Sunrise

Objectives

The object of the pilot operation is to enable users to purchase multimedia content via the web and to have that content downloaded by satellite.

The project concerns the development and operation of a platform which can deliver varied content to users in Europe and, eventually, to nearly all major cities around the world. Content providers will be able to broadcast material as and when needed and the cost of broadcasting will be reduced still further as the audience is widened to cover Europe and the rest of the world. The dramatic increase in potential audience size and the reduction in the cost of broadcasting mean that more businesses can now take advantage of this new technology to deliver their material.

The theme of the Pilot Operation is satellite-delivered content by subscription. The Pilot Operation covers the following areas:

• Generation of suitably edited, stored, and live content,


• Provision of subscription mechanisms and procedures for end-users,


• Uplinking of content using IP over DVB technology,


• End-user interaction via terrestrial modem to enable delivery via DVB-S satellite channel,


• End-user interaction via modem for subscription purposes,


• Market testing to determine what content has subscription value and what should be offered free to act as promotional material,


• Generation of procedures and protocols for subscription to live IP material,


• Market testing to assess the potential scope for ‘narrow-casting’ – specialist subscription services within Europe,


• Market testing to assess the subscription tariffs needed to sustain an on-going, self-supporting commercial operation.

Challenges

The key issues addressed by SUNRISE are:

• testing the technology in a real environment,


• allowing users to experience the system and provide feedback,


• refining the business models with feedback from the project.

Plan

The Pilot Operation project has four phases:

• Phase I pilot definition phase


• Phase II pilot implementation phase


• Phase III pilot operation phase


• Phase IV review phase.

The project is currently in Phase 1.

Current Status

The main part of the Sunrise project is now complete. The main benefits have been the experience gained by the consortium members in undertaking the series of live events undertaken by the LSO. As well as the many, sometimes prosaic, technical lessons learned, it has been particularly interesting to observe how musicians, initially unclear about the technology and its benefits, have become very enthusiastic about the new media. The venues for master classes and special events, which were relatively informal, have provided an alternative platform to the concert hall for musicians to demonstrate their musicianship and personalities. In this regard, streaming music content to specialist audiences over a wide geographic area has been a great success.

Sunrise is now continuing with a work package to encode the LSO’s material in a variety of ways and to assess audience reactions. The methods envisaged are MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4 at rates to be selected. The objective is to identify an encoding method and rate that satisfies the demands of the orchestral material without being too demanding on satellite resources.