LONDON—BT Sport has become one of the first global broadcasters to demonstrate live 8K sport.

Working with a range of established partners, BT Sport and BT’s Media and Broadcast division delivered an hour-long, live broadcast in 8K on to the BT stand at IBC, showcasing the Gallagher Premiership Rugby 7s tournament taking place in Northampton.

Partners who supported BT’s live 8K trial included:

• Appear TV (Appear X10 platform used for encoding, decoding, IP encapsulation and interfacing to the BT network for live link)
• Astro Design (8K Interface Conversion)
• Blackmagic Design (ATEM Constellation 8K for vision mixing/HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR for recording)
• Fujinon (lenses and BT Sport preferred 4K lens partner)
• Ikegami (cameras)
• Leader (technical monitoring)
• MOOV (graphics)
• Samsung (showcasing the content on its 2019 8K QLED TV, the Samsung Q950R, offering resolution four times that of 4K and a total of 33 million pixels supported by HDR10+. Samsung are also the first TV manufacturer to support the BT Sport app)
• Telegenic (OB support)

According to BT Sport’s Chief Operating Officer Jamie Hindhaugh, the purpose of the broadcast was to demonstrate BT Sport’s capabilities, and where that leads a broadcaster creatively. “We’re not necessarily saying we’re going to launch an 8K proposition, we’re not necessarily saying the U.K. market needs that,” he told TVBEurope.

“But you learn from value of 8K, you learn from the extra quality it gives you and it can become an element within your production. It’s like 8K VR, we’re already trialling that and it is something that will roll out and replace our 4K 360 that we currently do.”

THATCHAM, England—Phabrix has concluded nine months of HDR technology trials with U.K. pay TV service BT Sport, the company announced today.

For the tests, Phabrix provided its Qx rasterizers and technical expertise as BT Sport developed its live production workflow for the launch of BT Sport Ultimate, a new consumer offering that will deliver HDR, UHD and Dolby Atmos immersive sound. The BT Sport app for mobile devices will also provide HDR.

The Phabrix Qx rasterizers were deployed throughout the BT Sport production chain in more than 20 live trials. Those included tests at the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final in Madrid, the European Rugby Heineken and Challenge Cup finals in Newcastle, England, and the FA Cup Final, the company said.

BT Sport used the Qx Rasterizer to monitor and analyze SDR and HDR color gamut. Phabrix worked with BT Sport on identifying settings for SDR-to-HDR conversions and tone mappers in production trucks and networks.

The Qx rasterizer is a test and measurement instrument designed for HD/3G/6G/12G-SDI and IP ST 2110/2022-7/2022-6 environments. It offers tools for rapid fault diagnosis, compliance monitoring and product development, it said.

“HDR is an extremely important development for live sports broadcasting and in line with our innovation ethos brings our audience closer to the heart of sport than ever before: the ultimate viewing experience,” said Andy Beale, chief engineer at BT Sport. “Phabrix’s Qx rasterizer presents all the necessary HDR information we require in a clear, consistent display.”

Beale and Phabrix product manager Prinyar Boon will present a Production Masterclass at IBC 2019 entitled, “Delivering Live Football and Rugby in HDR.”

More information is available on the IBC website.

LONDON—As it prepares for its coverage of two of the biggest matches of the year, BT Sport some new viewing experiences for soccer fans.

Once again, BT Sport will offer the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League finals free-to-air online via the BTSport.com video player—also available on the BT Sport app—and on YouTube and the BT Sport Showcase HD TV channel. In addition, BT Sport is debuting 4K and VR coverage of the games.

The UEFA Champions League final, which features Real Madrid playing Juventus, will be available in 360-degree virtual reality through streams on YouTube and the new BT Sport Virtual Reality app. Fans will have access to a 360-degree produced program with commentary and graphics, or their own camera viewpoint.

BT will also show the game in 4K UHD on YouTube and in 4K UHD with Dolby Atmos sound on BT TV.

The UEFA Europa League final between Manchester United and Ajax will take place on May 24 in Stockholm. The UEFA Champions League final will be played on June 3 in Wales.

MONTREAL—BT Sport has entered into a new playing field, having recently conducted a 4K/UHD broadcast of a Premier League soccer match on an IP network. The U.K.-based sports broadcaster partnered with Arena Television, a mobile broadcast service provider, who in turn utilized a suite of IP core and broadcast –centric edge devices from Grass Valley.

The OBX truck from Arena features 28 Grass Valley LDX 86N series cameras, four Node real-time IP processing and edge routing platforms with 54 KMX-4911 multiviewer cards, 180 Densité IPG-3901 Gateways and a Kayenne K-Frame production switcher, all of which work together for a glass-to-glass IP workflow.

GV offers direct IP interfaces for all the products in use by the OBX truck, which helps move data across the network and meet the demands of live production. The truck is signal agnostic, with the ability to switch between UHD 2160p50, 3G 1080p50 and HD 1080i50, while also using less cable.

BT Sport utilized the Arena truck during a Sept. 10 Premier League match between Liverpool and Leicester City. Grass Valley’s press release indicates that more all-IP and 4K/UHD productions are scheduled for OBX, and that OBY and OBZ, which feature the same GV products, are expected to be completed in the coming months.

LONDON—As part of a large plan to distribute BT Sport channels over a range of digital platforms, BT Sport has announced that it will partner with YouTube to live stream the upcoming UEFA Champions League final and the UEFA Europa League final. BT will stream its Freeview Showcase channel via YouTube for both matches.

Read the full story on TV Technology’s sister publication TVB Europe.