What is Sky Sports Live Sync? Explanation of the new low-latency sports streaming feature.

Sky is implementing an enhancement that reduces the lag time in live event broadcasts for Sky Glass and Sky Stream users. This new optional feature, called Live Sync, decreases the latency during the transmission of Sky Sports by approximately 22 seconds, thereby bringing what users see closer to real-time.

Thanks to this update, viewers watching live events via broadband will now experience only an eight-second delay between an on-field event and its appearance on screen, instead of the 30 seconds they were accustomed to. For now, Live Sync is available only on the Sky Sports Main Event channel, representing a significant advancement in the streaming experience.

This change ensures that viewers have a delay similar to what they would experience if watching a broadcast via satellite with Sky Q or Sky+ HD. Additionally, it reduces the likelihood of receiving spoilers; when a Premier League team scores, fans will be able to celebrate at the same time as their neighbors who are tuning in via satellite. With only an eight-second delay, there is also less chance for a live score notification to interrupt the user experience.

Live Sync is a new feature that successfully reduces the usual delay of over 30 seconds that users were accustomed to. The reasons behind this delay relate to the conversion and transfer of video files over data cables in the UK. Although Sky has not revealed the technical details of this advancement, it is likely that video processing data procedures for sports events have been optimized, allowing for smaller file sizes and increased transfer speeds.

Sky Stream or Sky Glass users can easily activate Live Sync through several options: accessing the Sky Sports Main Event channel and selecting the Live Sync button that appears on screen, browsing low-latency channels in the Sky TV guide, or using the voice remote to request "Sky Sports Main Event Low Latency" or "Sky Sports Main Event Live Sync."

At this moment, Live Sync is only available in the UK for Sky Sports Main Event, but Sky plans to extend this low-latency functionality to more channels in the future, though it has not specified which ones or when. It is worth noting that Live Sync is a technology exclusive to Sky, meaning it is unlikely to be available for non-Sky-related channels that can also be viewed via Sky Glass or Sky Stream.

Sky has been consulted regarding the possible availability of this feature for those watching sports through the Now TV streaming service, and this information will be updated as soon as a response is received.