Live Streaming of 91st PGA Championship Coming to iPhone

Akamai Technologies has confirmed it will be the exclusive live video streaming provider to Turner Sports for the official PGA Championship application available on the App Store. Held between August 13-16, the 91st PGA Championship will have 18 hours of television coverage on TNT complemented by four video streams of live coverage exclusively on PGA.com, Akamai Technologies says.

With viewing conditions varying dramatically from carrier EDGE networks to 3G, to WIFI, variable bit rate streaming allows users of the streaming service to enable a high-fidelity viewing experience at any bit rate.

“Turner Sports is known for its innovation in presenting content across multiple platforms, and this is another example of that strategy,” said Tim Napoleon, chief strategist for Digital Media at Akamai. “Organizations like Turner Sports are leading the charge with live streaming and taking the fan experience to a whole new level to mobile devices. Streaming the PGA Championship live to the iPhone and iPod touch brings a personalized and high-quality experience to even more golf fans, no matter where they are. With increasingly better connectivity over WiFi, we’ve reached the point where high definition experiences are no longer limited to the PC.”

“Inlet works closely with Akamai to ensure our live encoding service for mobile applications works seamlessly across the Akamai network to provide for the optimal live video experience,” said John Bishop, senior vice president of strategy and business development, Inlet Technologies. “Working with Akamai we are able to provide a smooth end to end process for content providers to make it easier to deliver next generation video experiences – such as variable bit rate streaming.”

The PGA Champion app for iPhone and iPod touch is immediately available for download via the iTunes App Store using the link below. The app, developed by PGA.com, is the first of its kind to feature OS 3.0’s Push Notification and Live Video Streaming, therefore only OS 3.0 software is supported.

Download PGA Championship via iTunes ($1.99)