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Emirates Stadium is one of the most technologically advanced sports venues in the world. The Press area of the stadium is equipped with 120 seats, staged in pairs with a shared tabletop. On each table sits a single LCD display in a stainless steel casing. Live broadcast of the action on the pitch from an outside broadcaster such as Sky Sports was needed on the monitors, to ensure that the Press attendees were receiving the live play as it happened and were able to view the instant replays. The monitors are now equipped with HDTV, following a deal between Arsenal Football Club and Sony. As Managing Director Keith Edelman says: "One of the things we said when we built the stadium was that we wanted it to have state-of-the-art technology in everything we did."

Targeting zero latency

However, despite the sophistication of the new TV infrastructure, there existed a delay in the action on the monitors, so that when a goal was scored on the pitch, it would appear a few seconds later on screen via the distribution system. This was clearly an issue in areas where both the monitors and the action on the pitch could be seen at the same time.

Enter MediaStar

Systems integration specialist, Feltech and Cabletime, which has been behind live video distribution in a number of the UK's leading sports stadiums, came to the rescue just weeks before the Emirates Stadium was due to open its doors to excited fans.  Feltech supplied the 60 widescreen LCD monitors used on the Press Area tabletops, one Cabletime MediaStar Pro Hub and 60 MediaStar Pro Settop Receiver Units, which together ensure that live footage relayed by the outside broadcaster can be delivered in real time to the screens in the Press area without a single second of play being missed.

Delivering real-time action

The system uses a single channel RF headend installed by Feltech, and the MediaStar Pro Hub by Cabletime receives the modulated feed from the outside broadcaster plug-in point.  This is sent to the RF input of the Pro Hub, which provides live service to the 120 press participants.  MediaStar Pro Micro TV Settop Receiver Units connect directly to the display source, in this case the tabletop LCDs. The MediaStar Pro Micro TV Settop Receiver Unit connects to the front panel RJ45 sockets on the MediaStar Pro Hub via the stadium's data cabling and allows interconnection at distances of up to 800 meters (2,600 ft) over CAT5/5e/6.

The solution provided by Feltech and Cabletime's MediaStar Pro allows Emirates Stadium to provide its press attendees with real-time football action with minimal impact to the network and in a 'plug and play' manner that is robust and scalable.  Says Peter Fell, of Feltech: "The Cabletime MediaStar Pro system is the only system we would consider for an application like this.  The need for real time delivery via Cat-6 cables coupled with the reliability of the system and our familiarity with its deployment and use made it the true system of choice for the Arsenal press room."

Patrick Barclay, sports correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph commented: "The press facilities at Arsenal provide us with a good view with very good, clear monitors in front of each journalist.  It provides such spot-on real time action that we can see very controversial decisions made in matches that otherwise might be difficult to see."

Paul Reeves, Sales and Marketing Director at Cabletime, said: "There are many installations where 'live video' is, in reality, delivered with a few seconds delay. But at the Emirates Stadium, where the world's sports media gather, there is no room for delay, the action on the screens must coincide with the action on the pitch. The MediaStar system delivers footage instantly, and we are delighted to be included in the roster of best-in-class solutions that make the Emirates Stadium stand out internationally".