Vodafone survey reveals high expectations for 5G innovation in sports

5G anticipated to drive improvements in fan engagement and open up new revenue opportunities Vodafone has released research revealing sports organisations believe the rollout of 5G will drive new and innovative fan experiences. The telco questioned 250 decision-makers in the sports sector across the UK, with 76% of respondents saying they will use 5G as […]

Amateur football channel ‘Give Me Five’ launches

The channel will air through digital platform Alchimie French digital distribution company Alchimie has launched TV channel, Give Me Five, which will focus on live coverage of amateur football leagues. The channel will report from the amateur six-a-side and five-a-side leagues across Europe, with original programme Too Good To Miss providing a mix of the best […]

BBC and Eurosport to live stream Ineos 1:59 Challenge

Broadcasters are the latest to pick up rights to Eliud Kipchoge’s attempt to run the first sub-two-hour marathon The live broadcast rights for long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge’s attempt to run the first sub-two-hour marathon – the Ineos 1:59 Challenge – have been picked up by the BBC and Eurosport (pan Europe and pan Asia). They […]

Yahoo Sport reveals video hub dedicated to US sport

Yahoo Sport Presents…Tailgate aims to be the home for the UK fanbase of American major league sports Yahoo Sport UK has launched a new platform focused on American sports, called Yahoo Sport Presents…Tailgate. Tailgate is a collection of “premium video content, with fans at the heart of the experience,” says Yahoo. It’s presented by TV […]

Copa90 launches dedicated women’s football show

That’s The Tea looks to build on momentum of Women’s World Cup Football platform Copa90 is launching its first show devoted to the women’s game, That’s The Tea. Sports presenter Nicole Holliday presents the first episode of That’s The Tea (TTT), hosting guests: DJ and former Chelsea player Monki; West Ham midfielder Julia Simic; and […]

La Liga shortlists 10 finalists for tech innovation competition

10 startups chosen for accelerator programme and for potential use by LaLiga in the production and/or broadcast of its content La Liga has picked the 10 companies that have made it through to the finals of its Startup Competition 2019. The content, which kicked off in March, is a partnership between La Liga and Microsoft’s […]

Spalk extends live commentary options for Rugby World Cup 2019

The Rugby World Cup 2019 has teamed up with ‘Virtual Sportscasting Studio’ Spalk to provide rugby fans around the world with the choice of German, Spanish and Japanese live commentaries for every match. A total of 20+ commentators in 15 countries will be commentating from Spalk’s Virtual Studio across the six-week tournament. They have been […]

BT recruits Andy Haworth to grow viewers and revenue for BT Sport

Former BT Consumer strategy lead takes up new role focused on BT’s sports rights and accelerating the growth of BT Sport BT has appointed Andy Haworth to the newly created role of managing director of Sports Rights and Commercial. He will manage BT’s growing sports rights and commercial business and spearhead the company’s renewed efforts […]

ITV creates ‘window on the world’ for its Rugby World Cup studio

Broadcaster’s studio set uses mixed reality to show stylised Japanese cityscapes out of huge panoramic ‘windows’   ITV has turned to mixed reality to create a ‘window on the world’ for its Rugby World Cup 2019 studio. The studio builds on the approach it took for the men’s football World Cup studio in Russia, where augmented […]

Man City, Intel launch immersive highlights

Fans can watch key moments of a match from any angle on their phone Intel and Manchester City have launched an immersive highlights experience that can be viewed on mobile phones. Intel’s True View technology allows fans to watch key moments of a match from any angle on their phone. Immersive highlights are captured with […]

Sling TV expands relationship with La Liga

US streamer signs up as official sponsor of Spanish league in North America US streamer Sling TV has become the official sponsor of LaLiga in a deal which will see it step up its coverage of the Spanish league. Sling TV curently broadcasts all LaLiga regular season matches via beIN Sports and beIN Sports en […]

DAZN unveils virtual production facility

First hub opens in Madrid, with Leeds broadcast centre next to be connected Sports streamer DAZN has launched its first virtual production facility. The facility, which is based on NEP’s production platform, makes a variety of production resources including live logging, editing, commentary, and graphic design accessible remotely from any location around the world, all […]

Eurosport serves up live Laver Cup coverage

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer among players at this month’s three-day competition Eurosport is to broadcast live and multi-platform coverage of this year’s Laver Cup tennis competition across Europe. A new agreement grants Eurosport rights to the Laver Cup in more than 50 European markets, including Switzerland, where this year’s event will be hosted at […]

BT Sport broadcasts live 8K rugby at IBC 2019

Broadcaster behind one of the world’s first live 8K sports broadcasts BT Sport used IBC 2019 to demonstrate one of the world’s first live 8K sports broadcasts – of the Gallagher Premiership Rugby 7s tournament. The images were captured in 8K on a single Ikegami SHK-810 8K system camera with Fujinon lenses and displayed on […]

BT Sport moves to remote production for National League

Broadcaster will cover more National League live games than before and create weekly presenter-led highlights show BT Sport is using remote production to dramatically increase its live coverage of the Vanarama National League (the fifth tier of the English football league system) and turnaround highlights from all weekly matches much faster than before. This season, […]

Eurosport to broadcast World Urban Games

BMX freestyle, parkour, breaking and 3×3 basketball among competition events at this month’s Games Eurosport is to broadcast live coverage from the inaugural World Urban Games Budapest 2019. The World Urban Games takes place from 13-15 September 2019 and features six competition events – BMX freestyle, parkour, breaking, 3×3 basketball, flying disc freestyle and roller […]

Premier Sports brings La Liga to UK

‘Historic’ three-year deal covers all Spanish league games and introduces dedicated platform LaLiga and Premier Sports have announced a “historic agreement” that will see all La Liga games to the end of the 2021/22 season broadcast in the UK and Ireland. It has also revealed the launch of LaLigaTV; a dedicated 24/7 channel in the […]

Streaming: Taking the direct route

Both established and niche sports are testing the waters of serving fans via their own D2C services   The rollout of high-speed broadband, smartphones and SVoD services such as Netflix has created a technically literate audience that’s familiar with the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model. Sports organisations are beginning to test the waters in different business models around OTT […]

Six Day Series: Fast track to success

Revitalising one of cycling’s first ever track events, the Six Day Series is making innovative use of data to educate first-time fans and grow its audience   The growth in shorter TV sports formats, marrying cutting-edge on-screen technologies with rousing in-stadium entertainment, continues at full pace. Cycling’s version – the Six Day Series – hit its […]

INTERVIEW: Alex Green, Amazon Prime

With two blocks of Premier League matches to sit alongside its ATP Tour tennis coverage, Amazon is emerging as one of the key players in the future of sports broadcasting   Alex Green, head of sports and channels, Europe, at Amazon Prime Video, would love to have the rights to Wimbledon. “If only that were possible,” […]

STV to stream 24-hour sports feed

Broadcaster partners with Premier Sports and FreeSports for on-demand offering STV is to offer an ‘always on’ sports channel on STV Player after partnering with pay TV sports broadcaster Premier Sports and free-to-air sister channel FreeSports. By streaming FreeSports, STV becomes the first broadcaster to operate a VoD service providing a free-to-air, 24-hour sports feed. […]