Sky is making streaming the World Cup less fraught with the danger of spoilers, for football fans who are streaming the action rather than watching through a dish or antenna.
The new Real Time feature announced for Sky Glass and Sky Stream earlier this week reduces the inherent delay between live action and it appearing on the display, which is worsened when streaming content due to the need to encode video in a different way. As such, Real Time offers new versions of the BBC One HD, ITV 1 HD and ITV 4 HD that’ll show the games.
Sky says this will result in the games being streamed “almost instantly” and within seconds of the action happening on the field. That’s more in-line with the broadcast television experience. It’s the lowest latency Sky streaming service yet and the company reckons it’ll help viewers avoid goal spoilers from app notifications and friends chiming in the group chats who’re watching the games on conventional telly.
Viewers will see the option to switch their stream when Real Time is available via Sky Glass and Sky Stream, or they can go straight to the new, dedicated channels within the guide.
- BBC One HD RT – EPG number 926-944 (depending on region)
- ITV1 HD RT – EPG channel 945
- ITV4 HD RT – EPG channel 946
Heaven knows I’d love this to become the norm across the live TV streaming industry. I’m constantly having games ruined for me by friends because I use a live TV streaming service in the United States. No matter how many times I tell them, they won’t stop, so my only option is to go dark and not chat about the game with friends.
The trouble is, it’s not just the spoilers that get you. It’s the non-spoilers. If your team gets a corner, for example, you’ll know it amounts to nothing if someone doesn’t comment in the group chat. It’s a living nightmare, folks.
