SIS LIVE delivers pre-Rugby World Cup match feeds at London Olympic Park

SIS LIVE has ‘kicked off’ the Rugby World Cup by successfully delivering broadcast coverage of the Barbarians v Samoa match at London’s Olympic Stadium using its dedicated media fibre and uplink systems. The feeds were distributed and managed by SIS LIVE’s main broadcast network operations centre (NOC) and teleport located at MediaCityUK in Manchester, with a disaster recovery NOC at the Milton Keynes headquarters.

The stage is now set for the main Rugby World Cup event and SIS LIVE’s key role in providing all feeds from 48 matches, around England and Wales at 13 different venues. David Meynell, managing director, SIS LIVE, said: “The trial of our resilient coverage of the Barbarians v Samoa game is a great start and the first live usage of our new fibre venue networks ahead of what promises to be a keenly-followed World Cup.

“We have rolled out fibre connections to all of the venues and equipped them with the latest JPEG2000 codecs providing high quality low latency video links, coupled with comprehensive back up satellite links provided by our highly-specified uplink trucks. The addition of microwave feeds provide a third layer of protection at key stadiums, making it the most connected and resilient Rugby World Cup in history.

“We believe we are the only company who can provide such diverse routings across three technologies, which insures against coverage interruptions. The planning and preparation from my colleagues at SIS LIVE has been unprecedented and I am really looking forward to the main event. ” 

The match, which resulted in Samoa 27, Barbarians 24, was broadcast on ITV4. Host broadcaster ITV selected SIS LIVE to supply all connectivity services throughout the hotly-awaited tournament, which features teams from the top 20 rugby nations and kicks off with England v Fiji on 18 September.