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

28/07/2026

Harvard Athletics Transforms Collegiate Sports Storytelling with AJA Gear

Harvard Athletics Transforms Collegiate Sports Storytelling with AJA Gear Brie Clayton July 27, 2026 0 Comments Between the maturation of IP and remot...

28/07/2026

New Live Action Projection Mapping Film Captured with URSA Cine 12K LF

New Live Action Projection Mapping Film Captured with URSA Cine 12K LF Brie Clayton July 27, 2026 0 Comments Large format sensor allows Texas Legacy ...

28/07/2026

NVIDIA Agent Toolkit Expands With New Omniverse Libraries, Putting AI Agents to Work Building Simulation-Ready Worlds

NVIDIA Agent Toolkit Expands With New Omniverse Libraries, Putting AI Agents to ...

28/07/2026

AI Agents Expand Creative Tools to Millions

AI Agents Expand Creative Tools to Millions Brie Clayton July 27, 2026 0 Comments Hero image courtesy of Epic Games Leading creative applications are...

28/07/2026

How Rick Aggeler Built a Music Community for Boston Teens

How Rick Aggeler Built a Music Community for Boston Teens When he was a Berklee student, Aggeler volunteered at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, where he hel...

27/07/2026

AES Educational Foundation Announces 2026/2027 Scholarship and Grant Recipients

The Audio Engineering Society Educational Foundation has named its scholarship and grant recipients for the 2026/2027 academic year. The awards support students...

27/07/2026

ESPN and MEAC Reach Multi-Year Media Rights Agreement Through 2030-31

ESPN and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) have signed a multi-year media rights agreement covering basketball championships and select football and ba...

27/07/2026

Yahoo Sports and Cameo Integrate Celebrity Video Bookings into Yahoo Fantasy

Yahoo Sports and Cameo have partnered to allow fantasy football users to book personalized celebrity videos directly within the Yahoo Fantasy app and website. T...

27/07/2026

Eutelsat to Receive $504 Million in FCC Upper C-Band Transition Payments

Eutelsat has welcomed the FCC's order establishing the regulatory framework for the transition of Upper C-band spectrum in the United States. Under the orde...

27/07/2026

ESPN Acquires U.S. and International Rights to International Dance League

ESPN and the International Dance League (IDL) have signed a global rights agreement for the 2026 season. Events will air bi-weekly on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET beginni...

27/07/2026

NBCUniversal and YouTube Announce Multi-Year Global Partnership

NBCUniversal and YouTube have signed a multi-year global partnership that includes bundling Peacock with YouTube Premium, extending NBCUniversal's distribut...

27/07/2026

Two Weeks Away: 2026 SVG Venues & Teams Summit at Miamis Kaseya Center To Reunite In-Stadium Production Community

Agenda includes presentations from the Miami Heat, Inter Miami, Florida Panthers...

27/07/2026

Behind The Mic: CBS Sports Bolsters College Football Analyst Team

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and repo...

27/07/2026

PBR Goes Animated With BS: Bull Stories, Giving Its Bucking Bulls a Voice

Ten one-minute shorts will roll out across CBS, The CW, Paramount+ during the 2026 PBR Teams season PBR is officially moving into scripted animation. The Profe...

27/07/2026

T-Mobile Tops Ookla's Mobile Network Rankings

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/07/2026

Pebble to Feature Virtualization, Cloud-Based Playout Tech at IBC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/07/2026

NBCU Telemundo Turns To Chyron PRIME 5 For World Cup Graphics

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/07/2026

Lightware Adds SNMPv3 Monitoring to Taurus Devices

Lightware announces SNMPv3-based monitoring support for selected Taurus devices, available from firmware v1.20.0. The update enables IT administrators and AV in...

27/07/2026

Mediagenix Showcases the Real-Time Media Enterprise at IB...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase its vision for the Real-Time...

27/07/2026

Seven paradoxes shaping the next era of media production - Episode 4

Why Confidence MattersIn this series, we explore the technologies, architectures and operational realities shaping modern media operations. Along the way, we ex...

27/07/2026

Industry Leaders Unite in Open Secure AI Alliance for AI Safety and Security

Open source software is a critical pillar of the global economy. It underpins cloud computing, financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, government...

26/07/2026

Audio Vivid: A New Destination for Immersive Audio

What is Audio Vivid? A New Destination for Immersive Audio Over the past several years, immersive audio has evolved from a niche production consideration into a...

26/07/2026

NVIDIA Harnesses Vera CPU to Speed Up Design of Next-Generation CPUs and GPUs

The complexity of modern chip design continues to grow as engineering teams work to develop increasingly sophisticated CPUs, GPUs and AI systems. To help meet t...

25/07/2026

Study: T-Mobile Remains Best Mobile and Fastest 5G Network

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/07/2026

Mark Bridges to Lead CableLabs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/07/2026

Total YouTube Views for All FIFA World Cup Content Top 200 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/07/2026

Pebble To Address Future Of Media Operations At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/07/2026

Paramount Agrees to Pause Warner Bros. Discovery Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/07/2026

Export FCP7 to XML Without Needing FCP7 Installed

Export FCP7 to XML Without Needing FCP7 Installed Dave Rice July 24, 2026 0 Comments I've created an open source tool that allows you to export FC...

25/07/2026

Documentary Sell Your House Edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Documentary Sell Your House Edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton July 24, 2026 0 Comments Filmmakers post feature documentary from opposite...

25/07/2026

Time to Act: Bringing a New Opera to Life

Time to Act: Bringing a New Opera to Life Boston Conservatory at Berklee vocal arts students played a vital role in shaping the opera's creative developme...

25/07/2026

Beyond the Score

Beyond the Score For Dean of Music Kevin Haden, the boundless possibilities of classical music begin with process. July 24, 2026 By Kevin Haden Michelle ...

25/07/2026

Reading the Room

Reading the Room As music director of two major orchestras, conductor Jonathon Heyward aims to make the concert hall a space for everyone. July 24, 2026 By ...

24/07/2026

ESPN Adds New Production Features for NFL FLAG Championships

Referee hat cameras, player/coach mics, and virtual graphics will be deployed at the three-day event for the first time The NFL FLAG Championships return to ES...

24/07/2026

Qvest, Ateme and Scaleway Deliver Sovereign OTT Platforms for European Broadcasters

Qvest, Ateme, and Scaleway have partnered to offer broadcasters, media organizat...

24/07/2026

LTN Reaches 3,000 Satellite-to-IP Migrations as FCC Votes on C-Band Auction

LTN has completed satellite-to-IP migrations for more than 3,000 broadcaster, MVPD (Multi-Channel Video Programming Distributor), head-end, and content owner si...

24/07/2026

Chyron Releases Virtual Placement 8.1

Chyron has released Virtual Placement 8.1, an update to its live sports virtual graphics platform. The release adds workflow and graphics changes across chroma ...

24/07/2026

Riedel Deploys RefCam and Easy5G at International Soccer Match

Riedel's RefCam Live was used for the first time at an international soccer match during a friendly between the German men's national team and Ghana in ...

24/07/2026

USSI Global Offers Services for Next Phase of C-Band Spectrum Transition

USSI Global said it is prepared to help broadcasters, satellite network operators, and media organizations manage the next phase of C-band spectrum clearing, fo...

24/07/2026

Fubo Launches The Athletic Video Hub on CTV

FuboTV and The Athletic have launched The Athletic Video Hub on Fubo, bringing The Athletic's sports video content to connected TV (CTV) for the first time....

24/07/2026

Tagboard Integrates With Momento To Display Fan Reaction Photos on Venue Screens

Tagboard and Momento have partnered to bring Momento's fan reaction photos to venue videoboards in real time following big plays. The Seattle Mariners will ...

24/07/2026

Stephen Arnold Music Creates Anthem for Fox Television Stations FIFA World Cup Coverage

Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) created an anthem called The World Is Here for Fox ...

24/07/2026

CazTV Acquires Exclusive Brazilian WTA Tour Rights Through 2030

Caz TV has acquired Brazilian broadcast rights to the entire WTA Tour driven by Mercedes-Benz, covering all WTA 250, WTA 500, and WTA 1000 tournaments. The agre...

24/07/2026

SiriusXM and WWE Launch WWE Radio on Channel 156

SiriusXM and WWE have launched WWE Radio on SiriusXM channel 156, beginning Monday, July 27. The channel will carry live audio of WWE Premium Live Events, audio...

24/07/2026

Harvard Athletics Uses AJA Equipment for Collegiate Sports Production

Harvard Athletics produces more than 325 live NCAA Division 1 sports events and 500 edited videos per year. To manage video capture, streaming, recording, and s...

24/07/2026

Chyrons PRIME 5 Supported Telemundos FIFA World Cup 2026 Graphics Production

Chyron's PRIME 5 graphics platform supported live graphics workflows for NBCUniversal Telemundo's FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage across Telemundo, Univers...

24/07/2026

NBC Sports Prioritizes Data in Presentation of 113th Tour de France

Wearable tech returns to the coverage, and a brand-new mobile unit is rolled out for the 2026 edition The 21-stage Tour de France is nearing its conclusion. Th...

24/07/2026

ESPN Leans Into Player Access, Referee Cam for WNBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago

More than 20 cameras, extensive player and coach audio, and a REMCO production model will power coverage of the league's showcase For an event designed to ...

24/07/2026

F1 Unveils Strategy Insight Graphic Powered by AWS at Hungarian Grand Prix

New broadcast tool uses live timing, telemetry, and predictive analysis to decode real-time team decision-making for fans at home...