Why do we love sports?
09/02/2023
But what is it that makes sports such an important sector? Well, the obvious answer is: a lot of people like to watch them. But that doesn't really tell us much. We need to probe the question more deeply: why do so many people enjoy sports?
The answer is, of course, not singular. But knowing some of the answers has important implications for how we think about the technical job of handling sports broadcast; where our priorities should lie and what ultimately matters to the end user.
The realest of realities
Setting aside WWF for a moment (and current ongoing jokes/conspiracy theories about the state of American Football), there is almost no other form of media that can expose us to such an unfiltered, raw, action-packed form of reality. Every moment on the field is felt viscerally in both the bodies and minds of the players, and by extension, of the fans who watch at home. The reality of the emotion and investment found in a sport is what gives it a power: a power unmatchable by nearly any other form of entertainment.
A moment in time
By virtue of its realness', a moment in sports is necessarily fleeting and transient in its nature. Certainly, you can replay a recording of a moment in sports, but you can never recapture that singular, instantaneous moment of experience. At the risk of being a little poetic, to watch sports is to participate in something entirely ephemeral.
Granting a sense of collective identity
Most importantly, those moments in time are shared moments in time. Even if you are sitting alone in your living room, there is a knowledge that you are sharing a common experience with thousands - perhaps millions - of people across the globe. You are connected not just by an experience, but by a bond, a common hope, a single goal (haha) and an overarching passion.
When the truly human meets the utterly technical
These three elements: immersion in the real', the fleeting nature of time, and the desire for connection are all part of one single idea: what it means to be human. Sports is, at its most fundamental level, a celebration of people: what they can do, who they can be, and what they share.
Which can be a tricky thing when it comes to technology, because technology has historically been a bit short of the mark when it comes to capturing the human experience in all its glory (though ChatGPT might be about to make some scary inroads on that front ).
None-the-less, understanding the truly human dimension of sport - and why that dimension is so central to its popularity - can tell us a lot about how we deliver sports on a technical level. But what exactly?
Centrally, it tells us that precision counts. Every micro-second matters. Increasingly demanding expectations regarding broadcast quality and reliability exist across all sectors, but none so more than in sports. A moment of jitter, packet drop or buffer fundamentally impacts the extent to which an audience can feel fully immersed in the moment they are watching, and thus fully connected with the world they are watching it with. If you think to the World Cup just passed, where crowds of thousands gathered in the streets, imagine the frustration - and pandemonium - if those screens (and the screens of every living room around) all received their signals at a different time. Or, horror of horrors, if the signal dropped just as Mbapp approached the goal in the 108th minute.
Our investigation of why we love sports also stresses to us the significance of sports as a global undertaking. Which means it doesn't only have to make its way to TV screens across the globe, but it must be collected from global locations all around the world, all of which have different historical and economic backgrounds that have led to significant discrepancies in the way their technological infrastructure has advanced. Indeed, regardless of inherited' national infrastructure issues, even as we move into a largely globalized, remotely-centred reset' through the introduction of IP, there are still huge divergences in the standards and approaches used by different broadcasters and vendors in different locations.
The ultimate goal
The key take-home of this blog: technology dealing with contribution and distribution in the field of sports needs to a) accommodate and harmonize a vast range of different technological approaches, and b) they need to do it very quickly. Like, micro-seconds of latency quickly.
Achieving this has been, and remains, one of the key goals of Sencore's efforts: to remain as flexible as an Olympic gymnast, as speedy as championship sprinter, and as accurate as a Masters' golf putter. Across a range of platforms, including a number low latency solutions for remote production, contribution and distribution, we continue to push the limits of HEVC, ST 2110 and JPEG-XS UHD support, across streaming protocols that includes SRT, RIST, Zixi and HLS. This focus on integrating as many standards as possible to maximize interoperability across networks - all in a split second, on a remote basis means we've seen products such as our DMG 4000 deployed as the media gateway backbone of a 100G WAN network belonging to one of the Big Four US broadcasters. Some of the most important sports moments of the past two
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
10/05/2024
Allen Media Group, Hawaiian Telcom Sign Multi-Year Distribution Deal
LOS ANGELES Byron Allen's Allen Media Group (AMG) has announced a multi-year comprehensive portfolio agreement with Hawaiian Telcom for continued carriage o...
10/05/2024
LG Ad Solutions to Adopt Unified ID 2.0
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. LG Ad Solutions has announced that it has started to integrate the Unified ID 2.0 solution (UID2) into its platform....
10/05/2024
CBS Sports Expands Streaming Coverage of National Women's Soccer League
CBS Sports has expanded its partnership with the National Women's Soccer League by adding multiplatform coverage of 22 additional regular season matches. Th...
10/05/2024
Sinclair Prebooks $77M in Political Ads
Sinclair's Q1 2024 financial report once again highlighted the growing importance of political advertising for broadcasters at a time when core TV advertisi...
10/05/2024
Nexstar Reports Record Q1 Revenue
IRVING, TEXAS Nexstar reported record first quarter net revenue of $1.28 billion, up 2.1%, thanks to higher distribution revenue. But advertising revenue at the...
10/05/2024
Tegna Names David Loving President & GM of KHOU and KTBU in Houston
TYSONS, Va. Tegna Inc. has named David Loving president and general manager at KHOU, the CBS affiliate, and KTBU, Tegna's stations serving Houston, Texas, e...
10/05/2024
New FILM LOOK CREATOR in DaVinci Resolve 19 will put LUT creators out of business!
New FILM LOOK CREATOR in DaVinci Resolve 19 will put LUT creators out of busines...
10/05/2024
Spotted at CBC
Capitol Broadcasting employees frequently walk past photo shoots in progress when leaving work in the evenings. The WRAL Gardens and the striking architecture o...
10/05/2024
Berklee and Audio Engineering Society to Host Symposium on AI in Music
Berklee and Audio Engineering Society to Host Symposium on AI in Music The inaugural AES International Symposium on AI and the Musician will highlight excitin...
10/05/2024
LG Ad Solutions Integrating Trade Desk's Unified ID 2.0
LG Ad Solutions, the advertising arm of smart-TV maker LG Electronics, said it has begun to integrate the Unified ID 2.0 identity system developed by The Trade ...
10/05/2024
NBC Affiliates To Get Cut-Ins During Olympic Coverage To Promote Local News
NBC and its affiliates have worked out an arrangement that will give affiliates 90-second cut-ins during daytime network coverage of the Paris Olympic games....
10/05/2024
NBC Sends Leslie Jones to Paris for Offbeat Olympics Coverage
Comedian Leslie Jones is joining NBCUniversal's Olympics coverage this summer as what NBCU calls chief super fan commentator. She had a similar role at NB...
10/05/2024
Brooke Shields Stars in Netflix Film Mother of the Bride'
Brooke Shields stars in the rom-com Mother of the Bride, which premieres on Netflix May 9. Mark Waters directs the film, about a destination wedding in Thailand...
09/05/2024
Billie Eilish and Spotify Invite You Inside the Mysterious Universe of HIT ME HARD AND SOFT'
Billie Eilish fans have been waiting with bated breath for her third studio albu...
09/05/2024
12 Artists, 6 Countries, Endless Talent: Meet the RADAR Latin America Class of 2024
From reggaeton to M sica Mexicana, Latin artists are reshaping the rhythm of glo...
09/05/2024
12 Artistas, 6 pases, talento infinito: Conoce a la clase RADAR Latinoamrica del 2024
Desde el reggaet n hasta la M sica Mexicana, los artistas latinos est n dando fo...
09/05/2024
Join Costa Georgiadis, Melissa Leong & Samuel Johnson For New Ground-breaking Series: The Hospital: In The Deep End
Join Costa Georgiadis, Melissa Leong & Samuel Johnson For New Ground-breaking Se...
09/05/2024
Alone Australia audience continues to grow
Alone Australia audience continues to grow 9 May, 2024 Media releases The program continues to deliver for SBS with significant uplifts in digital BVOD vie...
09/05/2024
Factories of the Future: Aerojet Rocketdyne Completes Key Milestones in Expansion and Modernization Effort
Aerojet Rocketdyne is achieving key milestones executing the $215.6M Cooperative...
09/05/2024
Join Calrec at MPTS 2024
Join Calrec at MPTS 2024 | May 15 -16 | Booth A40 | Olympia, London We're looking forward to meeting up with customers and partners at this year's Media...
09/05/2024
NHL Draft to be First Live Televised Event from Vegas' Sphere
The 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held at Sphere in Las Vegas on Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29, marking the first time the event will be held in Las...
09/05/2024
WBD Nears 100M Streaming Subs, Streaming Profits Up
NEW YORK In its Q1 2024 earnings report, Warner Bros. Discovery continued to see growth in its streaming operations, adding 2 million streaming subs in Q1 2024 ...
09/05/2024
Custom Consoles Unveils M-Desk Refinements
LEIGHTON BUZZARD, U.K. Custom Consoles has announced refinements to its M-Desk Technical HA heavy duty height-adjustable desk workstation....
09/05/2024
Veritone Rolls Out AI Consulting, Services Group
DENVER Veritone has launched a consulting and services group focused on bridging the marketplace gap it says exists for seamless artificial intelligence (AI) im...
09/05/2024
How sound (and the technology behind it) can set the tone and enhance emotions in film and TV
Sefi Carmel, CEO and founder of SphereTrax, talks about the importance of the so...
09/05/2024
Yale University's Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM) Cultivates Creativity with Blackmagic Design
Yale University's Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM) Cultivates ...
09/05/2024
Blender: Awesome Rack Focus Rig
Blender: Awesome Rack Focus Rig Simon Ubsdell May 9, 2024 0 Comments In which we build a focusing rig in the Blender compositor to enable selective fo...
09/05/2024
Peacock Orders The Office' Offshoot
Peacock has picked up a series from Greg Daniels, who developed The Office for NBC, that is set in the same universe, according to the network, as the NBC hit...
09/05/2024
Sinclair Net Income Drops To $23 Million in First Quarter
Sinclair reported lower net income in the first quarter as distribution revenues rose and ad revenue excluding political spending dipped....
09/05/2024
Vizio Reports $12.1 Million Loss for First Quarter
Vizio Holding Corp., which has agreed to be acquired by Walmart, reported a loss in the first quarter despite growth in its advertising and data businesses....
09/05/2024
Kathleen Keefe, Broadcasting Exec, Dies at 68
Kathleen Keefe, who served as VP of sales for both Hearst Television and Post-Newsweek Stations, died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Roxbury, Connecticu...
09/05/2024
Future Today Adds Movies From Warner Bros Discovery to Fawesome
Streaming company Future Today said it made a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that will bring 46 movies to Future Today's Fawesome channel....
09/05/2024
Warner Bros. Discovery Reports $966 Million First-Quarter Loss
Despite reporting a profit for its direct-to-consumer business, Warner Bros. Discovery reported a big loss as it took huge write-downs in the first quarter....
09/05/2024
Nexstar Reports Higher Net Income in First Quarter
Nexstar Media Group reported higher first-quarter earnings and said that it cut losses at The CW by $50 million year-over-year....
09/05/2024
Fubo Grabs Viewer Attention, According to TVision Study
Fubo, the sports-focused streaming service, scored high in getting its viewers attention, according to a study conducted by measurement and analytics company TV...
09/05/2024
SailGP Expanding LiveLineFX Graphics Platform to Other Sports
LONDON SailGP, which sponsors high-speed boat racing events worldwide says it is developing its LiveLineFX sports graphics platform for use in other sports....
09/05/2024
Disney, WBD to Offer Streaming Bundle Starting this Summer
BURBANK, Calif. Starting this summer, U.S. consumers will be able to purchase a new streaming bundle offered by Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery that includes ...
09/05/2024
Sony and Apollo plan to break up Paramount'
Companies are expected to sell off Paramounts linear channels as well as close Paramount Plus By Jenny Priestley Published: May 9, 2024 Companies are expe...
09/05/2024
Paramount Global Selects Amdocs Vubiquity to Provide Mana...
Amdocs (NASDAQ:DOX), a leading provider of software and services to communications and media companies, today announced that Vubiquity, an Amdocs company, has b...
09/05/2024
CueScript Awarded Best of Show for CueFlip at NAB 2024
CueScript, the leading developer of professional teleprompting solutions, has announced that its CueFlip screen-to-screen folding field prompter has won in this...
09/05/2024
Mother's Day Ideas from CBC
Capitol Broadcasting has a myriad of ways to celebrate Mom! In honor of Mother's Day, here are a few ideas CBC divisions have to help you honor, or remember...
09/05/2024
Scripps Appoints New President and CEO of the Scripps Howard Fund
CINCINNATI Meredith Delaney has been appointed president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Fund, the philanthropic arm of The E.W. Scripps Company....
09/05/2024
Walmart Launches the Onn. 4K Streaming Device
Following leaks earlier this month of Walmart's plans to launch a new 4K streaming box, Walmart has officially unveiled the Onn. 4K Pro, a hybrid streaming ...
09/05/2024
DirecTV Adds More CW Stations
DirecTV continues to add CW affiliates to its streaming line-up, with the addition of four stations owned by Gray Television....
09/05/2024
Takeshi Kitano's film KUBI graded with DaVinci Resolve
Takeshi Kitano's film KUBI graded with DaVinci Resolve Brie Clayton May 8, 2024 0 Comments Blackmagic Design today announced that DaVinci Resolve ...
09/05/2024
zweiB updates to latest version of R&S CLIPSTER
zweiB updates to latest version of R&S CLIPSTER Brie Clayton May 8, 2024 0 Comments Specialist in deliverables for cinema, events and trade shows Ro...
09/05/2024
Simplify Your Filmmaking with Portable Lights
Simplify Your Filmmaking with Portable Lights Sean Alami May 8, 2024 0 Comments Discover the sleek, mobile Zhiyun lights that enhance cinematic scenes...
09/05/2024
The Benefits of using an Audio Interface
The Benefits of using an Audio Interface Colin Smith May 8, 2024 0 Comments This tutorial takes you through the hardware and software benefits of usin...