere provides live 360-degree television experience to home viewers – A 360-degree camera system was positioned in the "Peilisali" – the mirror room – where the video feed, generated from the real-time stitching of six independent cameras, was encoded and streamed in HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) with multiple resolutions and bitrates. The stream was delivered to the Akamai Content Delivery Network and was viewable on Android and iOS devices. Live coverage of the event was broadcast from 22:15 until 23:15, in parallel to the on-air TV broadcast, allowing viewers to choose and dynamically modify their field of view by either moving the display or touching the screen.

Sanna Hautamaki, producer, YLE, said:
"360-degree video provides an interesting and immersive experience to the viewer, giving them the satisfaction of 'peeking' beyond the perimeter of the screen to see what is happening while giving the illusion that they are in the center of the action. Additionally, it provides an opportunity to see the event from a totally new perspective, emphasizing the live stream when the other TV cameras are not broadcasting."

See LiveSphere in action at CES, Las Vegas, Jan. 6-8, 2015, Palazzo Hotel, Lago Suite. Call 831-440-2407 to schedule a demo.

About ATEME:
ATEME (PARIS:ATEME) is a global leader in advanced video compression solutions for the broadcast industry and a world leading provider of HEVC, MPEG-4 / H.264 and MPEG-2 bandwidth efficient compression technology. ATEME encoding solutions are deployed widely for broadcast contribution links, distribution, multi-screen live streaming, OTT and VOD applications. More information is available at www.ateme.com.

ATEME Press Contacts:
Dorota Bouskela	ATEME Corporate Marketing	T: +33 169-358-988	E: [email protected]
Kim Dearborn	Nadel Phelan, Inc.	T: +1-831-440-2407	E: [email protected]