feb mar | Page 7

Festival showcases music ’ s 5G future

In what organisers claim was a worldfirst , a performance , underpinned by 5G technology has taken place involving artists located at three of the UK ’ s most iconic music venues : Metropolis Studios , the O2 Blueroom and Brighton Dome . The festival experience was held to celebrate the climax of the 5G Festival project .

Over the last two years , nine organisations have worked collectively with Digital Catapult to explore the untapped potential of 5G for the live music industry and provide a blueprint for how technology could play a key role in the future of the sector , including Audiotonix , Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival , LiveFrom , Mativision , Metropolis Studios , Sonosphere , Virgin Media O2 , and Warner Music Group , as part of the wider £ 200 million (€ 238m ) DCMS 5G Testbeds & Trials Programme .
Taking place simultaneously across the three venues , more than 20 musicians performed together in a one-off concert , showcasing the technical achievements made during the project , and demonstrating the potential role advanced digital technologies could play in the festival of the future .
5G Festival is a R & D trial that enables the power of 5G and other technologies to communicate the ‘ live-ness ’ of an experience
Taking place simultaneously across the three venues , more than 20 musicians performed together in a oneoff concert ,
wherever audiences or musicians are . Since early 2020 , the partners behind 5G Festival have experimented with understanding how collaborations and performances across multiple venues in different geographical locations can transform the work of artists and producers around the world , combined with
innovative and memorable live experience for audiences in-venue and at home .
The 5G Festival showcase featured demonstrations of the technical milestones that have been achieved during the course of the project - in particular solving the issue of latency ( delay ) between artists collaborating remotely with each other from different locations - as currently , it is not possible for artists to perform together , remotely , over an ordinary network .
Most importantly , the showcase provided the clearest demonstration yet of the potential future use cases for 5G in the music and live arts sector , as well as the commercial benefits of using 5G as part of a range of connectivity solutions for this type of event , and how other advanced technologies like virtual and augmented reality , can be seamlessly combined to produce novel experiences for performers and audiences alike .
“ 5G Festival has shown us the tangible impact of technology on our experience of live music , both how we could make it and consume it remotely ,” explained Jeremy Silver , CEO , Digital Catapult . “ This is the climax of a lot of hard work amongst the consortium partners ,” added Kirsty Bright , director of network innovation , strategy & transformation at Virgin Media O2 . “ Our objective was to demonstrate the potential future use cases for 5G and other technologies in the music and live entertainment sector and this moment marks a significant milestone on that journey . These trials are a pathway towards creating better , more exciting and more connected events , at iconic venues such as The O2 .”
Funded by the Department for Digital , Culture , Media and Sport ( DCMS ) 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme , 5G Festival is part of efforts across the music sector to create innovative platforms for musicians and artists to write , rehearse and perform music despite geographical barriers , and deliver new ways for audiences to watch and participate with live performances in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic .
Ofcom revokes RT ’ s broadcast licence
UK broadcast regulator Ofcom
has revoked RT ’ s licence to
broadcast in the UK . It says
it has done so on the basis
that it does not consider RT ’ s
licensee , ANO TV Novosti ,
fit and proper to hold a UK
broadcast licence .
The decision comes amid
29 ongoing investigations by
Ofcom into the due impartiality
of RT ’ s news and current affairs
coverage of Russia ’ s invasion
of Ukraine . It considers the volume and potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern – especially given RT ’ s compliance history , which has seen the channel fined £ 200,000 (€ 238,000 ) for previous due impartiality breaches .
A separate investigation to determine whether ANO TV Novosti is fit and proper to retain its licence to broadcast account of a number of factors , Ofcom considers that
given constraints , it appears impossible for RT to comply with the due impartiality rules of its Broadcasting Code in the circumstances .
Ofcom recognises that RT is currently off air in the UK , as a result of sanctions imposed by the EU since the invasion of Ukraine commenced . It takes seriously the importance , in a democratic society , of a broadcaster ’ s right to freedom of expression and the audience ’ s right to receive information and ideas without
undue interference . It also takes seriously the importance of maintaining audiences ’ trust and public confidence in the UK ’ s broadcasting regulatory regime .
“ Taking all of this into account , as well as our immediate and repeated compliance concerns , we have concluded that we cannot be satisfied that RT can be a responsible broadcaster in the current circumstances . Ofcom is therefore revoking RT ’ s licence to broadcast with immediate effect ,” it stated .
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