Jan 11, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; A view of AT&T stadium which is the site of the national championship game between the Oregon Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Dallas, TX – While the entire college football world waits in anticipation for the first-ever National Championship of the College Football playoff between the Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes, AT&T also continues to work on the technology that will enhance the fan experience for those attending the game.
Last Thursday, AT&T announced it will trial LTE Broadcast during the College Football Championship at AT&T Stadium this evening.
AT&T will integrate its technology to give customers with compatible devices to alternate feeds of the games and additional camera angles as well as bonus footage. The goal of this initiative by AT&T is to try to cut down on the network congestion for events with larger crowds by allocating a dedicated portion of the wireless to host specific content that all compatible devices can access simultaneously.
This will allow all users that are interested in seeing the same streamed content to be able to access it on a specialized network rather than content being traditionally delivered on their own individual content stream, which is their smartphone or tablet. With implementation of this network, it will greatly reduce the Wi-Fi required on site to power the needs of thousands of Ducks and Buckeye fans at the venue; thus, lowering energy used and cost associated with the services provided.
AT&T’s official website describes the benefits very well:
Think of it this way: many customers attending a football game accessing venue-specific content (like live footage from a player’s helmet cam) could experience lags because everyone else is trying to get that same content, at the same time, through individual data streams on their individual devices. LTE Broadcast would make available one single data stream for the helmet cam footage, available to all compatible devices in the stadium which could minimize network congestion.
This trial demonstration will represent the very early stages into LTE Broadcast technology, but could change the way teams and venues utilize their Wi-Fi integration provided to their customers. AT&T also mentions additional utilities to the software such as the ability to deliver software upgrades to not just smartphones, but also additional connected products, such as connected cares as well as the ability for universities to stream lectures from faculty to students that are unable to attend or to additional non-affiliated individuals, if it is a popular or useful topic.
Be sure to check in on our Twitter feed throughout the day for updates on these LTE Broadcast demonstrations as well as a full recap after the game.
