Market
5G for Sports - unlocking the full potential
Posted by Lucy Woods
Creative Industries | Sport, Travel & Leisure
18 replies
Last month, we delivered a 5G for Sports webinar with:
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Claire Harvey - Red Bee Media/UK5G (Moderator)
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Matt Stagg - Director of Strategy, BT Sport/UK5G
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Alison Hutchins - Lead Product Development Manager, BT Media & Broadcast
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Brian Leonard - Head of Engineering -Production and Workflows, IMG
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Paul Bojarski - CEO, Sceenic/UK5G
Questions from participants will be posted below with answers from the panellists. Please share your thoughts.
Comments
Knowledge Transfer Manager -Digital & Creative
When do you think we will start to see 5G OTT features launched to the general public?
1 reply to this comment
CEO
We've already seen Vodafone partner with Hatch Gaming (cloud based gaming) for their 5G launch, so it's the first feature I've seen beyond a PR stunt.
My prediction is in Q3/4 2020 we will see more 5G OTT features launched to the general public such as AR experiences, interactive group OTT viewing synchronised down to 1 second of a difference etc.
0 replies to this comment
Director of Ubiquitous Connectivity & General Manager Westcott BIC
MEC is heaviliy discussed and talked about as a key to 5G URLLC, as yet we have not seen any MVNO deploy MEC as a commercial part of their network , what is the commercial plan for MEC and MEC Apps?
1 reply to this comment
Matt Stagg, BT Sport: Still being looked at, the technology is being trialled but as with everything unless there is a significant ROI it won't happen. URLLC and MEC services will be expensive to deploy and run
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As a faithful season ticket holder (football) will we get subsidised access to various spoken about fan engagement tools and services? Even better, will it be free for us?
1 reply to this comment
Director of Mobile Strategy
Depends on who 'owns' the service, it will be a decision for them base on their commerical model
0 replies to this comment
Will 5G have better than 'best effort' SLAs?
1 reply to this comment
Brian, IMG: If it does you will more than likely have to pay a premiuim....which is why network splicing may never happen....
Matt, BT Sport: Thats the plan, but as Brian says -it will certainly have a premium over best effort. The commercials are being looked at in parellel to developing the technology and as always are likely to be the most complicated aspect of a service.
0 replies to this comment
Why not use a Wi-Fi mesh for an OB event rather than worry about 5G?
1 reply to this comment
Director of Mobile Strategy
Wi-Fi is a best effort service just like 4G
0 replies to this comment
Director of Ubiquitous Connectivity & General Manager Westcott BIC
Will MMWave (26Ghz) play an important role in stadium based wireless networks?
1 reply to this comment
Brian Leonard, IMG: Dont know to be honest :(
Matt Stagg, BT Sport: Me either! However Its possible it will due to the density of consumers and the ability to add many small cells around the ground
0 replies to this comment
I read a prediction that TELCO global roaming revenues will be circa $20bn less due to the COVID-19 restrictions on travel. Is it possible that infrastructure roll out will be delayed, or is the budget in place and protected from this downturn?
1 reply to this comment
Brian Leonard, IMG: From what I can tell it is possible, but who knows. We may think 5G is more important than ever after COVID19 so it may speed it up when we come back to some sort of normaility :)
0 replies to this comment
Interested to understand opportunities to gather more live sports data, especially for non-stadium sports. Cycling for example, gathering and synthesising live data to enhance the viewing experience, or unlock live sports betting which is typically focused on stadia sports with fixed infrastructure.
0 replies to this comment
Technical Manager
Is there a timeline on when network slicing will be available?
2 replies to this comment
Brian Leonard, IMG: from what I have seen at least 2 years away would be my guees and even then it may not happen....
0 replies to this comment
Director of Ubiquitous Connectivity & General Manager Westcott BIC
there are a few 5G SA core that are pre commercial , our westcott testbed has the ability to slice , we can also link the slice to a IP path or Vlan with the use of our juniper network equipment
0 replies to this comment
For companies wanting to support and collaborate on 5G for sports projects, is there an opportunity to flag their interest?
0 replies to this comment
What is being done about the scaremongering around 5G?
1 reply to this comment
Business Director
Research into health and environmental concerns around 5G are within the remit of Public Health England and you can find out more information about this on the UK5G website here.
0 replies to this comment
What are the relative advantages between 5G and fixed wire fibre optics?
1 reply to this comment
Brian Leonard, IMG: We hope in time costs......as we are hoping the govement spends the money to install the 5G network. As an example we have to normally pay for the last mile of Fibre to be installed if we require it, which can be very expensive.
Matt Stagg, BT Sport: It's also worth noting that wherever there is fibre it will still be the preferred method over 5G as the opex costs of 5G connectivity are likely to be significantly more than fibre plus fibre has more bandwidth due to technilioges like DWDM (dense wave diveition multiplexing )
0 replies to this comment
What about bonded 4G using all 4 networks?
2 replies to this comment
Brian Leonard, IMG: 5G will still be better....
Matt Stagg, BT Sport: 4G bonded is still a 'best effort' service so can be impacted by many people using the network at the same time (especially in congented areas like live events). 5G will have the capability to use functionalities to guarentee bandwidth and latency
0 replies to this comment
Director of Ubiquitous Connectivity & General Manager Westcott BIC
the issue with bonding is differential delays across different network and also the overhead to manage the stream e.g ToA of packets, bonding has some advamtage, but it can introduce high proporgation delay.
0 replies to this comment
R&D Partnerships Manager
Does the impact of covid-19 makes it unrelistic for most sports companies to invest in new tech compared to just maintaining operations?
1 reply to this comment
Brian Leonard, IMG: No! just making companies like ours think differentley on how we invest
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We heard today [on webinar day] Facebook has struck a deal with Plessey Semiconductors to work on augmented reality. I'm curious to know from the panel, from a consumer perspective, how would you see that managed, let's say in a stadium - how realistic/expected is it, from a user behaviour perspective and technically?
1 reply to this comment
Brian Leonard, IMG: it could be any model from sponsorship through to advertising...but who reall knows :)
Matt Stagg, BT Sport: We have looked at where AR can enhance the experience of fans in the stadiums and it could range from simply helping to find your seat right up to being able to view a goal from anywhere esencially choosing your seat according to the action. The real step change will come when wearable devices such as smart glasses become mainstream.
There will be a lot of trial and error thats for sure
0 replies to this comment
What infrastructure is required to facilitate 5G, eg towers and masts. What is the anticipated cost and timescale
1 reply to this comment
Brian, IMG: Again from what I can tell the 3G/4G equipment needs to become end of life....so I would guess at least 18 months....
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Marketing Support
What is the the thing that most excites you about the future of 5G in the sports industry?
1 reply to this comment
Director of Mobile Strategy
a) the creative opportunities a truly unteathered camera can bring &...
b) Truly immersive experiences
0 replies to this comment
How long do you think it will be before 5G is used like 4G is today?
1 reply to this comment
Director of Mobile Strategy
Difficult to answer, there is a long roadmap of functionalites that will be developed at different rates. It also depends on the rollout which will not be as quick as 4G was.
0 replies to this comment