Orange Slovakia Selects Appear

Appear has been chosen by Orange Slovakia to support a new centralised operational model for its Video Assisted Referee (VAR) content delivery.

The project supports Orange Slovakia's live coverage of the Slovak First Football League, enabling the Slovak Football Association to move from on-site to a more efficient centralised VAR operation.

The VAR system, used for reviewing footage of contested incidents during sporting events, is one of the most demanding applications in live sports. VAR requires to-the-millisecond synchronisation of the video links between the cameras on the pitch, the referee touchline screen and the centralised Video Operations Room (VOR), which hosts the VAR and assistant VAR referees. The robustness, quality and timing of these video links is critical as VAR video footage can be needed at any time during a sporting event.

Orange Slovakia has chosen Appear's X Platform to manage delivery of the VAR feeds from the stadium to the VOR, and back to the venue for the on-pitch referee to call the decision. Appear’s local partner, Sunteq, provides System Integration services for Orange Slovakia.

Martin Lednár, IoT, TV and Service platforms manager at Orange Slovakia, noted: "The most important element of centralized VAR is having all the camera and video delivery feeds time aligned. Appear’s X Platform provides the robustness and scalability needed to meet the standards of the Slovak Football Association, meaning referees can call a free kick or an offside goal with zero delay. The technology leadership of Appear with strong support from local partner Sunteq offers us an upgrade path to higher standards of contribution in the future, ensuring all football fans continually get the best viewer experience for the world’s most-watched sport."

The remote VAR project is an extension of Orange Slovakia’s existing X Platform capabilities, which now serve as a single, optimised ecosystem for both live contribution and remote VAR operations. The same hybrid system seamlessly handles contribution of live production feeds and remote VAR. By operating both, Orange Slovakia creates an efficient and unified system. This holistic approach enhances its live football coverage and ensures quick and accurate refereeing decisions.