PGA championship: I-Box to iPods

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS: Akamai Inc., a player in powering video, dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online, has announced that it will serve as the exclusive live video streaming provider to Turner Sports for the official PGA Championship App available on the App Store.

A press release adds that the 91st PGA Championship will be held August 13-16 with 18 hours of television coverage on TNT complemented by four video streams of live coverage exclusively on PGA.com.

The PGA Championship iPhone App for the iPhone and iPod touch supports Turner Sports’ integrated broadcast strategy of combining traditional television coverage with online and mobile components to provide fans with a multiplatform experience, it further says.

Variable bit rate streaming benefits the consumer by enabling a high fidelity viewing experience at any bitrate - critical for mobile video as viewing conditions vary dramatically between carrier edge networks to 3G to WIFI.

“Inlet works closely with Akamai to ensure our live encoding service for mobile applications works seamlessly across the Akamai network to provide for the optimal live video experience,” said John Bishop, senior vice president of strategy and business development, Inlet Technologies. “Working with Akamai we are able to provide a smooth end to end process for content providers to make it easier to deliver next generation video experiences – such as variable bit rate streaming.”