Satellite technology has played a key role in the globalization of sports and entertainment, as formerly regional events have been elevated to global status. Now with consumers demanding more and more services while attending these events, the people behind the shows are looking to satellite technology to meet these needs.
Sporting events have changed dramatically in just a few generations, and are no longer about simply watching a game or match. A sporting event today is considered an “experience,” and satellite technology is the foundation for any global event, serving as both a central nervous system for event coordinators and transport mechanism for content.

Global Connectivity

Intelsat used its network infrastructure of satellite and terrestrial facilities for the collection and distribution of Live Earth 2007, a series of concerts that boasted 24 hours of music from eight cities spread throughout seven continents and featured performances by more than 150 of the world’s top artists. During the 24-hour event, Intelsat delivered standard-definition and high definition (HD) program feeds from the eight international venues (New York, London, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney and Hamburg) to the Live Earth production center in London. The content contribution process uses satellites, fiber and teleport facilities throughout Intelsat’s global network. From London, the post-production world feed for the Live Earth concert traveled across Intelsat’s GlobalConnex network to three of Intelsat’s teleports. Intelsat’s teleports then distributed the Live Earth global feed to the world’s leading video neighborhoods which reside on Intelsat’s satellite fleet and to points-of-presence for Internet distribution.

The movie industry hopes that satellite will have a similarly large impact on its business model. Digital cinema, the process in which movies are stored as data files and distributed to theaters where they are broadcast through a digital projector, is experiencing rapid growth and throughout the last few years and has gained a solid foothold in the U.S. market. Due to churn, mergers and acquisitions in the cinema market, the total number of theaters hovers around 39,000 screens spread across 5,928
theaters. To date, 4,000 of those screens have been converted to a digital infrastructure, with another 2,600 committing to upgrade.

The cost to upgrade an individual screen to a digital infrastructure is in the $100,000 range, meaning the bill to upgrade a theater with 20 screens or more easily would surpass several million dollars. The upgrades mean theater owners will be able to reduce the number of projectionist they employ, but those savings are small compared to the cost reductions enjoyed by the studios. Rather than shipping large canisters of film across the country, studios can transmit the digital files electronically, eliminating the need to print multiple copies on expensive film for every screen and also slicing the shipping charges from overnight couriers. Studios pass along the savings to theaters owners which they use to pay for the new systems. This agreement will last 10 years, after which the studios begin to reap the rewards of a digital world.

To realize the projected cost savings, the studios and theaters will have to rely on satellite delivery. The theaters are equipped with a pair of satellite receivers aimed at different satellites. As the files are downlinked, they are fed to a redundant validation server that checks the integrity of the file. Once the file has been validated, the movie is then stored in a library management system and can be scheduled to automatically run. Curt Tilly, manager of digital cinema distribution for Microspace, notes that satellite distribution of movies is much more efficient and cost effective compared to shipping movies stored on hard disks around the country. “Our model provides a single carrier which delivers content to multiple points. When you have a large number of theaters, the price per theater is very low,” he says.

The digital delivery method also will aid studios in their never-ending battle against piracy, as digital movies employ multiple levels of encryption. The digital movie file is un-encrypted inside the digital projector, but for further protection, studios insert a unique digital watermark into every movie file. The watermark is not visible to the naked eye, but if someone tapes the movie inside a theater with a video camera, the watermark is embedded in the videotape like an electronic fingerprint, allowing the studio to pinpoint the theater where the piracy occurred.

The use of digital equipment and satellites also allows the theaters to expand their content offerings into the live event realm, says Tilly. A good example of this was the Louisville-West Virginia college football game played in November in Morgantown, W. Va. The game was a sellout, but Microspace delivered the game in high definition to six different digital cinemas — two National Amusement and a Cinemark theater in Louisville and two Marquee and a Carmike theater in West Virginia — for fans unable to attend in person.

“There are several factors which make it appealing,” says Tilly. “If a game is a sellout and isn’t broadcast on television, digital cinema allows more fans to see it live. In addition, tickets to sporting events have gone up in price and are beyond the means of many fans. A ticket to the Louisville-West Virginia game was $40 each but only $12 to see the game live in high definition at the theater.” These events also can be attractive to fans that want to see the event but do not want to fight the crowds or bad weather. “Weather can have a big impact on fan attendance,” he says. “Imagine a huge rainstorm or snowstorm deluging the stadium on game day. Instead of driving several hours in bad conditions fans could opt to see the game live from the confines of a theater. Even when weather conditions are good, digital cinema allows fans to see their favorite team play without a long drive. Watching a big game in a theater allows groups of friends who may not be able to go to attend the game see it together. Alumni groups could even rent out entire theaters.”

Sporting events are not the only events being shown in theaters. Opera fans throughout Europe were able to witness performances by New York’s famed Metropolitan Opera in Cinemark Theaters. In April, Arqiva completed its second season of live transmissions of “The Met: Live in HD,” reaching an estimated audience of more than 900,000 people during the season. To deliver the eight performances, Arqiva receives the live HD signal from the Atlantic Bird 1 satellite and retransmits to the Intelsat 10-02 and Atlantic Bird 3 satellites for live distribution into cinemas in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France and other European countries. A Metropolitan Opera representative monitors the transmission from within the master control room of Arqiva’s Winchester teleport in the United Kingdom, providing real-time communication between the Metropolitan Opera and Arqiva’s team. Arqiva’s also added on-screen local language subtitling for participating countries, negating the need for multiple transmissions from the United States. “Digital cinema is an exciting new medium which presents very important opportunities to live event organizers and exhibitors,” says Barrie Woolston, commercial director at Arqiva’s Satellite Media Solutions division. “As well as enabling organizers to expand their audience reach all around the world, the growing popularity of experiencing alternative content on the big screen can significantly drive revenues across an exhibitor’s network.

Digital signage also is seeing an increased presence at ballparks and events. Interactive kiosks provide information and help sell products, the same function they perform in other venues but more narrowly targeted to the needs and wants of the event attendees. “Information screens can provide basic information, such as where is the pizza vendor located or is it shorter to turn left or right to get to my seats,” says Mike Tippets, president of Helius. “But digital signage can do so much more. The best time to sell tickets to a fan is right after a game or event. Interactive signage can show highlights of the game and then take orders for tickets to future events. Teams can use digital signage to sell more merchandise. Since the media is interactive, a fan could select their body shape from a list and then model how different colors and styles of jersey would look as if you were wearing them. Swiping an RFID tag attached to a player’s jersey sold in the gift shop could bring up a highlight film and current statistics. Digital signage will become more common at stadiums and events in the future.”

Personalized Services

As technology has become more pervasive in our lives, it has affected live sporting events as well. No longer do we simply watch and observe; we can interact. Good examples can be found at sporting events, even where the action is not confined to a field, court or stadium where all the action is within eyesight.

XM Radio launched the PGA Tour Network in 2005, allowing golf fans to receive live coverage of golf tournaments via portable XM radios. Instead of glancing periodically at the leader board and trying to figure out if someone is making a charge on the back nine, fans now can hear what is going on live. XM has partnered with Pure Golf to provide in-depth tournament coverage, player interviews and news. Spectators can either purchase or rent portable XM units at the tournament site.

Another sport where action is spread out — Formula One auto racing — is the target of a service dubbed Kangaroo TV, the brainchild of Mark Arseneau, a former race car driver with a high-tech background. Formula 1 race tracks wiggle and meander throughout a large area. Fans seated in grandstands along curves and straightaways, may get fleeting glimpses of their favorite driver as they dash in and out of view, but the track layouts make it impossible for a fan to see the entire track. Although his racing career is over, Arseneau remains a racing enthusiast, and he would rent scanners and try to deduce team strategy by looking at the car’s vital signs relayed from the speeding car to the pit crew. A racer at heart, he did not like the limited data that was available and set out to enhance the racing fan’s experience.

Kangaroo TV transmits content to handheld video units which Formula One racing fans can rent the devices for one day for 50 euros ($77), for the three-day event that includes practice, qualification and race days for 75 euros ($116) or for the season for 450 euros ($695). To enhance the race fans experience, a wide variety of information is collected, aggregated and broadcast to the terminals. Kangaroo TV provides the content for the devices, aggregating a combination of video feeds from the race car and cameras set up around the course as well as expert commentary. Sensors in the car provide data regarding the car’s performance to the pit crew; the data from all the cars is aggregated and formatted so it can be pushed out to the handheld units. Fans can keep track of the location of their favorite car as it moves around the course. Standings are posted as well so fans can see how their favorite team is doing. Since Formula One races are international events, Kangaroo TV terminals can display information in multiple languages, and fans can even listen to conversations between the pit crew and driver. While aimed at serious fans, Kangaroo TV also has proven popular with racing neophytes. The terminals provide statistics, commentary, and video feeds, allowing new fans to quickly develop a better understanding of the sport.

Kangaroo TV also is moving into other sports, launching NASCAR service in 2006 and has struck a deal to bring Direct TV’s Sunday Ticket to football fans watching their favorite NFL team. While watching the home team, the service allows fans to keep track of other ongoing games, see instant replays and get special commentary. The service will be available at home games of the Houston Texans, Seattle Seahawks, Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys in 2008.

Another technology that can be used to provide information at events is cell phones, which have embedded video screens and sport plenty of processing power making them an ideal platform to deliver the same type of service. Several handset manufacturers are in discussions with KenCast to use their multicasting technology to disseminate video such as instant replay and customized content to fans attending large events. KenCast’s technology is used by the U.S. military to multicast a terabyte of data every day to armed forces around the globe. “It is clear from our research that fans embrace this technology because it enhances the game experience,” says Seth Perkins, KenCast’s director of marketing. “Content is becoming individualized. We can help bring it your hand. There is lots happening right now and there are some exciting new services on the way. The secret is getting the digits where they belong, when they belong, with all the digits intact. This isn’t easy.”

At the heart of KenCast’s success is its proprietary forward error correction technology called Fazzt. The state-of-the-art broadcast system can deliver large files to authorized users at thousands of remote sites, and KenCast scripting tools and add-ons can be integrated with user systems.

 “Once you start dealing with multicasting, you are essentially dealing with a one-way network,” says Perkins. “You need something that will correct the damage if there is interference. This is very important in wireless networks. Fazzt is extremely efficient at reconstructing damage with perfect assurance and perfect reliability. You must make the experience perfect or the consumer won’t be happy.”