Telstra has today announced a new development in their multi-million dollar, five year deal with Etihad stadium, announcing they will be supplying IPTV services, as well as Wi-Fi in the stadium.
AFL fans will of course be the big winners here, with Etihad stadium a major host to AFL games. Telstra and Etihad are calling the IPTV and WiFi service a ‘Game Changer’ which will make the stadium the most ‘technologically advanced and connected stadium in Australia’.
The IPTV service will be streamed to 1448 TV’s situated throughout the stadium, giving fans attending games access to match coverage and more. The WiFi access will be free and available to the 1.7 Million football fans who attend games at Etihad stadium each year.
Telstra’s Retail Group Executive, Gordon Ballantyne, spoke about how the new connected stadium would benefit fans:
Etihad is now at the forefront of spectator experience, giving fans reliable network connectivity, with personalised, high definition content. Telstra is delighted to be helping Etihad Stadium to engage large crowds in new and thrilling ways. With enhanced connectivity and streaming content, fans at Etihad Stadium can access social media, game day coverage, event information and statistics, taking match day experiences to the next level.
It’s an interesting development and it will be even more interesting to see what, if any the congestion is like at the stadium once 100,000 or so screaming AFL fans try to tweet at the same time. We’ll be trying to check out the network in person if we can, so we’ll report back when we’ve tried it out.
100,000 fans?
Etihad holds closer to 50,000. MCG is about 100,000. I suspect the WiFi won’t be much good when the place is full but I hope I’m wrong.
Yeah, I should have expanded my comment to show the numbers, but got slack…