The French Open tennis championships at Roland Garros are again playing host to the latest in television technology.
This year France Télévisions’ RG lab is featuring 360 degree live match broadcasts in 4K, an avatar creation booth and Web3D technology.
The 360 feeds will cover all the matches played on Philippe Chatrier, Suzanne Lenglen and No.1 Court.
Behind the technology is French start-up VideoStitch; it’s using the Orah 4i Live Spherical VR Camera introduced at NAB.
FireKast, another French start-up, will handle the digital processing for all operations on the cloud, another technological first and has released a dedicated app that’s available on iOS, Android and Samsung Gear VR, will let fans view live or replayed matches in full immersion 360 degree 4K.
France Télévisions is also trying out new functions on the YouTube Live 360 player via francetvsport.
For a fourth successive year, the French Tennis Federation and France Télévisions are offering a special event channel for the men’s and women’s singles semi-finals and finals matches. TDF will broadcast these matches in Ultra HD (4K) on DTT in greater Paris and by satellite for the rest of France.
