LG U+ launches next-gen Pro Baseball League service powered by Media Excel HERO HEVC Encoder
April 9, 2018
LG U+ launches next-gen Pro Baseball League service powered by Media Excel HERO HEVC Encoder
LG U+ became the first telecom operator in South Korea to introduce a real-time omni-view experience to its valued subscribers for Professional Baseball League matches. The new service offers real-time video from different angles―home base, first base, third base and the outfield―to show users players’ movements which are not available on a typical TV coverage. Users can watch all videos simultaneously with their smartphones or mirror the high-quality feed to their big-screen TVs. Targeting over 2 million subscribers, LG U+ is able to leverage Media Excel’s expertise with HEVC encoding and high profile services worldwide in order to deliver pristine video quality and quality of experience.
During the kickoff last weekend, the service was utilized by over 100,000 concurrent subscribers who consumed over 3.6 GBs of data per user for the entire game. LG U+ 4.5G/LTE network is able to sustain such data traffic due to HEVC compression efficiency delivered by Media Excel HERO encoders. The launch of the service came a month after the firm rolled out a new flat-rate subscription option with unlimited data and uncompromised speed for 88,000 Korean won ($82) per month, providing a catalytic monetization opportunity for the new service.
“This well-orchestrated launch demonstrates our company’s commitment to creating exceptional value for our subscribers. We were able to achieve this by relying on Media Excel’s advantage in HEVC encoding, after a comprehensive evaluation of several encoder vendors”, stated Lee Sang-min, a Senior Vice President of Future and Convergence at LG U+. “Instead of lowering video quality to compensate for the elevated traffic demand, with Media Excel’s HERO HEVC encoder we are able to deliver outstanding video quality at substantially reduced bandwidth.”
This remarkably successful launch paves the way towards the next-generation 5G network upgrade that LG U+ has planned for commercial launch in 2019, ahead of other telcos around the world. Within 2018, LG U+ plans to expand the service to include 4K UHD based on Media Excel’s product portfolio.
“We are delighted to contribute to ground-breaking services such as the Pro Baseball one. LG U+ continues to drive innovation in both technical and commercial terms,” said Nikos Kyriopoulos, VP of Product & Business Development of Media Excel. “Media Excel strives to deliver cutting-edge quality, reliability and agility for our customers worldwide, while staying on the forefront of technological innovation.”