KVH Satellite Service Boosts Crew Morale With Unprecedented World Cup Coverage
The coverage provided a morale boost for crew members worldwide, many of whom are keen football fans. The crew members of the BW Prince, for example, a tanker transiting the
"With IP-MobileCast, the crew experienced something they've never had before: watching the World Cup while at sea!" says
Similar reactions were expressed by the crew of the merchant vessel Bison Express, who were able to watch the final match from the
On the Iver Experience, a chemical tanker managed by Vroon, Captain
For the World Cup Final, KVH engineers and technicians on two continents guided the transmission of the game, which was multicast to onboard media servers, where it was available for viewing during the match. "This was an incredible engineering achievement, with 4 GB of game data multicast to vessels around the world including far out to sea, with no issues in the transmission. Mariners have never had this kind of coverage on their vessels," says Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH's chief executive officer.
The World Cup coverage was a special event from the IP-MobileCast SPORTSlink channel, which provides sports coverage from around the world and is available by subscription as part of the IP-MobileCast news and entertainment content offerings. KVH launched the IP-MobileCast content delivery service in May; the service offers a wide range of commercially licensed content in addition to SPORTSlink, including: NEWSlinkTM, which provides digital print and TV news daily from around the world;
In addition to the multicasting delivery of the entire World Cup Final and highlights of all World Cup matches, KVH also provided mariners worldwide with thorough coverage of the entire series via NEWSlink's "World Cup 2014" news bulletins, which were emailed daily to vessels subscribing to the NEWSlink digital newspaper service for mariners. "Our World Cup English-language Special Edition was produced every day for 32 consecutive days and broke all records in terms of numbers of subscribers," says
KVH's IP-MobileCast content delivery service is available to all vessels using KVH's mini-VSAT Broadbandsm service, which provides satellite Internet and phone services to commercial ships, government vessels, and pleasure yachts around the world. A leading global consulting firm recently reported that KVH's mini-VSAT Broadband service is the market share leader in maritime VSAT. The mini-VSAT Broadband network uses a combination of 19 Ku-band transponders and 3 C-band beams to provide total global coverage. KVH's line of antenna systems designed exclusively for mini-VSAT Broadband service includes: the TracPhone® V11-IP, a 1.1 meter diameter, dual-mode C/Ku-band antenna for global VSAT connectivity; the TracPhone V7-IP, a 60 cm diameter enterprise-grade antenna for Ku-band service worldwide; and the TracPhone V3-IP, a 37 cm diameter Ku-band antenna that is the world's most compact maritime VSAT antenna.
Note to Editors: For more information about the IP-MobileCast content delivery service, please visit www.ipmobilecast.com. For more information about KVH's mini-VSAT Broadband service, please visit www.minivsat.com/vip.
High-resolution images of KVH products are available at the
About
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, for example, statements regarding the functionality, characteristics, quality, and performance of KVH's products, services, and technology; as well as customer demand, preferences, requirements, and expectations. The actual results could differ materially from the statements made in this press release. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, potential unanticipated technical or legal impediments that could delay or impede service rollout plans or expected strategic relationships; the need for, or delays in, qualification of products to customer or regulatory standards; unanticipated declines or changes in customer demand, due to competitive, economic, seasonal, and other factors, particularly with respect to the TracPhone V-IP series products; unanticipated increases in media costs or loss of distribution rights; risks associated with the delivery or performance of critical hardware; and changes in the costs and capabilities of competing offerings. These and other risk factors are discussed in KVH's most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the
KVH, IP-MobileCast, SPORTSlink, NEWSlink,
CONTACT:Jill Connors Media & Communications ManagerKVH Industries, Inc. 401-851-3824 jconnors@kvh.com