REFEREES and umpires who make the wrong decisions might soon hear about it
from fans that are equipped with a new instant replay system. Scanz
Communications based in Los Angeles has developed a way of letting spectators at
sporting events download the previous 90 seconds of the action to a handheld
television.
The technology is initially intended for use by match officials. The
broadcaster covering a game must agree to feed its game coverage to a Scanz
transmitter which re-transmits it at low power to the receivers in the
stadium.
The handheld receiver, called the Scannor, is about twice the size of a
mobile phone and has a 10-centimetre colour LCD screen. It has 256 megabytes of
microchip memory that stores video in the broadcast-quality MPEG-2 format.
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In 2001, the company is planning to extend the system to fans, who are sure
to relish the chance to re-examine controversial on-field incidents. According
to David Brein, chief executive of Scanz, sports fans will pick up a Scannor as
they enter the ground and 鈥減ay a subscription fee per event鈥�. The device has
been successfully tested at golf tournaments and at a Canadian Football League
game.
Brein hopes the Scannor will be used by the US National Football League
officials from this summer, and also expects to see it adopted for Australian
rules football. Scanz says it is in 鈥減reliminary discussions鈥� with FIFA about
use of the technology at soccer matches. 鈥淔ootball grounds are currently barred
from replaying potentially controversial incidents on their giant TV screens,鈥�
says a spokesman for the English Football Association. But he conceded that
could change: 鈥淲e never say never.鈥�