Host broadcaster Actua Sport at the Games in Glasgow used LiveU's LU900Q and cloud-based IP distribution to deliver reliable live content from multiple venues to broadcasters worldwide
The 2026 Commonwealth Games took place in Glasgow in 2026, covering 10 sports and six Para sports at multiple venues, hosting approximately 3,000 athletes from 74 countries and territories.
Producing a multi-venue event across a city presents connectivity demands that fixed infrastructures are challenged to fully solve in advance. In Glasgow, ENG crews moving between venues and various side events worked across networks that ranged from stable to heavily congested – particularly around busy public venues at peak competition times.
Host broadcaster Actua Sport needed a production set-up and configuration that could adapt in real time, not just perform under ideal conditions.
An existing LiveU partner, Actua built its deployment around a fleet of 14 LiveU remote video transmission units that included the LiveU LU900Q, an intelligent production unit that uses LiveU IQ (LIQ) connectivity. LiveU IQ combines cellular bonding, IP video, eSIMs, AI and a cloud-based algorithm to maintain connectivity and resilience in most conditions.
In Glasgow, Actua’s production brought together native LiveU IQ, 5G architecture and dual-MIMO antennas to achieve resilient, broadcast-grade contribution across demanding environments at multiple venues.
Production on the Move
Unlike a more conventional setup that would require crews to operate as a fixed set of mobile network operators, LIQ intelligently switches eSIMs between mobile operators by working dynamically – 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 warm-ups and side-event coverage, back to the broadcast operations centre. Because live moments were were likely to emerge at short notice, crews needed to be prepared to deploy at any time.
"What makes an event like this genuinely challenging is the need to operate across multiple venues, with network conditions that can vary significantly - even by the hour," said Franck Choquard, Director of Actua Sport. "The LU900Q gave our crews the confidence to go live from anywhere, whether inside the venues, backstage or elsewhere in the city. Even in the most congested environments, video performanc was not compromised. We also knew LiveU's setup would scale during the games to capture the best content and share it with the participating rights holders."
The Workflow from Event to Rights Holder
The nature of the mobile set-up allowed operators to move closer to the action and capture angles that fixed infrastructure couldn't reach, supported by highly resilient connectivity. Actua also deployed LU800 units, which cater for multi-camera production, across all Glasgow venues as an additional backup layer for the contribution network. A further two more LU800 units were used to deliver 24/7 beauty shots from remote locations directly to rights holders.
The whole LiveU deployment supported Actua's wider host broadcast operation in which 650+ staff produced 1,400 hours of content. It included a 24/7 official Games Channel, a real-time Content Hub offering all produced content worldwide and a daily 52-minute highlights program. Regardless, Actua was not bound to a traditional temporary IBC, but could combine permanent broadcast infrastructure, flexible field contribution and cloud-based distribution.
Once content reached Actua's Broadcast Operations Centre 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. Because Actua was then able to route content to any taker with a single operation, rights holders across multiple countries received live feeds via SRT and used those feeds for linear TV transmission, OTT platforms and social media distribution. With its flexible and scalable architecture, Actua could combine the LiveU Reliable Transport protocol and SRT for delivery through LiveU's cloud infrastructure.
Beyond day-to-day distribution, LiveU Matrix also served as an extra 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 centre. www.liveu.tv
