FOX Sports announced partnerships via the Fox Innovation Lab and Ericsson, Intel and AT&T, to leverage 5G technology to stream 4K video over 5G for potential broadcast nationwide at this year’s U.S. Open Championship from June 14-17. The 5G wireless technology will transmit 4K HDR images from two FOX Sports cameras positioned on the par-3 seventh hole at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club through the FOX Sports production truck, making it available to FOX Sports and its viewers through DirecTV. In the future, 5G could possibly be used to deliver real-time virtual reality views from the course to viewers. Ericsson is providing the 5G radios, baseband, simulated network core, and 4K video encoder and decoder. Intel is providing the Intel®5G®Mobile Trial Platform, a compact device capable of transmitting 1.6Gbs/s, that allows fast field and interoperability testing of 5G networks and equipment. AT&T will use millimeter wave spectrum to deliver the 5G connection.
“It’s part of our FOX Sports DNA to aggressively explore evolving technologies as part of our live sports production,” said Michael Davies, FOX Sports SVP Field & Technical Operations. “This is exactly the kind of effort we consistently put into the leading edge of today’s technology, in preparation for what will become the industry standards of the future.”