Telstra provides live 4K fibre contribution delivery on behalf of FOX SPORTS for Foxtel’s 4K channel

Telstra Broadcast Services’ 4K fibre contribution transmission is delivering FOX SPORTS’ 2019 cricket coverage in 4K becoming the first Australian telco to offer 4K delivery capability.

4K Ultra High Definition will provide viewers with superior picture quality, better image depth and a more cinematic, immersive experience, at four times the resolution of high-definition.

Telstra’s unique 4K offering represents a major uplift across its broadcast portfolio made possible through ongoing investment in robust and agile media networks supported by Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company.

Telstra Broadcast Services utilises mature third generation dedicated 4K hardware encoding. For FOX SPORTS, Telstra is supplying a full suite of services calling on its Distributed Production Network – an end-to-end IP network with a standard capacity of up to 100Gbps into 31 sporting venues nationally – Digital Video Network, satellite trucks, teleports and state of the art Broadcast Operations Centre.

Telstra’s Head of Telstra Broadcast Services, Trevor Boal, said: “we have pioneered this new approach with FOX SPORTS to ensure Australians can get a superior entertainment experience. We’re excited to see where our 4K capability will take the future of broadcast and look forward to providing our comprehensive suite of broadcast services to customers around the world.”

FOX SPORTS’ Director of Technology & Infrastructure, Stephen Edwards, said the delivery of Australian sports in 4K is an historic step in Australian broadcasting, the FOX SPORTS production and technical teams have set an unparalleled quality benchmark for our 4K outside broadcast productions and the Telstra 4K delivery solution is a vital part of ensuring this quality is maintained when delivering live feeds back to FOX SPORTS and onto our customers watching on Foxtel 4K (channel 444).

Live broadcast of the cricket season is just one element of 4K for Telstra Broadcast Services. In partnership with WTA Media Telstra recently provided an integrated broadcast system to allow the Women's Tennis Association Singapore finals to be transmitted in 4K – its first time ever.

The WTA series is produced in HD with the Finals in UHD contributed through Telstra’s flexible IP Network and Global Media Network (GMN) transporting both signals simultaneously. Advanced efficient next generation compression technologies are used, providing crisp clear high resolution 4K pictures.

Telstra’s 4K capability has been available to international partners and customers across Telstra’s GMN since its launch in 2016 – a worldwide highly resilient network built on a four fibre path system. The service is specifically designed for the seamless delivery of video content and is monitored 24x7 to guarantee the highest levels of service and minimise any interruptions.