Verizon to stream Super Bowl live via LTE Multicast

“Verizon Wireless will fulfill a vision it revealed a year ago by streaming the 2014 Super Bowl live via an LTE broadcast, though it will only reach an invited audience at a Verizon event in New York,” Stephen Lawson reports for IDG News Service.

“LTE broadcasting, which Verizon calls LTE Multicast, delivers content to multiple subscribers at once rather than sending it in a separate stream to each user. This can prevent buffering and delay for subscribers, reduces congestion, and makes more efficient use of a carrier’s radio spectrum,” Lawson reports. “One place where the system may be useful is at large events where thousands of people are interested in the same types of content, such as instant replays at sporting events.”

“Verizon will provide an LTE Multicast of Sunday’s game as part of a special event in New York’s Bryant Park to showcase the emerging technology. It will deliver a stream of the Fox Sports broadcast of the Super Bowl, along with streams of a Twitter feed and game statistics, to a few hundred Verizon guests and media at the park, Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Debi Lewis said,” Lawson reports. “LTE broadcasting isn’t just for localized content at an event. It could be used for any stream of content in high demand, including software updates, over an entire national network. To offer it, carriers need to set aside a portion of their spectrum, which can be allocated back to regular service when needed. Mass software updates might take place overnight when demand for network capacity is relatively low, Qualcomm has said.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “James W.” for the heads up.]