SKY ITALIA service: an entire video archive of content available to subscribers

Company Profile The digital platform effectively takes advantage of the professionalism of NCompany Name: Italia numerous themed channel editors, but Main Headquarters: Milan, Italy also of the production companies Sector: Media involved in the making of programmes Website: www.sky.it and new formats for films, sports and Solutions and/or services news channels. implemented: development of the Content Management System for the Sky Thanks to this productive effort, the On Demand service offering. platform broadcasts every year over 39,000 hours of self-produced television Sky, the Italian digital , was programmes, without considering repeats founded on July 31st 2003 upon a very and the channels' self-promotions. simple idea: to offer to Italian viewers the The digital platform consists of 190 best national and international television themed and pay-per-view channels, that programmes using the most innovative offer extraordinary high-quality choice, technology. with a show schedule worked out for the whole family, and with more than 80 By December 31st 2012 the number of themed audio and digital radio channels. subscribers had reached 4,830,000. The television audience was estimated to be Since the platform's launch, the package more 15 million viewers, and according to that Sky proposes to its subscribers has Auditel figures, the average platform constantly grown, expanding to over 90 share had exceeded 9%, a figure four new channels. Sky is the first Italian times greater than the one registered television channel to have broadcast in during the first months of transmission. HD and live in 3D, and it offers a package of 57 channels in high definition Since its foundation, Sky has begun a and a channel entirely dedicated to solid policy of investment and has programmes in 3D. Sky Italia belongs involved many Italian partners in the 100% to News Corporation. realisation of the editorial project. SKY ITALIA’S NEEDS The FINCONS GROUP team The editorial team at Sky Italia has collaborated with Sky Italia during also been able to maximise the The personalisation of the show every principal phase of the control and, therefore, the quality of schedule to be able to enjoy contents implementation project of the new On both the presentation of the service at any moment, in any place and on Demand service, from the analysis to the customer and the workflow any device represents a new model and end-to-end solution design preparation of video files through the for a media company. phase, to the implementation of the integration of the Content Content Management System and its Management System with the Sky Italia, investing in technological integration with the legacy systems, legacy systems, in particular with innovation and quality contents, all the way to the go live of the new the scheduling and package initially responded to such demand service. management system, with the Smart with the service - which Card management system and with allowed customers to enjoy Sky The solution implemented by the the ingestion and media preparation contents on the go with tablets, FINCONS GROUP team - based on systems. iPhones and PCs - and then created the Kit Cosmos platform by a service that would allow its Polymedia Kit Digital - is able to subscribers to enjoy contents without manage the preparation of content time or schedule constraints. offered to the client through:

That is how the idea of the Sky On  enrichment of content with images, Demand service was created: giving trailers, metadata (title, duration, subscribers access to an archive of genre, etc.) and multimedia films, television series, content; documentaries, children's programmes, and sports and  management of navigation entertainment programmes. amongst available contents (navigation tree, management of In order to create such a service, the new arrivals and highlights Sky Italia chose a partner with great section); experience in content management BENEFITS solutions and knowledge of Sky's  orchestration and monitoring the The On Demand Sky service has specific background. workflow of materials' preparation added value and innovation to the (physical assets) relative to offer for its subscribers: the user has content, in particular through the possibility of enjoying content at processes of transcoding, any moment, accessing a personal encryption and publication to the video archive with over 1,200 titles, Content Delivery Network (CDN); through their own set-top box  publication of the contents connected to the internet. catalogue to the delivery platform through the integration with the In this way, television consumption headend made available by NDS. adapts to the rhythms of the user, who can choose what to see and when to see it, without time or schedule constraints. FINCONS GROUP’S SOLUTION Thanks to the strengthened collaborative relationship and a wealth of experience on similar projects, Sky Italia chose FINCONS GROUP as the partner for the launch of the new service, entrusting the Group with the implementation of the Content Management System (CMS), at the heart of the Sky On Demand service's editorial process.

"Sky On Demand is the final phase of a innovation cycle that we brought to Italy. With this new product pay television will change radically in Italy. Thanks to the innovation, the customer can watch what he wants with total freedom." Main Office in Italy Andrea Zappia, Managing Director, Sky Italia via Torri Bianche 10 20871 Vimercate (MB) T. +39 039 657081 Source: Milano Finanza F. +39 039 6570877