EE unveils 'revolutionary' viewing features for BT Sport's Premier League coverage | News | Sportcal
EE unveils 'revolutionary' viewing features for BT Sport's Premier League coverage | News | Sportcal: EE, the mobile phone network, has today unveiled new technological features to be rolled out on the BT Sport app to enhance the viewing experience of the UK pay-television broadcaster’s coverage of English soccer’s Premier League.
The BT-owned network has launched the ‘Match Day Experience’ offering which will have six new viewing features, describing it as “a revolutionary new way to watch sport.”
The service will initially be made available to EE customers on the network’s full works plan for the new 5G-compatible iPhone 12 mobile device with the six features being: ‘watch together’; ‘360’; ‘match day live’; ‘stadium experiences’; ‘manager mode’; and ‘Dolby Atmos’.�
The Match Day Experience features will be available on BT Sport’s 12.30pm (UK) Premier League games, which it described as its “centrepiece” content, and will begin with West Ham United versus Manchester City on 23 October.
Selected features will also be available for additional BT Sport programming including European club competitions the Uefa Champions League and Europa League, the FA Cup, the domestic cup competition, and rugby union’s Premiership Rugby, with availability “expanding throughout the season.”
The watch together feature will enable up to four fans to view games and chat during BT Sport broadcasts with a split-screen interface, while the 360 offering will allow users to watch games from several different camera angles and viewpoints along with a new ‘pinch and zoom’ functionality.��
Match day live will provide viewers with access to data around the game including team line-ups, formations and in-game stats via Augmented Reality technology, while AR will also be used to provide behind-the-scenes access to specific areas within stadiums such as dressing rooms, dugouts, trophy rooms and tunnel areas through the stadium experiences offering.
In addition, through the manager mode feature, customers will have the choice of adding real-time graphics as part of the match coverage augmented on the pitch, with Dolby Atmos to be launched later this season to provide enhanced audio options.
BT claims the technological enhancements will make its digital coverage “by far the most immersive sports experience out there.”
Jamie Hindhaugh, BT Sport’s chief operating officer, said several features have been in the pipeline for several years but the development process was fast-tracked due to the coronavirus pandemic and fans being unable to attend stadiums.�
At an online media roundtable today, he explained: “Watch together has been in the works for three years and when the pandemic hit and fans could not attend the grounds, it became much more of a priority.�
“I always believe sport is a social viewing experience, so I have always felt it was very relevant. It took a lot of development to make sure we can sync up the viewing experience of the live game while you are talking with your friends, so that was already in development.�
“What we have to be really clear on is some of this technology that we are rolling out now and some of these experiences need the platform to be able to deliver them on to really maximise those benefits. So we have got a clear roadmap which we are very vocal about.”�
The pay-TV giant has worked with several strategic partners to roll out its new services, including international sports media technology services firm Deltatre, which continues to collaborate with the broadcaster through its Diva Player platform.
Deltatre has worked with BT Sport since 2015 when it delivered its app to initially show Champions League and Europa League games before expanding it to Premier League coverage.
As well as Deltatre, BT worked with software company Sceenic to develop its watch together feature, video content provider Tiledmedia for its 360 viewing option, as well a collaboration with Premier League clubs on the stadium experiences function.
Marc Allera, chief executive of BT’s consumer division, said: “We�continually look for ways to offer customers new and innovative services, allowing them to make the most from their smartphone. Our new�Match Day Experience features will provide an amazing array of ways to enhance their sports viewing.”
In an interview with Sportcal in August, Hindhaugh said�BT Sport’s coverage during the pandemic accelerated its long-term roadmap of creating more remote productions.
The broadcaster has been developing future plans for remote production in recent years to boost coverage available to viewers, with more matches and faster highlights.
In 2018,�EE and BT Sport demonstrated a live broadcast with remote production over 5G in anticipation of rolling it out within five years.
The two parties collaborated to broadcast the final of the EE Wembley Cup, a four-team tournament of social media-created stars captained by ‘legends’ of the game, over 5G using remote production, which was the first live sports event broadcast in this way.
Hindhaugh told Sportcal in August: “It has been on our roadmap to look at more remote production and it was meant to play out by 2023, so our plan was brought ahead by three years to facilitate that and those learnings come from doing games from people’s homes and commentary from people’s homes.”�
BT has had a limited presence on site at Premier League games and also adopted its soccer model for Premiership Rugby, with the company using the Covid-19 period to bring forward and embrace remote plans.�
The BT-owned network has launched the ‘Match Day Experience’ offering which will have six new viewing features, describing it as “a revolutionary new way to watch sport.”
The service will initially be made available to EE customers on the network’s full works plan for the new 5G-compatible iPhone 12 mobile device with the six features being: ‘watch together’; ‘360’; ‘match day live’; ‘stadium experiences’; ‘manager mode’; and ‘Dolby Atmos’.�
The Match Day Experience features will be available on BT Sport’s 12.30pm (UK) Premier League games, which it described as its “centrepiece” content, and will begin with West Ham United versus Manchester City on 23 October.
Selected features will also be available for additional BT Sport programming including European club competitions the Uefa Champions League and Europa League, the FA Cup, the domestic cup competition, and rugby union’s Premiership Rugby, with availability “expanding throughout the season.”
The watch together feature will enable up to four fans to view games and chat during BT Sport broadcasts with a split-screen interface, while the 360 offering will allow users to watch games from several different camera angles and viewpoints along with a new ‘pinch and zoom’ functionality.��
Match day live will provide viewers with access to data around the game including team line-ups, formations and in-game stats via Augmented Reality technology, while AR will also be used to provide behind-the-scenes access to specific areas within stadiums such as dressing rooms, dugouts, trophy rooms and tunnel areas through the stadium experiences offering.
In addition, through the manager mode feature, customers will have the choice of adding real-time graphics as part of the match coverage augmented on the pitch, with Dolby Atmos to be launched later this season to provide enhanced audio options.
BT claims the technological enhancements will make its digital coverage “by far the most immersive sports experience out there.”
Jamie Hindhaugh, BT Sport’s chief operating officer, said several features have been in the pipeline for several years but the development process was fast-tracked due to the coronavirus pandemic and fans being unable to attend stadiums.�
At an online media roundtable today, he explained: “Watch together has been in the works for three years and when the pandemic hit and fans could not attend the grounds, it became much more of a priority.�
“I always believe sport is a social viewing experience, so I have always felt it was very relevant. It took a lot of development to make sure we can sync up the viewing experience of the live game while you are talking with your friends, so that was already in development.�
“What we have to be really clear on is some of this technology that we are rolling out now and some of these experiences need the platform to be able to deliver them on to really maximise those benefits. So we have got a clear roadmap which we are very vocal about.”�
The pay-TV giant has worked with several strategic partners to roll out its new services, including international sports media technology services firm Deltatre, which continues to collaborate with the broadcaster through its Diva Player platform.
Deltatre has worked with BT Sport since 2015 when it delivered its app to initially show Champions League and Europa League games before expanding it to Premier League coverage.
As well as Deltatre, BT worked with software company Sceenic to develop its watch together feature, video content provider Tiledmedia for its 360 viewing option, as well a collaboration with Premier League clubs on the stadium experiences function.
Marc Allera, chief executive of BT’s consumer division, said: “We�continually look for ways to offer customers new and innovative services, allowing them to make the most from their smartphone. Our new�Match Day Experience features will provide an amazing array of ways to enhance their sports viewing.”
In an interview with Sportcal in August, Hindhaugh said�BT Sport’s coverage during the pandemic accelerated its long-term roadmap of creating more remote productions.
The broadcaster has been developing future plans for remote production in recent years to boost coverage available to viewers, with more matches and faster highlights.
In 2018,�EE and BT Sport demonstrated a live broadcast with remote production over 5G in anticipation of rolling it out within five years.
The two parties collaborated to broadcast the final of the EE Wembley Cup, a four-team tournament of social media-created stars captained by ‘legends’ of the game, over 5G using remote production, which was the first live sports event broadcast in this way.
Hindhaugh told Sportcal in August: “It has been on our roadmap to look at more remote production and it was meant to play out by 2023, so our plan was brought ahead by three years to facilitate that and those learnings come from doing games from people’s homes and commentary from people’s homes.”�
BT has had a limited presence on site at Premier League games and also adopted its soccer model for Premiership Rugby, with the company using the Covid-19 period to bring forward and embrace remote plans.�