28 September 2005
Chelsea F.C. to provide 'real-time' web and mobile photos services with ShootLive
Chelsea Football Club has become the first Premiership club to offer a live picture service to fans using the innovative ShootLive technology. This will allow the club to efficiently deliver 'real-time' photography for new media applications in less than 60 seconds.
ShootLive will initially power two new services for Chelsea fans: a photo gallery on the club's website that will be updated live during matches and a service to deliver action photos live to fans' mobile phones during matches. The club will launch both services in October.
"Using ShootLive means we can provide a high-quality photo service during matches to our fans," said Simon Greenberg, director of communications at Chelsea. "Chelsea is committed to using new technologies to provide the best experience for our fans, and ShootLive will help us to do this."
"With ShootLive, new media providers and rights holders can increase revenue from new markets, while controlling their costs," said Mark Habgood, ShootLive Marketing Director. "It also provides a valuable service to newspapers and news agencies, helping them to quickly access a wide variety of great photography during an event, while keeping their workflow as efficient as possible."
Developed by EMPICS and now owned by the Press Association, ShootLive is an innovative system that delivers "real time" photography from sports, entertainment or news events for new media applications and to newspaper picture desks. Pictures are provided already colour-corrected and captioned in only 60 seconds from the shutter click, with multiple crops for different formats. They are also time-stamped to associate them with the Press Association's data feed, for example minute-by-minute match data.
The system is easy for photographers to use, allowing them to concentrate on taking pictures. The pictures are transmitted from the ShootLive system carried by the photographer to the operations centre, where a ShootLive Technician selects, edits and captions the best photos.
ShootLive is part of a wider deal that Chelsea has signed with EMPICS, under which EMPICS will exclusively sell and license the club's photography, and will provide Chelsea with database support and other photography services.