SC university uses Wi-Fi to broadcast live from sports fields

In an effort to gain a wider audience for college sporting events, a South Carolina university is launching wireless live video and audio streaming of soccer and softball games, reports Campus Technology.

Charleston Southern University in South Carolina - one of the first universities to create a wireless array across their campus - is expanding their wireless system from its Learning Center to its soccer and softball fields, using Xirrus technology.

"Most NCAA conferences require their conference teams to provide live audio and video feeds of all sports venues," said Rusty Bruns, chief information officer at Charleston Southern University, in a prepared statement.

The university avoided running thousands of feet of cable by connecting points on the campus with high-bandwidth wireless backhauls capable of supporting multiple video and audio streams. According to Xirrus, this ultimately saved the university about $15,000.

"Current generation Wi-Fi access points lack the throughput, capacity and range to support our application. With Xirrus, we now have a high capacity wireless network allowing us to stream live video and audio coverage of two different sporting events while also satisfying various Title IX requirements."