Capturing live sports coverage across sprawling outdoor venues has always presented broadcasters with significant challenges. When Levande Video took on the production of the 2024 Swedish Disc Golf Championship, they faced exactly this scenario – delivering professional-quality coverage across three kilometres of densely wooded terrain.
Disc golf, while dating back to the 1960s, has seen remarkable growth in recent years. The sport adapts traditional golf principles to disc throwing, with players navigating courses that work with the natural landscape. Instead of holes, players target elevated baskets, creating unique challenges that have attracted both professional competitors and amateur enthusiasts.
The championship, held at the Ale Disc Golf Center’s White Course in early August, demanded a broadcast approach that could follow the action wherever it unfolded. For Levande Video, this meant finding innovative ways to deliver stable, low-latency coverage without relying on conventional outside broadcast infrastructure.
A remote production challenge
When production responsibilities were handed to Flip Up Collective, the team knew they needed a mobile solution that could keep pace with competitors while maintaining broadcast standards. “We had a clear plan to cover the course with nine mobile cameras, ensuring we could follow the leading players closely,” explains Nils Bryntesson, founder of Levande Video and producer for Flip Up Collective. “The challenge was making sure we had a reliable, low-latency signal across such a large area.”
Traditional outside broadcast setups, with their reliance on fibre or satellite infrastructure, weren’t feasible for this environment. The production called for a solution that could operate over bonded cellular networks while delivering professional-grade quality.
IP-based contribution with low latency
Having previously worked with Intinor’s Direkt link technology, Bryntesson knew it could provide the stability needed for the production. The company agreed to support the event with additional equipment, and Emanuel Bergquist, technical account manager at Intinor, joined the team on-site.
“We were very familiar with the challenges of covering an event like this,” says Bergquist. “A number of us at Intinor play disc golf, so we understood how important mobility and flexibility would be in following the action across such a large area.”
The Direkt platform’s point-to-point approach, transmitting directly from encoder to decoder, offers advantages over cloud-based streaming solutions. By avoiding additional routing points, the system maintains lower latency while providing greater stability in unpredictable conditions.
Deploying the production workflow
The production team deployed nine mobile camera units: three Direkt link mobile backpacks and six Direkt link compact backpacks. Each unit encoded video feeds from its camera before transmitting over bonded cellular connections to a central control room near the clubhouse. Here, Direkt router rack units decoded the signals before integration into the final production workflow.
The setup incorporated fixed cameras and high-resolution graphics via a production switcher, whilst the low latency of the Direkt link system ensured minimal timing discrepancies between feeds.
Maintaining reliability in unstable conditions
The system’s resilience was tested on the second day when heavy rain swept across the course, disrupting local IT infrastructure and reducing available bandwidth. Despite these challenges, the Direkt system remained operational with only minimal adjustments, thanks to the Bifrost transport protocol’s forward error correction.
“The weather created some complications, but the network continued to function smoothly,” notes Bergquist. “Because we weren’t reliant on cloud-based routing, we avoided some of the issues that might have disrupted other systems.”
A model for future productions
Over four days, viewers worldwide followed the competition in real time, with mobile units enabling production teams to adapt to the flow of play. Beyond the competition itself, the production demonstrated how IP-based workflows can support high-quality coverage where traditional broadcast infrastructure proves impractical.
This approach, already well established in esports, could help support the growth of disc golf and similar sports. By adopting flexible, IP-driven solutions, production teams can work around the limitations of traditional outside broadcast setups in a way that is both scalable and sustainable.
“As a developing sport, disc golf doesn’t have to follow the same legacy production models as more established events,” reflects Bergquist. “It’s an opportunity to take advantage of new technologies, work creatively, and define what live coverage should look like going forward.”
The Swedish Disc Golf Championship showcases how modern IP-based workflows are transforming live sports coverage. With the right combination of connectivity, hardware and workflow design, even large-scale outdoor events can be broadcast professionally – without traditional infrastructure constraints.
