Delay in live sports

[Will168]

@gomezz Let me preface this by saying that I don’t have this issue as I am fortunate enough to either go to most games or watch on Sky or BT TV directly.

But no, it’s not that simple for some and I totally understand why.

Half the fun is being able to discuss with friends and family who do not live in the same household, about the state of play during the game. Some people who can’t be in the same room, watch it over Facetime etc with others, so being 40 seconds behind everyone else is not ideal. That was more evident during covid, when you could not have people around, but also if you have family and friends that live far away. For a lot of people, watching live sports in a social thing and part of the fun. That element is taken away if people essentially have to turn off their phones and not communicate with each other for the duration of the whole thing and just watch in isolation?

If turning your phone off is a workable solution for yourself, then that is good. But for a lot of people, it probably is not. Yes, it’s a bit of a first world problem, but I do understand why some people take issue with it.

[Will168]

@DarrenDev 

Not sure how leaving BT for Sky for example, would help?

Where BT sport app has 40+ second delays compared to the BT TV set top box, the Now TV app and Sky Go also 40+ second delays compared to the Sky Q box.

I don’t know a lot about the various services available, but I’m not aware of any internet streaming sports service that broadcasts a proper “live” service that keeps up with the set top box options.

My point is that all the internet streaming options, have big delays.

As for the set top boxes, I don’t see any major delays to the broadcast between the BT TV set top box and the Sky set top box. I measured Sky Sports on Sky Q to be 4 seconds faster than Sky Sports on BT TV Pro. I don’t personally see that as an issue. Not sure if others do? So BT does not need to become a satellite provider to keep up with Sky on that front. I would understand if the BT TV set top box was 40 seconds behind Sky Q, then I get why the BT TV box would be a bad proposition.

Not sure if I’ve missed something here?

[DarrenDev]

See other replies in this thread @Will168 where it's being suggested that BT should provide the signal via satellite to reduce delay. You're correct that it wouldn't help.

[Piotrch]

Thats why  I am saying that BT Sports 4K must be through satellite and not broadband. I am not interested in Sky Go but  satellite feed.

While  watching  Sky Sports  I am not thinking about delay as it’s seconds..

of course it would help..they would be on par with whole world..people we are talking about huge 40 seconds delay. Reason ? Stream instead of satellite feed. Let’s focus on that. If I watch sk go I am fully aware of  delay buts on the go. I accept it. But I wouldn’t buy Sky Go; I get it extra with Sky.

[Will168]

@Piotrch Forgive me for the question...it is a genuine one because I have not yet had the chance to watch a football match or equivalent on the 4K channel yet on the BT TV set top box. But is there a big delay on the 4K channel compared to BT Sport 1/2/3/HD?

I was under the impression that BT Sport Ultimate were pretty much the same timing as say BT Sport 1 HD. That's what I was told. Therefore, despite it being over broadband and not satellite, it should be no more than maybe 4 or 5 seconds behind the same channel if it were on the Sky Q platform?

Thanks.

[Piotrch]

I am watching through Sky Q in 4K and there’s no delay or it’s maybe fraction of the second which I am not even aware of. So I get notifications same time as goal is scored. That’s a beauty of satellite feed. That’s why I pay for Sky. I haven’t got BT TV and would never get one as for me main sports channels are Sky Sports and their satellite feed of 4K. By the ways where’s the problem for BT to send 4K feed for two hours match..is beyond my imagination.

[Will168]

@Piotrch But this is what I'm getting at though. I had both Sky Q (cancelled yesterday) and BT TV, using the BT TV box connected to my TV and there is virtually no delay (4 secs) between BT TV and Sky Q in that scenario.  It was also my primary concern when I took out BT TV, that there might be a big delay between BT TV and Sky Q. That's why I had an overlap period where I had both services so that I could compare the delays between them.

So forget about app services and let's just compare the set top box services. In my case, I had Sky Q and BT TV Pro boxes.

Sky Sports HD on Sky Q was 4 seconds faster than Sky Sports HD on BT TV box. BT Sports HD was around 3 seconds faster on Sky Q than BT Sports HD on BT TV box. I could not try BT Sports Ultimate or Sky Sports in 4K because i did not have it on the Sky Q platform. Both Sky Sports and BT Sports on the BT TV box are delivered via broadband.

So if we agree that the 3 or 4 seconds delay is acceptable, I don't see an issue with BT TV being delivered over broadband. In fact, there were advantages with going for BT TV over Sky Q for me:

1. I'm not forced into taking out and paying for the base 'entertainment' package for channels that I never watch. I only want Sky Sports and BT Sports. Sky doesn't let me do that, but BT does. So I save money.

2. We get some weird weather sometimes in the west of England and bad weather sometimes knocks out my Sky reception. I don't foresee this problem with BT TV because all the cables are underground and weather has no impact.

I understand in your case why BT TV won't work for you, because they cannot offer Sky Sports in 4K on it. But that's more because of Sky keep it for themselves as a selling point and won't give it BT to sell. It's not a limitation of BT TV being delivered over broadband.

[Piotrch]

well I understand your post of view. But if I want sports in 4K I get Sky as one; they have more games and two  no delay . It all depends what we want  and choose what we can get. 

[Will168]

@Piotrch Yes, for sure...we all get what works for us and it's good we have the choice. I was just trying to understand the concerns about why BT TV over broadband and not satellite was an issue.

It's true they do not have Sky Sports in 4K on BT TV, but it's not true for the number of games...because it is the same number of games.

I have on my BT TV service, all the Sky Sports channels (in HD, not 4K) and all the BT Sports channels (HD and 4K). So I get all the games, just not Sky Sports in 4K.

As for the delay, if 3-4 seconds is too much, then yes, Sky is better in that respect.

But for me, the BT TV deal is significantly cheaper than Sky could offer and I can suspend my sports channels in summer when the football season is off and therefore financially, I could not justify staying with Sky. I was not looking for Sky Sports in 4K though, so I had different needs to you.

But I do not think there is any significant limitation or disadvantage in BT offering their TV service over broadband.

[urbanlegend179]

I think there was a mis-understanding. Whoever said BT need to switch to Satellite got it wrong, what they really need to do is switch from the BT sport app to the actual BT TV box. 

I don't think anybody has a problem with the BT TV Box, since the delay is 3 seconds at most compared to the BT Sport channel on Sky's platform. The problem is people who use the BT *app* having to suffer a 40 second delay, which obviously is a pain but unfortunately there's not much that can be done about that, it's the nature of streaming technology. 

The cheapest way to watch sport without virtually any delay is to watch it on the BT sport platform using a BT TV box, that way you get BT Sport (in 4k) and Sky Sports (HD) channels with minimal delay (3-4 seconds at worst). If money isn't an issue for you and you want everything in 4k, then get BT TV box for your BT sport channels and get Sky Q for your sky sports channels.