Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Match Ball: Bringing the PSA German Open 2024 to Global Viewers When On-Site Connectivity Failed to Deliver

22/07/2024

Match ball: Bringing the PSA German Open 2024 to global viewers when on-site connectivity failed to deliver By Heather McLean

Friday, July 19, 2024 - 10:16

Print This Story

The German Open 2024 held in Hamburg was the first event in the country for the PSA, and the first time it turned up to find no broadcast connectivity available

The German Open 2024 held in Hamburg by the Professional Squash Association (PSA) was between a rock and a hard place on getting its broadcast out to viewers from The Sportwerk Centre when the team arrived on site to find that sufficient connectivity was not available. That was until its transmission and distribution partner, Auriga Networks, delivered a kill shot with the Open Broadcast Systems' 5G Flyaway.

The Open [3 to 7 April] was the first event the PSA has ever held in Germany, and as such the venue was an unknown to organisers of the event, the PSA's Andy Malley, head of operations and Dan Dobby, production manager for SquashTV.

Dobby comments on what happened at the German Open 2024: Most of the production side is definitely developed weeks in advance, but it's only when we get on site that we actually understand what is available to us. Dealing with the internet company or the person on site who manages the network [in advance], to then actually [getting to site and] just unravelling the things that haven't been mentioned. The majority of the events we return to, we know they'll work, but the events that are new, like the German Open, we weren't sure.

The PSA's transmission and distribution partner, Auriga Networks, delivered a kill shot for the lack of connectivity at the German Open 2024 with the OBE 5G Flyaway from Open Broadcast Systems

Challenging transmissions

The PSA operates Tournaments around the world, everywhere from Europe, the US, Asia down to New Zealand, in a number of iconic locations, from the base of the pyramids in Egypt, to Grand Central Station in New York.

All of these events are broadcast both to the internet on SquashTV and to terrestrial broadcasters, TNT Sport. Amazon Prime, and other global rights holders via BT Tower in London.

Says Stephen Flood, manager director at Auriga Networks, the PSA's video distribution partner: When running multiple courts for a tournament, there are around 40 or so live feeds to be delivered. The general workflow is to land a broadcast quality HD SDI feed in London for subsequent distribution and re-encoding off to the broadcast partners in multiple formats, so regardless of event location, the broadcast distribution point is always from London.

The contribution feed from event site to London is principally over IP with conventional satellite being used in a few territories working in conjunction with local broadcasters, IP being the principle for cost reasons.

However, Flood adds: There are a number of challenges both organisational and technical. Squash is a very fast game, ball speeds are as fast as tennis but over a much smaller screen area, so encoding quality and bandwidth are paramount for ball visibility. Tournaments are around a week long and long 12 hour days, so maintaining consistent connectivity is challenging, compared to news which can be a three minute package, or football which is four hours.

Crowds watch the PSA German Open 2024 unfold

No connectivity

Network availability on site is often challenging for the PSA team, but over the years, revisiting sites for competitions means most issues become manageable. Says Flood: We can deal with diversity and redundant routes even using internet bearers - Auriga is a specialist ISP so can select peers and backbones for each event - so selective use of the internet is the approach.

However, the German Open was at risk of not being able to broadcast when the team arrived on site and realised there was no sufficient connectivity that would enable them to broadcast.

Flood notes: Redundant dual connectivity from site is a real issue. Most event buildings only have a single viable connection or provider and this is where 5G comes in, and at times you discover you have nothing as we did in Hamburg.

We have experimented with 4G in the past, but there are too many issues configuring local sim cards and usually discovering that the promised unlimited data consumption is capped and the whole thing becomes impractical, continues Flood. Low cost satellite, Leo's, Starlink etc on its own is not a solution; there are too many drop outs when a satellite is missing from the constellation and it is not available or legal in all territories, nor is line of site or roof access always practical (Grand Central Station would be fun!). Crew demands increase as well in dealing with these solutions. However, this is where the Open Broadcast Systems bonded solution and global roaming SIMs on pay as you go become a game changer.

The PSA German Open 2024 took place in Hamburg from 3 to 7 April

Bonded 5G

Open Broadcast Systems launched its 5G Flyaway at NAB earlier this year. Built in collaboration with Zixi, the 5G bonding solution lets sports broadcasters reach fibre and satellite picture quality over cellular networks and deliver them as standard Constant Bitrate MPEG Transport Streams.

Flood comments: In Hamburg we looked at various options, like could we put a sat truck in and things like that, but they were cost prohibitive; Hamburg wasn't an exceptionally large event with a full on broadcast budget.

But we'd been talking to Kieran [Kieran Kunhya, founder and CEO at Open Broadcast Systems] and he said, I've got this thing, it's really good, we've got no idea if it works, come and use it . So we went, yeah, all right then . And we did and it worked. He came over to support it because the event was close to the airport so he literally flew in, put in two boxes and r
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/match-ball-bringing-the-psa-g...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

23/06/2026

Colorfront Support for AWS CDI Unlocks New Potential for Cloud-Based Visual Effects and Content Creation

December 7, 2022 Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the multi-award-winning develope...

23/06/2026

Colorfront Delivers Even More AI Automation Power and Extends Technology Partnerships with Dolby, Apple

April 23, 2026 NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...

23/06/2026

IAB Tech Lab Releases SupplyChain v1.1

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Besco to Represent PlayBox Neo in South Korea

PlayBox Neo appoints Besco as Channel Reseller to establish a firm foothold in Asia Pacific's thriving high-tech export-driven economic boom PlayBox Neo, t...

23/06/2026

PBS Selects LTN to Power Nationwide IP Video Network

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

PBS selects LTN for nationwide IP video network

LTN, a global leader in IP-based video transport and network services, today announced that PBS has selected LTN as its IP video partner to modernize and future...

23/06/2026

The LiveU Q Era Arrives in ANZ with the LU900Q at ABE2026

LiveU will introduce its Q Era to Australia and New Zealand for the first time at ABE2026 on Stand No. 25, (July 30 31). Leading the showcase is the LU900Q, a n...

23/06/2026

Miri Technologies Ships V410 Live 4K Video Encoder-Decode...

Miri Technologies Inc. has begun shipping its highly anticipated V410 live 4K video encoder/decoder for streaming, IP-based production workflows and AV-over-IP ...

23/06/2026

DHD SX2 and TX2 Consoles Go On-Air at Radio Tzafon

DHD audio reports the completion of an upgrade to the audio production facilities at the Galilee headquarters of Radio Tzafon. The station broadcasts two progra...

23/06/2026

Nagravision Launches Nagra Venturi Security Offering

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

ITN Expands Programmatic Local TV Platform

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Warner Bros. Discovery Taps AWS for New AI-Powered Ad Tech

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Study: Younger Viewers More Distracted But More Receptive to Ads

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Chilevisin, ClaroVTR Tap Pixop for 4K FIFA World Cup Feed

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Imagine Communications Names Greg Garmon as Senior Vice P...

Multifaceted Growth Executive Brings 20+ Years of Experience Leading Organizations Across Tech and M&E Imagine Communications today announced the appointment ...

23/06/2026

Australians in Film and Screen Australia's talent development initiative UNTAPPED returns for 2026

Australians in Film and Screen Australia's talent development initiative UNT...

23/06/2026

Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay Control at InfoComm 2026

Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay Control at InfoComm 2026 Brie Clayton June 22, 2026 0 Comments New Relay Solution Combines DMX, ...

23/06/2026

SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible, Opening Standards Library to the Global Media Technology Community

SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible, Opening Standards Library to the Gl...

23/06/2026

Arqiva response to DCMS Green Paper

The priority now is a clear and credible plan June 23, 2026, Winchester, UK - Arqiva, the UK's leading communications infrastructure provider, welcomes tod...

23/06/2026

RT AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION IRELAND ANNOUNCE RT TOY SHOW APPEAL GRANT AWARDS 2026

The RT Toy Show Appeal has raised over 31 million since its inception in 2020 ...

23/06/2026

NVIDIA Powers Over 400 of the World's 500 Fastest Supercomputers

News Highlights: NVIDIA technology runs 81% of the TOP500 and 90% of the systems new to the list. 26 systems on the TOP500 adopted the NVIDIA Grace CPU, up ei...

23/06/2026

How Businesses Are Building Specialized AI They Can Trust

Companies are asking how to build specialized AI that fits with the way their workflows actually run. The first wave of enterprise AI was about access. Compan...

23/06/2026

June 22, 2026

Newly identified molecule strengthens the eye's response to damage in retinal disease Scripps Research discovery finds that restoring the naturally occurrin...

22/06/2026

Behind the Mic: SportsCenters Lisa Cohn to Retire This June From ESPN as Longest-Tenured Anchor

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...

22/06/2026

Cosm Appoints David Ho as Chief Legal Officer

Cosm has announced the appointment of David Ho as Chief Legal Officer, a newly created executive role reporting to President and CEO Jeb Terry. Ho will oversee ...

22/06/2026

Warner Bros. Discovery and AWS Announce AI-Powered Advertising Technology Platform

Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the developm...

22/06/2026

Daktronics Completes Audio Control System Upgrade at Petco Park for San Diego Padres

Daktronics has completed an audio control system upgrade at Petco Park in San Di...

22/06/2026

Accelerate Media Names John Willi President, Launches Accelerate Sports Network

Accelerate Media has named John Willi as President and announced the launch of the Accelerate Sports Network (ASN), a prep sports media and streaming platform c...

22/06/2026

AWSN to Air 3XBA Womens Basketball Tournament Live June 26-27

All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) and 3XBA (3 3 Basketball Association) have announced live television coverage of the annual 3XBA tournament on Friday, Jun...

22/06/2026

OWL AI Appoints Jay Prasad as Chief Executive Officer

OWL AI has announced the appointment of Jay Prasad as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Prasad succeeds Josh Gwyther, who has served...

22/06/2026

CP Communications Provides RF Support for Inside the NBA at 2026 NBA Finals

CP Communications delivered RF video and audio support for TNT's Inside the NBA at the 2026 NBA Finals, providing main show coverage in San Antonio and ea...

22/06/2026

Polymarket and GRID Partner to Integrate Esports Data and Streaming into Trading Platform

Polymarket has announced a partnership with GRID, an official esports data platf...

22/06/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Metinteractive's Rachel Mele, Ken Cyr on Building Technology Backbones for Sports Venues

As sports venues continue to evolve into more video-centric, fan-engagement-driv...

22/06/2026

SVG All-Stars: Corbin Perkins, Chief Engineer, Victory+

As the regional sports production scene shifts toward streaming, this Texan helps lead the engineering behind Victory+'s growing live platform...

22/06/2026

Meet the 2026 Sundance Institute Documentary Edit Intensive Fellows

By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs the memories of your elders [are] a scaffolding for you to build your identity on - and t...

22/06/2026

Blade joins CEDAR Audio Icons line-up

New hyper-resolution analyser EQ revealed CEDAR Audio's all-new Icons plug-in series has just gained its newest member, Blade. Described by the compan...

22/06/2026

Sampleson release Aeronaut

Turn any live input into a cinematic soundscape Designed for use in the studio and on stage, Sampleson's latest creation is capable of taking any audio ...

22/06/2026

ADDAC System's new Four Strings Series

Adds guitar strings to Eurorack rigs ADDAC System are renowned for their weird and wonderful synth designs, and their line-up includes plenty of gear that&#...

22/06/2026

FIFA World Cup 2026 fever grows, as more than one third of Australians tune in to SBS coverage

FIFA World Cup 2026 fever grows, as more than one third of Australians tune in ...

22/06/2026

NAGRA Venturi - Turning Piracy Intelligence into Measurable Business Impact

In our latest blog, Tim Pearson explores NAGRA Venturi, the new streaming security solution for the AI era from NAGRAVISION. Designed to aggregate and analyze ...

22/06/2026

Xumo Expands Contextual Targeting Capabilities Through Gracenote and IRIS.TV Integrations

Expanded integrations give advertisers access to distinct contextual signals acr...

22/06/2026

Greg Garmon Joins Imagine as Senior VP, Americas Video Sales

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/06/2026

Kaleidescape Breaks the 8K and 4:4:4 Barriers

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/06/2026

Xilica introduces Dynamic Voice Lift in new Designer

Xilica today announced the release of Dynamic Voice Lift, a new feature in Xilica Designer v4.12 that brings adaptive speech reinforcement to large meeting spac...

22/06/2026

NVIDIA Brings Trusted, 24/7 AI Agents to Telecom Operations

Telecom operators have seen remarkable returns from using generative AI to automate network management, customer care and back-office operations. Most of that i...

22/06/2026

Official trailer released for Katie Price: Nothing to Hide, coming to Sky and NOW on 8 July

Monday 22 June 2026 Official trailer released for Katie Price: Nothing to Hide,...