5G has been used to broadcast two live football matches in Portugal for the first time.
The first, between Benfica and Porto at the Estadio Du Luz, was shown on Benfica TV.
The broadcaster employed seven 5G camera feeds alongside its usual 18 cameras. The 5G cameras were placed in areas not accessible with manned, wired cameras, including near the goal netting, a walkway at the top of the stadium, the tunnel from the locker rooms to the field, and beside the team benches.
The second match, at Estádio José Alvalade, broadcaster TVI used 5G to enable its match reporter to move around the stadium, and was also employed to create a hologram of the winning team’s captain.
Both demos were carried out with technology from telco NOS, and TVU Networks.
At the Estadio De Luz, four TVU One 5G mobile transmitters and three 5G mobile phones with the TVU Anywhere app were used to deliver low latency video from the field to four dual-channel TVU transceivers at an OB van on site. From there the signals were streamed and broadcast to viewers.
Meanwhile, at Estádio José Alvalade, social media influencer Guilherme Geirinhas covered Sporting CP’s celebration after winning the league title using the TVU Anywhere app on his phone and a TVU One mobile transmitter. Signals from the reporter’s phone were sent to a TVU transceiver at an OB van on site for broadcast and streaming.
The holographic image of Sporting CP captain Sebastian Coates was sent via a TVU One 5G device to a TVU transceiver at the TVI studio, where one of the broadcaster’s presenters conducted a live interview with the hologram version of Coates.
The Estádio Da Luz has become the first stadium in Portugal to be equipped with 5G earlier this year.
