LiveU’s LU900Q intelligent production unit played a central role in the host broadcast operation for the Games in Glasgow. The host broadcaster Actua Sport deployed a total of 14 LiveU units, including the LU900Q, around multiple venues – covering 10 sports and six Para sports, with approximately 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories. LiveU Matrix was also deployed in the cloud for cost-efficient IP distribution to leading broadcasters across the globe.

Producing a multi-venue event across a city presents a connectivity challenge that no fixed infrastructure can fully solve in advance. ENG crews moving between the venues and various side events faced networks that ranged from stable to heavily congested – particularly around busy public venues at peak competition times. Actua needed a production solution that could adapt in real time, not just perform under ideal conditions.

As a longstanding LiveU partner, Actua built its deployment around the LU900Q, bringing together native LiveU IQ (LIQ), advanced 5G architecture, and dual-MIMO antennas to deliver resilient, broadcast-grade contribution across demanding multi-venue environments. Unlike conventional setups that lock crews into a fixed set of mobile network operators, LIQ dynamically and intelligently switches eSIMs between mobile operators – delivering the strongest set of cellular connections for any given location and time, live and on air. Across four venues and ten days of competition, it helped keep broadcast-grade video moving even as network conditions changed around the production.

Using the LU900Q, ENG crews could move between stadiums and social event locations to contribute live and near-live content, from press conferences and athlete arrivals to warmups and side-event coverage, back to the broadcast operations center. With live moments possible at short notice, crews needed to stay ready to deploy at any time. The mobile set-up allowed crews to get closer to the action and capture angles fixed infrastructure couldn’t reach, supported by highly resilient connectivity. Actua also deployed multi-cam LU800 units across all Glasgow venues as an additional backup layer for the contribution network, with two more LU800 units delivering 24/7 beauty shots from remote locations directly to rights holders.

The deployment supported Actua’s wider host broadcast operation, with 650+ staff producing 1,400 hours of content, including a 24/7 official Games Channel, a real-time Content Hub offering all produced content worldwide and a daily 52-minute highlights program.

“What makes an event like this genuinely difficult is that you are operating across multiple venues, with network conditions that can vary significantly, under conditions that change by the hour,” said Franck Choquard, Director of Actua Sport. “The LU900Q gave our crews the confidence to go live from anywhere, whether in the venues, backstage or elsewhere in the city. LiveU IQ meant that even in the most congested environments, we were not compromising on the video performance. We also knew LiveU’s setup would let us scale easily during the games to capture the best content and share it with the participating rights holders.”

The deployment formed part of Actua’s wider strategy to deliver a high-quality host broadcast operation without relying on a traditional temporary IBC, combining permanent broadcast infrastructure, flexible field contribution and cloud-based distribution.

Once content reached Actua’s Broadcast Operations Center in Glasgow, located within BBC Scotland’s permanent broadcast facility in Glasgow and linked to Actua’s facility in Geneva, LiveU Matrix handled IP distribution. Rights holders across multiple countries received live feeds via SRT, with Actua able to route content to any taker with a single operation. Multiple takers across the UK and other countries used those feeds for linear TV transmission, OTT platforms, and social media distribution. With its flexible and scalable architecture, Actua could combine LiveU Reliable Transport (LRT™) and SRT delivery through LiveU’s cloud infrastructure.

Beyond day-to-day distribution, LiveU Matrix also served as an additional contingency layer: with all content routed through the cloud, Actua could maintain full distribution to rights holders even in the event of disruption at the broadcast operations center.

Roy Hasson, VP Product Marketing and SaaS Sales, LiveU, summed up, “Actua’s deployment in Glasgow demonstrates how the LU900Q with LIQ goes far beyond traditional bonding by combining AI-driven connectivity, smart mobile operator selection and real-time optimization. We’re proud to have supported Actua Sport in Glasgow with a comprehensive LiveU EcoSystem solution spanning resilient contribution, cloud-based distribution and expert support across four venues and ten days of competition.”