SkyStream, a leader in IP video delivery solutions, announced today that video-on-demand (VOD) provider ReelTime Media Ltd. of Australia is using its zBand content delivery platform to deliver the latest Hollywood and Australian movies, regional fare and specialized video content to service providers and customers in major metropolitan areas in Australia.

zBand -- a popular PUSH VOD software platform with more than 32 satellite, over-the-air datacast and DVB broadcast deployments worldwide -- is the end-to-end system that ingests, packages, schedules and delivers movies and video content to ReelTime's IP-based television set-top box in customers' homes across the country. ReelTime is the world's first service provider to deliver PUSH VOD over broadband to a set-top box in the living room.

"The success of VOD services is hugely dependent on having the right network delivery system and the right content, and ReelTime has scaled a major hurdle by licensing new release movies and popular TV shows for IP distribution through its relationships with more than 20 movie and production studios," said Scott Dougall, general manager of content delivery software for SkyStream. "ReelTime is also breaking new ground as the first VOD service to utilize a pure unicast distribution model over broadband Internet to set-top boxes in the living room using new technology in zBand. Other Internet VOD services are accessible only on computers."

"We chose zBand as our end-to-end content distribution system because of its solid reliability proven in numerous deployments, which lets us light up our service much faster without technical risk so that we can concentrate on managing the business and marketing the service," said John Karantzis, managing director of ReelTime Media Ltd. "We are pleased to be the inaugural customer implementing zBand's new Internet delivery solution which allows us to massively scale our service to millions of viewers while avoiding the video-quality limitations of traditional VOD networks."

Bundling of Services Enhances Take Rate
ReelTime's unique service operates over a DSL footprint serving 2.6 million broadband subscribers across Australia. Customers can sign up to watch ReelTime content on their TV through ReelTime's Internet service provider and retail partners who plan to bundle the service in conjunction with their retail packages. Using zBand, ReelTime will be able to bring the latest Hollywood movies into millions of homes by pre-positioning a fresh selection of titles directly on the customer's ReelTime set-top box so they can enjoy movies at the click of a button. Customers can also request specific titles and personalize their content selections while zBand manages the movie's life cycle on the set-top box.

Large Content Library of New Releases
ReelTime is using zBand to create a revolving library of movies and video content that includes standard-definition (SD) and eventually high-definition (HD) movies (subject to network limitations) that ReelTime customers can access instantly, on demand. The movies are available for a 24-hour period, offering DVD-like control. TV episodes will be available for up to 90 days when purchased as "seasonal" bundles. ReelTime offers a large library of movies to choose from, including new releases and libraries from Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, United Artists, Columbia Pictures, ScreenGems, Palace, IFM, Tri-Star, Playboy TV, Granada and other studios.

zBand 6.0 Enables High-Quality Internet VOD
ReelTime is the first VOD service to use version 6.0 of zBand, which enables reliable unicast or one-to-one delivery of rights-protected Hollywood content. With this new version of zBand, SkyStream aims to set a new standard for secure, high-quality Internet VOD. ReelTime makes full use of new unicast security, quality-of-service (QoS) and authorization features in zBand 6.0, which is now the most fully featured PUSH VOD solution on the market

Hollywood-Approved Content Protection
ReelTime has licensed SecureMedia's Encryptonite System for digital rights management (DRM) in order to license the top VOD content from the leading Hollywood and Australian film studios. The Encryptonite System is fully integrated with zBand to protect the VOD content from piracy during transport and on the set-top box.

The viewer's experience is also enhanced by zBand's Forward Error Correction (FEC), which can repair damaged packets in the distribution, reducing the need to carousel content, making more network bandwidth available to deliver SD and HD movies and ensuring DVD-like picture quality.

"With ReelTime we are redefining the VOD experience by expanding options for movie lovers who now can bypass the drive to the movie rental store by instantly accessing a continually replenished selection of movies in their living room on their TV," added Dougall.