LiveU and BT Media and Broadcast are working together on a new live content sharing service for broadcasters, connecting sport, live remote production, news and other content producers.
Supporting customers across sport, remote production, news, live events and a range of other verticals, LiveU and BT Media and Broadcast are working together on a new live content sharing service for broadcasters.
It brings together LiveU’s Reliable Transport (LRT) protocol with BT’s wider content and distribution network, covering IP and SDI delivery standards and creating a combined experience for customers.
BT Media and Broadcast moves up to 24,000 hours a day of content through its International Media Centre at BT Tower in London. Its FacilityLine works in the uncompressed SDI domain – from SD to 4K – operating as the backbone for UK broadcast services, as well as linking broadcasters and the global production community.
BT has installed the LiveU receiving and decoding system to set up direct receive and transmit capabilities. The collaboration has identified multiple use cases that range from LiveU users gaining access to content for customers who don’t currently use LiveU for transmission, to the ability to enhance resiliency alongside traditional fixed links using LiveU.
Content takers, wherever they are in the world, can take advantage of a cost-effective, ad-hoc service, while continuing to access the global hub of English language content. BT Media and Broadcast is now able to supply a simple link to live content, SDI or LRT, to smaller broadcasters and channels that don’t have a master control room or live gallery but want live content to increase viewer engagement.
BT Tower at night
Matthew Stringer, UK Sales Director, LiveU, said, “This is a step forward in the evolution of LiveU’s global reach and is great news for the global broadcast community. We see the ability to turn up, connect and capture content directly, as the future of broadcast. With the reach that BT Media and Broadcast has, there are tremendous commercial benefits to us working together to make this capability available.”
Dom Wrona, Head of Portfolio & GTM, BT Media and Broadcast, said, “This collaboration opens up an exciting range of content sharing possibilities across sport, news and many other verticals. For ad hoc events, LiveU customers can easily send their feeds to BT Tower for secure, reliable sharing. Extremely reliable feeds can also be made available for remote production anywhere in the world. By working together, we will enable LiveU users to distribute their content to more customers through our network, and people who want access to that content can receive it via our connectivity.”
BT Media and Broadcast also gains the ability to send and receive live feeds via LiveU Matrix, the company’s IP-based cloud content sharing platform, and this will also be made available to customers in the future.
The company has acquired multi-camera LU800 field units, expanding its in-the-field contribution options for customers. These are available for hire from BT Media and Broadcast, facilitating production where it previously wasn’t possible or was not viable financially. This service extends coverage possibilities for large scale events via private and public 5G. The units can also be used to establish premium grade redundancy. www.liveu.tv
