Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

From 4G to 5G: BT Sport on COVID-19 Forcing the Evolution of Broadcasting With Mobile Tech

31/03/2020

From 4G to 5G: BT Sport on COVID-19 Forcing the Evolution of Broadcasting With Mobile Tech By Heather McLean, SVG Europe

Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 11:39 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Broadcasters are working hard to get content onto TV screens despite the self-isolation that most of the world finds itself in today due to the spread of COVID-19. BT Sport is one of those broadcasters finding solutions through the use of everyday technology. At the weekend, BT Sport was able to make the most of its Group affiliation with mobile operator, EE, to use 4G to bring a program host and participants together from their respective homes.

BT Sport's Live: Early Kick Off' programme, broadcast at 11am on Saturday 28 March, was pulled together using EE's 4G mobile network. All the technology for the show was set up by engineers at the homes of each participant (with the engineers working in isolation), with 4G used for all connectivity.

All participants - Adam Lallana, Peter Crouch, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Savage and Russell Martin - were then able to be filmed at home alone, while host Jake Humphrey was filmed with the help of a technical producer and a camera operator in case of technical issues, all working at a safe distance; for this coming Saturday's show, he will have a technical director only.

The entire programme's crew from Sunset+Vine and BT Sport - director, executive producer, vision mixer, PA, EVS operator, and sound and graphics operators - also all worked from their respective homes.

While last weekend's show was pre-recorded, BT Sport confirmed with SVG Europe that it hopes that the next one will be live. The broadcaster also said this was the way the programme will be produced until the world returns to pre-COVID-19 ways.

Pursuing the possibilities of 4G

Obviously this is not the first time that 4G has been used to broadcast; the first time was in 2013. EE launched 4G a year before the other UK operators because it was able to refarm some of its spectrum. Only days after it first launched the network, Matt Stagg, director of mobile strategy and lead of EE strategy for delivering 4G and 5G networks for the media and broadcast industries, had an impromptu request for help from Sky News, which had trouble getting an OB near to St Mary's Hospital where Prince William's first child was being born at the time. He came up with a solution using a 4G dongle for the broadcaster so the reporter at the hospital could be filmed.

Comments Stagg: And that was the first broadcast over 4G, with breaking news. That was where we saw 4G's potential; that it makes economic sense to use it as you don't need a truck.

However, Stagg adds: Since 4G was launched [it has been used by] sports broadcasters, breaking news, and outside broadcasts in areas where you couldn't get a satellite truck or where it wasn't commercially viable to send a satellite truck. So then you would bond lots of 4G into one of the bonding devices and you could combine that with many different technologies, almost to scrape enough bandwidth together to be able to create a mobile solution, but you were still reliant on the fact that it was a best effort' network, almost on a hope and a prayer that you didn't have lots of other people in the area doing other things on the network. 4G is one network for consumer, business; everything.

SVG Europe's Heather McLean taking part in BT Group's world first broadcast over 5G with remote production, speaking with BT Sport presenter, Matt Smith

Unexpected consequences of 5G

5G is the answer to those issues around 4G. When EE and BT Sport worked together to carry out the world's first remote production over 5G, for the Wembley Cup in November 2018, the production confirmed two unexpected consequences of using 5G; that it increased possibilities for remote working and therefore people's work-life balance, and also that it increased the creative options for the crew.

Stagg explains: Why 5G cameras? Remote production on its own has a huge advantage moving forward to how we do things now. It's not necessarily a cost thing; even if it was cost neutral, it would be still much better to do remote. It's the ability to have a work-life balance.

When one of our directors, Gemma [Knight], was asked at IBC when we did a demonstration of 5G remote production into our marquee what does [the use of 5G remote production] mean for her personally, she answered, I get to have breakfast with my son every day . I think that's very powerful in terms of the work-life balance, and especially where we are at the moment [with COVID-19]; it's already allowing us to rethink the way we do things. There is also the carbon footprint reduction that remote production provides us with.

He continues: For tier two or three sports, you can have a four camera production that looks like an eight camera production, because [5G cameras] are easy to move. The big things that came out of our initial trials - we began looking at remote production before 5G, on 4G - and I always love unintended consequences, was the creativity and flexibility it gave our directors to be able to send a camera wherever they wanted. To send it on the pitch where the players were warming up; to be able to do that with a tethered camera, even with a radio camera so it can move around is just not viable.

The first time we did it, our director said, We can just move them anywhere? , Yes , OK, so can you just drive it in a car and meet the team bus? . And that was the first really big, massive change in which mobile-connected cameras really changed the way things can be done. It is a big change, technically and culturally.

This creativity led to more unexpected results, says Stagg: It has always been seen that we would have 5G c
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2020/03/31/from-4g-to-5g-bt-sport-on-covid...
See more stories from svg

North America Stories

25/09/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 32: National Hockey Leagues John Bochiaro - Leading the Leagues In-Venue Efforts

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

25/09/2026

HBS Taps Ronald den Hollander as CEO

Infront has named Ronald den Hollander as CEO of its Host Broadcast Services (HBS) subsidiary, effective 1 October 2026. The appointment follows the previously ...

25/09/2026

NABA to Host Cyber University 2.0 Cybersecurity Summit in New York

The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) will hold Cyber University 2.0, a full-day cybersecurity summit for the broadcast and media industries, on Tu...

25/09/2026

Alpha Networks and Ateme Deliver Low-Latency Video Platform for International Sporting Event

Alpha Networks and Ateme have delivered a joint video platform for the digital d...

25/09/2026

Viaplay Migrates Free-to-Air Channels to Encompass Altitude Scheduling

Encompass Digital Media has announced the migration of multiple Viaplay free-to-air channels - TV3, TV6, TV8, and TV10 - to its Altitude Scheduling platform. Al...

25/09/2026

NAB Show New York 2026 Set for October 21-22 at Javits Center

NAB Show New York 2026 will take place October 21-22 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Registration is open at nabshow.com/newyork. Th...

25/09/2026

NHL Network to Air NHL Tonight, NHL Now, NHL Tonight: First Shift, and On The Fly During 2026-27 Season

NHL Network has announced its studio programming lineup for the 2026-27 regular ...

25/09/2026

First Baptist Nashville Installs Clear-Com Arcadia Central Station

Clear-Com has announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom system as part of a sanctuary technolo...

25/09/2026

Broadcast Management Group Upgrades to EVS XT-VIA Platform at Cloud Control Center

Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has deployed EVS XT-VIA live video production s...

25/09/2026

BBright Adds dotCentral as U.S. Sales and Support Partner

BBright, a Hexaglobe Group company, has announced that dotCentral has joined as a sales and support partner in the United States. BBright's portfolio cover...

25/09/2026

MeyerPro Deploys ROE Visual Graphite GP 2.6 for Acumatica Summit 2026

MeyerPro delivered audio, video, broadcast, and LED production for the Acumatica Summit 2026 at the Seattle Convention Center's Summit Building, January 25-...

25/09/2026

PWHL to Hold Inaugural All-Star Weekend in Toronto on March 7

The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced its inaugural All-Star Weekend, to be held Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The...

25/09/2026

Presidents Cup Makes Leap to 1080p HDR as NBC Sports, PGA TOUR Step Up Coverage

The 2026 Presidents Cup is underway at Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago with Team USA and an International Team of men's golfers facing off for four ...

25/09/2026

SVG Remote Production Forum Goes Inside WBDs Techwood Facility, Maps the Next Phase of REMI Production

Warner Bros. Discovery's Atlanta hub hosted a day of discussion on REMI prod...

25/09/2026

Digital Anarchy Releases Newest Version of its Real-Time Skin Retouching Tool for Video

Digital Anarchy Releases Newest Version of its Real-Time Skin Retouching Tool fo...

25/09/2026

Blackmagic Design Used on More Than 50 Summer Films in 2026

Blackmagic Design Used on More Than 50 Summer Films in 2026 Brie Clayton September 25, 2026 0 Comments Hero image: Disclosure Day Blackmagic Design p...

25/09/2026

How I Automated Social Media Resizing in After Effects - Free Script

How I Automated Social Media Resizing in After Effects - Free Script Graham Quince September 25, 2026 0 Comments If your text keeps getting cut off on...

25/09/2026

IBC2026 celebrates collaborative breakthroughs as it anno...

IBC has unveiled the winners of the prestigious IBC2026 Innovation Awards at an event held at the RAI Amsterdam on Sunday 13 September, honouring collaborative ...

25/09/2026

IBC2026 brings global media industry together to turn inn...

IBC2026 brought the global media, entertainment and technology community together for four days of business, innovation and collaboration at the RAI Amsterdam. ...

25/09/2026

Lightware Helps Integrators Overcome MacBook Neo USB Topo...

Lightware testing has revealed that each USB-C port on Apple's new MacBook Neo consumes three of the seven USB tiers available under the USB specification, ...

25/09/2026

Lightware Expands Education Support With New Products and...

Lightware is supporting educational institutions in building modern learning environments by combining professional training with education-focused AV technolog...

25/09/2026

Study: Only 10% of Young Adults Watched Local TV News Last Week

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/09/2026

Optimum, A+E Global Media Sign New Distribution Agreement

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/09/2026

MPA, Unions Back 'Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/09/2026

NAB Show New York Announces More Speakers and Programming Highlights

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/09/2026

Comcast NBCU, NBCUniversal Local Award $2.5 Million to Nonprofits

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/09/2026

Orange Belgium Strengthens Its Consumer and B2B TV Servic...

Long-Standing Customer Renews Multiyear Contract for VO's Secure Video Player, Content Security, and Device Monitoring Solutions Viaccess-Orca (VO), a glob...

25/09/2026

Automate Video Progress Bars in After Effects - No Keyframes!

Automate Video Progress Bars in After Effects - No Keyframes! Graham Quince September 24, 2026 0 Comments Learn how to create an automated video playb...

24/09/2026

Broadcast Management Group Assists Virginia Public Media With Move to New HQ in Richmond

Broadcast Management Group (BMG) is supporting Virginia Public Media (VPM), the ...

24/09/2026

Two Red Digital Cinema Cameras Receive GhostFrame Pro Certification

RED Digital Cinema's RED V-RAPTOR [X] and RED V-RAPTOR XL [X] cameras with the Phantom Track feature are the first cameras to receive GhostFrame Pro Certifi...

24/09/2026

FOX Sports Adds 4K Live Stream on Tubi to List of Available Options for Cowboys-Eagles on Thanksgiving Day

Bringing together the full family of networks, FOX Sports is also adding Tubi, F...

24/09/2026

Virginia Techs Lane Stadium Invests in Gameday Experience with New Daktronics LED Display, Audio Solutions

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) has unveiled...

24/09/2026

SVG AI Innovation Lab Blog Tracks How AI Is Reshaping Live Sports Production

The blog collects SVG's reporting on AI across U.S. and European sports broadcasting Since SVG launched the AI Innovation Lab in April to advance the devel...

24/09/2026

SVG TranSPORT Keynote Conversation: How FOX Built a Transcontinental Transmission Backbone for the FIFA World Cup

SVG's annual TranSPORT conference, which will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 20 in...

24/09/2026

FloSports is Using AI To Build a New Generation of Live Production Tools to Bolster the Streamer's Internal Operations

The self-built Master Control Room has cut streaming operations incident-respo...

24/09/2026

Ortana Links AudioShake, ScorePlay for Live and Archive Audio Cleanup

Ortana Media Group, the software systems integrator behind the Cubix workflow platform, has connected AudioShake's audio separation models to ScorePlay thro...

24/09/2026

AudioShake Debuts Multi-Speaker 2.0 for Separating Overlapping Voices

AudioShake has released Multi-Speaker 2.0, the company's newest Multi-Speaker model, which removes 75% more noise and offers 32% better separation of overla...

24/09/2026

Op-Ed: Planning Media Day When the Calendar Isn't Certain - How MLB Clubs Can Prepare for 2027 Now

By Jon Morgan, Founder and Executive Producer, Ryval Studios For Major League B...

24/09/2026

Spectrum SportsNet Reveals Los Angeles Lakers Broadcast, Programming Schedule for the 2026-27 Season

Spectrum SportsNet has revealed its comprehensive programming and live game broa...

24/09/2026

Charlotte Hornets Ink Broadcast Deals With Gray Media, Sinclair to Bring Games to More Fans Across the Carolinas

The Charlotte Hornets has unveiled new broadcast partnerships with Gray Media an...

24/09/2026

Detroit Pistons Name DAZN as Exclusive DTC Streaming Platform

DAZN will be the exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming partner for the Detroit Pistons beginning with the 2026-27 season. Subscriptions are available at DAZN.c...

24/09/2026

Minnesota Wild Games Become Available to Spectrum Customers

The National Hockey League (NHL) has made an agreement with Spectrum that will allow Spectrum TV customers in the Minnesota Wild local broadcast territory to wa...

24/09/2026

Carolina Hurricanes, Spectrum Sign Multi-Year Agreement for Hurricanes Hockey Network Distribution

The Carolina Hurricanes has reached a multi-year distribution agreement to provi...

24/09/2026

Regional Games of the St. Louis Blues To Be Exclusively Broadcasted on Blue Note+

The St. Louis Blues has introduced Blue Note as the name of the new, exclusive ...

24/09/2026

Columbus Blue Jackets Games Head to Spectrum TV

Blue Jackets Hockey Network, the television home for Blue Jackets hockey, is coming to Spectrum TV under a new carriage agreement between the National Hockey Le...

24/09/2026

Manifold Technologies Appoints Ryhaan Williams as CCO for North America

Manifold Technologies Appoints Ryhaan Williams as CCO for North America Brie Clayton September 24, 2026 0 Comments Brings three decades of broadcast e...

24/09/2026

UNIFACHA Expands Educational Program with DaVinci Resolve Studio

UNIFACHA Expands Educational Program with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton September 24, 2026 0 Comments Brazilian university empowers next generat...

24/09/2026

NABA To Convene Cyber University 2.0 To Address Cybersecurity Strategies

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

24/09/2026

Big Blue Marble Makes the Origin of Austrian Parliament V...

Viewers watching videos from the Austrian Parliament online will soon find it easier to verify the authenticity of the content. Big Blue Marble, an internationa...

24/09/2026

nsign and Sony collaborate to simplify digital signage de...

nsign, the digital signage SaaS platform built around its Simplify Complexity principle, is now officially certified for BRAVIA Professional Displays from Son...