LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 07: Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur shoots at goal but fails to score during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus at Wembley Stadium on March 7, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
BT Sport is tapping into what could be the next level of fan engagement for traditional broadcasting companies—taking the game directly to Britons’ mobile phones.
On Thursday night, soccer fans tuning into the Champions League quarterfinal between Juventus and Tottenham Hotspur were able to do so directly through the BT Sport mobile app, the telecommunications company announced Friday. The high-definition HDR telecast was fed right to a beta version of the app from the cameras in Wembley Stadium over 4G by EE, BT Group’s mobile network provider.
“Mobile viewers are an important and growing part of our audience, and we’re constantly focusing on innovating to ensure the best possible experience for our sports fans,” Jamie Hindhaugh, BT Sport’s COO, said in the announcement. “HDR is the future for mobile – the technology is perfect for getting the most out of the small screen, with incredible colour and definition.”
The trial broadcast over HDR is significant because it uses the high resolution capabilities featured in modern smartphone cameras while requiring less data on both ends, according to BT Sport.
The company’s move to broadcast straight to phones follows similar moves by NBC and Verizon last year. NBC expanded a rights deal with the NFL that allowed it to stream its marquee Sunday Night Football package to phones beginning this September, and Verizon, which originally had those exclusive mobile rights, expanded its mobile streaming coverage to the NFL Playoffs in January.
SportTechie Takeaway:
BT Sport is meeting its customers where they are by broadcasting the Champions League direct-to-mobile. Though the game on Thursday was a trial, it is fair to expect BT Sport to continue testing this type of streaming. Aside from NBC and Verizon’s aforementioned efforts in the space, Locast recently arrived on the scene as a service offering to broadcast local sports channels, including the major networks, to smartphones for free. The technology BT Sport is taking advantage of is different than that of the other direct-to-mobile broadcasting options in that it will stream in high-dynamic range instead of in lower-resolution formats or higher resolutions that require capabilities that many phones either don’t have or would be taxing in data consumption.
