BT Sport on its vision for augmented live sports broadcasting becoming reality with 5G By Heather McLean, Editor
Monday, September 14, 2020 - 17:05
Print This Story
Boxing with a 3D AR version of the match on your coffee table could become a reality with BT Sport
BT Sport recently became one of the winners of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) funding boost for 5G, under the 5G Create competition.
Named 5G Edge-XR, the consortium led by BT's Media and Research teams alongside TheGridFactory, Condense Reality, Bristol University, Dance East, and Salsa Sound, will develop virtual and augmented reality experiences for live sport, working closely with BT Sport.
5G Edge-XR will enable people to view immersive sporting events from all angles, across a broader range of devices including smartphones, tablets, AR and VR headsets and TVs.
The project is worth a total of £2,558,494, with £1,486,004 of that figure coming from the DCMS out of the 5G Create competition fund. The project will run over 20 months, using 15 full time employees.
Immersive sporting experiences
Speaking to SVG Europe, Matt Stagg, BT Sport's director of mobile strategy, explained the idea behind 5G Edge-XR's goal: We've been looking for a long time at how we can provide more immersive experiences as technology evolves. We had a vision for how we can use 5G for doing exactly that, around how we can take the value we have as a broadcaster for people within stadiums and then using the technology and our capabilities [to work out] how we can bring that stadium experience into the home for people who can't go.
Already, we've got a lot of interactive and immersive things on the BT Sport app, but it's [about] how do we take that to the next level, and that's all around volumetric capture, augmented reality, and virtual reality, he notes.
This is the most exiting area of sport technology I've ever been involved in, the vision for 5G and augmented experiences for sport is coming to life
BT Sport is pushing everything within this vision under the mixed or cross reality (XR) banner, because XR really changes your actual reality to increase the experience either through immersive means or access to content and experiences you wouldn't have had otherwise, with the ability to be able to turn that on and off, to be the curator of your own experience in the home and outside of the home, notes Stagg.
Stagg wrote the vision for this project at the beginning of 2019.
View the video of this vision
He says the question now is, how do we bring this to life? He goes on: That's why I'm so excited about it is because we put a visionary video out there and everybody said that looks amazing, but people were sort of sceptical that that could ever happen or any of that could actually be done, but we were already working on it so we knew it could be done, but we didn't know how to do it at scale or what the correct architecture was, and how that worked out from a commercial viewpoint, from a technical viewpoint, you know, can we do these things?
Realistically we have to do a proof of concept to make sure this work, but the learnings from that will come out [as we work out how to] do something commercially; is there a model for this? Is it too processor intensive or is it unrealistic now that we know how much [processing power] it takes to do it?
MotoGP is working with the 5G Edge-XR consortium to bring the millions of data points captured in each race to your living room
Creating and testing
Making this work in a live sports environment for distribution to wearable devices involves volumetric capture. That may include a set up using 16 x stereo pairs in four vertical clusters, capture with 32 x 4K cameras at 120fps, eight capture PCs, 1 Fusion PC to encode and contribute, cloud processing and encoding, cloud-based editorial tools, and delivery to apps at 30Mbps.
Ingest will go over fibre or 5G, depending on what is available, while distribution will go out over the 5G network. Location and tracking from the wearable devices will need to feed back into the system with 10ms to 30ms latency to create a realistic, enhanced XR experience for the end user.
A number of use cases are going to be the object of the project, including one with the data-rich sport of MotoGP to create a sports fan experience delivered over 5G and powered by edge cloud compute GPU facilities, enabling a photoreal, real time MotoGP Viewing Suite to be rendered and streamed to viewers' smartphones, tablets and headset devices.
I'm really, really passionate about this because it's limitless. Some of these experiences will change the future way of how some things are done
The MotoGP demonstrator will focus on a 5G delivered cloud XR rendered AR experiences, using high polygon (5M) 3D models, multiple video streams, immersive audio and data integration. Among other functionalities, it will hopefully deliver a video wall of multiple live race video streams with corresponding immersive audio, a 3D track view of riders, immersive halos for 8K 360 video, and rider and team profiles, stats and a replay area.
Comments Stagg: We've been working on a demonstration MotoGP. MotoGP is a very good way of showing what augmented experiences can bring because you have so many data points and so much content coming from it, and then you look at how you create your own experiences from that data.
Another demonstrator will be with a boxing event, allowing a real time virtual volumetric hologram to be interacted with on the viewer's coffee table at home, allowing them to watch live action and replays from all angles, simultaneously alongside BT Sport's live feed, creating an editorially-driven experience including commentary.
Yet another demonstrat
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
BT Sport on its vision for augmented live sports broadcasting becoming reality with 5G By Heather McLean, Editor 
