Fox Sports, LiveLike Kick Off Social Virtual Reality' at CONCACAF Gold Cup Fox will deliver three matches featuring a new social experience that allows users to interact with friends in LiveLike's virtual suite By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Wednesday, June 28, 2017 - 9:00 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Fox Sports and LiveLike are kicking the social aspect of the virtual reality experience up a notch at his year's CONCAF Gold Cup. As part of their plans to produce three live Gold Cup matches in virtual reality, Fox and LiveLike will debut Social Virtual Reality - a new feature that will allow VR and 360-video viewers to connect with others via Facebook and allow them to interact with one another inside LiveLike's virtual-suite experience via avatars and spatial 3D audio.
Users inside the Fox Sports VR virtual suite will be represented by avatars.
This is why LiveLike was created in the first place: to make you feel like you're with your friends when they can't be there physically, says LiveLike Founder and CEO Andre Lorenceau. VR and the [360-video] magic window experience allow you to do that. VR can make you feel like somebody else is there with you [conversing] with you. I've been waiting for so long for this social piece to [come to fruition] for so long, so it's really exciting.
Getting Social for a Trio of Matches
Fox and LiveLike will produce three deliver three matches (sponsored by and presenting Buffalo Wild Wings) in VR - the USA-Panama match on July 8, a TBD match either July 22 or 23, and the Gold Cup championship on July 26 - to the free Fox Sports VR app. During all three live VR/360 streams, viewers will have the ability to recognize each other's avatars and communicate with one another throughout the experience.
The social virtual reality initiative is the latest effort from Fox Sports Lab, which has worked with VR partners over the last 18 months to deliver more than a dozen major events in VR. Michael Davies, Fox Sports SVP Field and Technical Operations, said in Fox's Social VR announcement: The massive feature set of this application keeps growing, and we think that social is a wildly important and seminal moment in the ongoing evolution of the technology.
In the Fox Sports VR app, users will once again be able to choose between multiple camera angles captured by LiveLike VR rigs positioned throughout the field or simply select a director's cut that automatically selects the best camera angle for live game action. In addition, viewers will have access to highlights and replays, as well as multiple preproduced, behind-the-scenes, 360-degree features.
It's not just about having the highest quality 4K VR experience, it's about having the richer experience, says Lorenceau. It's about having this confluence of multiple camera angles, highlights, replays, statistics, and now social and being able to share the experience with friends.
Inside the Social VR Experience
When entering the experience, users will be able to select a Social tab and a Join Friends button that connects the user to Facebook upon authorization. At that point, friends who have done the same will appear in the user's friends list, creating the opportunity to view the experience in a social environment. Additionally, the experience can automatically select a viewing partner at random, with viewers having the ability to seamlessly switch Social VR on or off. Once inside the virtual suite, each user is represented by a customizable avatar.
I see the evolution of video games as the closest analogy [for VR], says Lorenceau. In the late '90s and early 2000s, you had to invite a friend to your couch or go to the arcade to be able to play with other people. But then Xbox Live and PlayStation Network came along and, essentially, all of gaming was taken online for the most part. But sports has never had that moment. Now, if you don't live in the same city or can't get together, this provides you with that communal experience that you simply couldn't have before - with a synced video feed that makes for very clean experience.
The Social VR experience also features spatial 3D audio. When a user turns to look at friend inside the virtual suite, his or her voice will become louder - allowing for multiple conversations to be carried on at once.
The spacialization of audio really makes a big difference in creating that party feel when watching sports together. And it's as easy as turning your head, says Lorenceau. Some people might say that you can still watch the game together using Facebook Messenger or Skype or WhatsApp, but the main difference with our experience is that 3D audio actually allows you to have multiple conversations at the same time. In a normal Skype or WhatsApp channel, if you had four people talking at the same time, it would sound like a scrambled mess.
Looking Ahead: How Will Social Factor into the VR Experience?
According to Lorenceau, the Social VR feature will not necessarily become a standard element in every single LiveLike VR experience moving forward, but the company will look to incorporate it into as many sports properties as possible.
He also adds that LiveLike will continue to explore the potential of incorporating Facebook Live and Periscope live-video feeds into the Social VR functionality in lieu of avatars, but that it is not possible at this time due to the technical limitations of mobile devices
We definitely want to be able to do Facebook Live, as well as more realistic and customizable avatars, he says. But the main limitation right now is that it's hard for the phone to decode. We shoot 4K to create the VR experience and then you add on a live social stream - that takes a lot of [processing] power to decode. But the phones are constantly bei
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Fox Sports, LiveLike Kick Off Social Virtual Reality' at CONCACAF Gold Cup Fox will deliver three matches featuring a new social experience that allows users to interact with friends in LiveLike's virtual suite By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
