All amateur footballers on TV
Good ideas from Germany: a special camera automatically broadcasts football to your TV.
Germany. Will the families and friends of amateur players soon be able to watch them playing on television? A Cologne-based production company called Wige Media is currently testing the automatic broadcasting of amateur soccer matches. Using special software, games are transmitted by a 180-degree camera installed at the halfway line. Computer algorithms make cameramen, directors and commentators superfluous.
The images can be viewed on the Sporttotal channel, a Wige Media subsidiary. Users can follow their favourite team or player on a computer, smartphone or tablet either live or on-demand from anywhere on earth. The unique selling point: each viewer can be his or her own director, choosing a personal perspective and stopping, fast-forwarding or rewinding the action as he or she pleases.
Enormous potential
The idea is as simple as it is convincing – and the marketing potential enormous. Over 25,000 clubs with almost seven million members and roughly 160,000 teams are registered with the German Football Association (DFB) alone. The broadcaster aims to finance its service with advertising. The basic version is free of charge for users, while the clubs only pay a small membership fee to Sporttotal. Three DAX-listed companies – Allianz, Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom – have already bought shares in the business and are contributing their know-how. If the technological trial succeeds there are plans to install 3,000 systems by the end of 2019. In the long term, Sporttotal is planning to look at international football markets and other sports.