Top AFL venue Etihad Stadium in Mebourne3’s Dockland area has unveiled its first “smart seats” that enable fans to watch close-up video action of the game they’re attending as well as other matches and events.
The first batch of luxury leather smart seats occurred at Friday’s AFL round 12 match between Essendon and Hawthorn. By end-2016, Etihad plans to have installed around 1000 of the seats, each equipped with Samsung tablets. (Natch, users face a hefty price over non digi-seatig)
The technology will replace some existing “video seats”, according to Etihad acting CEO Michael Green, but he said the new high-definition screens will provide an “unprecedented experience” for Australian sports fans.
“Now we can offer fans a live match along with HD replay action, virtually in the palm of their hand,” Green said yesterday.
Each seat is fitted with a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7-inch tablet. The tablets offer patrons access to Fox Sports and free-to-air channels along with Sky Racing, a broadcast of the game and scoreboard feed.
Telstra is providing technology, including a Cisco IP network, while Appscore has supplied the bespoke system that enables streaming and entertainment to be displayed on the tablets.
