In Broadcast - December 2020 - 8

8

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 10 - Issue 12 | InReview 2020

Appointments
NativeWaves
Strengthens For 2021

AUT: In conjunction with expanded
global customer engagements and
increasing revenue, NativeWaves has
made three new appointments to its
management leadership team.
Effective January 1st, 2021, NativeWaves
co-founder Christof Haslauer will become
Chief Executive Officer and co-founder
Oliver Dumboeck will assume the Chief
Technology Officer position.
NativeWaves has also appointed
Dr. Robert Niemann as Chief Revenue
Officer, with responsibility for sales and
generating new income streams. Dr.
Niemann brings decades of experience in
international sports and entertainment
to the company. He was, for many years,
a consultant to FIFA in Zurich and was
the founding director of the Institute
of International Football Management
in Munich. Dr. Niemann is currently a
lecturer at the University of St. Gallen in
Switzerland for Sports Management. Prior
to setting up his own company, NIEMANN
GmbH, he held key positions at German
Bundesliga, ProSieben, SONY Pictures,
Yahoo Germany and Fremantle Media
(RTL Group). He was also the worldwide
exclusive marketing partner of the threetime world goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and,
since 2019, he has represented German
record-breaking national player Lothar
Matthäus. Dr. Niemann is also an investor
in NativeWaves.
Pascal Levensohn, Chairman of the
NativeWaves Board, commented on these
changes: " Achieving significant commercial
traction during the COVID-19 pandemic
is a powerful market validation of the
robustness of NativeWaves' proprietary
technology. The nature of sports
entertainment delivery and fan interaction
through digital media with live sports
broadcasts has changed permanently.
NativeWaves is positioned to drive that
change globally. "
l-r: Oliver Dumboeck - Chief Technology
Officer, Christof Haslauer - Chief Executive &
Dr. Robert Niemann - Chief Revenue Officer

LiveU Enables First 5G
Smartphone Sports Broadcast

L

iveU has powered the first 5G
multi-cam sports broadcast
produced by Sky Deutschland
with its LU-Smart smartphone
kits. The live production took
place at the Flens-Arena in
Flensburg, Germany, where
Telefónica installed a dedicated
5G network to live stream a firstleague handball match. LiveU's
IP video technology delivered
flawless live video content, enabling
fans at home to watch the entire game
in high quality with close-to-zero delay
on Sky's online platform skysport.de.
Supported by netorium, LiveU's
longstanding partner in Germany, Sky
was able to capture the live action on
the handball court and simultaneously
transmit the live feed. The German
TV broadcaster deployed several
smartphones equipped with LiveU's
proprietary software for real-time
encoding and upstreaming to cover

multiple camera angles. Leveraging
Telefónica's
high-performing
5G
network on the production site, the
video data was transmitted with
maximum speed and bitrates.
Alessandro Reitano, SVP Sports
Production at Sky Deutschland, said:
" Reinforcing our reputation as an early
technology adopter, Sky successfully
completed the first end-to-end 5G
transmission in Europe on skysport.
de. With LiveU's latest IP transmission
technology and the great support

of netorium, we were able to
produce a solid 5G stream of the
handball game and to let our
online audience become part of
a dynamic and highly engaging
viewing experience. "
The
Sky
video
stream
confirmed the effectiveness
of LiveU Reliable Transport
(LRT™) technology under reallife conditions, drawing on
the insights gained by LiveU in panEuropean 5G research projects. The
live feeds were received via physical
LiveU servers located in Sky's mobile
control room outside the arena. With
each server providing four SDI output
channels, the camera feeds could be
fed into a hardware mixer and cut
on the production site. LiveU's IFB
feature (Audio Connect) served as the
audio backbone for smooth, two-way
communication between the control
room and the field.

Cobalt's John Snow Receives SMPTE Award

J

ohn Snow, Sr. FPGA Architect at
Cobalt Digital, is the recipient of
SMPTE's Excellence in Standards award
in recognition of his long-standing
participation and leadership in the
SMPTE Standards Community. Snow
was honored during the Annual SMPTE
Awards Gala which included a virtual
ceremony and social reception on
Wednesday, November 11.
The Excellence in Standards award
recognizes individuals or companies
who have been actively involved in
advancing SMPTE standards activities
and processes. Snow was singled out
for his contributions to a wide range of
activities, always in his own style, and
dedication to the Society. A consistent
and essential voice of reason in

a
process
often
fraught with conflict
and emotion, Snow
possesses the ability
to confront potentially
controversial
topics
with measured logic,
as exemplified in his
conduct as Chair of the
Networks and Facilities
Technology Committee.
According
to
Bruce
Devlin,
Standards Vice President at SMPTE,
the Excellence in Standards Award is
presented to a person who " sets the
standard for setting standards, "
" I'm very honored to be this
year's recipient of the Excellence in
Standards Award, " said Snow. " When I

look at the names of the
previous recipients, I see
industry luminaries and
leaders; people I looked
up to and learned from
over the years and I'm
deeply humbled to be
included in that group.
Without the friendship
and mentorship of them
and all in the SMPTE
Standards community I wouldn't be
receiving this award. My participation
in the SMPTE Standards community
has always been very rewarding and I
encourage others that are interested
to join and help us set the standards
that will lead our industry into the
future. "
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.inbroadcast.com/LiveU_Enables_First_5G_Smartphone_Sports_Broadcast.asp http://www.skysport.de http://www.inbroadcast.com/John_Snow_Receives_SMPTE_Award.asp http://www.inbroadcast.com/NativeWaves_Strengthens.asp http://www.shotoku.co.uk
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