Sports broadcasts, video games and even news: the elimination of physical barriers enabled by technologies like 5G will have a huge impact on the entertainment industry.
Let's look at some concrete examples to get a clear idea of what we are talking about in a world where data traffic is increasing and, on top of that, we want to have more and more connected devices.
Immersive experiences in sports thanks to 5G
Football, basketball and even cycling are some of the 5G use cases in which this technology demonstrates its potential in the world of sport.
Soccer
Telefónica and Atlético de Madrid developed at the end of the 2022/2023 season a pioneering pilot experience in football in which an immersive experience could be enjoyed thanks to 5G and virtual reality.
A group of supporters watched two Cívitas Metropolitano matches (notably against Osasuna and Real Sociedad) from different angles thanks to 360º cameras installed in one of the goals, in the changing room tunnel, in the control room or in the one of the stands.
To 5G and its capabilities (such as low latency or higher speed) which allow transmission to VR glasses, we must add the importance of optical fiber to send the video streams to the server as well as the calculation and combining video streams in the cloud.
Basketball
Already in the ACB Copa del Rey in Malaga in 2020 and thanks to 5G and virtual reality glasses, the public located near the José María Martín Carpena pavilion was able to follow the match between FB Barcelona and Valencia Basket as if they were on the field.
Similar to the case we saw previously, with 360 cameras installed (one above the basket, another in the referee area and another under the basket to cover more angles) and the bandwidth and transmission capacity of high-speed data provided by 5G, fans had an immersive experience as if they were watching the clash on the pitch.
Bike
As part of the 2018 edition of Vuelta Ciclista in Spainand before the start of a stage in Talavera de la Reina, former cyclist Pedro Delgado demonstrated in a practical way what low latency is and why it is so relevant.
Wearing virtual reality glasses that prevented him from seeing directly, Delgado walked a circuit using images that his headset's camera sent to edge computing and which were sent back to these VR glasses.
It is precisely thanks to the low latency that the winner of a Tour and two Vueltas was able to overcome obstacles and navigate the entire circuit as if he could see directly.
Gaming and video games: faster thanks to 5G
The virtual disappearance of latency brought by 5G technology will also have a huge impact on the gaming and video game industry.
Other benefits of this technology that we have already mentioned above, such as higher network speed and better bandwidth (larger data volume and network capacity) will make network connectivity in games more uniform , thereby improving performance and gaming experience.
All these advances will also help popularize virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) games, bringing immersive experiences that are increasingly difficult to differentiate from physical reality.
Information broadcasts on 5G
But the world of entertainment is not the only one that can benefit from advances in this technology. The information field will also benefit from the advantages of 5G broadcasts enabling coverage of events without the need to move mobile units.
This also facilitates the immediacy of coverage in case of sudden news, as only the TV camera connected by 5G at the coverage location is needed for the remote director to access the signal in real time.
Thus, live media broadcasts through 5G will be more efficient and flexible, in addition to lower costs and less complexity of the infrastructure associated with these information connections.
Conclusion
Broadcasts of different types of entertainment events, as well as certain live television broadcasts or video games, will benefit from 5G technology both from a logistical point of view in the broadcast itself and from a user experience point of view .