Sky Deutschland and LiveU expand collaboration at Special Olympics World Games

With a proof of concept (POC) of 5G multi-camera and cloud production during the Special Olympics World Games, held in Berlin from June 15 to 25, LiveU y Sky Germany has expanded their relationship.

Tanto Sky Germany como NEP, who provided their services at the Games, also used the LiveU EcoSystem with its IP video field units more widely to deliver attractive and dynamic images of other Games events.

Sky Deutschland and LiveU have a long-standing relationship, which goes beyond the traditional customer/solution provider connection and includes multiple 5G trials, with football and handball, designed to highlight the ease of use, flexibility and cost-effectiveness que permite el use of 5G for the contribution of the media.

Collaborating with the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and a 5G service provider to create a private 5G network, and expanding its venue consultancy role, the broadcaster identified the table tennis tournament as ideal for this POC.

Efficiency and flexibility in IP

Alessandro Reitano, senior vice president of sports production at Sky Deutschland, said: “This is a major multi-day global event with a powerful message of inclusion and, with the support of the LOC and LiveU, we found it an ideal opportunity to continue highlighting the future of contribution and production with 5G. Best of all, broadcasters and mobile unit companies, as well as other technology providers, could see the contribution of 5G in action, supported by the efficiency and flexibility of IP connection and setup time. very easy and fast, and contrast it with more traditional workflows.”

The table tennis tournament was held from June 19 until the last day of the event. The chain used the LiveU EcoSystem with a LU800 multi-camera link, in four-camera mode, and three smartphones equipped with LU-Smart to capture the event. The LU800 images, like those from smartphones, were encoded and sent to Munich, where they were decoded by two LiveU decoders. The image mixing was done in the cloud and the final result was made available to both the director of the World Signal and the unilateral signal of Sky Deutschland.

Reitano adds that “the Special Olympics was an inclusive event, not only because of the competition itself, but also because of the collaboration between broadcasters and facilities companies that shared technical knowledge and food for the competition. It is clear that we must continue to highlight to the media, and particularly to the telecommunications industries, the technical and financial advantages of 5G as a transport layer. In our opinion, there is still too much dependence on traditional transport mechanisms. This needs to change to fully enable the use of shortened and much more flexible workflows. We see growing demand from broadcasters who want to use 5G and IP-bonding at large events to promote broader and more diverse coverage. The use of 5G and LiveU opens up a whole new world of possibilities. The need is there.”

Bart Meeus, Senior Manager, Sports EMEA, at LiveU, states that “this was another important milestone that highlights the flexibility, reliability and power of using 5G for contribution, working in perfect combination with our technologies. “We very much see this as the future and agree with Alessandro that there is a need to continue to drive the use of 5G as an industry.”

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