BT Group’s EE and BT Sport have demonstrated the first live two-way broadcast with remote production over 5G, delivered from Wembley Stadium to the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London.
This, they note, is an approach BT Sport will use to increase the coverage available to viewers with more matches and faster highlights.
The final of the FA-recognised EE Wembley Cup 2018 will now be the world’s first live sporting event to be broadcast over 5G using remote production. The event, featuring YouTube’s biggest footballers alongside international football legends, will be broadcast over EE’s 5G network live from Wembley Stadium on the channel of YouTube star Spencer Owen at 2pm on Sunday, November 25.
Commenting on the development, Jamie Hindhaugh, CEO, BT Sport, said: “BT Sport has a rich history of the latest broadcast innovations, whether it’s ultra-high-definition with Dolby Atmos or 360Virtual Reality. 5G will next season enable BT Sport to deploy the most advanced remote production of any broadcaster. It will allow us to cover more live matches from more leagues and competitions, and to bring fans highlights action closer to the final whistle than has ever been done before in the UK”.
The 5G broadcast from Wembley Stadium, using EE’s 5G test network in the stadium, showcases the capabilities of 5G. The test network uses EE’s 3.4GHz spectrum from its first 5G antenna in the stadium, connected to a 10Gbps backhaul link.
Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s Consumer business, added: “This trial is another showcase of what our 5G network can do, and is a big part of our continued investment in using 5G across the whole of BT Group. The EE Wembley Cup Final 2018 will be the world’s first live sporting event to be broadcast over 5G, and that’s part of our on-going commitment to innovation for our customers.”
For broadcasters, EE will deploy 5G network slicing technology to create a broadcast grade network providing the guaranteed latency, bandwidth and quality required for live broadcast. 5G will enable them to send match footage back to base within minutes, opening up more coverage possibilities and reducing costs by reducing the number of technicians required at each game. By adding 5G to its 4G network, EE will create a more reliable data connection and increase reliability and speeds.
