08 Sep 2022

5G to deliver record audience for Pitlochry Highland Games

A record audience of more than 40,000 people are expected to watch coverage of this year’s Pitlochry Highland Games in Scotland via the use of a pioneering project trialling future television production in remote locations using 5G.

This year’s Highland Games in Perthshire begin this weekend (10 September) with a predicted in-person audience of 6,000 to be augmented by action being transmitted live using a local private shared spectrum 5G network at the International Broadcasting Conference (IBC) in Amsterdam where an estimated 40,000 dedicated technologists and engineers from the worldwide media community will also be able to watch.

The first Pitlochry Highland Games since 2018 also marks the 170th anniversary of the Games which features competitions including highland dancing, solo piping, tossing the caber, track & field, cycling and tug ‘o’ war.

Games Chieftain Charles Butter said the 5G trial shows “the high regard in which Pitlochry Highland Games are held, not just from the point of sporting excellence but also our wonderful location.”

The private 5G stand-alone network has been designed by technology spin-out company Neutral Wireless working alongside the University of Strathclyde’s Software Defined Radio (StrathSDR) engineering team and the Scotland 5G Centre rural testbed project. The project is trialling production over 5G for broadcasters including BBC Research & Development, BTSport, BT Media & Broadcast, TV2, Paramount, Olympic Broadcasting Services and RTÉ.