SIS Live kicked off the Rugby World Cup by delivering broadcast coverage of the Barbarians v Samoa match at London’s Olympic Stadium using its dedicated media fibre and uplink systems. SIS Live’s media network provided HD video coverage of the game, with satellite and fibre both used to deliver the live action.
The feeds were distributed and managed by SIS Live’s main broadcast network operations centre (NOC) and teleport located at MediaCityUK in Manchester, with a disaster recovery NOC at the company’s Milton Keynes headquarters.
The company will play a key role at the upcoming World Cup, providing all feeds from 48 matches, around England and Wales at 13 different venues.
David Meynell, managing director, SIS Live, said: “The successful trial of our resilient coverage of the Barbarians v Samoa game is a great start and the first live usage of our new fibre venue networks ahead of what promises to be a keenly-followed World Cup.
“We have rolled out fibre connections to all of the venues and equipped them with the latest JPEG2000 codecs providing high quality low latency video links, coupled with comprehensive back up satellite links provided by our highly-specified uplink trucks. The addition of microwave feeds provide a third layer of protection at key stadiums, making it the most connected and resilient Rugby World Cup in history. We believe we are the only company who can provide such diverse routings across three technologies, which insures against coverage interruptions. The planning and preparation from my colleagues at SIS Live has been unprecedented and I am really looking forward to the main event. ”
SIS Live is Europe’s largest supplier of satellite uplinks. Fibre links are installed at all World Cup venues to guarantee the same fully comprehensive live coverage from every game. The company will also provide ten single and three dual antenna uplink trucks, with over 1,000 hours of satellite capacity. In addition, SIS Live has installed microwave links at Twickenham, Olympic Park, Millennium Stadium and Wembley.
