Israeli Pay TV Innovator Yes Launches Mobile TV Service with Cisco Videoscape

Israeli subscribers to satellite TV provider yes can now view 60+ channels of live/linear video, and thousands of on-demand titles, on devices well beyond the television set — and they can do so inside and outside of their homes.

It kicked off on December 23, when yes announced its “yesGO” service to PCs and Macs, as well as iOS and Android devices. (Tablets are particularly popular in Israel — nearly 40% of yes’ subscribers own them.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezf_MCwdq8o

With the new yesGO service, customers can stream (but not download) content at 720P, with full trick play support (rewind/fast forward) as well as preservation of state (resume on one screen where you left off on another.)

Yes is an established innovator in the Israeli marketplace, having been the first in the region to launch HD programming and digital video recorders. The development of a TV Everywhere/ OTT service like yesGO is in keeping with that pioneering spirit. Plus, it helped that yes required all suppliers to come in with open APIs and OpenStack components.

Cisco’s worked side by side with yes in preparation for this launch, providing the foundational technologies that make it happen. The yesGO platform is anchored in our Videoscape solution suite, which innately supports open and documented APIs. We provided the encoders and transcoders, for adaptive bit rate streaming, along with our Videoscape Media Suite line. Further, the Internet streaming component relies on our CDN, and is based on our Videoscape Distribution Suite (VDS.) The client technology is based on TVInci.

There’s more to come on this project, particularly as yes evolves its distribution network toward a private, OpenStack-based cloud. Click here to watch a brief video interview with CTO Itzhak Elyakim filmed at CES, in Las Vegas.