Widevine and IBM are helping Skynet to provide premium TV content to all 25,000 Skynet users in Lithuania. Skynet turned to IBM and content protection partner Widevine for the technology needed to better secure content for television and VoD distribution. To meet consumer demands, Skynet will launch a new service later this year, with basic and premium television channels to will compete with mainstream cable, satellite and other IPTV providers in region. Skynet will deliver PayTV services to set top boxes at their "PenkiTV" subscribers and are planning to expand service delivery to PCs in the very near future.

As the primary information technology vendor and technology integrator for the deal, IBM manages design, delivery and maintenance for the digital video headend from Cisco and content protection from Widevine. Using Widevine, Skynet ensures content providers that content is secured, offering them the critical access to premium content required to make their service attractive, regardless of consumer device.

IBM's ability to manage the transformation to IPTV is an essential ingredient for those providers who don't have extensive technology and business consulting expertise in-house. IBM worked with Skynet on middleware and VoD pilots, consulted with Skynet on IPTV and delivered and integrated Penki TV's digital video headend equipment. IBM is currently providing consulting for Skynet regarding various IPTV areas.

IBM Converged Communications Services for IPTV and triple play infrastructure delivers technical consulting, integration and implementation services. The IPTV infrastructure solution incorporates best-of-breed IBM hardware, software and services along with Cisco products to provide a complete solution, standard components include: IBM BladeCenter and xSeries Servers; software products from IBM WebSphere, Tivoli and Lotus brands; and Cisco end-to-end IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) solutions. The new solution also leverages open source technology.

The agreement was signed in Q2 2008.