Sky Deutschland and Vodafone have tested a groundbreaking innovation during a top Bundesliga game that delivers five additional camera angles to smartphones.
The delay-free images on the Sky 5G Multiview App make use of the particularly high 5G frequencies (26GHz).
The test took place during last Saturday’s Bundesliga clash between RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund. It means Sky subscribers in the ground will never miss the action and watch the kind of replays they would be able to see if they were watching on television at home.
By using the 26GHz frequencies, the app testers achieved speeds of up to 2.6 Gbit/s via the Vodafone mobile network. In the future, even bandwidths of up to 10 gigabits per second will be possible in the “ultra-high band”. The latency is less than 10 milliseconds.
Vodafone is the first mobile operator in Germany to offer 5G ultra-band mobile communications.
“We marry emotions in the stadium with information from the digital world,” said Vodafone CEO Hannes Ametsreiter. “Our 5G turbo and data processing directly on site in the stadium bring camera angles that are otherwise only available to stadium visitors on TV in the evening directly to smartphones.”
Charly Classen, Executive Vice President Sport at Sky Deutschland added: “With the ‘Sky 5G Multiview App’, together with our partner Vodafone, we are taking a completely new approach to experiencing a Bundesliga match in the stadium. The best way for viewers to watch the live game is on Sky Sport and the best way to enjoy the live experience is, of course, in a packed stadium. With the In-Stadium App, we bring both worlds together and show what will soon be possible in our sports productions.”
Fans receive all the live images simultaneously on their smartphones and can decide whether they want to watch the match from one or more camera perspectives. All images are transmitted directly from the live production unit via Vodafone’s 5G network to Sky’s mobile broadcasting unit and from there directly to the fans’ smartphones.
The first test version of the Sky 5G Multiview App was built by Smart Mobile Labs on behalf of Sky.