Verizon’s fiber network connects NBA arenas for 1080p broadcasts
Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) plans to connect all NBA arenas to a high-speed fiber network for better HD broadcast support. When the network is up and running in the second half of 2020, the league will be able to broadcast games from every team in 1080p resolution, and the system will support up to 30 cameras in each arena.
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Each of the 29 arenas (the NBA has 30 teams, but the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers both call the Staples Center home) will be hooked up to “two diversely routed 100G fiber circuits” that will bump up network bandwidth tenfold. Doubling up should mitigate technical difficulties and help make sure you don’t miss any of the action. Verizon will connect the arenas to its hubs in Newark and Atlanta, while an operations center in Dulles, VA will monitor video traffic quality and data during games.
It’ll be a significant undertaking for Verizon to build out this network. It’s a little strange on the surface that the best resolution promised in the announcement is 1080p when 4K is increasingly becoming the standard. However, that might be more down to a 4K production equipment availability than Verizon’s network capacity.
Update 6/15/2019 11:10AM ET: Updated to reflect that LA’s NBA teams are the Lakers and Clippers.
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