UK pay-television broadcaster BT Sport has extended a rights deal with the British Speedway Promoters’ Association and also claimed a world-first with a trial broadcast of a Uefa Champions League football match in High Definition High Dynamic Range (HD HDR) direct to mobile.
BT Sport will remain the home of the British Speedway motorcycle-racing championship for a further two years, through to 2020.
In 2018, BT Sport will broadcast live coverage of 33 speedway events, including 18 Speedway GB fixtures, 11 International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) Speedway Grand Prix meetings and four FIM Speedway of Nations contests.
Coverage will be available on BT Sport’s television channels, the BT Sport mobile application and the broadcaster’s website.
Meanwhile, BT Sport delivered a live trial broadcast of Wednesday’s Champions League match between English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur and Italian Serie A club Juventus in the new format.
The match was streamed live in HD HDR to a beta version of the BT Sport app on a range of mobile devices.
BT Sport, which said the broadcast was the first of its kind, collaborated with EE in order to use the telco’s 4G network for the trial.
The broadcaster was also able to use a 24-camera Ultra HD set-up at Wembley, with 17 HDR cameras native and the other seven converted to HDR 10 PQ.
BT Sport plans to continue to test out the technology.
Jamie Hindhaugh, chief operating officer at BT Sport, said: “Mobile viewers are an important and growing part of our audience, and we’re constantly focusing on innovating to ensure the best possible experience for our sports fans.
“HDR is the future for mobile – the technology is perfect for getting the most out of the small screen, with incredible colour and definition.”