BT builds the UK's first uncompressed video contribution network for Premier League football stadiums

Breakthrough service enhances image quality and minimises delays for broadcasters

BT Media and Broadcast has successfully provided the UK’s first uncompressed video contribution network connecting all 20 Premier League football stadiums in a three year deal with the League’s international broadcasting outlet, Premier League Productions (PLP).

BT Media & Broadcast has installed and is managing the new contribution network across all 20 stadia to support its premium service for broadcast customers. The service includes having multiple 10Gbps links to PLP in Stockley Park studios in London.

PLP is a partnership between the Premier League and international sports production company IMG. It delivers every match live to the Premier League’s international rights holders, as well as additional production material such as instant replays, highlights packages and ready-for-air channels.

Under the terms of the agreement, BT Media & Broadcast provides uncompressed live HD video feeds between the stadiums and IMG’s studios in London, enabling PLP to provide an enhanced service to their international customers by eliminating all the issues currently associated with distributing compressed video, such as delays and reduced image quality.

The initial expectation was that each venue would need up to 12 uncompressed visions on a match day, however due to the success of the deployment and customer demand, the requirement is frequently 20 uncompressed visions per match. On occasion, the demand has been for 32 per match.

Nick Moody, Head of Premier League Productions (PLP), IMG, said: “We are constantly looking to innovate on behalf of the broadcasters we serve all over the world. The BT network has allowed us to greatly increase flexibility and give us the ability to scale up our service as and when we need to and, in turn, has been extremely well-received by the Premier League’s international licensees.”

Mark Wilson-Dunn, Vice President of BT Media & Broadcast said: ‘’This has never been done before for Premier League football, so we’re extremely proud to be serving PLP, playing a crucial role in delivering the world’s most popular football league to fans across the globe. This service offers PLP a launch pad for the move to UHD delivery, with the bandwidth provided through our optical network and market leading experience in UHD outside broadcast services.”

The new service has been in place since the beginning of the 2016/17 Premier League season.

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About Premier League Productions

PLP is a partnership between the Premier League and international sports production company IMG. It delivers every match live to the Premier League’s international rights holders, as well as additional production material such as instant replays, highlights packages and ready-for-air channels. As a result of PLP’s distribution, Premier League matches are available to watch in 900 million homes in 190 countries.

About BT Media & Broadcast

BT Media & Broadcast (M&B) is the digital media and broadcast services arm of BT Wholesale. All of the UK’s digital terrestrial TV is underpinned by M&B’s specialist media network, whilst it is also responsible for delivering outside broadcast services from over 150 sports and news locations around the UK.

M&B’s global media network links every major location around the world where broadcast or film content is created or distributed.