Golf’s oldest championship hasn’t been afraid to embrace a bit of modern technology. Since 2010, organizers at The Open Championship (also known as the British Open) have called on Exterity to deliver live TV and video across the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland.
The 144th edition of the British Open runs from July 16 to 19 and attracts players and visitors from around the world in pursuit of the Claret Jug trophy. Since 2010, Exterity has delivered live footage of the event across an IP network, allowing broadcasters to show high-quality content to screens throughout the massive venue.
For this year’s Open, Exterity’s system expanded to all the hospitality and media suites at St. Andrews, so golf fans can see new records and watch close-ups of the action regardless of where they are within the hospitality village. The system is also used by on-site broadcasters to monitor their channels as delivered from both satellite and free services.
View photos of the Old Course and its upgraded media center.
The Exterity IP video solution sits on top of the existing fiber-based network, which has been installed on the championship course. The distribution of content from capture to delivery to every screen is controlled centrally from Exterity’s management system, the AvediaServer Director. The Exterity system uses 335 receivers, HD-SDI and HDMI encoders and satellite and free view TV gateways as backup. The system streams content from Exterity AvediaStream encoders straight to the 36m LED video wall in the media center.
The installation was led by C3i Events, who specialize in events management for large-scale sporting competitions. The Open requires months of planning and two months on-site, says C3i Events owner Jason Hall.
“Temporary installations such as The Open require a robust system that is quick and easy to install and doesn’t compromise on picture quality, while ensuring that the action is streamed in real-time to enable visitors to be immersed in the competition, even when they’re not next to the fairway itself,” says Exterity CEO Colin Farquhar. “We’re delighted that our initial work with C3i has resulted in continued collaboration at such a prestigious event.”
