Korean incumbent operator SK Telecom has announced that it has achieved the world’s first live TV broadcasting using its commercial 5G network and live broadcasting solution.
The production saw SK air Korea’s largest New Year’s event — which includes a countdown and bell-ringing ceremony, and interviews — at Bosingak, a large bell pavilion located in Jongro-gu, Seoul, for approximately eleven minutes, live on an entertainment channel XtvN at 00:00 KST on 1 January 2019.
For the live broadcast of the event, the company used its 5G network, which was commercialised on 1 December 2018 and the T Live Caster live broadcasting solution it developed over a four-year period. T Live Caster is designed to enable live broadcasting of video taken by smartphones on various channels such as TV and personal broadcasting via 5G and LTE network. It is currently being used not only in the media industry to live stream events and sports games.
The Bosingak event, captured by smartphone cameras installed with the T Live Caster app and connected to a 5G mobile routers, was transmitted through 5G base stations and XtvN’s transmission system to reach cable and IPTV viewers of XtvN. Despite what was said to be an extremely congested data environment, the video was transmitted at a latency of less than one second, similar to that of the existing wired broadcasting system.
Going forward, SK Telecom says that it will promote innovations in the media industry. The company plans to further enhance the quality of T Live Caster to Ultra HD and interconnect the solution to personal broadcasting platforms within this year. With its 5G network, SK Telecom will also tap into the drone broadcasting market capitalising on the partnership it forged with drone manufacturer DJI.
“With today’s successful live TV broadcasting over commercial 5G network, SK Telecom ushers in a new era of 5G-based media services,” said Choi Nak-hoon, senior vice president and head of 5GX IoT/data group of SK Telecom. “In this new era, individual creators will be able to provide high-quality live broadcast anytime, anywhere, via 5G smartphones.”