Streaming the Games: 2016 Summer Olympics Coverage Live video has become one of the most effective ways to stand out and connect with an audience and Rio 2016 exemplifies this change more than any recent event. There is no question that this was the most live-streamed Olympic games ever. It has been reported that NBC alone delivered almost 3 billion minutes of live streaming during the 2016 Rio Olympics. While NBC featured select games from Rio for prime time viewing, they gave online audiences the ability to go online and watch the full extent of sports and competitions round the clock. This gave viewers the freedom to watch what they wanted - how they wanted. But they weren't the only one's streaming, or vying for attention with unique live content and news around the games in Brazil.
The technology behind this shift When planning major live events such as the Olympics, broadcasters would have to jump through hoops and spend significant dollars on technology and resources needed to go live. When we look back at the Olympics eight and even four years ago, the to-do list and budget process was quite extensive. The only way to transmit - if they were not using IP - would be to lease dedicated bandwidth from the site (Sochi, London, etc.) directly to their production facility in their own country. This would entail either leasing private fiber lines for a private, physical link from the remote location all the way home or planning SAT times.
All of these resources were needed to capture most shots from the games and definitely didn't allow for a lot of creativity - you had to plan where your broadcast or report was set up in order to have this physical link. So being able to run after a story or get more creative shots from the surrounding areas proved too difficult and too costly to perform. The move to Video Over IP and bonding technology over the past eight years has created the opportunity for broadcasters to send more video teams and reporters to cover more at the Olympics and not be confined to a static location with an expensive satellite truck or fiber line.
LiveU's first key Olympics deployment was at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At that time, Video Over IP was still in the early days and many broadcasters were afraid the technology wasn't reliable enough and still wanted to have their satellite connection. For example, the first bonded field unit ever used at the Olympics was the LiveU LU20. At the time, it was considered groundbreaking technology. It supported six cellular modems, but the average uplink speed was only 1 Mbps due to the cellular infrastructure at the time.
Just four short years later, the move to IP bonding was well underway. Network connection speeds allowed for HD live video transmission at 3 Mbps and LiveU field units provided more flexibility and options. Over 100 LiveU field units were used in London 2012. Instead of leasing dedicated private fiber lines, broadcasters leased bandwidth that could be used for live shots, as well as other uses such as email and file-based workflows. Using LiveU field units, broadcasters could stream direct live shots over the public Internet instead of needing private bandwidth or use their field units to transmit wirelessly from cell networks in-country back to the U.S. or other locations around the world.
Today, LiveU has products and solutions for broadcasters of any size and offers many different options and enhancements including support of new LTE modems.
Customers at the Rio Olympics were not only able to get LiveU encoders tailored for use in Brazil, but also had access to onsite support and could add dedicated Wi-Fi in key locations. LiveU had 75 international broadcast customers in Brazil who streamed almost 6,000 hours of live video in total. This equates to almost 4,000 Gigabytes of data from the 300 LiveU field units deployed at the games.
What's Next? The forecast for live streaming at the next Olympics looks promising. It's evident from the increase in live content shared and the large viewership numbers that live streaming will play an integral role at the upcoming PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games. Products like the new LiveU LU600 will allow for wireless H.265 HEVC live video transmission, LiveU Solo for one-touch live online streaming such as directly to Facebook Live, and new VR live streaming technologies will bring viewers even more engaging content wherever and however they choose to watch.
Most recent headlines
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Long-term agreement includes the SES SCORE platform and hybrid distribution worldwide to deliver more than 5,000 hours of golf tournaments annually featuring th...
17/12/2025
Investigative journalists across the Western Balkans and T rkiye continue to con...
17/12/2025
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts 10 Industry Icons During Unforgettable ...
17/12/2025
ESPN to Debut MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats, a New AI-Driven NFL Data-AltCastThe series, powered by Adrenaline TruPlay AI, launches Dec. 22 and runs through ...
17/12/2025
Inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games Debut Under the Lights' in Primetime on ...
17/12/2025
The right playlist is essential on New Year's Eve, building the energy as you get ready and keeping it high as you count down to midnight. This year, Spotif...
17/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
17/12/2025
Audiences Watched Over 103 Billion Minutes of TV on Thanksgiving Day
NFL Games ...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
17/12/2025
December 17 2025, 17:00 (PST) Dolby and LG Unveil a New Era of Home Audio With ...
17/12/2025
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Heated Rivalry will be coming to Sky and streaming service NOW on 10 JanuaryTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy opti...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Inside The Unseen World Of Indian Customs: Netflix Reveals The...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix announces PAPARAZZI KING: the docu series coming to Ne...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First Look at Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole Pr...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Welcomes Warner Bros. Discovery Board Recommendation
Business
17 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
After Careful Revi...
17/12/2025
RT has announced that Kathy Fox has been appointed Commissioning Editor with re...
17/12/2025
The Hao AI Lab research team at the University of California San Diego - at the forefront of pioneering AI model innovation - recently received an NVIDIA DGX B...
17/12/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
Streaming the Games: 2016 Summer Olympics Coverage Live video has become one of the most effective ways to stand out and connect with an audience and Rio 2016 exemplifies this change more than any recent event. There is no question that this was the most live-streamed Olympic games ever. It has been reported that NBC alone delivered almost 3 billion minutes of live streaming during the 2016 Rio Olympics. While NBC featured select games from Rio for prime time viewing, they gave online audiences the ability to go online and watch the full extent of sports and competitions round the clock. This gave viewers the freedom to watch what they wanted - how they wanted. But they weren't the only one's streaming, or vying for attention with unique live content and news around the games in Brazil.
