SVG Europe, SportTech Journal 2023

ADVANCING THE CREATION, PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION OF SPORTS CONTENT

AUTUMN 2023

AN

Getting closer to the action

PUBLICATION

Rugby World Cup innovations immerse viewers in the emotion of the game Also inside: FIFA Women’s World Cup • The Open • Special Olympics World Games The Open Championship • Formula 1 • World Athletics Championships PLUS: SVG Europe Sponsor Update for 2023

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svgeuropeupdate

Contents

CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE

06 From the Chairman

Alessandro Reitano shares some highlights from the year and looks at the challenges facing the industry

08 Opening Comment

Innovation continues as the world’s biggest sporting events aim to give viewers greater insight and access

RUGBY WORLD CUP 32 Consistency and simplicity key to coverage Behind the scenes of the host broadcast setup

34 Exploring the infrastructure

World Rugby and HBS talk all things connectivity

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 38 Inside HBS’ Sydney hub A new era in World Cup production

40 ITV Sport goes remote Virtual presentation studio in focus

12

12

Sport Production Summit

16

SVG Europe Women

18

Sky Sport and SVG Europe DACH Summit and Austria Summit

Industry leaders showcase recent successes and debate the future of the sector Multiple events and the launch of Behind the Lens make this a groundbreaking year for SVG Europe Women

Meet ups in Salzburg and Berlin generated engaging debate and discussion

22 Football Summit

Fan engagement and technology innovations dominate the discussions in Paris

24 Sports Broadcasting Achievements

Meet the four projects that represent excellence in the way sports content is captured, managed, manipulated and delivered

28 2024 Events Calendar Key dates for your diary

30 Create, Share, Engage

This inaugural event brought those at the forefront of creating and monetising new and engaging viewing opportunities

44 The Wimbledon Championships

44

Off-court coverage enhanced for 2023

48 Special Olympics World Games

Unprecedented co-operation helps games reach more viewers than ever

151st OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 52 A group wide effort from EMG Hamish Greig on EMG’s extensive production efforts

56 Sky Sports goes ‘double remote’ Managing distant compounds and remote production teams

58 UCI World Tour

Battling the elements and the environment

60 Champions League Final

42-camera coverage for Man City vs Inter Milan tie

62 Formula E

Embracing centralised remote production

68 Tour de France

The technical innovations behind the Grande Boucle

SportTech Journal is produced & published by Sports Video Group Europe SportTech Journal © 2023 Sports Video Group 4

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

Contents

AUTUMN 2023

72 Ryder Cup

110 Hahnenkamm Races

76 World Athletics Championships

112 Six Nations

FORMULA 1 80 Live from Silverstone

116 NBA Paris Game

NBC opts for remote production setup

Wirecams, helicopters and drones enable greater storytelling in Budapest

Pete Samara on getting closer to the action

82 2023 broadcast plans

Dean Locke talks upgrades, IP transitions and new angles

Bringing emotion to the slopes

ITV Sport plays home and away with extensive coverage plan NBA brings full arena show production to Paris

120 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

Boundary mics, super motions and immersive replays keep viewers engaged

124 PTO Tour

Inaugural Ibiza visit brings additional challenges

128 British Basketball League

Jose Garnes on overhauling the BBL’s media operation

130 Der Klassiker

Record number of cameras capture the action

84

132 European Athletics Team Championships

EBU explores AI with voice cloning project

134 Badminton Horse Trials

84 Extreme E

Hydro X Prix brings electric racing series to Scotland

86 London Marathon

BBC prepares for epic coverage

88 World Para Athletics Championships and Para Swimming World Championships ISB brings para sport to the world stage

92 The Ashes

Sustainability in focus for Men’s and Women’s series

94 Giro d’Italia

The logistical challenge of a three-week Grand Tour

98 SailGP

Season 4 brings new fan engagement platform and broadcast deals

100 BT Sport

Looking back at 10 years of innovation as BT Sport becomes TNT

104 Sky Sports Studio

Monday Night Football finds a new home in mixed reality pres studio

108 UEFA Youth League

UEFA and TEAM Marketing give live cloud workflow demo in Geneva

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Overcoming infrastructure challenges to deliver extensive coverage

136 Roland-Garros

Proof of concept social media service launches for broadcasters

140 Epsom Derby

RaceTech ups the output for a jewel of the racing calendar

142 The Boat Race

FilmNova brings drones and IP to historic event

144 Holmenkollen Ski Festival

Production reaches new heights with audio and video innovations

146 Professional Fighters League Europe DAZN and PFL introduce new league to Europe

148 City Studios

Inside Manchester City’s media production machine

152 SVG EUROPE SPONSOR UPDATE

SVG Europe’s sponsors share their recent highlights and their plans for the future as well as discussing the key trends impacting sports broadcast. Compiled by Michael Burns

222 Sponsor index and sponsor thank you 226 SVG Europe’s 2024 editorial calendar

5

svgeuropeupdate FROM THE CHAIRMAN

ADVISORY BOARD Uniting through sports and overcoming challenges CHAIRMAN

Alessandro Reitano Sky Deutschland, Senior Vice

President of Sports Production

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EDITORIAL Ken Kerschbaumer

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

BY ALESSANDRO REITANO

A

SVG Europe chairman, Sky Deutschland, senior vice president of sports production

s we bid farewell to another year, it’s only natural to look back and reflect on the significant moments and developments that shaped our sports production community in 2023.

This year brought both moments of triumph and challenges that have forced the industry to evolve and adapt. So, let’s take a closer look at some of the key highlights and pivotal issues that defined the past 12 months.

One of my personal highlights of the year was undoubtedly the Special Olympics World Games, which took place in June. This remarkable event, in which over 6,500 athletes from around the world gathered in Berlin to take part in a range of sports in celebration of their abilities, saw broadcasters from around the world uniting to cover the competition and share these athletes’ inspiring stories, emphasising the importance of inclusion and diversity. The Special Olympics World Games served as a great example of how sport continues to be a unifying force for good.

Other standout moments of the year for me were the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and the Rugby World Cup in France. The FIFA Women’s World Cup was notable not just because all matches were handled remotely out of a production hub in Sydney, but also because for the first time at a major FIFA tournament, referees’ decisions — as in other sports — were made live both in the stadium and for the spectators in front of their respective devices. This development is encouraging because football is still far behind other sports when it comes to this aspect of getting closer to the action, and in most cases it is not technological hurdles that need to be overcome.

There are, of course, many ways to get viewers closer to the action, and so it was interesting to see some of the ways this was approached during the Rugby World Cup, from the use of shallow depth of field cameras during live coverage to greater use of ENG 6

crews to capture more content before and after matches.

While we celebrate the innovative, it’s also important to acknowledge the challenges faced by the sports broadcasting industry.

The proliferation of broadcasting rights, fragmented audiences and the ever-present need to deliver ‘more for less’ have posed significant challenges. The industry has been — once again — forced to rethink its strategies to remain competitive and sustainable.

In a bid to do ‘more for less’, technology can often provide a solution to the problem and in 2023, one topic dominated conversations within the industry: artificial intelligence (AI).

Generative AI will shape the future, not only the production and sharing of content across multiple platforms and devices to reach wider audiences and create new products, but it will also enable industry stakeholders to adapt and enhance their media supply chain as a whole.

Yet, it comes with its own set of challenges, including a necessary change in mindset and adaptation of workflows. Balancing the benefits of generative AI with ethical and practical considerations is a crucial, ongoing task.

As we look forward to 2024, there are exciting events on the horizon, such as UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany, and the Paris 2024 Olympics. These events will once again serve as unifying forces. They also provide opportunities for the industry to advance further, harnessing new technologies and strategies to engage audiences.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank SVG Europe for their efforts and commitment in 2023. We all work in a rapidly changing environment, so a platform that creates context, overview and clarity is essential for this industry.

Finally, I would like to wish everyone an exciting and, above all, healthy 2024 and I look forward to seeing you all again soon at one of the SVG Europe events.

Tim Achberger

Duncan Humphreys

Sportcast, Head of Innovation & Technology Management

SeeCubic, SVP Media & Value Creation

Jennifer Angell

Steve Jenkins

Ten City Media, Consultant

President, NEP UK & Ireland

Peter Angell

Robert Kis TV Skyline, Chief Executive Officer

Sunset+Vine, CEO

Jens Cornelius Knudsen

Manuela Baraschi Sky Italia, Head of Business Partners & Program Management

Konrad Bartelski

TV 2 Norway, Head of Production Models and Partnerships, Production

Timo Koch Riedel Networks, Chief Commercial Officer

OTL, Consultant

Daragh Bass Grass Valley, Director of Sales, Northern Europe

Andy Beale

Michael Koegler ORF Sport, Head of Directors

Dean Locke Formula One Management, Executive Director, TV Production

Consultant

Julia Boettger Sky Deutschland, Head of Operations, Sky Sports

Riccardo Botta Sky Italia, Director – Production & Creative Hub

Bridget Bremner Sky Sports, Production Executive

Robin Broomfield

Róisín McKeniry Gravity Media, Head of Technology

Dan Miodownik Host Broadcast Services, Chief Executive Officer

Florin Mitu FIFA, Head of Host Broadcast Production

Nick Morgan

Consultant

Premier League Productions, Managing Director

Alan Burns OBS TV, NEP Broadcasting Services UK, Managing Director

Eric Orengo

Gordon Castle

UEFA, Senior Broadcast Engineering Expert

AWS Sports, Director, Technical Business Development

Christer Pålsson

Brian Clark

NEP Europe, VP Sales

James Pearce

NEP Group, VP of Global Sales

James Clement Sky Sports, Director of Operations

Lise Cosimi

DAZN, Head of Global Engineering

Emili Planas Mediapro, CTO and Operations Manager

Inga Ruehl

Consultant

Malcolm Cowan

Sky Sports, Executive Director of Production Services and Operations

Consultant

Marcin Serafin

Tony Coxon

Ekstraklasa Live Park, Head of Operations

Independent

David Crawford Ravensbourne, Education Initiative

Sotiris Salamouris

Michael Crimp

Olympic Broadcasting Services, Chief Technical Officer

IBC, Chief Executive Officer

David Shield

Claire Da Silva DAZN, SVP of Cost Transformation

IMG, SVP Global Director of Engineering & Technology

Paul Davies

Geert-Paul Slee

All England Lawn Tennis Club, Head of Broadcast & Production

Broadcast Rental, Owner

Nicolas Deal

David Tippett Sunset+Vine, Managing Director

Orange Events, Chief Technical Architect

Henk van Meerkerk

James Dean

Anna Ward

ESL UK, Managing Director

Director, Producer, Consultant

John Dollin

Premier League Productions, Head of Production

Arsenal Football Club, Senior Product and Engineering Manager

Shane Warden

Angela Gibbons

AWS, Principal Consultant, Sport

Dom Wedgwood

EMG UK, Sales Director

Arqiva, CTO

Bevan Gibson

Joachim Wildt

EMG, Chief Operating Officer

Red Bull Media House, Global Head of Content Distribution

Hamish Greig EMG, Deputy Chief Executive Officer

John Williams

Jamie Hindhaugh

Gravity Media, Head of Projects

Warner Bros. Discovery/BT Sport, Chief Operating Officer

Tom Woods Woods Communications, President

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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svgeuropeupdate OPENING COMMENT

Putting viewers at the centre of the action

BY GEORGE BEVIR EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, SVG EUROPE

8

t’s a tough task selecting the features and stories to include in the SportTech Journal. With so many interesting and innovative sporting events taking place over the course of the year, and so many of them covered by SVG Europe, there are plenty to pick from.

Hopefully, over the following pages, the articles we have selected will provide you with both an overview of the year’s major sporting events and some real insights into how the productions were managed.

Unsurprisingly, the Rugby World Cup (RWC) takes pride of place on the cover of this year’s Journal. SVG Europe editor Will Strauss and I had the pleasure of visiting Paris to speak with World Rugby and HBS about their aims and objectives for the tournament, and how they went about achieving them. Regardless of the sport, as is always the case for a World Cup, the greater focus and attention that is generated by bringing together the best players in the world presents federations and host broadcasters with the challenge of making sure the content they capture appeals to diehard fans as well as those viewers who might be new to the sport or only tune in to the tournament to support their country.

For World Rugby, that meant they had to“keep it simple”.

World Rugby executive producer, TV and content Steve ‘Strve’ Jamieson explained: “The World Cup is not just for the rugby fanatics. As a federation, we want to attract those new viewers. So, the whole philosophy around the coverage was to keep it simple so the non-rugby experts could see what was happening.”

Some impressive viewing figures certainly suggest they achieved this. In host nation France, as the tournament moved to the knockout stages,the total cumulative audience of more than 164.5 million was more than the total French audience for RWC 2019 and matches involving the host nation rated the most viewed programmes of 2023 on TF1.

One of the ways in which World Rugby and HBS tried to make the game easier to understand was by giving more

airtime to the referees. Rugby has arguably led the way in providing viewers with on-field audio for some time now, but this year has seen some significant advances in the use of audio to take viewers to the heart of the action. Just ahead of the start of Wimbledon, players including Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic were given ear buds so they could be interviewed during a practice match on Centre Court — a move inspired by the Masters at Augusta, where commentators were able to speak directly with Rory McIlroy. Later on, during Wimbledon, US rightsholder ESPN mic-ed up players to allow its commentary team to conduct interviews while they practiced.

“If you can listen to Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton speak to his team while racing at a hundred miles per hour, how intrusive is it to speak with someone when they’re warming up? I think all athletes are starting to recognise the value to them as well,” ESPN VP production Jamie Reynolds explained to SVG Europe.

The same thought process of getting closer to the action inspired a similar move by Tour de France organiser ASO, which this year together with France Télévisions and EMG introduced Team Radio, which following a beta version last year at the Tour de France Femmes, saw 17 out of the 22 teams in the men’s peloton granted access to previously confidential discussions. Guillaume Kleszcz, head of productions and broadcast services at ASO, described it as “the innovation of the year”, and the panel of SVG Europe’s new Sports Broadcasting Achievements (SBA) agreed, picking it as one of four of the most innovative and progressive projects in European sports production this year.

We have introduced the SBAs as a new way for SVG Europe to shed light on some of the European sports broadcasting industry’s most inventive and ambitious initiatives. Tour de France team radio, along with three other projects — the 2023 BMW PGA Championship and its sustainable approach to production, TV2’s centralised production operation and the European League of Football’s adoption of a cloud-based approach to production — will be explore via some in-depth case studies at this year’s FutureSPORT event in London.

The SBAs, along with our packed programme of events and year-round online coverage, are part of SVG Europe’s ongoing commitment to exploring and honouring the exceptional endeavours of individuals, teams and organisations that are advancing sports broadcasting and production in Europe. And, with 2024 packed with some mouth-watering contests and competitions — not least Paris 2024 and the UEFA European Championships — the task of selecting features for next year’s Journal and projects to celebrate as part of the SBAs is set to be even tougher than this year!

From all at SVG Europe, we hope 2023 has been a happy, healthy and prosperous year, and we look forward to welcoming you to one of our many events in 2024.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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svgeuropeupdate

Sport Production Summit

BY GEORGE BEVIR

Sport Production Summit moved to the new venue of De Hallen Studio’s in central Amsterdam for 2023

Industry successes and promises explored

I

(L-R): SVG Europe’s George Bevir; Arthur Zuijderwijk, director of business development, Southfields; Ursula Romero, managing director, International Sports Broadcasting Company; Eamonn Curtin, international sales director, EMG; and Carlo De Marchis, founder, FACTORY63 12

n September, SVG Europe’s flagship conference and networking event, Sport Production Summit, sponsored

by Panasonic Connect, brought together the European sport-production community to showcase its recent successes and debate the future of the sector. The event also included the Outstanding Contribution to European Sports Broadcasting Award, honouring legendary IMG Media and BBC Sport production executive Graham Fry. Panels included ‘Europe United: Solving sports broadcasting’s big challenges’, in which top executives from EMG, FACTORY63, ISB (International Sports Broadcasting) and Southfields discussed the big challenges affecting the way sports content is captured, managed and distributed.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sport Production Summit

(L-R): Alessandro Reitano, SVP of sports production, Sky Deutschland; Larissa Görner-Meeus, CTO, Proximus Media House; Tom Bucknall, Technical Producer, Sunset+Vine; and SVG Europe’s Will Strauss

Graham Fry (left) receives the Outstanding Contribution to European Sports Broadcasting from IMG’s David Shield

Caretta Research’s Rebecca Jackson

The theme of doing more with less continued in the next session, with Caretta Research’s Rebecca Jackson presenting on ‘Leveraging tech to drive efficiency in sports production’.

HBS CEO Dan Miodownik and IMG SVP, global director, engineering and technology David Shield then provided a behind-the-scenes look at the key broadcast workflows, tools and operations of Rugby World Cup 2023, which was taking place in France during the event.

Attendees were able to get hands on with technology at the tabletop displays 14

IMG SVP, global director, engineering and technology David Shield (left) and Dan Miodownik, HBS CEO, discuss the Rugby World Cup

A panel of experts from Proximus Media House, Sky Germany and Sunset+Vine then highlighted the technology areas capturing their attention — from AI to HDR, via immersive audio and the ongoing shift to the cloud — and shed some light on how this will affect their purchasing decisions.

The day concluded with a session honouring Graham Fry for his Outstanding Contribution to European Sports Broadcasting.

There were networking opportunities aplenty during the day SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

SVG Europe Women

(L-R): Helen Jeffrey, international sales director, NEP Connect, and Lucy Lake, director of people and purpose, QTV, with SVG Europe Women’s Heather McLean

Building a network

BY JO RUDDOCK

S

VG Europe Women hosted a number of events across 2023, including a return to Scotland in March to explore and showcase the progress and plans that have been made to develop new talent for the Scottish sports broadcasting industry. Speakers

Networking at IBC2023 16

included Alison Goring, head of the National Film and Television School (NFTS) Scotland; Fi Milligan-Rennie, Screen Scotland’s head of education — screen; and Paul Tucker, University of West Scotland senior lecturer in the School of Business and Creative Industries.

At IBC2023, more than 150 guests attended an SVG Europe Women event on 16 September. In addition to hearing from Helen Jeffrey, international sales director at NEP Connect, Lucy Lake, director of people and purpose at QTV, Amy DeLouise, creative director of DeLouise Enterprises and founder of #GALSNGEAR, and Judith Franssen, sales and project manager at EMG, SVG Europe Women’s annual supporter sponsor, attendees also witnessed the launch of Behind the Lens. This series of educational videos is designed to inspire young people to embark on a career in sports broadcasting by showing them the wide range of job roles available.

Produced in partnership with Aurora, NEP and QTV, the videos cover various jobs from runner to managing director, outlining what is involved in each, how to get a foot in the door, and providing tips on how to succeed once in the role.

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Sky Sport and SVG Europe DACH Summit and Austria Summit

Special Olympics World Games 2023 athletes share their experiences of the Games with DACH Summit attendees

Innovation in fast-changing markets

BY GEORGE BEVIR AND BIRGIT HEIDSIEK

T

his year saw the second edition of the Sky Sport and SVG Europe Austria Summit in Salzburg, where broadcasters and manufacturers discussed the opportunities and challenges presented by new industry developments.

Speakers included Monika Coupkova, director of sports production, Sky Austria; Christoph Breu, head of marketing and communications, FC Red Bull Salzburg; and Christopher Renz, head of sports production, Servus TV, who explained that innovation in front of the camera as well as behind it is crucial in live sports production.

From players getting off their team coach at the stadium to celebrating a victorious match captured by a camera operator in the locker room, “we want to be close to the live action to offer viewers another perspective”, said Coupkova.

The idea of making everything easily accessible for viewers doesn’t always pay off, explained Michael Radelsberger, deputy managing director, Sky Austria, and the cost of licensing, editorial work and production need to be taken into consideration. “It won’t get easier to cope 18

with licensing fees. Whenever we think we’ve reached the end of the line, another new player shows up.”

In June, the German, Austrian and Swiss broadcasting and production community gathered for its annual day of panel discussions, presentations and networking in Berlin, with the Special Olympics World Games, sustainability, diversity and the latest technology trends shaping production and distribution all on the agenda.

This year’s DACH Summit, sponsored by Vidi, took place within the media centre at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, providing attendees with the chance to take in the games and watch some of the events before the summit.

Hosted by Sky Deutschland senior vice president of sports production and SVG Europe chair Alessandro Reitano, the DACH Summit began with an opening keynote from Sven Albrecht, chief executive of the Special Olympics World Games 2023.Attendees then heard from some of the athletes, who all praised the impact of the games.

Making an impact

Charly Classen, EVP Sky Sport Deutschland, joined Reitano on stage to speak about how sport and broadcasters can act as a force for good.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sky Sport and SVG Europe DACH Summit and Austria Summit

(L-R): Johanna Torchetti, operations manager, Sky Deutschland; Kate Jackson, VP production, ESPN; Roman Steuer, consultant and LOC; Zlatan Gavran, MD, NEP Germany, with Alessandro Reitano

Next, Roman Steuer, consultant, LOC; Zlatan Gavran, MD, NEP Germany; Kate Jackson, VP production, ESPN; and Johanna Torchetti, operations manager, Sky Deutschland, took to the stage to speak about the production workflows at the Special Olympics World Games.

Following a case study from TVU Networks on remote commentary for Bundesliga 2 with Sportcast, Reitano chaired a discussion on the trends that are shaping sports production. He was joined on stage by Tim Achberger,

Sportcast; Mike Ward, Reality Check Systems; Thomas Riedel, Riedel Communications; and Christian Holzer, Sportec Solutions.

Andreas Heyden, chief executive of German streaming challenger brand Dyn Media, was next to share his thoughts with attendees, before Benjamin Daub, senior manager media rights and broadcasting, DFB, Julia Böttger, director of operations, Sky Deutschland, and Michael Bracher, SVP of programming, DAZN, discussed the German Women’s Bundesliga.

(L-R): Christopher Renz, head of sports production, Servus TV; Christopher Breu, head of marketing and communications, FC Red Bull Salzburg; Alessandro Reitano, senior vice president of sports production, Sky Deutschland; Monika Coupkova, director of sports production, Sky Austria; and Michael Eisner, director of media rights and TV production, Austrian Football League 20

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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svgeuropeupdate

Football Summit 2023

(L-R): SVG’s Ken Kerschbaumer, Pablo Garcia, HDR workflow consultant and image supervisor, FIFA World Cup 2022, Christian Gobbel, chief technology officer, HBS and Felix Krückels, audio engineer, consultant and academic

Fan engagement and technology innovations take centre

BY JO RUDDOCK

H

ow to engage younger audiences and the technology and techniques being used to enhance aspects of both match coverage and presentation were two of the key talking points at Football Summit 2023, held at the Parc des Princes in Paris, on 22 March.

After a welcome from Nicolas Bourdon, chief marketing officer at title sponsor EVS, directors Laurent Lachand and Sigrid Lelièvre, who between them have worked on the Men’s and Women’s World Cup, the Champions League and Ligue 1 matches, kicked things off in style, sharing insights into the craft of live football directing.

Felix Krückels, audio engineer, consultant and academic, then explained the journey of immersive audio that culminated in the “fully immersive” World Cup in Qatar, alongside Pablo Garcia, HDR workflow consultant and image supervisor, FIFA World Cup 2022.

Lisa Fallon, high-performance football development consultant, head coach, and television and radio pundit, and Sébastien Audoux, former host and announcer, and outgoing head of sports digital content at Canal+, the considered the next-generation of analysis, the 22

tools required and how these can be used to meet the expectations not just of viewers, but also of editorial teams.

Next up, attendees were taken inside the Saudi Sports Company’s plans for a new remote production facility with Peter van Dam, chief technology officer at Saudi Sports Company.

The next generation was the focus of a panel featuring Sky Deutschland SVP of sports production Alessandro Reitano and Jo Osborne, executive producer, Sky Sports, who have been at the forefront of the Sky Next Generation child-focused programming series.

The conversation then shifted to football club content, with Gavin Johnson, group media director at City Football Group, explaining the concept behind City Studios, Manchester City’s in-house production facility.

The final panel of the day saw Bruno De Roy, sport production manager, RTL Belgium, Òscar Lago, match director, Mediapro, and Philippe Oziol, director of France production, HBS, showcasing some recent technical, presentation and product innovation highlights from their match coverage.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

Football Summit 2023

Attendees were able to take part in technology demonstrations throughout the day

EVS’ Nicolas Bourdon addresses the crowd at the Parc des Princes

Bruno De Roy, RTL Belgium, Philippe Oziol, HBS and Òscar Lago, Mediapro, discuss match innovations with SVG Europe’s Will Strauss (far left)

Laurent Lachand and Sigrid Lelièvre take to the stage in Paris to talk about directing live football

Lisa Fallon, UEFA pro licence coach, RTÉ TV football analyst, and global football technical expert, and Sébastien Audoux, former host and announcer, and outgoing head of sports digital content at Canal+, discuss the next generation of punditry and analysis

Sky Deutschland SVP of sports production Alessandro Reitano (right) and Jo Osborne, head of women’s sport, Sky Sports, highlight how broadcasters are attracting the next generation of football fans

Attendees were able to enjoy extensive networking throughout the day SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sports Broadcasting Achievements

Sports Broadcasting Achievements

Recognising exceptional projects This year, SVG Europe is honouring and exploring the outstanding projects, teams and individuals that have pushed sports broadcasting and production forward in 2023 via the new Sports Broadcasting Achievements.

S

ponsored by Canon, this end-of-year celebration of the industry will feature four projects selected by a panel of current and former SVG Europe Advisory Board chairs, plus members of the SVG editorial team. Together, they considered organisations and projects of all sizes from across Europe that have experimented, embraced new technology, taken risks, and deployed new and innovative solutions that have demonstrably advanced the way sports content is captured, managed, manipulated and delivered.

These four projects will then be explored during in-depth panel discussions at FutureSPORT in November, providing attendees with the opportunity to learn about some of the European sports broadcasting industry’s most innovative and ambitious initiatives.

Jack Adair, Canon sector marketing for broadcast & cinema production, said: “Canon is delighted to sponsor SVG Europe’s Sports Broadcasting Achievements 2023, an event that celebrates the remarkable strides made in the world of sports broadcasting and production.

This initiative serves as a testament to the ever-evolving landscape of sports media and the visionaries who drive innovation.

“The Sports Broadcasting Achievements shine a spotlight on projects, teams and individuals who have pushed the boundaries of sports broadcasting, exploring their contributions and dedication.

“As a leader in imaging technology, Canon is proud to play a part in celebrating those who redefine sports broadcasting. This collaboration represents our dedication to supporting the future direction of sports production and distribution, making us excited for the outstanding achievements to come.”

The four Sports Broadcasting Achievements 2023 are:

2023 BMW PGA Championship

The 2023 BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour was the first-ever sporting event to have its television production powered entirely by green hydrogen — producing zero emissions — when it took place at Wentworth Club, Surrey, in September. European Tour Productions, the DP World Tour’s in-house production 24

The television production of the PGA Championship was powered entirely by green hydrogen

company, and its production and distribution partner, IMG, worked with UK-based clean energy company GeoPura to supply two hydrogen powered generators (HPUs) that were positioned on the fairway of the 6th hole at Wentworth Club. It is estimated that relying on HPUs saved a total of 16.4 tonnes of CO2 compared to the 2022 tournament. Used in place of high-polluting diesel generators, these units produce zero CO2 or particulate emissions, with water the only by-product.

In addition, the golf buggies used at the tournament to transfer people and equipment across the site were recharged using electricity generated via hydrogen for the first time. These innovative developments formed another part of the DP World Tour’s Green Drive initiative, which has seen the Tour become the first professional golf Tour to commit to being fully net zero carbon by 2040. Other recent, sustainability focused broadcast innovations include trialling remote productions for the first time this season. So far, five tournaments on the 2023 DP World Tour schedule have been produced remotely from the European Tour Productions HQ at IMG Studios in Stockley Park, UK. By significantly reducing the number of staff travelling to these tournaments, each remote production has saved approximately 87 tonnes of CO2.

Tour de France — Team Radio

Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) introduced Team Radio to the international broadcast of the Tour de France, giving a public dimension to communications between sports directors and their riders. It was described as “the innovation of the year”, according to Guillaume Kleszcz, head of productions and broadcast services at ASO. The goal for ASO was clear: “We want to seek a new audience,” says Kleszcz. “To do that, it’s necessary to better narrate the race, make it more understandable and interesting for viewers.”

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svgeuropeupdate

Sports Broadcasting Achievements

The project was a collaborative effort with France Télévisions, the host broadcaster, and the EMG group. EMG teams under the Boost Graphics banner were responsible for the reception, transcription and graphical presentation of Team Radio. During the three weeks of the Tour de France, 1,141 Team Radio pieces of content were produced and shared with Team Radio gives a public dimension to communications broadcasters, social networks and between sports directors and their riders cycling teams.

Behind the scenes, it is the EMG teams under the Boost Graphics banner that are in charge. Based in the Nova 104 van, technicians are responsible for reception, transcription and graphical presentation of Team Radio.

For each cycling team, there is a radio feed that arrives at the production van. It is then automatically transcribed into text using software developed inhouse by Boost Graphics.

Each journalist analyses the audio from six sports teams, based on the languages used (French, English, etc). The journalist selects and creates audio clips, labelled with stars indicating the level of interest in the content. The moderator then chooses which clips can be broadcast.

Depending on the destination of the clip, it can be translated. For instance, a French feed might be offered in English for the international signal. Conversely, for France Télévisions, the same French clip could be sent with just audio without textual transcription on air. NBC also has a personalised Team Radio feed. A computer platform developed by Boost Graphics allows each channel to access each indexed clip.

TV2 Centralised Production Operation

In 2023, TV2, in collaboration with facilities firms NEP and DMC, initiated a remote production model for hundreds of games per year across a range of sports. This approach, which includes football, ice hockey, handball, volleyball, floorball and basketball, has already more than tripled the number of domestic productions by TV2, and there are plans to dramatically increase even further. One of the motivations was the geography of Norway, and the vast distance from the top of the country to the bottom; the distance from Nordkapp in the north to Oslo in the south is 1,978km, which is almost the same as London to Rome.

Consequently, travel costs were a significant proportion of TV2’s production costs and something the broadcaster was keen to reduce. In shifting to a centralised model, automation played a pivotal role in reducing the number

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SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

Sports Broadcasting Achievements

of on-site staff, resulting in cost-efficient productions.

Centralising production of some of TV2’s output at a new DMC broadcast centre in Oslo not only saved costs but also contributed to sustainability gains.

European League of Football Cloud-Based Production

During 2023, European League of Football (ELF) and its production agency novel.media transitioned to remote production in the cloud. This decision aimed to increase value for sponsors with improved advertising options while reducing production costs and the carbon footprint.

Collaborating with Vizrt and AWS, they implemented an end-to-end cloud setup which eliminated the need for directors, graphics designers, operators, sound engineers and other technicians to travel to game venues, which also resulted in a reduction of over 300 tons of CO2 emissions for the season.

Representing 17 teams across nine countries — with more joining each season — ELF viewership is on track to reach more than half a billion households worldwide through the official ELF Game Pass and European TV networks. To continue this growth, the ELF and novel. media looked to improve viewer experiences with new features, advanced graphics and increased video quality.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

THE ELF is on track to reach more than half a billion households worldwide

Additionally, they wanted to increase value for sponsors with improved advertising options, while reducing production costs and carbon footprint. Moving their live productions to the cloud would make all this possible.

Realising that the flexibility of a ‘best in breed’ approach to their required live production tools, combined with the scalability of cloud infrastructure, was essential to their continued success, the ELF and novel.media sought the expertise of Vizrt and AWS to support them in their transition to “go cloud”.With just weeks to go before games began, Vizrt and AWS proposed an end-to-end cloud setup powered by the Vizrt Live Production Solution and selected third-party tools, all connected by NDI.

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svgeuropeupdate

2024 Events

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2024 EVENT

DATE

LOCATION

Sky Sport Austria Summit 2024 in cooperation with SVG Europe (Regional Summit)

25 January

In-Person Salzburg, Austria

SVG Europe Audio: IP Audio Forum – Discipline and culture

15 February

Online

Football Summit

29 February

In-Person Brussels

Platinum/Gold/Austria only

All Sponsors

All Sponsors

SVG Europe Women

March (TBC)

In-Person Glasgow All Sponsors

SVG Europe Audio @ NAB 2024

April (TBC)

Create, Share, Engage

23 May

In-Person Las Vegas All Sponsors

In-Person London All Sponsors

Sky Sport Italy Summit 2024 in cooperation with SVG Europe (Regional Summit)

June (TBC)

In-Person, Milan Platinum/Gold/

SVG Europe Audio

June (TBC)

Online

Sport Production Summit, Amsterdam

12 September

In-Person, Amsterdam

SVG Europe Women Networking @ IBC 2024

14 September

In-Person, Amsterdam

SVG Europe Networking @ IBC 2024

14 September

In-Person, Amsterdam

SVG Europe Audio Summit

31 October

In-Person, London

Sky Sport DACH Summit 2024 in cooperation with SVG Europe (Regional Summit)

October TBC

In-Person, Munich

FutureSPORT

November TBC

In-Person, London

SVG Europe France (Regional Summit)

November TBC

In-Person, Paris

28

Italy only

All Sponsors All Sponsors All Sponsors

All Sponsors

All Sponsors

Platinum/Gold/DACH only

All Sponsors

Platinum/Gold/France only

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Create Share Engage

Sunset+Vine head of digital Raj Mannick shares his thoughts on how to produce effective sports content for digital platforms

George Bevir in conversation with FIBA’s Andrew Ryan and Gauthier Rakotonirina

Authenticity, creative storytelling and targeted content dominate the discussions

BY JO RUDDOCK

B

Networking at Kings Place in London

ringing together those at the forefront of creating and monetising new and engaging viewing opportunities and experiences within sports, SVG Europe’s Create Share Engage event (Wednesday 3 May, London) delivered a whole host of insight into everything from content authenticity and ad tech in live sport to best practice when creating digital content for multiple platforms.

After an introduction from Steve Wind-Mozley, CMO at title sponsor LiveU, the inaugural event began with an opening keynote featuring FIBA Media managing director Andrew Ryan and Gauthier Rakotonirina, head of third-party marketing, focusing on how relevant and local content is central to the success of FIBA’s approach.

Sunset+Vine head of digital Raj Mannick continued with the content creation theme, sharing his thoughts on how to produce effective sports content for digital platforms.

Next up, Melissa Lawton, chief content officer at SailGP, picked up on the issue of authenticity in a session entitled

Melissa Lawton, chief content officer at SailGP, speaks to SVG Europe’s George Bevir 30

‘Racing Ahead with SailGP’. “You’ve got to be yourself on each platform and each one of those platforms is looking for a slightly different version of you,” she expanded.

After a networking break, the audience at Kings Place in London were treated to an in-depth look at one of the 2023 IBC Accelerator projects — Create and Produce Anywhere.

The project will focus on software-defined production, particularly looking at bandwidth-constrained locations with the aim of detaching software from hardware and deploying a distributed computing architecture between ground and cloud, exploring the benefits, challenges and the sustainable potential of such an approach.

The final session of the day saw Craig Spence, chief brand and communications officer at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and Tim Stott, digital executive producer, Host Broadcast Services (HBS), discuss how digital media content and online platforms will be used to shine a light on the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris.

(L-R): SVG Europe’s Will Strauss; Craig Spence, chief brand and communications officer at the International Paralympic Committee; Tim Stott, digital executive producer, Host Broadcast Services SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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svgeuropeupdate

Getting closer to the action with additional cameras was a goal of this year’s coverage

Consistency and simplicity are key for host broadcast match coverage

BY GEORGE BEVIR FIRST PUBLISHED 27 OCTOBER 2023

“As a federation, we want to attract those new viewers.

So the whole philosophy around the coverage was to keep it simple so the non-rugby experts could see what was happening” STEVE JAMIESON, WORLD RUGBY

32

O

n Saturday 28 October, Rugby World Cup 2023 will end where it began: at the iconic Stade de France, in Saint-Denis. The stadium in north Paris, which hosted the opening tie of the tournament back in early September, will provide the setting for the final between New Zealand and South Africa as the seven-week World Cup reaches its conclusion.

For World Rugby head of broadcast and production Amanda Godson, the mission for those tasked with covering the event was to produce coverage that was a significant step up on the 2019 Japan Men’s World Cup. “And we’ve absolutely done that; we’ve provided consistency across all the pool matches, while also bringing in innovations such as the cable cam for all matches.We’ve also worked closely with our rightsholders to ensure they have as much knowledge of the venues and our productions and can customise their own coverage as well. We’ve created a very efficient operation and an environment in which it’s been easy for rightsholders to operate in,” she says.

In terms of the editorial, the approach has been to “keep it simple”, explains her colleague, World Rugby executive producer, TV and content Steve ‘Strve’ Jamieson.

“The World Cup is not just for the rugby fanatics,” he explains. “As a federation, we want to attract those new viewers. So the whole philosophy around the coverage was to keep it simple so the non-rugby experts could see what was happening.”

Coverage of the 48 matches has been split among four production teams, each of which has been led by one of four directors: French directors Laurent Daum and Samy Chatti, English director Daniel Hudson and Australian Matt Heaton. Each director has also worked with a

Rugby World Cup 2023

co-ordinating producer to ensure consistency across the overall output. In addition, each production team also has a play-by-play commentator, colour commentator and a side-line commentator.

Host Broadcast Services (HBS) executive producer for RWC 2023, Julian Bertin, expands on Jamieson’s point: “Rugby can be very complex, so the remit was to make the game as understandable and simple as possible.”

Having worked on the coverage of the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, HBS was once again tasked with providing host broadcaster coverage of the tournament, ensuring live feeds of all 48 matches along with a host of additional programming and digital content that has been available to rightsholders.

Continues Bertin: “With World Rugby, we worked really hard on production guidelines for our directors. We did workshops and brainstorming with those four teams about how to cut the game to make it as entertaining and enjoyable, while also being understandable too. We said,‘don’t address the experts, address newcomers and make it simple for them’.”

One of the ways in which they have tried to make the game easier to understand is giving more air time to the referees.

“In the briefing we give to the commentary team we said whenever there’s a decision from the referee, be quiet and let them speak because they will explain it best. And then you can bounce off that statement or decision if you agree or disagree,” he adds.

While the directors are rugby specialists highly experienced in covering the sport, a quality control team led by a director who is not considered such a rugby expert supports and questions the coverage.

Explanations and atmosphere

A new addition to this tournament is a cable camera at every match, the purpose of which is to provide further clarity to viewers.“It’s the best camera you have in rugby,” says Bertin. “We’ll always follow a penalty with it, but the main reason is that, again, we want tactics to be clear to viewers.” In addition, each fixture also has a drone to provide views of the stadium and surrounding area.

Adds Jamieson: “It all comes down to not just watching it on TV, but for the fans to feel like they are at the stadium.

I often tell the commentary teams that their biggest asset sometimes is not talking; if a try’s been scored, stop talking because every viewer at home whose team just scored is going to be yelling at the TV. And those fans whose team has conceded will be yelling at the TV too. It’s a bit of a new style of commentary where we really push for those gaps.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Rugby World Cup 2023

svgeuropeupdate

To add to the atmosphere, heading into the tournament one of the messages from rightsholders was that they wanted to be closer to the action. “Generally speaking, [rightsholders] don’t want to be sitting inside a studio, they want to get the atmosphere through their production. So we have the pitch-side presentation positions, but we have also knocked down the studio walls to create the announce platforms, and they’ve been very popular,” says Godson.

Camera coverage

As the tournament has progressed, the number of cameras used to capture the action has increased, from 25 per match for the group stages, to 33 during the quarters, 38 for the semi-finals and then up to 39 cameras for the final on Saturday.

New cameras this year include cine-style cameras, introduced in a bid to capture more emotional reactions of players and fans. And, from the quarter-finals onwards, a second cine-style camera has been added for equal coverage of both ends of the stadium, along with cameras in the corner flags (“and if a player wipes one out, fantastic!” says Jamieson).

There are also a couple more ultra-motion cameras and, from the semi-finals on, a second reverse camera to allow for one dedicated to match coverage, plus one

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(L-R): Steve Jamieson, World Rugby; Amanda Godson, World Rugby; and Gareth Jones, HBS

trained on the coaches. For the final, helicopter coverage and motorbikes following the team buses add to the prematch coverage.

All of this coverage is packaged into a range of seven feeds, including a basic stadium feed produced at each venue, plus an additional content feed with a lot of prematch content with footage of fans, player warm-ups and arrivals and some unseen angles, as well as the world feed — the same as the basic stadium feed, but with pre- and post-match unilateral opportunities for broadcasters to do standups and flash interviews.

Rightsholders are provided with a few ISO camera feeds as well; the all-important cable cam, camera 1, a tactical beauty shot and cine-style.

8/1/23 10:35 AM

33

svgeuropeupdate

Rugby World Cup 2023

How are signals handled during the RWC 2023?

Chris Hope, head of tournament and venue technology, World Rugby: RWC 2023 is distributed across multiple cities. The delivery model very much relies on Orange for the bulk of our IP data network connecting all of the match venues, while at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), the IP data network is provided by the Fédération Française de Tennis. We have endeavoured to use existing infrastructure and extend it rather than overlay a whole lot of new stuff. From a sustainability point of view, this was one of the main reasons for choosing this particular site for the IBC. The facilities here at the IBC, and at the Main Media Centre, bring up lots of synergies and efficiencies. It means we are not building something from scratch as they are already here.

In addition to the main match feed, comprehensive coverage is also provided before and after games

Tell us about the IBC and the movement of broadcast content Bart Lucassen, director of engineering, Host Broadcast Services (HBS): We have a broadcast contribution network in place which, the same as the data network, is provided by Orange. The transport network consists of two 100Gb redundant and diverse links between the IBC and each stadium. We put our own overlay network on top of that, creating a converged network where we have video, audio and data for broadcast purposes, converging on the same network. For the 2110 side of the network we use a new technology, deploying Lawo.Edge equipment. These are SDI gateways that we put at the stadiums and at the IBC, allowing us to build a long-haul 2110 network. It’s effectively just one large network that we built here, which is working quite well. The technology was only released at IBC Amsterdam, but we have taken time to test it in advance and this is the first large-scale deployment of that technology.

Etienne Godart, head of live broadcast solutions, HBS: At the IBC we have a full 2110-based system that we have been using for a few years. It’s a decentralised network and we have two endpoints: one is dedicated to the handover to the broadcasters, which is separate from our main core system because we know for safety reasons we can check off our system if there is anything happening in cabling or handover. The system is driven from our MCR, where we control all the streams on the network layer. We are able to monitor what is actually feeding customers. Installation on-site took three weeks, but the system was pre-built and thoroughly tested before installation.

Inside the infrastructure and connectivity set-up for the host broadcast operation

BY WILL STRAUSS FIRST PUBLISHED 27 OCTOBER 2023

“The facilities here at the IBC, and at the Main Media Centre, bring up lots of synergies and efficiencies. It means we are not building something from scratch as they are already here” CHRIS HOPE, WORLD RUGBY

34

A

staple of the Rugby World Cup production is the multi-feeds concept, which sees several live feeds being made available to rightsholders via the host broadcast operation.

The basic stadium feed, the main match feed from which the world feed is derived, starts its running order 100 minutes before the matches kick off, and concludes 65 minutes after the final whistle, ensuring comprehensive coverage is provided before and after the game — reflecting the appetite from broadcasters and their audience for build-up and review content to feed their productions.

A total of seven feeds, including three isolated camera feeds, are available for this event.

The IBC that is the hub of this operation is based at Roland-Garros, utilising buildings, facilities and infrastructure that are normally used for coverage of the French Open tennis.

In this Q&A, we find out more about the infrastructure and connectivity set-up for the host broadcast operation.

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35

svgeuropeupdate

“There’s a very good collaborative spirit internally between HBS and World Rugby, but also with our tech providers. That makes or breaks an event” BART LUCASSEN, HBS

Rugby World Cup 2023

How has it gone?

Lucassen: It’s gone very well. Of course, with new technology you have challenges, but we have on-site support from the manufacturer here and also support from the lab in the UK. You run into issues whenever you have a new technology and because it’s the first time we have used it on a long-haul transport network we had to find out what the right buffer sizes were, for example, for protection.

That’s something we had to tinker with to get right. This is difficult to test in a lab environment where you don’t have a real network in place. Obviously, we did a test in advance with links towards Bordeaux, but then these specific issues didn’t occur.We only found out on-site.And that’s when you need to respond quickly to make sure that it doesn’t impact the production, which we did.

If the protection doesn’t work, effectively you lose your redundancy and you’re actually working on a single leg, which is a risk. Potentially if you can’t fix that in time, you’re at a degraded service level.

How do you monitor the network?

Lucassen: We have a separate provider for the end-to-end monitoring. This is because with the transport network that we have put in place, the last active equipment is at the Point of Presence (PoP), with a passive extension to the stadiums. This means that the monitoring capability for Orange is actually from the nearest PoP to the stadium to the nearest PoP to the IBC. But we want to have end-toend monitoring of course, so what we have put in place is an over-the-top monitoring system, which is provided

by VIDI. They’re here on site. We have edge switches here at the IBC and at the stadiums. And they are actually monitoring from that switch to the switch here. So there is end-to-end monitoring that comes on top of the optical transport network monitoring that Orange provides.

Does the set-up differ from the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan?

Lucassen: One main difference for me is the streaming

“Immersive and emotional” cinema-style shots bring fans closer to the action Reflecting a growing trend in sports broadcasting, cine-style cameras have been added to the Rugby World Cup production set-up for 2023, bringing a dramatic look to certain parts of the host broadcast match coverage.

Through the use of DSLR cameras with Prime lenses, the production team at Host Broadcast Services (HBS) can capture shots of fans and players with a shallow depth of field that are considered to be more immersive, showcasing the raw emotions of the matches for the viewers back home.

Sony FX3 cameras are being used for this tournament. Here, Julien Bertin, executive producer for HBS at Rugby World Cup 2023, picks up the story.

“We want to get closer to the players,” he says. “Rugby is a very popular sport with players and with fans, and we wanted to get the fans closer to the action and closer to those players because we feel there’s a real rugby community.”

This manifests itself in a couple of ways, he continues.

“So, when they arrive at the stadium, we have dramatic close-up shots of the players as they walk in, in slow motion. It’s an amazing way to tee up the game, to say, for example, this is Johnny Sexton and he is really focused.

It’s simple things. You shoot it at 200 frames per second and suddenly the footage has another dimension.

“In the tunnel before kick-off, we go in close. In the first game of the World Cup, players were already singing in the tunnel, getting hyped up.

We captured that with a cine-style camera. That worked really well. With fans, again we use slow-mo to capture the raw emotion.”

Steve Jamieson, World Rugby executive producer, was unsure about the use of these cameras pre-tournament. But he is now a convert.

“I’ll be honest,” he says. “Before this World Cup, I wasn’t a fan of cine-

36

Executive producer for HBS Julien Bertin (right) with director Daniel Hudson in Lyon

style because I’ve seen it badly used at other events — people running around, shots going in and out of focus. But we did a trial in Madrid on a World Rugby Pacific Four Series game and we got some nice stuff out of it.”

The use of cine-style cameras at France 2023 has changed since the first match, he adds.

“On the first weekend, some of our guys were running onto the field trying to get the player coming back [after scoring a try]. Personally, it just didn’t work for me. So we looked again at how we could do that. If the operators are on the main camera side, if they are running in from that side, they’d get in shot. So we had to think about them coming in from a different angle.

“So we’ve changed as the tournament has gone on. I think the best shots are the fan shots and the team arrival shots. But we can also get some nice wide-angle shots of tries happening rather than trying to get in close. We’ve captured some really nice slow-mos of tries being scored with the whole stadium background and the team going over the try line.”

Bertin acknowledges that it’s not easy to get the shots right using a cine-style camera. He hopes that in the future, when using these types of cameras, operators will have an easier job of capturing a moving target.

“We want to be able to track someone when they are moving in a less predictable way. DSLR manufacturers are working hard on that,” he suggests.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

Rugby World Cup 2023

distribution of content. In Japan, we didn’t offer streaming services but we’re actually now offering SRT streaming of all the multi-feeds that we create here towards broadcasters. We have three edge nodes, one in Sydney, one in London and one in Pittsburgh, where broadcasters can access all the content which is available in the IBC remotely.

This is something which has had a good pick-up.

Have you faced any different challenges to Japan?

Lucassen: The language barrier has been a challenge — not internally, but when we are The IBC utilises buildings, facilities and infrastructure that are normally used for coverage of the French Open liaising with local entities. In Japan, of course, you kind of know that there’s going to be been a bit of a challenge. a language barrier and so you have translators to support We can cope with most things though. There is a very you. We didn’t expect to need translators in France, but we good team behind this. There’s a very good collaborative do have, for example, a translator here at the IBC to make spirit internally between HBS and World Rugby, but also sure that we can liaise with the technical staff on site. It’s with our tech providers. That makes or breaks an event.

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Highlights Creation 37

svgeuropeupdate

The FIFA Women’s World Cup IBC in Sydney

Production teams to work from Sydney hub

BY KEN KERSCHBAUMER FIRST PUBLISHED 17 JULY 2023

T

he 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup begins in earnest on 20 July when New Zealand kicks things off against Norway. With it begins a new era in World Cup production: HBS, host broadcaster for FIFA, will deploy five production teams, including directors and producers, to handle all matches remotely out of a production hub in Sydney.

With matches played in 10 stadiums (six in Australia, four in New Zealand), the advantages of keeping the production teams in one location are numerous. Topping the list: teams won’t have to crisscross the continent, saving costs, time and energy (both the human kind and the fossil kind).

The Sydney production hub will be connected to IP trucks in Melbourne Rectangular Stadium and Stadium Australia; the other eight stadiums hosting matches will have IP flypacks. There will be nine stadium-based production teams, comprising camera operators and floor manager, at the venues (one team will handle the two stadiums in Sydney).

The host broadcast production format is HD 1080p/50 HDR with 21-25 cameras in use for each match, depending on the phase of the tournament. Specialty cameras will include ultra-motions, super-slow-motions, cable cams, polecams and heli cams. In addition, following successful deployment for the Men’s FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, cine-style cameras will be in operation at every match.

The remote production model relies on a dedicated fibre broadcast contribution network (BCN), which connects each stadium to the central hub in Sydney over 40G redundant links. The hub is connected to the IBC, located at Sydney Olympic Park, over 400G redundant links. The IBC itself will be home for five rightsholders: Fox Sports 38

2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

US, Telemundo, Channel Seven Australia, Australia’s Optus Sports digital service and TSN Canada. Those rightsholders (and all others) will have access to feeds in the following formats: HD 1080p/50 HDR, HD 1080p/50 SDR format (Rec. 709), HD 1080i/50 with embedded audio.

Also at the hub, four teams dedicated to additional content and four slow-mo teams will produce four match feeds: the basic international feed (BIF), a clean international feed (CIF), the world feed (WF) and an additional content channel (ACC). A fifth feed, Matchday-1 press conferences, will also be live and offered as a separate isolated feed.

Over the years, the content provided by FIFA and HBS for rightsholders has ballooned significantly. As digital delivery has expanded, so has rightsholders’ desire for content that goes well beyond the action on the pitch. To meet the demands, FIFA and HBS will create more than 3,000 hours of content designed to bring fans closer to what is happening in Australia and New Zealand (more on that later). Most postproduction operations (shortform match highlights and 24-minute daily highlights programmes, among others) will be housed at a non-live hub in Greater London, UK.

Next-gen graphics

Following the successful introduction of enhanced graphics at the FIFA World Cup 2022, the increase in the number of data points available from each match naturally lends itself to increased opportunities to pass the most relevant information to the viewer. The goal is to offer viewers data that is understandable, editorially interesting and supportive of the story of the match.

The data, provided centrally by the FIFA High Performance Programme Department, is picked up by the graphics teams, which for each match consists of a co-ordinating producer, graphics producer and graphics operator. The teams will follow the story of the match and provide graphics that support the narrative to the events unfolding on the pitch.

VAR coverage

VAR (Video Assistant Referee) graphics were a big hit in Qatar last year, and a series of informative graphics will provide viewers this year with a clear and transparent overview of the VAR process. A specifically developed animation will clarify the offside situations.

On-field reviews are covered in a picture-in-picture (PIP) format, with the main window replicating the images that the referee is offered for review by the VAR. In addition, the tournament will continue FIFA’s trial with broadcasting VAR review decisions in-stadium and live to the television audience.

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2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Non-live production

The FIFA TV Team Crew (FTTC) project will be in operation for the Women’s World Cup, providing media rights licensees (MRLs) with additional content to support their event programming, mainly away from the live match coverage.

A total of 32 FTTC producers, who are native speakers of the respective participating team, will be embedded with that team and follow The HBS camera plan it throughout the tournament. They for the FIFA Women’s will be responsible for centralised World Cup matches production of any content coming from the teams.

The producers will be paired with a local camera operator to produce the content, including exclusive interviews with the players, the head coach and backroom staff in the build-up to each match. The content also includes behind-the-scenes filming and footage from extracurricular events that the teams undertake, as well as training sessions and press conferences. On match days, each crew will be in the stadium to support the HB coverage by providing further content, such as pre-/postmatch interviews, fan colour, match ISO and post-match dressing room coverage.

All content shot by the FTTCs will be made available to broadcasters as raw source material via the FIFA Max server. This gives broadcasters the flexibility to create their own bespoke content pieces that best fit their programming and social media needs.

Going deeper with features

FIFA TV will create fully produced content pieces made available to the broadcasters, again via FIFA Max. The features help tell the story of the tournament away from the live action. They bring to life the star players, the onesto-watch and those who suddenly make their name at the tournament, helping the viewer to get to know the competitors better.

The features are produced at the IBC in Sydney by a dedicated team of producers, video editors and craft graphics operators. Highlight production is also key to an event of this magnitude, at which coverage is global and around-the-clock. FIFA TV will produce a short, highlights package for broadcasters so that they can have a package turned around quickly for use in programming or on social media channels. It will also produce a 24-minute highlights programme every match day, offering a comprehensive round-up of the day’s action and giving broadcasters a ready-to-use programme for their respective channels. Both offerings will be produced at FIFA TV’s remote-production hub at Stockley Park in London.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Serving social, digital content

Social media production will serve MRLs’ and FIFA’s own social channels. Daily illustrations, enhanced videos, vertical video and digital-first content will be shared with MRLs in an easy-to integrate and platform-agnostic fashion.

Content destined for FIFA-approved platforms is produced with 1:1, 4:5, 9:16 and 16:9 aspect ratios, and publication to MRLs will occur via the Social Media Interface (SMI), a web-based platform for social media managers.

Content creators at every host city in Australia and New Zealand will leverage exclusive venue and behindthe-scenes access to provide vertical clips captured by mobile phone: arrivals, players on the pitch, goals, postmatch moments, players with family. Near-live clips will be provided within minutes (stadium sound, no editing), along with edited clips, such as digital first highlights.

The operation will be crewed by 18 digital first content creators (two in each host city covering match-day and other team activities), as well a senior producer and two video editors.

Also, for the first time, FIFA will offer a digital production dedicated to its partnership with TikTok and containing live streaming, clips, daily shows and content from selected influencers.

With the aim of offering innovative services and considering new trends in the market, FIFA has developed a new streaming concept: by using volumetric cameras, data will be collected from the players and inserted into the feed in the form of augmented graphics.

Captures of all elements — player tracking, data (speed, distance, ball speed) — will be translated into live-data visualisation on dedicated match feeds, allowing fans to follow the action through heat maps, passing-accuracy stats, head-to-head/ball-possession comparisons, and general player/team performance.

This concept will be deployed for streams from several matches: USA vs Vietnam, USA vs Netherlands, Portugal vs USA, and all matches from the quarter-finals on.

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2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Studio graphics have been designed to emulate the FIFA toolkit with indigenous and Māori-inspired patterns

ITV Sport goes remote and makes use of new virtual studio hub

BY WILL STRAUSS FIRST PUBLISHED 21 JULY 2023

TV Sport’s coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is centred around its new virtual presentation studio in Ealing, West London, with any unilateral coverage of the matches in Australia and New Zealand being produced remotely.

All 64 games from the tournament, which started in Auckland on 20 July, are being broadcast in the UK on either ITV or the BBC, except for the final, which will be shown across both.

The virtual studio hub is the heart of the output, supplemented by a small reporting team down under.

ITV Sport’s Sarah Nurse, programme editor, and Rachael Jackson, senior producer, spoke to SVG Europe on the eve of the tournament, to outline how things will roll during Australia and New Zealand 2023.

“We are doing a remote production for the Women’s World Cup,” says Nurse.“We’re producing everything from Timeline’s Ealing Broadcast Centre (EBC) using our green screen studio. We have a full studio set up with VT and 40

gallery and studio all in one place, and we are bringing in the world feed [from Host Broadcast Services] for all matches and a number of ISO sources which we select according to our editorial needs.

“We have a presence in Australia too. We’ve got an England reporter [Katie Shanahan] and an England producer who will be generating content out there around the Lionesses. We will be doing some pitch-side hits in the stadiums too, for England games and for the opening game, which is Australia versus the Republic of Ireland.”

Former England midfielder Jill Scott will be out there for ITV. “She is a household name now,” adds Nurse.

“Jill will work with Katie. It’s really important to get that presence [in the stadiums].”

The video and audio of that unilateral coverage will be sent back to London using LiveU, and for the world feed and ISO sources ITV has partnered with the BBC, using IMG as a switching point.

All match feeds will be taken into ITV’s UK hub and edited for a daily highlights show on the ITVX platform.

Studio presentation

For the pre- and post-match, and half-time presentation and analysis, ITV’s green screen studio at the EBC will be ‘re-skinned’ virtually for the tournament, as Jackson, explains: “Our AR studio is green screen and designed to offer us separate backdrops, including a seated studio position, promo corridor and balcony area. AR graphics can be applied to provide player profiles, head-to-heads, maps and more.

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2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

“Our studio graphics emulate the FIFA toolkit, which is very stylised and colourful, with indigenous and Māoriinspired patterns. The AR screens in the studio are multifunctional and offer us the ability to place footage in the screens behind our studio presenters and pundits, so you get a great feel for what is happening within the stadiums, while keeping our studio team in vision. The AR studio gives us a lot of flexibility.”

The virtual studio is built in Unreal Engine and controlled using Brainstorm. It is operated by Moov and features a physical desk and multiple live VR screens. AR graphics elements can be added, also created by Moov, with tracking done using Mo-Sys Star Tracker. The studio features three pedestal cameras and a jib, on which most of the AR graphics land.

ITV’s output will differ depending on the kickoff time in the UK. Pre-7am will be commentary only (with commentators calling the action ‘off tube’ from Ealing).

Post-7am, things ramp up.

Nurse says: “We have the studio wraparound, from the virtual studio, with half an hour build-up for most matches and 45 minutes for England and for the opening game of the tournament. We will have a minimum of two guest [pundits] plus the presenter.”

Time difference

With the tournament being played on the other side of the planet to ITV’s viewing audience, the early kick-off times do have an impact — and it will affect the way the shows are produced, she adds. But it might end up being a positive.

“When you have a game in prime time, you have the capacity for a bigger audience. But England are not playing in the middle of the night. They have morning kick offs and the Lionesses are really popular with younger people and with children. In a way, it will work quite well for the kids, because they’ll wake up, and then they’ll be able to watch the matches. It’s the school holidays too [in the UK] so that’s a really positive thing.”

Time zones have not been the only time-related issue to consider for this tournament. It took a long time for the broadcast rights allocation to be confirmed, which had an impact on ITV Sport’s prep.

“That’s really not been ideal,” says Nurse.“Obviously, we would have wanted this to have been resolved a lot sooner to allow more time to plan everything in greater detail.”

“Particularly with the talent it was hard,” she continues, “because we weren’t able to confirm that we could actually use them. It’s been fine, and we’ve got everybody confirmed, but much later than you would hope it would

“Our AR studio is green screen and designed to offer us separate backdrops, including a seated studio position, promo corridor and balcony area.

AR graphics can be applied to provide player profiles, head-toheads, maps and more” RACHAEL JACKSON, ITV SPORT

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2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Coverage will address the issues facing the women’s game as well as the footballing action

“We got [all the talent] confirmed, but much later than you would hope it would be.

It wasn’t just us that were affected [by the rights delay]. It was happening in the whole of Europe as well.

It has made the build-up more testing” SARAH NURSE, ITV SPORT

42

be. It wasn’t just us that were affected. It was happening in the whole of Europe as well. It has made the build-up more testing, let’s put it that way. We have probably had to work double the hours in the day over the last month to get to where we are now.”

Led by presenters Laura Woods, Seema Jaswal and Michelle Owen, ITV’s Women’s World Cup ‘squad’ will also include expert insight, opinion and analysis from former and current players and managers including Eni Aluko, Karen Carney, Emma Hayes, Fran Kirby, Lucy Ward, Siobhan Chamberlain, Emma Byrne, Vicky Losada and Jen Beattie.

Commentary will come from Seb Hutchinson, Sam Matterface, Pien Meulensteen and Tom Gayle.

Crew and operators

While talent bookings were tricky due to the rights delays, there have been no issues when it comes to recruiting crew and operators.

“We started booking people before the rights deals were agreed.We had heavily pencilled in a lot of the people that we would work with normally and we’ve been lucky in the main that most people were happy to wait on that heavy pencil for us,” says Nurse.

Jackson adds: “Our relationships go back a very long way with these freelancers. We book them routinely because they’re really creative, they’re great to work with and we know what they can do. We’ve got such good working relationships that they know we won’t let them down.”

The beautiful game

Women’s football has grown exponentially since the last FIFA World Cup in France in 2019, to the extent that TV coverage is now considered no different from the men’s game — both in terms of production values and editorial tone.

“I produce all the women’s football for ITV and our ethos is to cover it in exactly the same way that we cover the men’s,” says Nurse. “We don’t treat it differently.

There are obviously different issues that come out of the different games, so we reflect those. But we will give it the same broadcast treatment.”

The raised profile of the women’s game has also brought with it other off-field considerations — from players being at loggerheads with their own federations regarding pay and prize money to the recent (and thus-far unexplained) rise in anterior cruciate ligament knee injuries for female footballers. ITV won’t be afraid to cover those stories.

“It’s a growing sport,” asserts Nurse. “But the structure around it probably hasn’t quite caught up yet with the men’s game, although the men’s game does have its own issues, of course. We need to strike a careful balance because we don’t want to ignore these issues, but we also want to sell the tournament and enjoy the tournament for the festival of football that it’s going to be.”

While the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be a success for ITV if it produces great games of football, there is no denying that success for the home nation, in this case England, will amplify that significantly.

“If the football’s great, then England doing well will be the cherry on top,” concludes Jackson.

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Wimbledon Championships

Viewers are able to enjoy extensive off-court coverage as well as all the sporting action

Live from Wimbledon 2023: Mic’ing up players and boosting behind the scenes access

BY GEORGE BEVIR

FIRST PUBLISHED 14 JULY 2023

F

rom mic’ing up players to rolling out new GFX and boosting behind the scenes access, Wimbledon Broadcast Services head of broadcast Paul Davies speaks with SVG Europe about the changes to this year’s Championships.

Visitors and viewers alike will have noticed some changes to this year’s Wimbledon Championships. While the annual tennis tournament is steeped in tradition, the approach taken to covering the action in SW19 is always under review and subject to revision, an approach perhaps best summed up by this year’s tournament tag line of ‘Always like never before’.

As part of an overhaul to its editorial offering, one of the most significant changes for this year was the appointment of Whisper as Wimbledon Broadcast Services (WBS) 44

production partner for the Championships for 2023 and 2024. The deal includes production of the world feed, international highlights, a creative preview film and an official film of The Championships.

And, says All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) head of broadcast, production and media rights Paul Davies, the process of appointing the production company “made us think harder and smarter about what we should be doing”.

Speaking with SVG Europe on day nine of the championships, Davies says Whisper is working across multiple strands of content, pointing to the off-court coverage as one of the areas that has seen the biggest change this year.

“We used to have a service called the Wimbledon Channel, which was our own, daily linear programme that sat on our own platforms. A couple of our broadcasters took it, but they found it slightly competitive in terms of what they were offering to viewers.

“They were doing their own Wimbledon coverage, and we were offering an alternative, slightly different service. There were some reserved rights that meant we could show one game per match per hour, so they didn’t particularly like it. It had served us well over I think the eight or nine years that it had been running, but we looked at it and thought, ‘is this the best service we can provide for both ourselves and to our broadcasters?”

In response, Davies and his team worked with Whisper SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Wimbledon Championships

svgeuropeupdate

to create ‘Access all England’, a daily, linear offering of behindthe-scenes content that runs from 9am to 5pm.

“It’s a production of the very best of the behind-the-scenes cameras, all the beauty cameras as well — probably up to 35,” says Davies. He explains that previously, broadcasters “lost” the players once they arrived.

“We didn’t see them again until they walked on the court. So we wanted to offer the broadcasters, and on our own platforms, that unique experience of coming to Wimbledon and seeing all of this for themselves.

“We now see the players Whisper was appointed WBS production partner for the Championships for 2023 and 2024 getting out of their cars, going through the beautiful new Indoor Tennis Centre where we Mic’ing up players have installed five robotic cameras, under the tunnel into Ahead of the start of the championships, players including the Millennium Building and in these new environments Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic were given ear buds that we didn’t have covered before, like the players lawn connected to a Riedel Bolero wireless intercom system where we now have a new robotic camera, the restaurant so they could be interviewed during a practice match on and corridors of the clubhouse. All these images people Centre Court. The inspiration came from the Masters at won’t have seen before.”

Augusta, where commentators were able to speak directly In addition to the robotic cameras, coverage is with Rory McIlroy. supplemented by handheld cameras following the players.

“We did that on Centre Court with Novak Djokovic, “It all means that broadcasters are getting ever-changing Andy Murray and his coach Ivan Lendl who were able to images of all the players in different environments, which speak with Tim Henman to create some different content the broadcasters are absolutely loving. They can also put that is not them sitting them down in a chair being requests in through our Quality Control Centre to cover interviewed. We’re doing that for our own platforms and a particular player. So, if a broadcaster has no facilities the broadcasters.” on site, then by taking all the court feeds and Access all Regular visitors to the Media Centre, nestled between England, they can still create a really rich offering.”

Courts 18 and 14, will have noticed a change to their Davies says that shift was driven, in part, by surroundings following the completion of a multidocumentary series such as Box to Box production Break million-pound, two-year project that includes a new Point gaining greater access to players while broadcasters Media Theatre for press conferences and new stand-up looked on and questioned their own access. presentation positions for broadcasters.

“Broadcasters are paying very decent rights fees and “These are beautiful environments that we encourage perhaps not being afforded the same privileges, which our broadcasters to present from,” says Davies.“We love to WBS and wider AELTC is very sympathetic to. That easing get them out in the British sunshine, rather than stuck in up of access, which had been quite guarded in previous studios, and they like to do that too. The changes we have years, I think the club is getting more comfortable with, made also make it easy to move players from the press and the players are more familiar with cameras behind conferences to stand-up positions, and to the new onethe scenes, but in a respectful way.” on-one, virtual interview room which Moov has designed Other strands developed by WBS and Whisper include and built for us, which we’re very proud of.” a one-hour linear programme called the Aorangi Hour, The process of reviewing how images and audio is presented from the Aorangi practice courts between 12 captured, produced and distributed begins soon after the and 1pm, plus “bite-sized” content such as daily fashion trophies have been lifted. show ‘Wimbledon Threads’ and interviews on the purple “James (Muir, AELTC broadcast technical manager) carpet as players and VIPs arrive. The aim, says Davies, is and I spent the close season examining every single to create content that is “broadcaster agnostic”. camera position on every court,” says Davies.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

“That easing up of access, I think the club is getting more comfortable with, and the players are more familiar with cameras behind the scenes, but in a respectful way” PAUL DAVIES, WIMBLEDON BROADCAST SERVICES

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“Broadcasters are getting everchanging images of all the players in different environments, which the broadcasters are absolutely loving” PAUL DAVIES, WIMBLEDON BROADCAST SERVICES

“Last year, we had the new central walk on for Centre Court, so we had to address that differently last year, which we did. There was a fantastic shot looking through the clubhouse to the players going through that central entrance, so we decided that this year, we’re going to put an RF camera at the front of the clubhouse to get that wonderful, shadowed look as the players enter Centre Court, drifting in from the clubhouse doors to give it context of where they are.”

“We fundamentally changed No.1 Court coverage this year by switching the player profile cameras — three and four — to the other side.

“For many years, that had been a challenge because of the infrastructure in the pits, which have slightly changed, and the pressures of photography, and so on. We had the option to switch them to look towards the umpire’s chair and the players when they’re sitting down, which is a much more natural angle and brings it in line with Centre Court. The directors are saying it’s a vast improvement.”

It’s not just changes to the immediate environment that can prompt alterations to camera positions; adjustments to the way the game is played can also require a change in view.

“You look at how far the players are standing back, they’re pretty much back against the canvas. So we look at the positions of the master camera shots as well. It would be very easy just to leave the cameras where they were, to get last year’s file off the shelf and say, ‘same as last year’.

Wimbledon Championships

We don’t do that. We always want to make it better.”

Another area of development is graphics. IBM is the main official data supplier, but within that agreement are several different specialist providers, including SMT for TV graphics interface, Hawkeye for player and ball tracking, and this year WBS has brought in TennisViz which provides algorithmic software to process ball and player tracking data for real-time analysis.

“TennisViz analyses every single shot within a rally, which means that the depth of the data that they’re collecting, including umpires’ data, the point-by-point scoring, along with the Hawkeye data of player and ball tracking, all goes through their unique algorithm and IP. That means they can come up with some absolute unique data insights which we’re putting to air which have been revelatory. The commentators are loving it because it backs up what they share with viewers,” says Davies.

The response to all these additions and adjustments from broadcasters has been positive, says Davies.

“Beyond the basic facts that we’ve got 45 broadcasters on site, when we look at the number of downloads and the amount of content we’ve produced, we’re probably up to about 3,000 assets that we’ve produced. And we’re well over 10,000 downloads already from MediaBank and the central content store. So that provides us with feedback, along with the anecdotal messaging we’re getting from our broadcasters every day. That, and the numbers, are telling us that we’re doing something right.”

Upping UHD and HDR coverage of the Championships Wimbledon Broadcast Services (WBS) expanded its UHD-HDR offering this year, with coverage of every match from Centre Court and No.1 Court at this year’s championships captured in UHD-HDR. “We had produced Centre Court in UHDHDR since 2018, and the motivation to change came as part of the new contract with NEP,” says AELTC broadcast technical manager James Muir.

NEP UK provides the technical broadcast delivery for the Wimbledon Championships, having signed a four-year deal with WBS that runs from 2023 to 2026.

Speaking with SVG Europe during this year’s championships, Muir explains the approach for Centre and No.1 Court: “We moved to a single Every match from Centre Court and No.1 Court was captured in UHD-HDR workflow, so we are not producing a separate HD output and a UHD output. Now, we make The new workflow included UHD-HDR feeds required 224 channels of conversion. The 16 everything in the master format and convert for plus the HD SDR feeds for rightsholders; in other courts were available in either 1080p HDR everything else.” order to deliver the HD SDR feeds the workflow or 1080p SDR.

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Special Olympics World Games

Gold standard

The NEP Germany team (L-R): Norbert Garske, Andreas Baumann and Zlatan Gavran

Live From: Special Olympics World Games with NEP Germany

BY GEORGE BEVIR FIRST PUBLISHED 30 JUNE 2023

“Our multisport experience is one of the reasons why we are here” ZLATAN GAVRAN, NEP GERMANY

48

O

n Sunday 25 June, the closing ceremony of the Special Olympics World Games 2023 marked the end of a very special nine days in Berlin.

Over 6,500 athletes from around the world gathered in the German city to take part in a range of sports in celebration of their abilities, and Germany’s broadcasters and media firms were there to capture their stories and share them with the world.

With 26 different sports taking place at eight venues around the city, the Special Olympics was one of the largest sporting events to take place in Germany in recent years.

With the Local Organising Committee (LOC) taking on host broadcaster duties, NEP was selected to provide technical and production services support for the creation of around 400 hours of live content which was taken by, among others, ESPN for global distribution and an alliance of 11 media firms including Sky Germany, which also helped with production management and coverage of some events.

One of the starting points for coverage was splitting the events into different categories; platinum, gold, silver and bronze. The closing ceremony was designated ‘platinum’, as was the opening ceremony which featured 20+ cameras, a Spidercam, augmented reality and more.

Events designated as ‘gold’ — covered by around 12 cameras — were swimming, athletics and powerlifting, which were the main sports covered by ESPN. The remaining events were split into either silver, covered by on average six cameras, and bronze, which was typically a single camera SNG crew provided by Sky Germany along with LiveU-equipped teams gathering footage for edited content.

For NEP, that meant supplying 13 trucks — most from NEP Germany, but supplemented with one from NEP Switzerland and two from NEP Belgium — to support the 108050p production of the world feed, with an additional truck for Sky Germany’s own presentation efforts. Some trucks, after they had fulfilled their host broadcast duties, were also shared with ESPN. In terms of people, NEP is managing staff and crew of 310 for the Games, including directors who have been supplied in agreement with the LOC. The creative direction, led by Roman Steuer, is part of the LOC team.

“Our multisport experience is one of the reasons why we are here,” says NEP Germany managing director Zlatan Gavran.

“In addition, NEP can deliver most of the things on our own — there isn’t a need for 10 different OB vendors, so the LOC has one single point of contact. And the second reason is that we are able to provide the same trucks, same kit, same cameras, EVS systems — it’s the same standard whether it’s a six-, eight- or 12-camera truck.”

Berlin’s International Trade Fair Messe Berlin was the location for 10 of the 26 sports, as well as the home of the Main Media Centre (MMC) and the International Broadcast Centre (IBC).

Events took place at other venues across the city, with Germany’s MTI Teleport handling signal distribution and all lines from each venue delivered via MTI’s Nimbrabased network to the IBC, which was managed by NEP. “We discussed in the beginning how we do this best,” says Gavran.“Most of the time you pull kit into the IBC, you rig everything and book an air conditioning room, and so on. But then to save space and for speed, we piped our huge UHD24 truck from there [the compound at the Messe] to here in the IBC, so we are using that truck as a data centre.

“So, when you walk through the IBC everything is connected to the truck. It’s easier than pulling flightcases and organising air conditioning, power, and it is better for rigging and derigging times.”

It has also helped from a budget perspective, doing away with the need to set up an MCR in the IBC. NEP Germany head of technical projects Norbert Garske was overall technical project manager, with NEP colleague Andreas Baumann one of the project managers.

“The backbone is UHD24 and up here [in the IBC] we just have workspace all based on the backbone of UHD24,” says Garske.

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SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Special Olympics World Games

NEP trucks on site at the Messe venue in Berlin for the Special Olympics World Games 2023

“I designed the setup last year in Munich for the European Championships, and that was a completely different setup. There, we designed the complete container structure for the IBC as well for the TOC. “Now, we decided that this truck — because it’s a very, very strong truck with a huge router — we calculated that it matches exactly the need we have to fulfil here. And it’s way faster. We just had one week really in time for the complete setup here.”

The alternative, of equipping the IBC, would have added at least an additional week of rigging time, says Garske.

“That’s because the complete network is already set up.

We had some days preparation in Munich because you have to reconfigure some aspects of the router. But we didn’t have to disconnect any devices to get enough input.

This router is that strong that we could use the structure on the patch panel to connect everything.”

Sharing content

One of the standout features of these Games has been the co-operation between the media alliance of 11 German broadcasters and media firms, who have been encouraged to share content with the aim of reaching as many viewers as possible.

“We have a fully ingested MAM system on site for all of the takers; we do EVS ingest on site and Mediabank [NEP’s cloud-based media asset management system] in parallel with a third-party system for accessing content, which is the LOC’s Scoopa platform [which provided B-roll, rough cuts and ready-to-broadcast reports],” says Gavran.

NEP’s Mediabank, with functionality including editing, clipping and conversion, was largely used by ESPN and DAZN, while for most of the German takers the more limited functionality of Scoopa sufficed.

German broadcasters unite for Special Olympics World Games Germany’s broadcasters have joined forces in an unprecedented show of unity ahead of the Special Olympics World Games, says Alessandro Reitano, Sky Deutschland senior vice president of sports production.

“The more we all broadcast, the more people will talk about the Games, which is better for everyone,” says Reitano. “That means that if we at Sky have a nice story, we will share it with the other broadcasters and media partners, and vice versa. It is everyone’s intention to spread the word about the Games and the Special Olympics.

“Usually, as broadcasters, we all have the mindset of being first, getting the best positions, securing access to athletes first, so this is a little unusual, but it is absolutely the right thing to do.”

Along with Sky Germany, viewers in Germany will be able to view a range of live content, highlights, daily summaries and social media content on Amazon, ARD, Bild, DAZN, Meta, ProSiebenSat1, RTL, Sport1, Telekom, ZDF and Sportdeutschland.tv.

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Swimming at the Special Olympics World Games: 100m Butterfly, with Arsad Al Banjari of Indonesia on the left and Davide Simoni from Italy on the right Picture: Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023/Anna Spindelndreier

Outside Germany, European Broadcasting Union (EBU) members will have access to clips, daily summaries and news reports. Global rightsholder ESPN will live stream the action to viewers in the US and is also responsible for distribution of the world feed.

In total, there will be around 400 hours of live content produced for the world feed, with Sky in particular set to air three hours of live content per day, along with highlights.

Coverage of the Games will be “top tier”, says Reitano.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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151st Open Championship

work closely with the Open’s main broadcast building which is home to OSCAR (Outside Source Central Apparatus Room) as well as main production facilities for the Open world feed and NBC Sports coverage.

All told there are around 700 people roaming the course and compounds for the various rightsholders. Many of them also tend to work on the same major events as well as plenty of smaller ones.

“We’re like a big golf family,” says Greig. “NBC, Sky and ETP all work across the same events.”

EMG has provided some 160 cameras, spread across the world feed, Sky Sports, NBC, the Golf Channel and TV Asahi. Thirty-five of those cameras are RF (two in UHD HDR for UHD HDR coverage of the 13th and 17th holes) operating in 2G, 5G and 7G bands and 22 receive sites throughout the course. There is also a Sony shallow depth of field camera with a Ronin gimbal.

“We’re amazed that we’ve actually managed to tweak it so it actually matches the other cameras because sometimes when you see it on other shows it can be a bit jarring,” says Greig.

EMG director of golf operations Hamish Greig at the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool

EMG’s Hamish Greig highlights a group-wide effort

BY KEN KERSCHBAUMER FIRST PUBLISHED 21 JULY 2023

“We’re like a big golf family. NBC, Sky and ETP all work across the same events” HAMISH GREIG, EMG

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T

his weekend’s Open at Royal Liverpool caps off a busy two-week period for EMG. Last week it was at the centre of another big golf show: The Scottish Open. The two events are the largest golf productions the company does, and Hamish Greig, EMG’s director of golf operations, says that about 90% of the team that worked last weekend are hard at work this weekend as well.

“They’ve done very well and have been absolutely brilliant,” he says. “Some of the people did the set-up for the Scottish Open and then came down here while others worked through that event and are now here.”

The Scottish Open production was based around EMG’s Nova 112A and TSV12 for the main golf coverage and Nova 112B, Nova 132 and Nova 121 for the unilateral coverage by Sky Sports, CBS Sports and PGA Tour. On Sunday night the trucks were packed up and driven to within two hours of Royal Liverpool so they could be on-site Monday morning.

Then, they were folded into a fleet of EMG OB units that

The compound

At the core of the compound for the Open Championship is the large IBC building that is comprised of production control rooms,replay areas and audio rooms (and equipment racks) that allow for the NBC Sports team and the world feed production teams to work at maximum efficiency. But that core IBC building is only part of a large compound that includes EMG production units and other portacabins and facilities.

Greig says getting the compound built out is a bit like playing Jenga, but with massive OB units, smaller portacabins and trucks, and the large broadcast centre in the middle.

On one side of the compound is the world feed operation; on the other are the unilaterals. Greig says Nova 125 is the first truck to turn up for the host-feed build-up as it serves as the main communications hub for the ETP and world feed team. It is then followed by two trucks that are on the unilateral side of the compound: one for NBC and one for Sky Sports.

“Nova 125 handles all the comms panels and is the interface to the IBC for the rest of the compound,” says Greig. “When the other trucks arrive, they are all trunked together and become one big comms system with audio, video… the whole lot. Then we do the same thing for NBC when OB9 comes in, so when NBC’s Newbert flypack comes in it gets connected to Stamford and away we go.

Then Nova 119 comes in and is home to Sky Sports comms and Sky facilities. When those three are up you have the host, NBC/Golf Channel, and Sky in early and working on their infrastructure.”

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SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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151st Open Championship

The main production gallery for the World Feed inside the Open IBC

does sound, graphics and commentary for Marquee group one (which also gives it the firepower to be a backup facility for OSCAR). Top Tracer cameras are also in that truck.

There is a third redundancy via OB12B which contains Marquee group two’s main production area, an EVS area, main sound mix and commentators.

“OB12B is a third redundancy if anything happened,” says Greig.

There is also UHD/HDR coverage for holes 13 and 17 and those are produced in Nova 118. The holes are both par threes and have a green camera with a big lens and a radio camera plus access to all other feeds. The UHD HDR camera signals pass into Nova 118, are shaded using SDR monitors, and are then available in UHD HDR as well as 1080p SDR for the regular shows.

Also on that side of the compound is Nova 54 which is a new concept in truck design and is being used to rack 20 world feed cameras.

“Nova 54 is a new remote truck concept which runs on HVO [hydrotreated vegetable oil] as we want more sustainable trucks,” he adds.

The unilateral side of the compound includes Nova 131 which handles the Live at the Range show for IMG which is on-air from 9-12 and 2-6pm every day. That truck also did a celebrity challenge last Sunday with six RF cameras, mics and three on-course commentators.

Japan’s TV Asahi is also on-site with a new workflow this year.

“For TV Asahi we are giving them all router panels and multiviewers so they can see and access every camera,” says Greig.“They have a mixer here, where they select which 12 feeds to send back, and a couple of EVS units so they can iso some other feeds and send them back as well.”

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Canal+ is also in the compound and requires just on-course commentary kits, while BBC’s on-site commentary presence is a connection point to remote operations in Salford.

New ways to problem solve

Figuring out how to deal with production technical support requests has always been a challenge as sometimes they can come in fast and furious. Dean Ruffy, systems development and maintenance manager at EMG, came up with a new way to bring some order to the requests with the introduction of a QR code that can be scanned and allow for requests to be filed.

“If a producer needs a power strip or work light, they can use the code, submit a request, and it pops up on the phones of me and a colleague and we can keep everyone happy,” says Ruffy.“It allows us to work much more efficiently.”

Hawkeye

The PGA Tour has made great use of the Hawkeye replay system to build out its highlights and coverage to better meet global rightsholders’ specific needs, and the Open Championship continues to do the same, with a small Hawkeye team located in the IBC and a larger one in Basingstoke. Ruffy says that this year there are 20 operators there connected via a 500Mbps internet line that gives them access to all feeds.

Adds Greig: “For Hawkeye, we’re feeding 170-odd feeds to them and NBC is making use of it as well back in the US. Here we’re using three Hawkeye replays for super ISO back into the world feed. And then in Basingstoke, there is a team clipping up and making those shots available to rightsholders.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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151st Open Championship

“At times it felt like a double remote as we were not only remote from the Sky Gallery but the Sky Zone itself as we couldn’t jump in a buggy and drive to the range like we could at St Andrews” JASON WESSELY, SKY SPORTS

Sky Sports relies heavily on the world feed for the core of its coverage

Sky Sports produces ‘double remote’ coverage

BY KEN KERSCHBAUMER FIRST PUBLISHED 28 JULY 2023

I

“

t was a wet weekend, and we had a bit of a runaway winner, but the viewing figures were still strong because the cricket was washed out and F1, as always, was a bit of a foregone conclusion so we felt like we had a good window for the end of the day,” says Jason Wessely, Sky Sports, executive producer, golf, speaking from the 151st Open Championship in Liverpool.

The Sky Sports team relies heavily on the world feed for the core of its coverage, unlike NBC which cuts in a lot of its own cameras.

“The world feed pretty much tells the story, and they don’t take any breaks, so they aren’t having to catch up with themselves,” says Wessely. “They pretty much have 56

all of the bases covered when it comes to narratives on the course, so we don’t need to cherry-pick cameras off the router and try and inject our own stories. It’s a safe and reliable feed that we can sit on and then we just add our own commentary, graphics, commercial breaks and interviews.”

For any golf fan the Sky Sports interviews, whether done on the course with an RF camera, at the Sky Cart, or at the Sky Zone on the practice range where there are two cameras and a jib, are always insightful, often entertaining and definitely informative.

“We take 12 cameras to the Open but those are mostly used for peripheral presenter-led content,” adds Wessely. “And we rely on the Xmos and the other pieces of the world feed, so we don’t have to add a lot.”

A new deliverable from European Tour Productions (ETP) and the world feed was the CarCam, a dashboard camera mounted in the car that would drive players back and forth from the range which was about a three-minute drive from the course. The camera captured a wide shot of everyone sitting in the car but there was no audio.

“I quite like it as any time you see a golfer in a different situation it’s a good move,” says Wessely. “You saw them in their various states, whether it was Padraic Harrington looking at his scorecard and checking it out in full for strategy or others sitting there taking in fluids or just looking into space. It’s interesting to see shots of players you don’t normally see.”

The main production team for Sky’s coverage was located in a control room back at Sky Sports headquarters in Osterley, and Wessely says the team is still learning about how to produce such a big production back at Sky. The fact that the driving range was so far away from the main compound made the Sky Zone production feel even more removed.

“At times it felt like a double remote as we were not only remote from the Sky Gallery but the Sky Zone itself as we couldn’t jump in a buggy and drive to the range like we could at St Andrews,” says Wessely. “We made it work and the viewer at home wouldn’t have known how far way it was.”

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UCI World Tour

economic interests at stake and expectations are very high,” he continues.

“Producing these great cycling events makes us very proud of our work: the races take place over a truly impressive radius, straddling different regions and with incredible atmospheric excursions; they require very high-quality images and sounds that travel along the most beautiful roads in the world, and live shooting with impressive stability.

“In just one day you can easily move from snow on the passes to the scorching sun along the coasts, to rain and 120km/h wind, which in one test in particular [arrival in Sassotetto during the Tirreno-Adriatico] forced RCS to move 2.5km further downstream as the wind was blowing too hard at the original high-altitude finish.”

Production innovations

On the road during the Strade Bianche Picture: kramon

Battling the elements to deliver a quartet of races to global viewers

BY ROBERTO LANDINI

The setup on the ground

FIRST PUBLISHED 23 MARCH 2023

“Producing these great cycling events makes us very proud of our work: the races take place over a truly impressive radius” DAVIDE FURLAN, EMG ITALY

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One of the innovations introduced by EMG Italy for this season was the use of the group’s proprietary OL270 vehicles, supplied by the Dutch division of EMG Connectivity.

These were deployed to connect the satellites and enable the retransmission of signals received from the motorbikes capturing the action towards the intermediate stations and the TV compound, and vice versa.

As was the case in 2022, EMG Italy was also involved on an editorial level and Belgian director Gunther Herregodts, an EMG collaborator who has worked on major events including Tour of Flanders, the Olympics, and other UCI World Tours, worked onboard the mobile vehicles.

nternational cycling returned to Italy earlier this month with the classic Strade Bianche, which takes place every year in the hills of Siena and involves the arrival in the incredible setting of the Piazza del Campo. This unique race is followed by the seven-day Tirreno-Adriatico, the Milan-Turin and finally by the best known and most important competition, the MilanSan Remo.

RCS Sport manages all of these events and owns the rights. For the second year, the company worked with EMG Group to co-produce all UCI World Tour races in Italy.

“EMG needs no introduction in the international broadcast sector and EMG Italy is the reference for the Italian market for its multiple manufacturing capabilities in every sector of communication and production,” says Davide Furlan, outdoor production director, EMG Italy.

EMG Italy was responsible for the complete technical/ production management and management control of the cycling event for the group. “World Tour cycling has a technical/editorial and production standard that only big companies like EMG can guarantee, there are many

The production effort was extensive, with 125 technical crew employed at each event, including EVS operators, motorcycle operators and drivers. The Orion 209 main gallery mobile vehicle, deployed at each arrival, featured a Kahuna mixer and four EVS XT-VIA stations with 14 channels each on board.

Eleven cameras were placed in the final area, two of which were super slow-motion Sony 4300 HFR, and a POV micro camera was used for the photo finish.

Cameras were used to narrate the last kilometre, the arrival, the podium, for interviews, and for colour images.

Each camera also picked up two audio signals in stereo, embedded audio.

On board the vehicle following each race were the director, assistant director, video mixer, three EVS operators, three camera controls and two content editors for post-production. Two Avid consoles in the EVS network created clips that were instantly available for news feeds, magazines and highlights.

RCS also worked on expanding and enhancing its social offering, with a view to reaching full capacity at the Giro d’Italia.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Champions League Final

The final was produced in HD, UHD-HDR and UHD-SDR

42-camera coverage for Man City vs Inter Milan tie

BY GEORGE BEVIR FIRST PUBLISHED 9 JUNE 2023

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anchester City will take on Inter Milan in Turkey on Saturday as the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League reaches its conclusion.

Having lost in the 2021 Champions League Final to Chelsea, Man City will be attempting to win its first ever Champions League - and, having already secured the Premier League title and FA Cup, complete the ‘treble’.

Inter, meanwhile, has won the Champions League title a total of three times, most recently in 2010.

This year’s final will take place at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, which was due to host the 2020 and then the 2021 Champions League Finals but, due to COVID, both ties were switched to Lisbon.

UEFA has appointed Saran Media and Exxen as host broadcaster for Saturday’s match, with Mediapro appointed as technical supplier. TV match director is Juan Figueroa.

The final will be produced in HD, UHD-HDR and 60

UHD-SDR. Dolby-E will be made available on the HD and UHD feeds, and Dolby Atmos available on the UHD feeds only.

UEFA has allocated the following unilateral broadcast facilities: • 132 TV, radio and social media commentary position desks • 7 pitch view studios and 12 tribune presentations positions • 20 pitch presentation positions • 12 flash interview positions and 5 super flash interview positions • 37 unilateral camera positions behind goal and 10 social media cameras • 85km of optical fibre has been pulled by UEFA to deliver services to broadcast partners The final will boast a 42-camera coverage plan. Included in the plan this year are two RF cinestyle cameras, one to capture the reaction of Man City fans, while the other will be focused on Inter’s supporters.

The camera plan includes: • An aerial camera system • Helicopter • 7 super-slow motion and 2 hi-speed cameras • 2 In-goal cameras • 2 crane cameras and 2 Polecams • 1 coaching camera SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Formula E

This year, 22 drivers from 11 teams including iconic racing brands McLaren, Porsche, Jaguar, Maserati and Nissan, lined up on the grid

Eric Ernst on taking Formula E into a centralised remote production

BY HEATHER MCLEAN FIRST PUBLISHED 3 AUGUST 2023

F

ormula E has come a long way since its inaugural race in Beijing back in 2014. The world’s first all-electric motorsport world championship mandated by the FIA — and the only sport to be net zero carbon since its inception — Formula E leads the elite sports industry in showcasing how high performance and sustainability can co-exist.

This year, Season 9, 22 drivers from 11 teams, including iconic racing brands McLaren, Porsche, Jaguar, Maserati and Nissan, lined up on the grid of the most competitive and entertaining season yet. With such an elite racing product on the track, it was critical that the broadcast product also took a huge step forwards.

Starting this season, Formula E’s most significant gamechanger was to take the host broadcast technical 62

facilities of all its content inhouse as a managed contract.

This is based on a new broadcast system developed by the Formula E Technology Department and managed by Eric Ernst, technology director at Formula E. Speaking to SVG Europe, Ernst comments on this evolution: “Formula E is a very young sport and the goal at the beginning was just to get something going as soon as possible to prove the concept of an all-electric motorsport. The founders back then just went to a whole bunch of their contacts and said,‘Can you do TV? Can you do timing? Can you do whatever? Just do it’. The product has now outgrown that [original] workflow.”

Overriding escalating risk

The pre-existing system was based on ageing broadcast equipment being sustained to maximise the investment.

However, the issues and outages that began arising were escalating in risk, according to Ernst.

He notes: “There was a need that we really, really had to do something soon, change the model and look at what’s available in the market today.”

What happened next is something of a coup, where Ernst’s team in the technology department were entrusted with the technical facilities of the host broadcast for the championship. He explains: “It took a good three or four years for us as a company to get to a maturity level where we were entrusted to take this over; and I’m talking about the technology department. This is not a broadcasting department. This is the technology department stepping SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Formula E

The Gravity Media Production Centre for Formula E at White City, London

“What we’ve built over the last few years is a technology stack that exists now throughout the company where we can really have a unified service and a unified quality” ERIC ERNST, FORMULA E

64

in and saying,‘this is basically a networking operation and we can run this like we run the rightsholder distribution or the timing network, like we run the connectivity into track; we can also engineer, provide and manage these services’.

“That’s where we [the technology department] engaged. We have massively grown as a championship and there were areas that we could run more sustainably and others where we could optimise the technology.

“We initially did an RFI, then companies who responded to the RFI went into an RFP process. After selecting our host broadcast partner we took over the management last year and we have done 11 races in this set-up to date.”

Centralised remote production

The new set up is based on a centralised remote production model with a small footprint on location. Around 50 staff that were previously on site are now working from the UK at Gravity Media’s Westworks production centre in London, including people on racking, TV graphics and audio.

Connectivity for the broadcast is over the public internet rather than dark fibre, facilitated by Tata Communications. “We operate a data centre with really high availability out of a parking lot,” notes Ernst.

Regarding the connectivity over the public internet, he adds: “My background in networks taught me that if I order a certain amount of connectivity, I pretty much get almost a similar service as when I get a dark fibre. The networks are now good enough that the added protection I would get with a dark fibre I can mitigate with a second fully diverse line.

“With our partner, Tata Communications, they can move worlds for us.We’re sending around 90 feeds back to Westworks over a 2GB internet connection.At Westworks we have our studio, so we’re putting that up and then sending a show back with a glass-to-glass latency of just over half a second.”

Unconventional methods

To make this set up work, Ernst and his team had to encourage the championship’s partners to take a leap of faith. He was convinced of what could be done using more unconventional methods and persuaded potential partners to join them in the experiment.

Ernst explains: “We had to take certain risks, obviously.

We could have just gone to an end supplier and said, ‘do everything for us and we step away and when something happens we’re going to make you responsible’. But I always found that all these SLAs, they’re never going to really give you the true value back if there is a really major outage, and then you’re in charge of a contract where you have no control over the risks. I’d rather build a team around me with really good people who help me manage the risks that we’re taking.”

Tata Communications was initially surprised by Ernst’s plan for connectivity over the public internet, he notes: “Tata Communications was sceptical at first, with reason.

They were really like,‘it’s going to be a challenge doing this scale of a broadcast over a non-dark fibre’. I asked them to prove to me technically why it’s not feasible and they worked for a few months and they couldn’t tell me why this actually couldn’t work.

“Now they have a product that they’re selling to other SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Formula E

The Formula E trackside set up

“I think the concept of building all this is to be ready for what’s next” ERIC ERNST, FORMULA E

companies, because with us they built something that works. They’re using pure internet out in the field until we hit their edge network and then we go into their private cloud which gives us more protection. The connectivity cost between our connectivity setup and a regular dark fibre is around 30% to 50% of savings. We have two lines and you do that 12 times a year, it’s a significant cost saving.”

Cultural shift

One of the main challenges in this remote production was bringing crew working remotely along on the journey, Ernst says. He refers to the racking team as an example: “The remote racking, for instance; recently I went to the Westworks studio at Gravity Media to look at the final build of it, as being mainly on site I hadn’t seen it since it was finished. We walked into the racking room and Steve, the CTO there, said, ‘here’s where the most complaining happens’. I said, ‘why?’, and he said, ‘well, because the latency of the racking is really hard, they’re not onsite and the latency is a 100 more milliseconds or so’.

“These people have been used to racking cameras that are literally on the end of their fibre within a couple of hundred metres. When [Formula E was] in Cape Town, the cameras were 11,000km away. I think we need to put up a ticker [at Westworks] to tell everyone how far away their cameras are so they understand the mentality of what they’re actually trying to do here, and how amazing it is. Everybody — even the industry — needs to come a little bit along on this journey.”

The end result is giving Formula E everything it desired, says Ernst: “We do the connectivity with Tata Communications and then Gravity Media does the facilities and Timeline does RF, and we manage it all together. And yes, it’s not an end-to-end package where we can point at someone if we go black, but at least we can manage the risk and we can fix issues individually, 66

because we see how everything is connected, and we see how one change affects other people and the product.”

Under the new host broadcast production, the TV compound footprint on site is now around 60% of what it used to be, according to Ernst.“We have fewer galleries, fewer people, meaning less air conditioning, fewer cabins.

We have to build everything from scratch. We literally pull this up in a parking lot everywhere we go. Freight reduction is about 40% to 50% on last season as well.”

The new production also helps Formula E achieve its goals of increased sustainability.“It aligns with our values and it aligns with the narrative of how technology-driven this championship is. I’m a true believer in doing things that really have an impact,” says Ernst. “If you can truly show that we’ve made the lives of a lot of people a bit more sustainable, we’re reducing how much freight we’re taking along, that counts. We’re also saving money doing it this way — a massive amount of money — which we can invest into the editorial part for instance by doing cooler things there.”

Ernst notes: “I think the concept of building all this is to be ready for what’s next. And with the framework we now have, I am very confident that if, say, Apple figures out this mixed reality glasses thing to a consumer level that gets adopted and then takes off, I have zero fear that we won’t be ready for that. All our workflows now are so digital that it is very easy for us to strap something to a car or give streams to be processed in real time to facilitate that [mixed reality] format or whatever. Now, there’s maybe many million motorsports fans that do not know that we exist, which is massive, and we need to capture all those people.”

“I think we’ve given our company the best possible framework for any of these new ideas to come, and we can just try something out, without having to commit a tremendous amount of infrastructure to change our workflow,” he concludes.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Tour de France

The 2023 Tour de France was marked by the Pogacar/Vingegaard duel for the yellow jersey. EMG’s RF motorcycles were closest to the cyclists Pictures: ASO/Charly Lopez

The technical set-up behind the Grande Boucle

BY ALICE BOIVINEAU FIRST PUBLISHED 8 AUGUST 2023

“It was a real challenge to start the Tour with new people” DÉBORAH LARRIEU, FRANCE TÉLÉVISIONS

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broadcaster, several hundred individuals work to solve numerous technical and logistical challenges.

France Télévisions is responsible for capturing the Tour de France for the world feed while also maintaining its domestic signal. The public service channel employed its new internal technical resources through its subsidiary La Fabrique for the event. Two new outside broadcast units travel the roads of France throughout the threeweek event. The first one, known as the ‘Toulouse’ van, is s well as being a major event in the international used for the world feed production which is directed by sporting calendar, the Tour de France Anthony Forestier. The second, called the ‘Lyon’ van, hosts also represents a significant broadcasting the Nodal and France Télévisions’ domestic broadcasts. achievement, with the host broadcaster required to capture action across all 3,404km of the A new approach course for television viewers in nearly 190 countries Déborah Larrieu, production director for France around the world.

Télévisions and team leader for the channel’s coverage “It’s truly a fantastic team effort,” summarises Guillaume of the Tour de France, highlights the difficulty of Kleszcz, head of productions and broadcast services at introducing the new outside broadcast vans to the Tour: Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organiser and “Two new vans, two new teams. We had to brief everyone. producer of the Tour de France.

Fortunately, since these are internal resources, the teams He’s not referring to the effort put in by Jonas could communicate. But it was a real challenge to start the Vingegaard’s teammates to win the yellow jersey on the Tour with new people.” In total, nearly 200 individuals — Champs-Elysées, but rather the collective professionalism technical and editorial staff — work every day on the Tour that reigns within the TV compound to provide five-and- for the public channel. a-half hours of live coverage to viewers worldwide every Around 20 cameras are deployed for each stage: one day. Under the guidance of France Télévisions, the host at the start to capture the atmosphere and cyclists at the

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Tour de France

line, five on motorcycles, two on helicopters, four cameras positioned before the finish line, and seven to eight cameras for the finishes. Since Tour stages often exceed 100km, the majority of cameras are connected using radio frequency (RF) technology.

When it comes to RF technology, it’s EMG that provides the footage from the heart of the race. The European provider, which has consolidated its RF activities under the brand EMG Connectivity, moves over 100 people to each stage. Three RF reception vans are deployed along the route of each stage: the RFI 5, 6 and 7. The HFR 42 semi-trailer hosts the co-ordination and reception of all RF signals at the finish line. It’s connected via fibre to France Télévisions’ production van.

RF technology

EMG Connectivity deploys 14 RF motorcycles, including six for capturing images, seven for commentators and one for safety. Three of the image-capturing motorcycles are equipped with loop cameras to provide slow-motion shots. The commentator motorcycles accommodate journalists from France Télévisions as well as international broadcasters such as NBC,VRT, NOS, RMC and Discovery.

The bikes — BMW R1250RT and R1250GS’ — are 020_IPV_SVG_JOURNAL_HALF_PAGE.pdf 1 28/07/2023 transported each evening by two dedicated semi-trailers.

Bruno Gallais, managing director of EMG Connectivity, states: “We’re not using electric models yet. There’s an autonomy issue, especially for stages exceeding 200km.”

In the air, two twin-engine helicopters capture footage.

Each helicopter is equipped with two gyro-stabilised cameras. A third helicopter acts as a relay to ensure RF connectivity with the plane. Another helicopter is on standby if needed. Two Beechcraft 200 aircraft serve as the RF relay between the motorcycles, helicopters and RF reception vans. They fly constantly above the cyclists.

Since all footage goes through the relay plane, a second plane is necessary to avoid any signal disruption.

Sport takes precedence

The outside broadcast vans are stationed at the finish line. For the international broadcast signal alone, four vans are connected by a fibre loop system: the two France Télévisions vans, EMG Connectivity’s HFR 42 and the Nova 104, which hosts graphics provider Boost Graphics. However, location constraints can sometimes be challenging in areas not suitable for managing a technical area of 7,000 to 8,000sqm with all the vehicles. Kleszcz emphasises: “Sport takes precedence over technology.”

Therefore, altering the Tour de France route due to a 17:50 parking issue is out of the question.

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One of EMG’s two helicopters flies over the peloton for aerial shots

Kleszcz is pleased to have “reached a new level this year” by creating nine separate technical zones. This means the TV compound hosting the outside broadcast vans is not directly located at the finish line and can be up to 17km away, separating the production van and the cameras at the finish line, as was the case on the Cauterets stage in the Pyrenees. Several solutions were found to enable this, from using fibre provided by Orange to the deployment of a smaller production van solely for the finish line.

Technical challenges remain, however. This is the case, for example, with the miniaturisation of RF cameras.

Placed on bicycles, they would offer a fresh perspective from within the peloton. Kleszcz expresses the hope that “if tomorrow we have cameras weighing less than 100g that can operate for a few hours using RF, it could also enhance the race’s storytelling”. Since 4G tests were inconclusive and RF systems are currently too heavy, 5G might be a potential solution.

In the meantime, even without 5G, the Tour de France continues to be popular with viewers. Nearly 150 million people in Europe, including 42 million in France, watched the Tour de France 2023, setting a new record.

Team radio makes a resounding debut Being at the heart of the peloton and listening to the conversations between cyclists and their sports directors, Team Radio has revolutionised the way we perceive and hear the Tour de France this year, with an innovation led by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), France Télévisions and EMG. “I’m gone, I’m dead,” Tadej Pogacar cracks on stage 17 of the Tour de France on 20 July 2023.

These words exchanged over the radio between the Slovenian cyclist and his team are broadcast

almost in real time and shared with the world.

They resonate as a confession of defeat against his main rival for the yellow jersey, Vingegaard. A groundbreaking moment.

Innovation of the year “This is the innovation of the year,” according to Guillaume Kleszcz, head of productions and broadcast services at ASO. The organiser of the Tour de France collaborated with host broadcaster France Télévisions and EMG Group

“We want to seek a new audience. To do that, it’s necessary to better narrate the race, make it more understandable and interesting for viewers” GUILLAUME KLESZCZ, ASO

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to set up the technical aspects of Team Radio.

After testing a beta version last year at the Tour de France Femmes, 17 out of the 22 teams in the men’s peloton trusted ASO, granting access to their previously confidential discussions.

The goal for ASO is clear: “We want to seek a new audience,” says Kleszcz. “To do that, it’s necessary to better narrate the race, make it more understandable and interesting for viewers.”

On air, viewers can hear sound excerpts transcribed in writing as well. These are generally words of encouragement, reactions, emotions, physical or mechanical issues, or observations about other riders. But the golden rule is to never betray team strategies.

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Ryder Cup

Hamish Greig says the EMG team has delivered for this weekend’s Ryder Cup coverage

A new era of Ryder Cup coverage

BY KEN KERSCHBAUMER FIRST PUBLISHED 29 SEPTEMBER 2023

“We’re in the 2G, 5G and 7G bands and are maxed out on on-course RF commentator kits. But the signals have been very clean across all the different productions” HAMISH GREIG, EMG

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he 2023 Ryder Cup is under way at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, and, for media services provider EMG’s golf production and operations team, it represents significant change: NBC Sports is producing coverage from production control rooms in Stamford, US. Hamish Greig, director, golf operations, EMG, sat down with SVG to discuss this year’s efforts, preparing the course for coverage, and getting the most out of all the cameras, microphones and other gear.

How are things going here at the Ryder Cup? There is more remote being done on European soil than we have ever had, as NBC and Golf Channel are remote back to Stamford with the Newbert system. Also, NBC, Golf Channel and Sky UK are working more closely than I’ve ever seen, sharing a studio at the first tee — Sky using it in the morning coverage and Golf Channel using it for the afternoon coverage. They have shared facilities in the US before, but the sharing of facilities here is a first, and it has been seamless.

The world feed is still done in the main IBC cabin, and we’ve also been doing the Featured Groups production from Nova 112A and using Nova 125 for live social media

and on-course screens. Sky Italia and RAI are also here, and we give them radio talkback, radio cameras and on-course kits. We also support BBC Radio and IMG Radio, which has three transmissions, as well as Sirius XM and the Opening Ceremony.

Our team has been brilliant and, as usual, worked their socks off and delivered. I could not have asked for anything more.

What’s the effect of the remote operations on your operation?

There are fewer facilities as we don’t have NBC production galleries, ISO galleries, graphics galleries, etc. But the core facilities are much the same: we give them the access to the matrix so that they have access to all the sources, and their production galleries and EVS operations at home can see everything. Technically, it makes things easier, but I do miss seeing so many of my friends at NBC. Is the compound smaller?

Yes, because there are fewer cabins as we don’t need extra galleries. But the Tosca area is the same size, and we repurposed the IBC space so that NBC’s Newbert is inside the IBC, and that has worked out well. It’s nice having everything in a good, spacious area that is nearby and well air-conditioned.

How many host cameras are there, and how do you deploy them for the different formats?

We have around 94 cameras when you count things like bridge, corridor cameras and the buggy cameras. The Ryder Cup is easier golf-wise because you have fewer matches and fewer things happening. On the European Tour, we commute cameras around the course on a weekSportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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in, week-out basis, with a camera starting on one and then moving to seven and then maybe 14. We’re using that commuting model here.

We did use the Sunday camera plan [which will cover 12 singles matches] for the Junior Ryder Cup on Thursday and had a separate camera plan earlier this week for the Stars Cup on Wednesday. The Opening Ceremony had another 12 cameras, and we have a setup for the bands that play each evening until Sunday night.

What are some of the highlights in terms of the cameras?

Well, we have 21 RF cameras for the world feed, which is quite a lot for the world feed. We also have the buggy cams on the captain’s buggies that have been really neat.

We went down to the buggy suppliers, took the fairings off, and made space in the normal battery area for the transmitters. The people in the cart can’t see any cables; all they see are the antennas and the monitor.

Aerial Camera Systems also has its wirecam running across the 10th hole, across the 9th green, the 18th green, 1st tee, 8th fairway and 7th green. That is all on a run that is around 450 metres. It can also get a sexy shot of the grandstand that looks like it is going around it but is a bit of an optical illusion.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Europe pulls into the lead at the Ryder Cup, with the score shared with spectators in Rome via screens from Creative Technology

What is the breakdown of the unilateral cameras?

NBC has four RFs and a 360-degree smart head on the studio roof, which is shared with Golf Channel. There is also a panoramic camera on the 13th, which gets great shots of the vista. Golf Channel has the usual roving camera as well as four studio cameras, and there is a driving-range robo.

Sky UK has three RFs as part of their roving RF studio, which is being used for the first time at a Ryder Cup. They

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have employed that model at the Opens. The roving studio Another challenge is that the compound is on a flood can move around and has radio mics, reverse monitor and plain, and that was problematic for load in. There has also the RF cameras and gives them the freedom they need to been a lot of wildlife that impacted fibre setup as they eat be able to get the on-course view from anywhere. through the installed fibre and cabling.

It should also be mentioned that we still feel the effects What have been some of the challenges here? of Brexit. We had to get equipment and trucks to the I know it’s boring, but frequency management has been a PGA Championship at Wentworth in the UK, and it’s no challenge because there is a military base and an airport longer as easy to load the trucks as in the past. We have to right around the corner. Thankfully, the FR authorities itemise everything and have serial numbers and weight here in Italy have looked after us well. We have 36 radio for customs. And we had to plan an emergency run from cameras, which is a lot on the spectrum. We’re in the 2G, the UK in case we forget something because you can’t just 5G and 7G bands and are maxed out on on-course RF bring it here.We go from here back to the UK for t3 course commentator kits. But the signals have been very clean coverage at the Alfred Dunhill Links. across all the different productions.

Sky Sports’ virtual studio in UK plays big role in remote production It has been a busy run of top golf events for the team at Sky Sports, with this week’s Ryder Cup in Italy following quickly on the heels of last week’s Solheim Cup in Spain.

“The components of our Solheim and Ryder Cup coverage are fairly similar, with a world feed plus commentary plus a studio onsite,” says Jason Wessely, executive producer, Sky Sports Golf. “And there is a gallery and master control operation at Sky that brings it all together.”

This Ryder Cup marks the first time that Sky Sports and Golf Channel have shared a studio location. Located at the first tee, it gives both production teams a chance to leverage the same facility during dayparts that are optimal for their audience back home. Sky is on-air in the morning and during the day; Golf Channel takes over at the end of the day.

“Timing-wise, in the US, it’s much better to use it after the match is finished,” notes Wessely.

“In the morning, we can build up on the first tee with a lovely studio set looking into the crowd and the energy of that crowd.”

While Golf Channel is wrapping up the day’s action in the studio, Sky Sports switches over to a stand-up position with an RF camera at the side of the 18th green. Sky also rebroadcasts the Golf Channel ‘Live From’ show, giving viewers in the UK a bonus two-hour recap.

“We’ll manage that two hours from a smaller

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(L-R): Jason Wessely, Sky Sports Golf, and Katie Harrison, production manager, Sky Sports, in the 2023 Ryder Cup compound

gallery at Sky,” Wessely explains, “so we can deal with any non-compliant stuff that we want to edit out on the fly. We could also run in our content to replace their content if we feel it’s not quite right for our audience, but it is quite lighttouch.”

Studio operations back home are busy during the Ryder Cup, with a virtual green-screen studio in Osterley Park handling a variety of coverage elements. A camera at the Ryder Cup course shoots backdrops at different times of the day, and those images are dropped into the backscreen projection. The goal is to make the viewer at home feel that the virtual set is an extension of the real studio set onsite.

“Our player avatars, virtual course and touchscreen are all presented from there, and it’s designed to look as though it is here at the course,” says Wessely. “As soon as the player

pairings are known, the team there gets to work building the players and building the editorial.

Then they record the head piece in the virtual set and, when the time comes, run that into the programme with a throw from the real studio here to the 3D virtual studio.”

The storytelling rhythm of a Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup is very different from that of a major golf tournament because matches can end prior to 18 holes (and often do). The Ryder Cup, ideally, has very little time between sessions, but, if necessary, on-course RF kits and on-course reporters can do reports or interviews.

“Plus,” adds Wessely, “we have the virtual studio at Sky recording the pairing for the afternoon, and we play that into the break section to reveal to the viewer who was going to play in the afternoon. The time goes by pretty fast.”

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World Athletics Championships 2023

Storytelling has a been a key focus in the National Athletics Centre

Bringing a reality TV edge to athletics

In addition, small cameras were installed on buggies transporting athletes from their warm-up areas to the stadium and, for an added sense of jeopardy, the new q Room and its cameras captured the drama of athletes awaiting their results.

Speaking from the National Athletics Centre in

BY HEATHER MCLEAN Budapest, Mark Fulton, executive producer for World FIRST PUBLISHED 30 AUGUST 2023 Athletics Productions, comments: “I think this World Championships, we’ve really excelled. Some of the closeups that you’ve seen of the athletes, some of the reactions torytelling is a key focus of the World Athletics that you’ve seen, I don’t think I’ve seen some of the images Championships 2023, and to that end, World [ever before]. Everybody’s worked really, really hard and the Athletics Productions — a joint venture between storytelling and the narratives are just building themselves.”

World Athletics and ITN — has rolled out a number of innovations to help bring more dramatic Marvellous wirecam pictures and more behind-the-scenes drama to rights With the structure designed and created by West End holding broadcasters.

Rigging, and the camera set up provided and operated on World Athletics Productions decided against using site by Luna Remote Systems, the 985m-long wirecam that any helicopters for this championships for sustainability runs along Andrássy Avenue to Heroes’ Square is a feat to reasons. Instead, to get those aerial shots it used a be marvelled at. drone, plus wirecams inside the stadium, including one The wirecam towers are 40m high with the cables capturing the horizontal jumps to track the athletes’ lateral attached at the 34m point on the tower ends. The lowest movement and, in a world first, a 1km-long wirecam part of the wire is 21m above ground level, which drops in running along host city Budapest’s Andrássy Avenue to the centre due to the payload of the entire dolly and head Heroes’ Square for the race walks and marathon. which comes to 80kg.

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Additionally, the lines attached to each tower provide a massive 1.2 tonnes of pressure on each of the two lines, creating 2.4 tonnes of pressure pulling each tower inwards. To counter this, each tower has 60 tonnes of ballast holding it back.

For stability, the dolly speed is restricted to 10m per second, which is 22 miles per hour or 36km per hour for this set up. However the system has a maximum tested speed of 30m per second which is equal to 67 miles per hour, or 108km per hour, but that requires a winch to be deployed at each end, rather than the single winch being used in this case.

The camera head used is a Sony P50 with a Canon CJ45 lens which can go remarkably tight on shots. The gimbal is a Shotover M1 with six-access stabilisation which makes it solid as it zips along.

Fulton comments on what the 1km wirecam enables the team to do editorially: “If you think about a 10km course, if you have a 1km wirecam, 2km of that course is covered. And then when you look at the city itself, the city is so beautiful, there’s no point in using helicopters; you’d get a nice skyline, but you want to be down at street level and seeing the beauty of the city and the athletes running through the streets.”

He adds on the 1km wirecam: “It’s solid as a rock. It’s

got a stabilised lens. I think when we watched the race walks the other day when they used it, you just get some amazing images of looking down over the top of the athletes as they come around the carpet and the shadows that you get of it is just beautiful. I think it’s one of the big successes of these championships.”

Jenny King, head of technical production at ITN, agrees: “It’s elements like that which are really enhancing the coverage. As the athletes come round Heroes’ Square, we’ve got a specially designed camera on a gimbal which sits on the back of a buggy to get some really nice angles of the athletes. You can really see the architecture of Heroes’ Square, so that’s been really nice.”

Increased storytelling

On the new, very small cameras in the buggies that bring athletes from the warm-up area to the stadium, Fulton says:“The athletes have suddenly realised that they’re there after three or four days now, and they’re all looking at it and they’re playing it up, you get all sorts of things, and it gives you an idea of what an athlete is like. You’ll get the athletes that sit and do nothing. You get the athletes that’ll sit and put makeup on, you get athletes that will high five people as they’re going past them. You get ones that will talk to each other.

“I think this World Championships, we’ve really excelled. Some of the close-ups that you’ve seen of the athletes, some of the reactions that you’ve seen, I don’t think I’ve seen some of the images [ever before]” MARK FULTON, WORLD ATHLETICS PRODUCTIONS

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Jenny King, head of technical production at ITN

“Putting in the wirecams has given that extra depth of coverage, you can get different angles” JENNY KING, ITN

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“It gives you a real insight into what their mindset is and how each athlete is very, very different, and I think that is a really key part to this. But also, I think some of it is — and I’ve said this about the q Room — it’s our take on reality television, a very sly take on reality television.”

Fulton continues: “Everybody’s obsessed by people’s reactions and how people are in certain situations, and it’s incredibly stressful when they’re in the q Room,” Fulton continues.

The q Room is a new addition to the World Athletics Championships, adding an opportunity for increased storytelling. Athletes who do not automatically qualify for the next round of their event are transitioned to the q Room where they wait for the outcome of remaining races to see where they are positioned, with all the tension and emotion captured on camera for rightsholding broadcasters.

“You’d never think, but the relief on the face of Sha’Carri Richardson the other day,” continues Fulton.“She went on and won the 100m, but she was terrified in that q Room that she wasn’t going to get through.”

stadium. We managed to do some nice filming before the championships started where we could get a view of the athlete’s journey from when they arrived at the warm-up track, and then their journey into the stadium, into the cool room, and then out into the main stadium itself. That’s been really good.”

In the stadium two Dactylcam (point to point) wirecam systems were used with a Shotover G1 head, Sony camera and Canon lens (both with 24:1 lens). One wirecam was used on the back straight for horizontal jump run ups, and the other was used on the home straight to cover the long jump run up. One Falcon 250 with a Shotover G1 head, Sony camera and Canon lens (22:1) was also used, suspended in line with lanes four and five, which was used for the start of races and tracking down the back straight. It was also used for the pole vault final and horizontal jumps.

King comments: “Then within the stadium itself, we’ve got a few wirecams, including quite a long one running right across the top of the stadium and we’ve got one along the back straight and the home straight. Then we’ve got rail cams — one on the home straight and one on the back straight.

Stadium coverage “Again, I think normally you would only probably have On the drone, King comments: “We’ve got a drone the rail cams, but just putting in the wirecams has given which is in action and we’ve used that in the marathon, that extra depth of coverage, you can get different angles,” and when it’s not in use there, we bring it over to the she notes.

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Continuous innovation is the order of the day with F1

Live from Silverstone: F1’s Pete Samara on getting closer to the action

BY GEORGE BEVIR FIRST PUBLISHED 11 JULY 2023

“Getting content off the car is really challenging because of the speed and vibration. We used to only have nine of those cameras streaming at one time. We have now gone full field” PETE SAMARA, F1

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here was more than the usual sprinkling of Hollywood stardust at the British Grand Prix last weekend (7-9 July 2023), with the fictional team Apex tucked in between the Ferrari and Mercedes garages and lining up at the back of the grid.

The crew of the as-yet-untitled feature film starring Brad Pitt as a veteran racer was at Silverstone with a realistically dressed garage plus a pair of modified F2 cars — which took positions 21 and 22 on the grid — with their own on-board cameras to capture shots of the weekend’s racing.

F1 is no stranger to accommodating additional camera crews keen to capture an alternative view of the action, but while Netflix’s Drive to Survive has provided viewers with a factual (albeit highly crafted) narrative, the feature for Apple will provide a fictional — and highly authentic — view of F1.

For F1 director of innovation and technology Pete Samara, it’s another fantastic initiative that will help to raise awareness of F1 even further.

Speaking with SVG Europe at Silverstone, he says: “Our technical teams are there to support them and help them succeed, so they will lean on us for help, and we will support them with anything we can, but they have their independence to make a great film. They’re taking content from us, but it’s on them as to how they use that.

Formula 1

“They’ve got the best in the business and we’re very good at what we do, and we have found that successful in the past, to allow other organisations, broadcasters or initiatives we work with to succeed. Our job is to provide as much support as possible.”

An example this season is the innovation for 2023 that allows F1 viewers to select an onboard stream including team radio messages from any of the 20 drivers across all races and qualifiers. In the UK, viewers can make that selection via the Sky Sports app, with the broadcaster positioning the onboard driver feeds as perfect mobile companion content to the main, big-screen broadcast.

Outside of the UK the same can be achieved by using F1’s live streaming service, F1 TV. AWS sports partnership manager Neil Ralph adds: “With F1 TV relaunched in 2021, F1 is now able to serve fans directly, adding driver tracking options and live data to onboard cameras.

“Leveraging AWS allows F1 to continually innovate — for example, F1 added its own channel, F1 Live, with expanded pre- and post-race content, and its own commentator and presenter line-up; and also uses Amazon Transcribe as part of the automated live closed captioning.”

360-degree view of the action

For Samara, F1’s onboard camera and RF operation is one of the pillars (another being the “core data” of timing) of the broadcast and media team’s offering.

“We are the only motorsport with live streaming from all cars,” he says. “Getting content off the car is really challenging because of the speed and vibration. We used to only have nine of those cameras streaming at one time.

We have now gone full field, which is what we always wanted it to be.”

When asked what F1 can do to continue to try and get viewers even closer to the action, Samara refers again to the on-board perspective. “We have a 360-degree camera on the car which we don’t get off the car live — it’s delayed — and I would really love to get that live off the car. I think that would be a real next step up in engagement if a viewer can spin around the car.”

When asked about the timescale, Samara describes it as a “long-term” project.

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Formula 1

Inside the Silverstone Event Technical Centre

Inside F1’s 2023 broadcast plans with director of broadcast and media Dean Locke

BY WILL STRAUSS FIRST PUBLISHED 24 FEBRUARY 2023

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hen the first race of the 2023 Formula 1 season gets underway in Bahrain on Sunday 5 March, it will mark the beginning of what is likely to be another bumper year for the sport, with the largest ever round of races, a glitzy new weekend of action in Las Vegas and six Sprint races (up from three last year).

With more racing, growing audiences and an increased thirst for content, it’s fair to say that F1 director of broadcast and media Dean Locke and his team have been busy since the fall of the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi in November.

Between the end of last season and the start of 2023, there has been an upgrade to the F1 Media and 82

Technology Centre at Biggin Hill, which is some 20-miles southeast of London.

“We’ve completely converted the building now to be a remote centre,” says Locke. “The broadcast centre we had in Australia in 2020 was brought back here to Biggin Hill, and since then it operated in the same way apart from it was in the hangar in Biggin Hill and wasn’t a permanent structure, but we’ve done things like move the renderers and servers away from the operational positions.

“We started that at 6am after Abu Dhabi [the final race of the 2022 season]. Kit was ripped out of containers and then put into permanent workspaces and a permanent central apparatus room. That’s been going on all winter, and it’s now ready and we’ve had test signals coming back from Bahrain.”

Speaking from F1’s Biggin Hill base, Locke says: “This is more of a dedicated site now. It’s a much better environment, with capability to do more — it enables us to do a lot more of the handover and the hefty, heavy lifting.

“We also have a bit of an IP transition, like a lot of people in the industry. So part of the build at Biggin Hill was to facilitate over the next two to three years a big IP transition, and that will open up opportunities.”

At each of the 23 locations around the world that will host races this season, the broadcast and media team’s focus is on the acquisition of data, pictures and audio, along with some mixing of pictures. The main curation SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Formula 1

“We’ve tasked the onboard camera team to look around the cockpit areas and bring some more visibility there, and we’ve tasked them with some elements around the rear light area as well” DEAN LOCKE, F1

and production of the world feed and additional content for rightsholders, as well as the F1 TV streaming services, is completed on race weekends at Biggin Hill where the main director and producers are based.

The build of a new full AR, dedicated studio for use by the F1 TV team, sponsors and broadcasters will see more content created at the Biggin Hill site. “The majority of the commentary is done here at Biggin Hill now, so we have dedicated commentary booths. We like to keep commentators on site some of the time, because they like to be there. But we will host various broadcasters’ commentary here as well, potentially,” says Locke.

More helmet cams

Getting viewers closer to the action is a priority for all sports, and F1 is no different. Last season, there were four live helmet cameras during a race, from a possible choice of eight drivers. This year, however, it will be mandatory

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

The upgrade of the Biggin Hill facility began the morning after the final race of the 2022 season

for all drivers to potentially carry a helmet camera, with six to eight live during a race weekend.

Last season also saw the return, after a 20-year absence, of the pedal camera, with a camera placed in the footwell of a driver’s car to provide an alternative view of their environment.

“We were quite pleased with the feedback we had on the pedal shots,” says Locke. “We’ve tasked the onboard camera team to look around the cockpit areas and bring some more visibility there, and we’ve tasked them with some elements around the rear light area as well. But it is always incredibly difficult to get anything on a F1 car, no matter what it weighs, or what the power or the heat is.”

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Extreme E

Hedda Hosas and Andreas Bakkerud of JBXE tackle the course Picture: Colin McMaster

Hydro X Prix sees Aurora in lockstep with Extreme E vision

BY MICHAEL BURNS FIRST PUBLISHED 25 MAY 2023

“Just because you’re younger, just because you’re female, doesn’t mean you don’t want to watch racing and be excited by it” MATT BEAL, AURORA MEDIA WORLDWIDE

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n keeping with Extreme E’s core principles of equality, electrification, environment and entertainment, the televised coverage of the latest round of the championship’s off-road electric racing series, which took place in Scotland on 13-14 May, was brought to the screen using a high number of novel approaches to motorsport production.

According to executive producer Matt Beal, the equality angle alone is highly significant.

“Motorsport [demographics] is almost totally maledominated, but we’ve got around 30% female viewership,” he says. “The reason for that enormous shift is obvious: we’ve got amazing female drivers competing in parallel with men. The only other place that’s comparable is mixed doubles in tennis or the mixed triathlons in the Olympics.”

“This isn’t trying to be another Formula 1, it’s not trying to take a chunk of that market. It’s trying to speak to everyone else who thinks motorsport isn’t for them — that’s 99% of other people,” he continues. “Just because you’re younger, just because you’re female, doesn’t mean

you don’t want to watch racing and be excited by it.”

“It’s about the story around the sport as well,” says Barry Flanigan, Aurora’s chief strategy officer.“That’s why editorially, a lot of the stories that are told are bringing to life not just the characters that are involved but also that story of sport with a purpose. This brings in a broader audience than just the motorsport audience.”

Innovation and ideology

“What’s brilliant about Alejandro Agag [CEO of Extreme E and chairman of Formula E] and Ali Russell [chief marketing officer at Extreme E], is that they’re very brave in the way that they think outside the box,” says Beal.“They invest in an idea, and after making that investment, they let people like us take risks and roll with ideas. But with that kind of freedom comes responsibility, because you’ve got to back up their dream, and you’ve got to back up their trust in you.”

“Alejandro and Ali are real entrepreneurs,” live director Westbury Gillett agrees. “A lot of innovations have been introduced, rethinking the way you do things [in broadcast motorsports]. The idea of the Command Centre is completely unique, for example.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Extreme E

This pop-up strategy room, created with live event production specialist ADI, features indoor LED screens and LED lighting fixtures set around an arc-shaped area. Here host representatives from the five competing teams, including drivers, team principals and engineers, have access to team radio, TV feeds and telemetry during the race.

“We’ve got the team principals all in one space, and they can all watch the race together, with the teams hot desking like in an office,” says Gillett. “They’ve got an LED wall that wraps around with related content and race notices.

Putting all the teams into one area and one environment adds drama. It also saves budget as the teams don’t have to bring all the equipment around the world to build up separate pit walls like in Formula 1.”

Another technology innovation is the cars being powered by electricity rather than petrol; a fact that Gillett and Beal fully exploit for maximum excitement during the coverage.

“I think it’s a plus that you can’t hear the engine,” says Beal.“The onboard cameras carry sound from all around the car. We had a big roll in the qualifying race and when we played that back as a package of onboards, you hear every bang and every crunch.”

“It’s off-road racing, which is ultra-dynamic. The environment is hammering those cars,” he continues.

“Those drivers, when they are not battering into each other, are getting battered just getting around this track.

The noise highlights that more than anything; you pick up a lot more and you’re hearing what they’re feeling. We’re broadcasting all that atmosphere in 5.1 and it’s not being drowned out by the sound of machines.”

Talking to Gillett, it’s obvious that Aurora works in lockstep with the operations team on the race in terms of planning shots and camera angles. “We work super close with operations in putting on this event,” he says.

“The design of the track is planned for the drivers, but also for purposes of the broadcast to get a decent spectacle on TV.” “Essentially there are four RF nodes out there which put a very big IP mesh over the whole event,” says Beal.

“There’s not a single cable coming out of here that connects to any of the cameras. It’s designed that way so that when they go racing here in a quarry in Scotland, or through the canyons in the desert, or across the Arctic ice sheets in Greenland, the kit’s flexible enough to go with the dream. It’s also lighter. We don’t have drums of cable coming down, we can go a long way.”

Sustainable satellite production

In terms of environmental approach, Aurora is a founder member of the albert Sports Consortium. “It’s a really important part of our output and what we support as a business,” says Flanigan. “[Production manager] Kelsey Gallagher works very hard to keep us albert-affiliated SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Aurora Media Worldwide executive producer Matt Beal and production manager Kelsey Gallagher in the broadcast gallery at the Extreme E Hydro X Prix

and carbon neutral.We keep our personnel numbers down to the bare minimum.” That is also expedited by remote production — while the race cut is created in the paddock, the live show is curated in London.

“The production being remote was something that was conceived before COVID and before everyone else began working on those solutions,” says Gallagher. “I think that allowed us to still go ahead with the series launch during a difficult time globally. Not many of our plans needed to change. We were already set up to have satellite links that we build on-site and line them up from wherever we are around the world. That allows us to minimise the crew massively on site.”

For redundancy, two satellite links are built on site, and the race cut is sent down to Gray’s Inn Road in London where the live broadcast show is ‘curated’.

Aurora also provides fans with an online series called Unfiltered which takes viewers behind the scenes during race weekends, and it produces a magazine show called Electric Odyssey. “Over the season Electric Odyssey generates the same number of viewers as one round of the race. It’s like the seventh round of the event,” says Beal.

Extreme E, its broadcast partners and its sponsors can also quickly draw on clips and content from an asset management system, created in partnership with cloud solutions provider Base. Using the Base portal, Aurora uploads race footage directly into an IBM S3 bucket via Aspera’s accelerated file transfer tool to a Veritone Digital Media Hub (DMH). This content media asset management system generates proxies and indexes all the files into content categories.

“Our main editing is based in Gray’s Inn Road, but using the DMH, everyone can work collaboratively at the same time,” says Gallagher. “We also work closely with Extreme E’s digital team, sharing what we’re doing, capturing what we need in those places, and then crossing over, just to make sure that we’re not doubling up and everyone uses their time efficiently. We have so many stories to tell, so much to capture, and such a short amount of time to do that.”

“We have so many stories to tell, so much to capture, and such a short amount of time to do that” KELSEY GALLAGHER, AURORA MEDIA WORLDWIDE

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London Marathon

Six motorbikes will be capturing the action across the 26.2-mile course

Take it on the run: BBC limbers up for the London Marathon 2023

BY MICHAEL BURNS FIRST PUBLISHED 21 APRIL 2023

O

n Sunday 23 April,world-class athletes,including Britain’s Sir Mo Farah and Eilish McColgan, will join thousands of runners and fundraisers to compete in one of the world’s most recognised and colourful races, the London Marathon. More than 50,000 people are expected to make their way around the iconic city course.

Organised by London Marathon Events (LME), the race sees BBC Sport once again in the role of host broadcaster, supported by OB and technical services provider EMG. Live coverage across the BBC runs most of the day, from 08:30 to 15:00, along with highlights and special programming. Some 200 staff will be involved in the production.

“I think the London Marathon is probably the most complicated OB that we do,” says Emma Cook, assistant editor since 2020 of the BBC’s domestic race coverage.

“It’s certainly one of the most complicated one-day productions we do. We are the host broadcaster and there are multiple POVs across a 26-and-a-half-mile course, so it is incredibly challenging.”

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All in a day’s work

For Cook, working alongside lead director Matt Griffiths in an OB truck at the finish line on The Mall, it’s an eight-anda-half-hour day, but it’s plain the athletics fan considers her marathon work session a badge of honour.

“The BBC has partnered with the London Marathon since it started 40 years ago; it is such an important day for us in the year,” says Cook. “I think it’s fair to say we consider it an absolute privilege to be able to tell the stories not just of the elite racers and runners — so many of the greatest athletes in the world who have committed on this course — but also the tens of thousands of people who raise millions of pounds every year for some brilliant charities.”

“I can’t tell you how many meetings we have between London Marathon and our production team, how many hours are spent figuring out the stories and trying to put the jigsaw together of the ones that we want to tell this year.”

Long-distance planning

The scale of the race calls for five separate OBs.“Those at the start and finish are our main units,” explains Cook.

“Then we have separate OBs and extra cameras at three key points on the course: Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge and Limehouse — what we call Rainbow Row, which is basically around the mile 14/mile 22 mark.”

“We have a 26.2-mile course, and at one point we have four separate championship races taking place in the marathon course, as well as 50,000 people in the massparticipation races,” she adds. “And we have to tell all the stories with 40 cameras and six motorbikes.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

London Marathon

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There are six cameras at the race start, including presentation cameras, five at Cutty Sark, five at Limehouse, five at Tower Bridge and nine at the finish, including railcams.

“We also have two helicopters up for the duration of all the elite races that start around 09:00 and finish about 12:30,” adds Cook. “That allows us to get some geography, but also when the packs have split through the race it allows us to be able to show the distance between them.”

Audio is mostly captured on-camera but there are additional fx mics at the start More than 50,000 people are expected to make their way around the course and finish. “The start is mixed at the start OB truck, the race is mixed from the finish OB truck; the will use the helicopter. Or, if we happen to be at one of presentation at the finish is mixed from the finish truck our OB locations, one of our extra directors can direct too,” says Cook. around that with extra cameras. It’s a bit of a joint process: There’s a major presentation setup for the trackside and the editorial story that we want to tell combined with the final interviews. “We have a purpose-built presentation different ways that we can technically tell it.” platform and three cameras at the start as well as a roving reporter with a camera,” Cook explains. “Post- Run the world race interviews with all the race winners are done by our As well as making the domestic feed for our British finish reporter and additional interviews are done by our audience, we produce a world feed,” Cook explains. “We presenter in our two-camera presentation area, which is have a small separate operation there that uses the same next to the finish gantry. This year we will also be doing cameras, but the coverage is slightly different.” some presentation from on top of the finish gantry.”

“We do focus on British athletes, and sometimes that’s appropriate for the world feed — Mo Farah is a global Telling the story star, for example,” she adds. “Sometimes it doesn’t quite The editing workload is split between Cook and executive work, particularly if we’re focusing on some of the Brits editor Alastair McIntyre. who are quite a long way back from the top of the field.

“Ally is in charge of all the editorial, and he will block The director of our world feed can cut away from that if down the programme into half-hour/hour-long chunks, she feels that we’re becoming slightly too British-centric making sure that we’re seeing everything on the streets,” in our coverage.” says Cook. “In terms of the race itself, I work alongside “We have different commentators working on the Matt Griffiths in the finish OB. And it’s challenging — world feed as well,” adds Cook. “For the first time, the while we want to tell the story of a whole race, we also international commentary team is going to be working appreciate for [the coverage] to be approachable we want remotely, from our facilities in Salford.” to tell the story of our domestic sporting heroes like Mo or Eilish.”

Joy and pain “We have two bikes on each of the races,” she continues. “I’m really looking forward this year to the women’s “So quite often right at the start, we’ll decide to keep one race in particular, it’s an insane field; we expect it to be of the bikes at the front and keep one of the bikes with one of the most competitive women’s races we’ve seen,” the pack that might have broken away. We’re making she continues. “But equally, we have other stories and decisions all the time. I don’t want to miss shots, so it’s narratives to tell, such as the charity run element — we always a bit of a gamble.With the best will in the world, it’s want to see those fabulous scenes of the start at Greenwich still 26.2 miles. We’re going to miss some stuff.” and the masses heading off.

The three OBs at Tower Bridge, Cutty Sark and “Emotion is really important, a massive theme for us.

Limehouse have separate directors, and these have access The London Marathon is joyful, and we want to convey to multiple cameras in key places to add to the coverage. that every year, so we make sure that we show those shots “Matt has a running order, a plan of when we’re going of people running out on the streets. Seeing the joy, and to show different places — obviously when we expect the pain as well — let’s be honest, it bloody hurts running the athletes to come through those iconic places on the a marathon — and the real achievement, those are the course,” says Cook.“At those points, I might say: ‘Matt, let’s kinds of things that we want to show with our coverage, see the break’. And if we can’t see it on the bikes, then we of the mass race in particular.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

“I think it’s fair to say we consider it an absolute privilege to be able to tell the stories not just of the elite racers and runners... but also the tens of thousands of people who raise millions of pounds every year for some brilliant charities” EMMA COOK, BBC SPORT

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2023 World Para Athletics Championships and Para Swimming World Championships

sports, Breakell says: “We’ve all spent a great deal of time in our careers working various para and disabled events and they’re special in themselves, but with the IPC, we’ve had discussions many times about how do we reach the world and let everybody see how special these athletes are and the stories that each individual has? It’s always been a challenge.

“One point is, they don’t want to be special.

They’re humans, like any of the rest of us, but they happen to have a disability, whatever that may be. So it’s a real challenge in telling the story and getting that message across.”

Getting the right angles

The Para Swimming World Championships took place in Manchester this summer

ISB brings para sport to the world stage

BY HEATHER MCLEAN FIRST PUBLISHED 27 JULY 2023

“From a broadcast point of view, you really need to be prepared to not only cover highly elite athletes at elite levels, but also know how to gear down and still give the same level and respect of coverage to those who are not at the elite levels” GREG BREAKELL, ISB 88

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adrid-based International Sports Broadcasting (ISB) was the host broadcaster on behalf of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, which took place from 8-17 July in Paris. This will be swiftly followed by the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester which will begin on 31 July, running to 6 August, with ISB at the helm once again.

For the athletes, the athletics and swimming championships represent a final hurdle to the Paralympics in Paris next year. ISB produced around eight hours of live coverage per day over the course of the World Para Athletics Championships, with ENG teams also producing additional content for the IPC’s use. There was also a daily 26-minute highlights show.

A similar output is expected for the Para Swimming World Championships, both of which will be produced in the same ethos from ISB; to showcase the events, tell the stories of the athletes, and increase viewership of the vast array of para sports.

Complex directing process

Para sport lends itself to a far more complex process for directors, according to Greg Breakell, director at ISB for both of these events. On growing the viewership for para

Breakell says this telling of stories in a para competition means he has to consider the equipment being used to capture the images more closely than for an able-bodied event.

He says: “When it comes to equipment, even, what angles do we shoot this at? Our Agito buggy is low because we want to look into [the athletes’] faces. We all know the emotion is on the face, so we don’t want to be shooting everything from up high. With our steadicams, the equipment is rigged to the low position so that we are looking into the eyes [of athletes in wheelchairs and the like]. It’s about respect for these people. We’re not looking down on them. We want to be on the same level.”

He continues: “There’s no question that not only are you meeting the broadcast expectations of normal sports coverage, but there’s much more to be taken into consideration. You really need to be aware, with even things as simple as your camera operators being aware of prosthetics on the field of play; a steadicam operator normally, in able-bodied sports, pretty much moves within the guidelines of whatever you’ve discussed with the league or the committee or whatever. They know not only are they free to move, but the athlete will step out of the way if necessary. That’s not always the case in para sports.”

“And then you have to take into consideration all the different classifications,” Breakell adds. “Some of the classifications — for the hearing impaired, particularly — these are world-renowned athletes who are running or jumping or throwing at Olympic levels on some of these classifications. Some classifications clearly are not even close, but they have their own stories and their own records to break and set as with any other sport. So, from a broadcast point of view, you really need to be prepared to not only cover highly elite athletes at elite levels, but also know how to gear down and still give the same level and respect of coverage to those who are not at the elite levels.

“It’s not just pictures, it’s not just sound, it’s not just compassion telling the stories, all the things we normally try to do, but it’s being very aware of the type of humans, individuals, that we’re dealing with.”

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2023 World Para Athletics Championships and Para Swimming World Championships

Layering stories in [able-bodied sports]. We’re still talking athletics, but it

Breakell says the stories in para athletics and swimming layer upon each other in ways that are not as apparent in able-bodied sports.

“Our job is always to tell stories within the competition,” Coverage aimed to tell the story of the athletes and their teams says Breakell. “But you need to be more aware of special stories, not only leading into the competition, but what develops during the competition. There’s just a lot more to be taking into consideration in para sport.”

He continues: “Then there’s the stories of the relationships between athletes and coaches or the visually impaired athletes’ coach, [which is also about] communication between coaches and athletes. Most of these coaches, particularly in the running events, are international, sometimes even Olympic, athletes themselves who are coaching with the para athletes. These are all stories within stories that don’t normally happen

applies to swimming absolutely as well.”

Enhancing the broadcast

The last World Para Athletics Championships, which ISB also worked on, was Dubai 2019. Comments David Taunton, head of production at ISB: “We had the chance to use a remote buggy for the first time in Dubai [and now we are bringing] those elements back. We have bought in a little bit more specialist equipment with more robotic cameras to be able to cover our field events more precisely. Also, on the broadcast side, we’re implementing SRT distribution, which really gives access to more broadcasters [as it lowers the cost of entry to get the content on TV for them]. We tested this out in the World Games, and we’re confident of the system.

“We’re also adding near-live clipping as a service for broadcasters. We’re confident, given the scale of the project, the budget and the reach, that what we’ve decided is to add more focus on those services and to try to facilitate how to get these pictures out and these messages out for broadcasters around the globe. That was the big new one for us this time around for Paris.”

On the production workflow for the athletics, everything was based on the ground in Paris bar the

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SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

2023 World Para Athletics Championships and Para Swimming World Championships

medal ceremonies that were held outside of the stadium.

Those were sent back to the ISB offices in Madrid to be cut and offered out to broadcasters. Additionally, all the events were also provided as clips for social media distribution from Madrid.

Making a splash

Next up for ISB is the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester. Taunton says: “This championships is based on the same philosophy as the athletics. We do strive for the underwater shots because you actually get to see the athletes’ strength there. But I’d say that our forte [for this championship] is the personnel we’re using. We have the same camera ops for specific positions that we’re bringing back as per previous years.”

“We can build, event to event, on the understanding that we have not only of the sport and the athletes, but the federations — in this case World Para Swimming — and each year we have been able to get closer and more intimate because there is already a trust. The athletes get to know us, the judges trust us, and that is a plus point that we feel we bring to the event,” notes Taunton.

That trust,“certainly makes the director’s job easier”, says Breakell. Again, however, there are added complications when covering a pool-based race in a para event which

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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includes different classifications and therefore different races simultaneously. He notes: “When you have different classifications in a race, not only do you have the winner of the [race with] more able-bodied people celebrating, but they still have to stand at the end of the pool and wait for the person who’s got four or five more lengths left to go in a different classification, and they’re actually a lead swimmer in their class, so it’s still a big race. One thing you’ll notice with disabled athletes though is they support each other much more than able-bodied athletes, particularly when there’s different classifications within a race.”

Elevating para sport

“It’s our job to elevate the sport as much as possible and elevate the standards of it for distribution as well,” continues Taunton. “I say, ‘listen, broadcasters, you have a great product here, you’re going to get from it what you would expect from any other event’. Because we do help IPC as well with distribution for this. That’s why we’ve brought in tools like SRT to lower those costs to entice more broadcasters. Definitely this time around it does help that Paris 2024 is next year and there is a little more traction to this event because of it. So, yeah, hopefully we’ll get more eyeballs on it this year and keep on doing that for years to come.”

“It’s not just pictures, it’s not just sound, it’s not just compassion telling the stories, all the things we normally try to do, but it’s being very aware of the type of humans, individuals, that we’re dealing with” GREG BREAKELL, ISB

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Player tracking technology and enhanced stats were added this year to keep viewers fully informed

Howzat? The Men’s and Women’s Ashes set for belting series

BY HEATHER MCLEAN FIRST PUBLISHED 20 JUNE 2023

“The biggest challenge for the Ashes is just the sheer scale. We’re on air all day, every day, the series is pretty compact; we’ve got the Women’s Ashes on at the same time and then we lead into The Hundred” BRYAN HENDERSON, SKY SPORTS 92

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he Ashes, between England and Australia, is one of the oldest and most iconic rivalries not just in cricket but in world sport. This year sees the first time that both the Men’s and Women’s series are being played side by side in the UK, and all the tension of those matches is live on Sky Sports and Now in the UK. There are 36 days of live cricket in June and July, with the men’s series featuring the 300th Test Match to be shown live on Sky Sports.

Sky Sports cricket’s award-winning team will be under the leadership of Bryan Henderson, director of cricket and NFL at Sky Sports. Speaking to SVG Europe, Henderson says: “The biggest challenge for the Ashes is just the sheer scale. We’re on air all day, every day, the series is pretty compact; we’ve got the Women’s Ashes on at the same time and then we lead into The Hundred. It’s nothing we haven’t done before — we’re used to it — but we need to be prepped incredibly well and that’s why we work hard all winter getting everything ready.”

Sustainable production

Coverage of the two series is being produced using a sustainable remote HDR production workflow, which is

The Ashes

significantly reducing Sky Sports’ travel footprint. The production will be albert certified as carbon neutral.

Notes Henderson: “The sustainable remote production is relatively new. We moved to remote production a couple of years ago now. All the camera feeds get sent individually back to a gallery at Sky and the director cuts the shots from there, replays are done from there as well and our graphics are remote. So, basically, it just means we’re a much more sustainable production, and we’re Bafta albert certified.”

The broadcaster is also putting forward a female-focused OB, which is planned for the Women’s Ashes T20 match on 1 July. A female crew will be producing this event to celebrate the talented women in the industry and showcase their skills.

Tech innovations

On the new and evolved technology being used to capture the 2023 Ashes series, Quidich Hyperview player tracking will be captured from floodlight pylons around the ground and used to track fielder movements for expert analysis. It will also be used to give insight into batter and bowler options based on field placement, and there will be an option to see field placement from the perspective of the batter.

In the Lord’s pavilion and long room during the second men’s Test, remote cameras will be tracking players as they walk out from and back to the dressing room, giving viewers a unique insight into what happens behind the scenes.

Spidercam will be in place at Lord’s too to give viewers a bird’s-eye perspective of play, and the Buggy Cam and Drone Cam will be available for the director’s use at all test matches. Additionally, there will be iconic drone shots through the Lord’s Pavilion, flown by a military pilot.

Meanwhile, CricViz will provide enhanced stats including tracking which side is ‘in front’ during play. AE Live is providing a new suite of fresh on-screen graphics to give viewers all the information needed to keep track of the action. Also, Hawkeye will be on hand, with updated analysis tools.

Henderson adds: “Every year CricViz, Hawkeye and Spidercam, they just need to get better and better. So the fact that we’ve gone for Spidercam on most of the series means that Hawkeye can offer additional analysis off that camera, which is great.”

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SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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A commentator following the cyclists aboard a motorbike using their own video camera and microphone

Inside the travelling TV compound that needs to be ready for anything

BY ROBERTO LANDINI FIRST PUBLISHED 26 MAY 2023

“Every morning we find ourselves working in new places and it often happens that we have to pick up a chainsaw to cut tree branches that block the view” MATTEO FRAGNI, EMG ITALY

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ith the Giro d’Italia in full swing, SVG Europe speaks to the team behind EMG’s production of the three-week Grand Tour, to explore the logistics and planning that goes into such a long and challenging event.

Davide Furlan and Bruno Coudizer are overall project managers. Furlan’s responsibilities include the co-ordination and technical control of the workflow between the various media and the TV compound, the satellite booking for all contribution feeds and the management of all suppliers and related budget costs.

Coudizer manages and co-ordinates all the moving parts, including the crew specialised in cycling production, the motorcycle crew and the Cineflex operators in the helicopters. Furthermore, thanks to his experience in sports production, Coudizer is this year taking on the role of assistant director.

“This year,” says Furlan, “the television production of the Giro d’Italia created by EMG is international; it’s led by EMG Italy in collaboration with EMG Belgium and EMG Connectivity of France, and with the important addition of the graphics and timing divisions of Boost Graphics and Microplus.”

“The entire budget and all service providers are managed in Italy, including helicopters which are an important workflow resource, frequency concessions and

Giro d’Italia

their co-ordination for all broadcasters, the logistics of the 143 people involved with planes, cars, vans, buses, trains and above all hotel rooms, as well as ground shooting and general co-ordination during all the movements between stages,” he adds.

Mario Lovallo, producer on site, explains:“I mainly deal with the co-ordination of the television media present at the TV compound, including those of RAI and the integrated broadcasters. We arrive in the evening in each city hosting the stage and we set up the parking lot from scratch where all the television media operate. With the Giro d’Italia we need to be ready to react to the inevitable unforeseen events of all kinds at each stage, so being present to always guarantee the best solution for everyone is fundamental.”

The EMG team is made up of those on the ground who take care of filming, including the camera operators assigned to the 4-5 cameras placed before the finish line and the other 7-8, placed after the finish, depending on the stages.

In addition, staff dedicated to camera controls on board the main gallery truck and those devoted to audio recordings are on site.

The control room of the Orion 209 OB has a set-up of 14 cameras on the ground in the finish area, and it is Belgian director Gunther Herregodts who decides which supports to prepare and where, after the morning inspection at each stage.

Most of the time the cameras are placed on typical mounts or hi-los at the side of the track, identical to those used behind football goals; these mounts elevate the operator and camera above the heads of the fans.

At some arrivals, shoulder camera shots are used to create impressive images and cameras are also set up on Magnum Duo mini mobile cranes, where the operator, remaining seated together with the camera, can choose the shooting height using a remote control that operates a hydraulic column. This allows for a higher shooting point above the heads of the public gathering to see the arrivals and above the umbrellas that have often been out thanks to rainy weather this May.

Daily live coverage

The Giro d’Italia is made up of 29 production days with 21 live race stages during which the whole team starts in the morning with a meeting at around 8:30 and finishes around 19:30. They produce about eight hours of live coverage every day, before leaving for the next stage.

The work continues for at least an hour after the arrival of the cyclists to capture the award ceremonies where jerseys are awarded to the various winners.

In addition, EMG also produces a newsfeed on site with three-minute highlights edited for distribution dedicated to international takers. The contents are distributed via satellite and via streaming, through a dedicated portal.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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19.07.23 12:37

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The TV compound

Giro d’Italia

Around 20 trucks, including those from EMG operations and support, are parked in the 2,000sqm TV compound each day to make the production of the Giro possible.

Content from other broadcasters, such as Discovery, is also packaged here, and RAI also operates from the compound, following the event with a dozen of its own mobile vehicles to deliver full coverage of the race.

Preliminary preparation involves having the necessary information available for all to broadcast the signal to the various takers. The distribution of the signals starts months before, given that it is a complex set up.

The main satellite truck vehicle receives four signals — one from the departure links, two from the intermediate relay stations which are equipped with two other SNG vans, and a signal transmitted by an SNG mobile vehicle placed at the arrival — in addition to distributing them.

There are also some special additions such as for

Discovery which, from the stage in Viareggio to the stage in Rome, broadcasts live commentary via satellite from a commentator following the cyclists aboard a motorbike using their own video camera and microphone, interacting with the various studios of Eurosport France and England along the way.

Switzerland’s TSI is also present at the Giro with a commentary station, flanked by another seven broadcasters located in a two-storey mobile vehicle supplied by RCS and placed near the finish line.

“We must be ready for anything,” says Matteo Fragni, unit manager on site, “sometimes even with drastic interventions. In fact, every morning we find ourselves working in new places and it often happens that we have to pick up a chainsaw to cut tree branches that block the view. Several times we have also had to temporarily move road signs installed after the inspections made months before, orienting them differently to prevent them from appearing in the camera shots.”

EMG’s Gunther Herregodts and Bruno Coudizer — ‘For us, cycling is religion!’

Personnel from EMG Italy, EMG Connectivity and EMG Belgium are leading this year’s production of the Giro d’Italia, managing connectivity, RF and production.

Bruno Coudizer, RF division co-ordinator at EMG Connectivity, says: “The main novelty of this year’s production is certainly the presence of a Belgian director. This year, on board EMG’s Nova 209 mobile control unit is Gunther Herregodts with whom I have worked for many years.”

Herregodts says: “This is my first time at the Giro d’Italia, and I was also signed up at the last minute. However, for me it’s a real passion: I’m Belgian and for us, cycling is a religion!”

One of the new features for this year is an SNG unit in the field that combines uplink and downlink equipment with an editing area in order to enhance efficiency.

Also new to the Giro is a daily highlights edition created for Eurosport which is produced

by EMG and which further complicates the already complex TV compound setup.

“The real technical innovation,” Coudizer adds, “consists of significant improvements in RF technology, thanks to Livetools, a subsidiary of the EMG group that manufactures proprietary products for exclusive use.

“The final quality of the images has been

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Gunther Herregodts and Bruno Coudizer on site for the Giro

further improved, thanks to the use of new coding and modulation algorithms, which have been developed and adapted to guarantee a very high quality of service in the shortest routes, but also for long ranges and large surveys.”

“It’s a wonderful ride that goes from the sea

to the mountains,” concludes Herregodts. “It’s a month of tests that constitute an important challenge for the whole EMG technique, where we use the best technology in HD but we are completely ready for UHD, for the best possible quality and coverage.”

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SailGP

More broadcasters and fans

Season 4 kicked off in Chicago in June

Unfurling the sails for Season 4

BY HEATHER MCLEAN FIRST PUBLISHED 14 JUNE 2023

“We are focusing on the live product and making it the best it can be technologically and from a storytelling perspective” MELLISSA LAWTON, SAILGP

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ailGP is unfurling the sails on Season 4 this weekend with national teams in the mixed-gender championship battling it out on the open waves at 12 iconic venues around the world throughout 2023 and 2024.

The ambitious racing series is launching its biggest season ever, opening with the United States Sail Grand Prix which will take place at Navy Pier, Chicago, on 16-17 June.

SailGP will be seen and heard by more fans this season — existing and yet to be converted — than ever before, with new broadcast deals recently announced plus a new fan engagement platform just launched.

Ambitious plans

Speaking to SVG Europe, Melissa Lawton, SailGP’s chief content officer, says SailGP has truly ambitious plans. “It is one of the fastest growing sports properties out there right now and season 4 will be our biggest season yet. We have added more venues (taking our events to 12) and new teams, with the announcement of Germany joining our world class line-up which has also brought F1’s Sebastian Vettel to the league.

“We have three key focus areas: product development, audience growth and commercial viability,” she continues.

“All of which our broadcast product and content is at the centre of. We need to create ‘must watch’ content, increase our awareness — of which linear broadcast and digital audience growth are key — and finally, build a long-term sustainable business model.”

In the UK, SailGP has announced a free-to-air broadcast deal with ITV. Exclusive live coverage of nine event weekends will be shown on ITVX in the first standalone live sports commission for ITV’s streaming service, which was launched in late 2022. Additionally, all events in Season 4 of SailGP will be available across the ITV digital and linear network, including ITV1, ITV4 and ITVX. Says Lawton: “We are focusing on the live product and making it the best it can be technologically and from a storytelling perspective. We want to make sure that anyone who’s tuning in is seeing something that’s interesting, something they’ll spend more time consuming and something they’ll want to tune into again at another time.”

The new SailGP fan engagement platform, called The Dock, is powered by Oracle Fusion Cloud CX. It will provide fans with exclusive offers, content and rewards.

Lawton comments on how The Dock fits into the social content strategy: “The other one that’s a particular focus is scaling out our social content, making sure we understand what social channels are out there, who’s watching, where they’re watching, and what sort of content is appealing to them. But I guess a big one for us — and this is much longer term — is what is our storytelling role in the wider sports community? How do we tell those stories and what format do we use to get them in the zeitgeist? It’s not easy. We’ve got to think about how it is that we get to the audience through the content that we create ourselves.”

She notes on the production that remote working is further enabling scale and flexibility for the series: “We’re also focused on remote production and scalability through remote production. When we look at people who are on site, we’re looking at them to pretty much document everything that’s happening, so we can recreate it into all the different assets that we need post event. For vertical video creation, we try to keep the people onsite locally and it doesn’t matter if they know the sport or not; what we’re trying to do is get them to shoot as much as possible, and then everything is sent back to our studios in London.

“We then have ‘editing banks’ of people who churn those into assets that we need to drive our social channels, long-form content, or to add to the broadcast or news as well.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

SailGP

Overcoming challenges with tech

Lawton comments on the challenges for the racing series for Season 4, and generally as a still-new sport and entertainment platform:“The pressure to perform, to continually grow and show concrete outcomes [is a challenge].

It’s a crowded environment out there for sports broadcasting — there’s a lot of different outlets — so the competition for eyeballs is very difficult.”

Yet there are a lot of technologies out there today — and coming — that will help this racing series continue to grow.

Lawton says: “There’s a lot of broadcasting technologies that Racing will take place across 12 venues in what is set to be the biggest SailGP season yet we’re in a unique position to use and exploit for growth. 5G is one of them. Our CTO is learning how to use it, the capabilities and tools that are looking into how 5G technologies can make a difference created to make it more streamlined. It’s all working in in us doing content capture from the boats. our favour at the moment, and we really couldn’t do a lot “Also, the Oracle Cloud is getting faster, bigger. We’re without that.”

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4K UHD leaders (L-R): Jamie Hindhaugh, BT Sport; Dan McDonnell, Timeline TV; and Andy Beale, BT Sport, back in 2015

Looking back at 10 years of innovation

BY GEORGE BEVIR FIRST PUBLISHED 7 JULY 2023

“The whole ethos of BT Sport is how do we get the best pictures, the best experience, to our customers” JAMIE HINDHAUGH

O

n 18 July, the BT Sport brand will disappear from screens in the UK, marking the end of a 10-year period that has been characterised by innovation.

From the launch of the first UHD sports channel in Europe, to debuts for Dolby Atmos, advances in 8K and a pioneering approach to remote production, BT Sport has been synonymous with enhancements in the way sports content is captured, produced and shared with viewers.

Following the joint venture between BT and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the decision was made to adopt the TNT Sports brand — WBD’s sports-focused offering in territories such as South America and the US, where it airs coverage of the NBA.When that was announced back in February, WBD — itself no stranger to innovation — pledged to continue the spirit of what BT Sport has built over the past decade.

But, with many of the BT Sport employees responsible for pushing those boundaries no longer part of what will become TNT Sports, and those who remain moving from BT Sport’s iconic Stratford studios to Warner Bros.

Discovery’s facilities in West London, it felt like a timely opportunity to reflect on some of BT Sport’s milestones.

4K, HDR and 8K

Two years after the August 2013 unveiling of BT Sport, the broadcaster launched Europe’s first 4K UHD channel with coverage of the 2015 Community Shield clash 100

BT Sport

between Arsenal and Chelsea. Reporting from the launch, SVG Europe described it as “the biggest game-changer in European sports broadcasting”.

BT Sport worked with long-term partner Timeline Television, which built UHD-1, a bespoke OB truck kitted out with the first deliveries of Sony’s new HDC-4300 2/3in UHD 4K camera, the world’s first Fujinon UHD 4K 2/3in 80:1 box and 22:1 ENG lenses, and a Snell Kahuna UHD 4K switcher with Sirius router.

At the time, BT Sport chief operating officer Jamie Hindhaugh said: “Broadcast innovation is really important: our whole aim for 4K is not about our own selfcongratulation, it’s not about getting one over on our competitors. Actually, the whole ethos of BT Sport is how do we get the best pictures, the best experience, to our customers.”

Four years later, in August 2019, BT Sport launched a new channel, BT Sport Ultimate, the world’s first service to feature regular programming in High Dynamic Range (HDR), as well as 4K UHD and Dolby Atmos.

One month later, the pay-TV broadcaster collaborated with BT’s Media & Broadcast arm to broadcast the world’s first live 8K test broadcast into the IBC exhibition in Amsterdam.

8K kit was in short supply, so a single Ikegami SHK810 camera (supplemented by a regular UHD 16-camera setup), along with a Fujinon 8K PL-mount lens, Blackmagic Design Atem Constellation 8K vision mixer, encoding and decoding from Appear TV and an 8K scope from Leader plus a custom-built Moov graphics system were used to capture the action at a Premiership Rugby 7s match in Northampton, with the signal carried over BT’s broadcast network to the RAI exhibition and conference centre in Amsterdam.

That was followed in February 2020 with the UK’s first public live 8K sports broadcast, when BT Sport teamed up with Samsung to screen the UEFA Europa League match between Arsenal and Olympiacos to an audience of 50 viewers in the Emirates Stadium.

A couple of years later, in March 2022, BT Sport again teamed up with BT Media & Broadcast, plus EMG,Appear, Synamedia and a host of other vendors to deliver the UK’s first live 8K broadcast of a top-tier sporting event into the home, airing the Saracens vs Bristol Bears Premiership Rugby match into selected homes.

The game was produced entirely remotely and without a significant on-site presence, allowing BT Sport to explore OB and production workflows for future live 8K broadcasts, including testing the ability to run 8K HDR with match coverage, domestic presentation and playout including ad insertion.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

BT Sport

Immersive audio

It wasn’t just about the pictures; in 2017, BT Sport’s live coverage of a pair of European ties in February (Manchester United vs St Etienne, and Manchester City vs AS Monaco) aired in Dolby Atmos, which was a first for the UEFA Champions League and Europa League ties.

It followed on from the January 2016 coverage of Liverpool vs Chelsea, which was the world’s first live broadcast of a Premier League tie in both Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos, which was the culmination of 18 months’ work with Dolby to get the proprietary threedimensional surround sound system into BT Sport’s live production chain.

Remote production

The lockdowns and restrictions that resulted from the COVID pandemic forced broadcasters around the world to come up with novel ways to remain on air, BT Sport included.

In April 2020, BT Sport moved its entire production operation out of its studios at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, east London, and in just three weeks turned

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

it into a decentralised remote operation. That channel output included seven topical programmes produced live or nearly live with all on-screen participants working alone, based out of their own homes, connected to the production teams by broadband or over EE’s 4G mobile network.

That led BT Sport in June 2020 to announce that it would “fast-track” its remote production plans, utilising and developing a new remote operating centre in High Wycombe, in partnership with Telegenic (now EMG) for

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BT Sport

its Premier League coverage.

A month later, the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea was produced remotely by BT Sport from High Wycombe with presentation live from Wembley Stadium, plus a remote gallery from the BT Sport studio, broadcasting the game in 4K UHD with HDR and Dolby Atmos.

In March 2022, BT Sport embarked on the next stage of its decentralised remote production evolution, producing its Fight Week Live: UFC London preview show in the cloud.

And, more recently, in April this year, a 12-camera production of the UEFA Youth League semi-final tie between Portugal’s Sporting CP and Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in Switzerland developed the concept of cloudbased remote production even further (see page 108 for more details).

5G

Over the years, BT Sport has partnered with BT Media & Broadcast on many of its trials, and following the 2015 acquisition of EE, it was able to team up with the mobile operator and use its network for its trials, particularly relating to contribution.

That partnership was in evidence in 2018, when BT

Sport and EE successfully carried out the world’s first live broadcast over 5G using remote production, delivering a two-way transmission from Wembley Stadium to London’s ExCeL exhibition centre.

Looking even further to the future, in March 2022 EE and BT Sport unveiled new ways to watch and experience sports and the performing arts using 5G and extended reality (XR) technology, developed through an EE and BT Sport-led project, 5G Edge-XR. The project demonstrated how the potential of EE’s 5G network, paired with cloud graphics processing units, can enable consumers to view events in a range of immersive ways.

Social, mobile and immersive experiences

In late 2020, BT Sport and EE teamed up to launch Matchday Experience on the BT Sport app, offering fans what was described as the most immersive sports viewing experience in the UK to select BT Sport customers using iPhones or iPads.

One feature, ‘Watch Together’, used a split-screen interface to allow users to watch any BT Sport live broadcast along with three other subscribers. It was made available to all BT Sport customers, including Android users, in February 2021.

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Pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville will be the first to use the studio doing pre-match, half-time and post-match analysis of Manchester United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Sky Sports unveils mixed reality presentation studio

BY WILL STRAUSS FIRST PUBLISHED 14 AUGUST 2023

S

ky Sports has converted two studio spaces at its Osterley campus in West London into a single flexible-use mixed-reality presentation studio that will be used for its flagship Monday Night Football (MNF) show as well as 2023 US Open tennis coverage and, in the future, other sports output.

The studio, which was designed and engineered in-house, includes four distinct physical spaces, an extensive LED floor and LED walls, AR and VR capabilities, and a BatCam wirecam system.

It will be used in anger for the first time during MNF on 14 August with pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville doing pre-match, half-time and post-match analysis of Manchester United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers.

During a studio tour ahead of the launch, Sky Sports director of creative output Ben Wickham told SVG Europe that the 18-month project and the multi-million-pound investment gives the broadcaster “a very flexible, wellspecced space that brings us closer to the viewer”.

“We can pull the studio apart and put it back together in an almost infinite number of ways,” he said. “We have different aspect ratios too. There is 16:9 for a live shot, and a wide aspect ratio that can have multiple things on it, even a big vista. You can use those spaces differently.

There are some portrait-shaped spaces too for things like 104

Sky Sports Studio

hero photography. It’s flexible in a way that I don’t think we have ever built studios before.”

The studio also has an AR extension behind the camera that Sky Sports is calling the ‘fourth wall’.

“This means we can now spin the camera around and shoot back at the viewer,” Wickham added.“This is an entirely virtual space so we can include anything our heart desires. All of these things together mean there is no story that we cannot tell or we haven’t got the technology for.”

For MNF specifically, the studio install is a real advance, for both the viewers and the pundits.

“It allows us to bring a bit more of Gary and Jamie into the studio,” he said, revealing that a movement coach has been brought in to help the talent make the best of the space that is now available to them.

“We have also hugely upgraded our capability for touchscreen analysis and telestration, which allows us to replay parts of the game in a virtual space which in turn allows us to put a camera wherever we want in order to understand plays better, to retrospectively move players around to see how things might have been done differently,” he added.

Sky director of group production engineering Kevin McCue, discussing the technology choices for the studio, explained that the number of suppliers has been kept deliberately low.

“That is generally a bit of a strategy that we are taking more broadly within Sky,” he said. “Purely because you can end up splitting your engineering competency over so many different vendors and products you can become a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’.”

Unreal Engine is part of the new studio but, because of the scale of the ambition, not in the way you might imagine.

“We took a view that Unreal Engine was going to be part of this conversation,” explained McCue,“But, managing a studio of this size, raw Unreal was not going to be feasible at this point in time for live production. We needed to create a level of control and infrastructure around Unreal so that we have the right level of predictability. Essentially, we have got Unreal sitting inside Viz 5.”

Choosing the right LED screens was a crucial part of the studio build too, he added:“We have installed a number of different types of screens from Roe. We did a big product shootout with all the various screen technologies. We went through a massive iteration process so that we got the right floor, the right totems, the right high-res wall and the right curved wall.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

Sky Sports Studio

Background and design

The original driver for the project, added Wickham, was a step change in production capabilities.

“We always want to innovate. I was casting my eye over the state of the sports broadcasting industry and I was seeing the things that we could be doing in the future and I wanted to make sure that we were able to bring that to our customers.

We decided to not just iteratively improve but to actually take a big step, to the point where we can’t even use all the tech straight away — but we have room to expand in the future.”

The design and concept were created in-house, in collaboration between Sky UK and Sky Italy. Specialists were then brought in to help with specific elements.

Wickham explained: “Once we had the concept of what the physical space would look like, the next stage for us was to go to the market and ask ‘what is everyone doing?’

We also asked: ‘what has no one done before?’ We had a concept, but as far as possible we wanted to build it so that we don’t miss something that is going to happen in the industry in two years’ time. That was our gold standard.”

Experienced studio designer White Light was consulted during this process. “They helped us out quite a lot with information on what technology is going somewhere and what isn’t,” he added, “sharing, for example, what is great and what is going to be really hard to integrate.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Graphics and infrastructure

Of course, graphics — 2D, 3D, virtual and augmented — are at the heart of the studio. McCue said his team looked very carefully at how they would manage the graphics environment.

“We have lots of Viz engines for the walls and cameras so we wanted to find a way that we could quickly adapt to software versions or plug-ins. The whole of the environment is managed by Ansible deployment automation technology that allows us to control operating systems and run automation scripts that can rapidly control all of the components of the graphics engine inside our environment. This means we can automatically and quickly do updates and testing.”

Although it won’t happen straight away, the studio will soon be part of Sky’s company-wide SMPTE ST2110 transformation.

“The studio and the infrastructure are ready for 2110 even though it’s not hosted in that environment yet,” he said.“That means we can then quickly allow the use of the studio floor from any of our production control rooms.

This gives us huge portability.”

A studio of this calibre deserves to be used. So, in addition to MNF and the US Open, will other shows and sports pres be based here? Absolutely. But not quite yet.

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Sky Sports Studio

‘There is no story that we cannot tell or we haven’t got the technology for,’ says Wickham of the new studio

“The underlying point of the studio is that it is a flexible sports studio space,” reiterated Wickham. “It can absolutely be used for anything in any way. But we haven’t moved away from wanting to bring our viewers closer to

the sport. We still fundamentally want to be on-site as much as we possibly can be. I think the studio will be used for special, bespoke programming. We will certainly look to put other sports in there as the year moves on. But let’s get MNF launched first.”

And now that has happened, what is the verdict?

“I feel genuinely great about it,” concluded Wickham. “I wanted to make sure that we created a studio that we could hand over to all of the great production teams that we have got at Sky — whether that is technology, craft, creative or editorial — and say ‘here is something where you will not be limited by anything other than your imagination’. I want the teams to feel empowered to create great sports TV programmes. And it has been genuinely exciting to take up that challenge and develop something that is beyond even what I imagined it to be.”

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Director Rob Levi, foreground, with trainee director Russell Yates

Live from the UEFA Youth League cloud production showcase

BY GEORGE BEVIR FIRST PUBLISHED 15 MAY 2023

“That is the beauty of the cloud; collaboration is relatively simple and there is no need for everyone to be co-located” ANDY BEALE

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EFA and TEAM Marketing invited a group of European broadcasters — and SVG Europe — to BT Sport’s studios in London for a live demonstration of a cloud workflow of the 2023 UEFA Youth League semi-finals on 21 April in Geneva.

The UEFA Youth League was introduced in 2013 with the aim of developing youth football, providing players at the Under-19 level with the opportunity and experience of competing in an international tournament. It has also served as an opportunity for UEFA Youth League broadcaster BT Sport and its technology partners to try some innovative — and more sustainable — approaches to live production.

Organised by TEAM, UEFA’s global marketing partner, the showcase was attended by a host of rights holding European broadcasters who gathered at BT Sport’s studios in Stratford, east London to watch a live cloud production (that ran in parallel to the main, traditional UEFA host broadcast) of the UEFA Youth League semifinal tie between Portugal’s Sporting CP and Dutch club AZ Alkmaar at the Stade de Genève, Switzerland.

BT Sport chief engineer Andy Beale explains that, historically, a production of a UEFA Youth League tie with eight cameras would still require some “heavy lifting” in terms of infrastructure and kit.

He says: “Typically, we would send a large articulated OB truck, scanner, generators, satellite truck and around 25 people to every game, just to create the multilateral

UEFA Youth League

world feed. And then, back here at BT Sport in Stratford, we would have another team in the gallery taking that satellite feed and adding BT Sport unilateral personalisation, such as commentary, GFX, replay and so on.”

That led to BT Sport staging a multicamera cloud-based production of the UEFA Youth League tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Sporting Lisbon in Enfield, north London in October last year — a setup that provided the basis for the semifinal showcase between Sporting CP and AZ Alkmaar.

“In Enfield last year, there was one vehicle and that was a small, two-ton van to take tripods and scaffold clamps, cameras, lenses and LiveU backpacks and pre-charged batteries for the day,” he recalls. “So we had taken off the road all of those vehicles and backhauled those signals into the cloud via the LiveU cloud service.

“Our friends at Limitless Broadcast, who were doing the OB and shading the cameras, weren’t on site either; shading was done by engineers at the Limitless HQ in Woking outside the M25, but with exactly the same camera spec — we didn’t change anything in terms of what we provided. And our production team was based here at BT Sport in east London. That is the beauty of the cloud; collaboration is relatively simple and there is no need for everyone to be co-located.”

NDI was the main cloud production codec, with the NDI Tools suite of applications a “critical” part of BT Sport’s cloud infrastructure. The setup also used LiveU packs on site, with a LiveU cloud-based decoder used to break out the LiveU camera signals as NDI streams.

“We went from 24 to eight people on site: six camera ops who also rigged the cameras, an audio guarantee providing audio and general video support, plus a floor manager,” says Beale.

“We also ran a variety of microservices in the cloud: LiveU decode, vision mix, replay, Chyron GFX, audio mix — those were then brought back to ground using the NDI Bridge tool, which we ran in the cloud and on-prem.

Bridge allows us to pull any of those NDI streams — whether camera sources or raw cameras, multiviewers and so on — which can then be routed over NDI Bridge into a cloud gallery for the production of the programme.”

BT Sport produced a few UEFA Youth League games using that model, which Beale describes as “super reliable”. For the cloud production of the semi-final, one of the biggest changes to the setup described above is an increase in the number of cameras, from 8 to 12.

Beale adds: “The host broadcaster is providing 10 SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

UEFA Youth League

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cameras, and we have added one for ourselves because we will be doing a shadow cut and our director wanted the confidence they wouldn’t be beholden to the camera under the control of the main host director, so we have a clone of camera two — which is our camera 11 — with a big lens on the gantry.”

The 10 host camera sources plus two additional cameras are taken as feeds from the NEP OB truck on site and then fed into three LiveU LU800 packs via wired Ethernet connections.

Another difference to previous Youth League matches is the addition of a VAR setup at UEFA’s headquarters Eric Orengo, UEFA, senior broadcast engineering expert, Andy Beale and Claire in Nyon, Switzerland. “We want to prove that this is (L-R): Wilkie, managing director, Limitless Broadcast, in the gallery at BT Sport in London completely interoperable and the opportunities are there for wider sharing,” says Beale, who explains that the VAR can’t reverse that shift to 10-bit,” he says. setup is based on SimplyLive RefBox running in the cloud.

Looking further ahead, the remodelling of the OB setup and the shift to software and cloud-based production is Looking to the future being explored via one of this year’s IBC Accelerators, says When considering what’s next for BT Sport’s use of cloud Beale.“Hardware is so hard to get hold of, and switches are production, Beale says ‘pass through’ productions of a in short supply, so if you want to build something quickly single feed that require elements such as commentary and it is almost impossible — the future is clearly softwarebasic graphics are relatively easy and being produced in based. the cloud now. But the availability of other events to work “That said, we still see a need on big events for trucks — on is limited, because BT Sport has committed to 10-bit we won’t be taking them off the road for the Champions HDR, so the lack of 10-bit support creates an issue. “We League any time soon,” he concludes.

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Michael Kögler (left), head of directors, ORF Sport on site in Kitzbühel

ORF takes skiing close to the edge in Kitzbühel

BY MICHAEL BURNS FIRST PUBLISHED 24 JANUARY 2023

“Most of the time it’s impossible to show speed to the spectators at home, but with the drones and with the cranes we are operating, there’s now a chance to see it” MICHAEL KÖGLER, ORF SPORT

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ver the weekend of 16-22 January 2023, winter sports broadcasters returned to the Streif in Austria for the Hahnenkamm Races in Kitzbühel, reputedly the toughest downhill skiing challenge on earth.

Michael Kögler, head of directors at ORF Sport, has been covering the race since 1987 and has overseen the host broadcast for eight years. “There’s a lot of coverage from top to bottom,” he says. “We’re covering this with 50 cameras, including two drone cameras and 12 high-speed slow-mo cameras. There are five cranes in the operation and two Polecams.”

“It’s always difficult with the sport to show the speed as it is two-dimensional on TV, and it’s very tricky to show how steep these slopes are,” he continues. “But with the drones and with the cranes we are operating, there’s now a chance to see it. The drones give you enormous insight into how fast the skiers go, and what kind of skills they’ve got to have.”

Balancing act

Kögler says he seeks a balance between the action scenes and the more emotional shots of the racers preparing for 110

Hahnenkamm Races

the race, “showing that a human being is behind it and able to do these things”.

The single lightly clad figure dwarfed by the scale of the mountain and moving at the speed of a racing car, with features completely enclosed in a helmet, throws up challenges to the winter sports broadcaster that those covering tennis or football might not encounter.

Kögler attempts to tackle these dehumanising factors and add an emotional connection by stationing cameras to cover the warm-up area in the ‘Starthaus’ [1,665m above sea level] before the race.

“There’s a lot of talking and jokes going on there. But when they go onto the start gate area, you don’t hear anything; there’s just silence. So I always try to show them going to the start area; you see a close-up of their faces when they start to focus on the race.”

An additional human perspective is added when they arrive at the finish area.“There’s a big crowd waiting there with 50,000 people cheering for the racers,” adds Kögler.

“We have cameras there to focus on the spectators.”

This year Kögler decided to change the focus and position of cameras around the Mausefalle, a jump that skiers encounter around eight seconds after the start.

“It’s enormously steep, more than 80% [gradient]. We [originally] had the crane cover the middle of the part where they land, but we’ve now moved to behind the point for the take-off so that we can follow them speeding up the ramp,” he explains. “[The shot] is like being on a rollercoaster, when you get to the highest part and right before you go down. That’s the feeling we’re giving viewers with the crane shot.We’ve tried to follow [the skier] from behind and give the audience at home the feeling that they’re jumping with him.”

The production deploys a mixture of cameras with long lenses on towers — as there is a lot of netting around the course, ORF has to build extra-high towers to get clear shots from these positions — and handheld camera operators on the slopes, who are protected by barriers in case a racer crashes into them.

Audio is also a big consideration.“We’re really focusing on the audio, including putting additional equipment on the gate and around the spots where they’re landing,” he says. “There are microphones everywhere. We have a sound engineer and sound designer here who are trying to [convey] this really ‘dangerous’ sound of the ice.”

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Six Nations

ITV Sport is the host broadcaster for matches played at Twickenham

ITV Sport on bringing the Six Nations to viewers

BY HEATHER MCLEAN FIRST PUBLISHED 8 FEBRUARY 2023

“ITV’s overall goal for Six Nations is to showcase what is a great competition” TONY CAHALANE, ITV SPORT

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he 2023 Six Nations has kicked off, with England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales competing to win the tournament over the next five weeks.

ITV Sport is the host broadcaster for matches played at the legendary Twickenham Stadium in London. It has presentation positions pitch-side in the studio, with 130 technical and production crew on site, and is producing a world feed and ITV presentation from two separate OB units.

The broadcaster is bringing all the excitement of the tournament to fans with the help of a hefty 41 cameras, including six super-slomos, two high-motion cameras, a Spidercam, BatCam, corner post cameras, goal post cameras, plus dressing room and coach cameras.

In addition, ITV Sport is also covering the away games, with rights for coverage from France, Italy and Ireland.

For each overseas location the broadcaster is using small remote units, which will then be relayed back to the hub gallery in Ealing, London, where the tournament will be broadcast from a new virtual reality (VR) studio hosted by Timeline TV and Moov.

Speaking to SVG Europe in an EMG truck outside of Twickenham Stadium, chief technical officer at ITV Sport Tony Cahalane explains: “In Twickenham we act as a host broadcaster; we deal with all of the visiting broadcasters in terms of what facilities they require, what trucks they might be bringing, power, commentary positions, camera positions, other needs.We plot that out within the stadium and then present it to the stadium to make sure they’re happy with it, and work with their side of things as well, which is press, photographers, social media outlets and any positions they might want.”

Cahalane began working with ITV Sport on the 2022 Six Nations coverage from Twickenham as a freelancer, before he took on the CTO role late last year. He comments: “I’ve decided to carry on in my staff role and [continue working on the Six Nations broadcast] because I feel it’s better to be out and among the suppliers and the technical teams because you gather much better feedback about what they require in terms of information and how it genuinely goes, and you’re not doing it from a report on a computer at the end of the game.”

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Chief technical officer at ITV Sport Tony Cahalane in an EMG truck in the TV compound at Twickenham Stadium

Strong partnerships

“We’ve got suppliers who we trust and that have done it many times for us before, and we have a great familiarity and relationship with the ops team at the stadium, which is very important” TONY CAHALANE, ITV SPORT

ITV Sport is working with EMG as its technical services supplier for the Six Nations. The entire host broadcast production for Twickenham is all on site.

Cahalane comments: “On site here we have two big EMG trucks, one of which does Six Nations match host coverage, taking care of any unilateral needs, so that’s visiting broadcasters, stand-ups and the like. The other truck is the ITV presentation truck.

“Outside of that, there are any number of specialists with smaller trucks, such as ACS who are providing remote pan tilt heads, and there are a couple of graphic trucks from AE Live, who are also bringing us augmented reality (AR) graphics over the Spidercam in the stadium.

“We’ve obviously got Spidercam in the stadium for all the matches as it’s grown in its usefulness for withinfield coverage as the team of pilots and camera ops in the industry have gained more and more experience; it’s a great tool! On top of all that, we have some on-site edit presence.

“So, in total onsite, we’ve probably got about 27 trucks, with several big ones and then lots of auxiliary ones. In terms of a crew presence, I would guess it’s probably about 130 all-in between the talent teams, the production teams, all the tech teams and the visiting broadcasters as well.”

Remote production VR

For its away matches, ITV Sport launched its smart new VR studio on Sunday 5 February. The studio evolved from an initial idea to create a space for FIFA World Cup coverage last year.

Cahalane says: “We decided that actually what we really needed was a sports hub, something that gave us 114

Six Nations

an identity, something that gave us a ‘look’ for lots of the different sports that we have, where we present darts or snooker or the Six Nations remotely. Therefore [the plan] changed as we started to talk about it, into more of a generic sports hub, which could be grown for larger competitions if we required.”

“We launched it last weekend for the Six Nations, on 5 February for the Italian game,” he states. “It’s got its challenges because the access provided to set up the remote side was very short, due to the fact that [the game was] played in the Stadio Olimpico and there are two football teams in there [sharing the stadium]. There was a very short set up period on the day, but we were confident that we had tested and refined the VR studio well and so the remote connectivity was the only variable.”

For the Six Nations away games, ITV Sport is using small vans on site that are capable of feeding back cameras remotely. Cahalane notes: “They feed three cameras back individually and we take some match feeds, some ISOs, from the host. They’re all fed back over fibre connectivity with a satellite backup.

“It all comes back to Ealing, where we have the studio hub and then we operate that as a remote production, which reduces our green footprint; it means we have far fewer people travelling.”

Production goals

On the production goals of ITV Sport for the Six Nations, Cahalane comments: “ITV’s overall goal for Six Nations is to showcase what is a great competition. It’s an amazing competition and [ITV Sport wants to] absolutely use the large talent base that they have of presenters, pundits, guests and commentators to tell the story.

“I think it’s going excellently and it’s mainly down to the fact that we’ve got a good communication chain between our supplier and ourselves. We’ve got suppliers who we trust and that have done it many times for us before, and we have a great familiarity and relationship with the ops team at the stadium, which is very important.

“Equally, the relationship with the stadium between ITV and our supplier is good, it’s excellent; that’s paramount to being able to get things over the line quickly, so we’ve got plenty of time to test and we’re not fighting the system all the time. I think, at the moment, we’re completely confident that this season of Six Nations will go very well.”

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NBA Paris Game

A practice game took place at the Accor Arena in Paris ahead of the main event Pictures: NBA Photos

NBA courts remote production success with Bulls vs Pistons Paris Game

The NBA has brought its full arena show production to Paris, to make it as close to a normal NBA game as possible. “We have cameras involved with that show that can integrate with the various broadcasters as well,” says Barry.

“Overall, we’ve got 34 cameras, of which 18 are focused on the game. The rest are for

BY MICHAEL BURNS the studios, the red carpet and all those back-of-house FIRST PUBLISHED 19 JANUARY 2023 cameras. We also have a three-camera press conference with [NBA commissioner] Adam Silver, and the players he Accor Arena in Paris plays host tonight to a and coaches post-game.” thrilling regular-season NBA game between six“We like time NBA champions Chicago Bulls and three- Remote production time NBA champions Detroit Pistons, with the Barry spoke with SVG Europe the day before the game working with broadcast remotely produced from the US. from the NBA’s facility in Secaucus, New Jersey, from broadcasters NBA games and programming have aired in France where he would be managing the Paris fixture. that really since the 1984/85 season, but according to Dave Barry, “[Secaucus] is a hub for our high-speed arena network SVP and head of broadcast operations and engineering for the NBA, so we’re connected to every NBA facility,” he understand for the National Basketball Association, the Paris Game explains. “For a [domestic] Chicago Bulls/Detroit Pistons basketball, and 2023 was the culmination of many months of planning. game we would take the signals from the arena and then we have great “Compared to a normal NBA game, it’s quite a bit more run them through our production ecosystem at Secaucus, involved, ” says Barry, who is director of the international as well as our Replay Centre here, for various international partners... Canal+ telecast of the Paris Game. distribution. and beIN have “We’ve got two main broadcasters on site: Canal+ taking “This time we’re bringing it back from the arena in great production care of a world feed, and beIN Sports France producing Paris; we have 11 global transmission paths coming from their domestic feed. The OB trucks on site are provided the Accor Arena to Secaucus. We’re producing the world teams that

by AMP Visual; Canal+ is using Millennium Signature 12, feed here: adding English commentary and mixing that understand the while beIN is using Millennium Signature 6.” with the video and audio signals and then redistributing game and know “Our broadcast operations and engineering groups that internationally.” are working with both [Chicago and Detroit] teams, who Some of the transmission paths from Paris are encoded where to position have their own broadcasts for both TV and radio, and also with SRT to bring content back over the open internet. cameras to get with the international broadcasters that we have on site,” The game is shot in HD, 1080i 50Hz for France. those great shots” he continues.

“We’re doing all the format conversion that we DAVE BARRY, NATIONAL “We create the world feed with Canal+, a very neutral need in Secaucus via our partnership with Eurovision,” base coverage of the game for all of our international says Barry. “Eurovision is our normal distribution BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION partners to let them create their own localised feeds. provider, but in this case, they’re acquiring the signals Canal+ has a great team; we get the greatest feed that we and doing the format conversion in Secaucus for US can ask for from them.” distribution.”

T

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NBA Paris Game

Replay operations are based on-site from the world feed truck

“That’s always a struggle to carve out where we like our low slashes to be to get those great hero shots of the players coming back up the court on the reverse side” DAVE BARRY, NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

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“We’re also supporting the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons remote productions, and bringing their audio commentary positions back. We’ve got some ISO cameras [for the teams] so we’re feeding those over the network to allow them to produce their feeds for their local telecasts in the United States.”

Including those for each team, there is a total of 10 commentary positions. Bally Sports Detroit (BSD) is providing the talent for the Pistons, while the Bulls are being served by NBC Sports Chicago with a commentary position in Paris.

“As part of the 18 cameras on the court, Chicago is deploying its own ISO camera,” says Barry. “Both teams are communicating over Comrex, back to their talent on site, and to their camera operators remotely.”

Slash cams

Speciality cameras deployed for the world feed include two super slo-mo cameras, but the Paris Game will also feature the NBA’s traditional low ‘slash’ cameras.

“These have always been a signature of the NBA, but those positions are something that you don’t always find at non-NBA arenas,” says Barry. “That’s always a struggle to carve out where we like our low slashes to be to get those great hero shots of the players coming back up the court on the reverse side.”

The audio setup also depends on experience. “Wiring up the stadium becomes routine for the crews in the US that do the NBA day-to-day, week-to-week,” says Barry.

“We’re very happy to have the folks there that know the game and understand how to capture that great audio and then bring it back. The broadcast operations team map all those transmission paths with the various audio isolated

so we can bring them back and have them be useful to the remote production. So that’s a puzzle that they put together, but they have done this many times, so they understand what they have to do there.”

Despite the planning and the experience involved, there are still challenges. “It is very hard to duplicate an NBA arena in another country, really in any facility that is not a normal NBA arena, because of all the technology and infrastructure that’s built up over the years.”

This game also differs from the norm in that it doesn’t use the NBA’s custom-built Replay Centre in Secaucus. For latency reasons, replay operations are based on-site from the world feed truck.

“We have a member of NBA basketball operations sitting with an EVS operator in the truck,” explains Barry.

“So we have our own replay channels and devices to send the signal to the courtside replay monitor [used by referees], which has communication to the truck, so we can conduct official replay. That’s part of the infrastructure that we as a league provide and implement for these ‘oneoff’ games.”

According to Barry, the NBA is exploring using the SRT-encoded paths to implement replay from Secaucus for foreign games in the future.

There’s a lot of razzamatazz around the NBA Paris Game 2023. The match itself, showing live on beIN Sports, free-to-air Canal+ and NBA League Pass, can reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories on television, digital media and social media. The presentation build-up around the game included a practice show streamed live over SRT to the NBA app.“Those events from a broadcast standpoint are great to build some excitement around the game and the build-up to it,” says Barry.

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svgeuropeupdate

IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

Infront handled host broadcaster duties for some 45 live TV broadcasters, 30 news and highlights broadcasters and four radio partners

Inside the production of the 2023 Ice Hockey World Championship

BY GEORGE BEVIR FIRST PUBLISHED 26 MAY 2023

T

he Ice Hockey World Championship reaches its climax this weekend, with semi-finals between Canada and Latvia, and USA and Germany on Saturday,ahead of the gold medal game on Sunday.

Co-hosted by Finland and Latvia, some 80 broadcasters across 150 territories have been broadcasting the 2023 IIHF WM, which began on Friday 12 May with 16 teams taking part. Infront, the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) exclusive media and marketing rights partner, has also been tasked with host broadcaster duties for some 45 live TV broadcasters, 30 news and highlights broadcasters, and four radio partners. Fans in territories without a broadcast partner have been able to stream all games live on the IIHF’s official YouTube channel.

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Infront took over full host broadcast duties in 2018, and since then it has introduced a raft of innovations and new technology to improve coverage of the fast-paced sport.

“Hockey is very much a camera one sport,” says head of Infront Productions Peer Seitz.

“You cut to the close ups and to the two handheld cameras in the corners when the action is there and when somebody gets checked into the plexiglass, but the percentage of time spent on camera one is even higher in hockey than football because of the speed of the game; the time the puck needs to cross the entire ice rink is rather short.”

When Infront took over host broadcast duties it added two super motion cameras behind the goals, replacing the single speed cameras that were mounted above the plexiglass that surrounds the rink.

“We changed them to super motions in order to really be able to see in the replays what happened to the puck, because a lot of the time it may have been deflected or there may be a very close save, so the super motions are essential to the live coverage,” explains Seitz. Infront Productions also switched from 1080i to 1080p to boost the quality of images and future proof the content that was captured.

Camera plans and audio enhancements

With the 16 teams split into two groups, games are being played at the Arena Riga in Latvia and the Nokia Arena in Tampere, which will also host the semi-finals, the bronze medal game and the gold medal game.

“In terms of the camera plan, we treat both venues exactly the same,” says Seitz.“We don’t make a distinction between the main and secondary venue, which is only called ‘secondary’ because it’s active until the quarterfinals. The only changes to the camera plan are some add-ons to the production plan for the semi-finals and the finals.”

Each venue has 31 camera signals, ranging from main cameras to super motions, robotics to handhelds and 4G-enabled cameras for bus arrivals and fan coverage.

That coverage will be topped up for the final weekend with five additional cameras, one of which one is an ultramotion, plus an additional robotic super motion on the centre line just above the plexiglass. In addition, there will be a 2D cable camera system for the final weekend plus two locked off shots of the team benches this year to capture the reactions of players and coaches.

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IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

“Hockey is very much a camera one sport… The percentage of time spent on camera one is even higher in hockey than football because of the speed of the game” PEER SEITZ, INFRONT PRODUCTIONS

Peer Seitz, Infront Productions

ice rink, but the quality is not great for atmosphere and the sound of the ice, so we have new microphones which we hang on to the plexi around the rink, which really pick up the sound mainly from the ice rink.”

He continues:“They are much better quality and range, and our audio guys are super-excited about them. We also have the Dolby microphone above camera one, as well as

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associated mics with the handheld cameras plus more to capture crowd noise.”

Signals are exchanged between the two venues (which are 580km apart), including the dirty and clean version of the world feed plus a couple of isolated feeds, via distribution partner Globecast. “They have set up a complete ring infrastructure, so in case of a loss of connectivity from Riga to the distribution hub, all the feeds go via Tampere to another distribution hub,” he adds.“So that’s the safety we have — two physically independent fibre routes to the distribution hub for Globecast.”

Infront is working closely with NEP Sweden, which has recruited most of the production personnel.“NEP Sweden knows hockey inside out which is a big help,” says Seitz.

For this tournament, Infront decided not to pursue

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

a remote production model, although there are some elements being produced off site. Each venue has its own ENG team for capturing content for post-produced items, such as line-ups where the ENG crews film the players in front of a green screen for the animated line-ups used in the world feed, along with interviews and behind-thescenes content. Editing of this content is completed in Munich by DropIn-TV, a German production company.

Also, digital production for distribution via social media channels is being handled off-site by Infront’s hub in Milan, Italy.

Virtual advertising technology

Infront is also working with Supponor on the production of virtually augmented TV feeds for several markets.“We did that in 2018 with another provider, but since last year we have been working with Supponor very successfully,” says Seitz. Supponor is producing three additional feeds of this year’s championship with virtual advertisements tailored to specific markets, replacing several fixed banners on the dasherboards seamlessly. “We provide them just with the programme feed, and they take camera one. They then process the signals and deliver the virtually augmented feeds to the various partners on-site.

It’s a very seamless integration for us.”

Immersive replays

Another significant addition this year is immersive replay technology from SponixTech. “We give them the camera angles, the different ISO angles and they can actually fly to any point on the ice rink, for example into the eyes of the goalie when there’s a shot on goal. It gives the audience an even better view of the game and helps to explain how difficult the sport is and how precise the players have to be, and how little the goalie usually sees,” says Seitz.

As with many of the enhancements and additions to the coverage of ice hockey, one of the main aims is to improve viewers’ understanding of the sport. “We did that in 2018 with referee cams – RF cameras on the helmets of the refs — which are used in the live cut of games,” he adds.

“We also use them a lot for replays, and those are among the most loved clips from our broadcast partners and on social media because it provides a view from within the ice rink. We always put together a best of ref cam per game. The ref cams also capture audio, which of course we QC because there can occasionally be some swearing when things get heated. But thanks to our longstanding relationship with the IIHF, we have their trust that we would not put anything out which would discredit any player, official, or anyone participating in the sport.”

“It’s the action on the rink and the atmosphere in the arenas that we want to capture and share with viewers around the world” PEER SEITZ, INFRONT PRODUCTIONS

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Two motos followed the lead group and one stayed with the chase group All pictures: PTO

Broadcasting the Balearic triathlon with FilmNova

BY MICHAEL BURNS FIRST PUBLISHED 11 MAY 2023

“We’ve had some interesting challenges getting the permissions for our drones to fly around the marina because it’s so tight; we’re on a small island which has air traffic control as well” PHIL SIBSON, FILMNOVA

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he PTO European Open took place last weekend (6 May 2023), opening the 2023 PTO Tour season with two overlapping 100km triathlons set for the first time on the island of Ibiza.

One of the key motivators behind the formation of the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) was to bring triathlon to a global stage and expand its media presence, so the fact that the events were broadcast live in a record 195 territories (reaching a possible 425 million households) and were translated into 22 languages must be seen as a big win.

Challenging factors

Providing the world feed was host broadcaster FilmNova, a role it has played for the PTO since 2019. Phil Sibson, managing director of FilmNova, tells SVG Europe the day before the event: “There have been some interesting challenges on this one in particular. Firstly, we’re on an island which always brings logistical challenges.”

Another factor to take into account was the 2023 World Triathlon Multisport Championships taking place in Ibiza between 28 April and 7 May.

PTO Tour

“The PTO event is sitting within that, and that has been very useful in terms of Ibiza already expecting triathlon and being able to accommodate that,” says Sibson.

However, the World Triathlon events are shorter distances than their PTO counterparts.

“This is a 100km triathlon,” Sibson explains. “It’s taken quite a long time for the course to get approved, and our course is quite problematic to cover from a technical point of view. We did a recce in February, and that’s when we found that the start and finish were separated by about 2.7km, which meant we need to split operations as well.”

And while UK-based FilmNova might have had a sunny break from the pageantry and precipitation of the coronation of King Charles III last weekend, the timing also meant that satellite trucks were in short supply.

“There aren’t any satellite trucks on the island,” notes Sibson. “And it just didn’t make practical sense to bring them over from the Spanish mainland. We did have contingencies in the plan, such as running fibre between the two, but over that sort of distance that seemed a bit of a headache and a concern as well in case anything happens to that fibre.”

“So, due to logistics and budgetary reasons, we decided the only way to link the two would be over internet connectivity at the start and the finish,” he explains.“At the finish, we have several RF and cable cameras going into the hub, and they are relayed over a static IP address to the start, where the main OB is situated. The local telecoms company managed to provide what we needed for that.”

The race kicks off with a 2km sea swim from Ibiza’s Figueretas Beach.“We have drones here – we’re using two of them but in three different positions,” explains Sibson. “[The swim] is a 1km loop so we had a drone covering that, as well as having a long lens on a platform from the beach to pick up other shots.

“The beach is where transition takes place as well, but after transition, they embark on an 80km cycle which is inland on roads, where the only way of getting those pictures back is by motos [cameras on motorbikes]. We’re sending those signals back to the start by bonded 4G, and we need a lot of bandwidth to be able to pull the signals down.”

The course is four looped laps, with each loop around 19km. For added complexity in terms of signal SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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PTO Tour

transmission, there’s also a tunnel on either side of the loops.

“We’ve got two motos, one with a lead group and then one with the chase group,” says Sibson. “The roads are quite narrow, so there’s not much ability to move those motos up and down the fields. There are no cable cameras on the motos route. It just goes so far out that there’s no other way of doing it.”

Due to their position within the World Triathlon Multisport Championships, both the men’s Anne Haug wins in Ibiza and the women’s PTO events must take place on the same day.

“Normally for the PTO events, we hold them on a Saturday and then Sunday, so because each race takes about four hours, we’ve got to stagger the races,” says Sibson.“The men are going off first thing in the morning [08:50 local time], with the women starting an hour later.

That means we need four motos in total, one for the men’s lead and the chase group and then the same for the women’s race as well.”

Once the triathletes finish the cycling, they go back into the same transition before going out on the run, which is a completely separate course.“That goes on loops around the marina,” says Sibson. “We’ve had some interesting challenges getting the permissions for our drones to fly around the marina because it’s so tight; we’re on a small island which has air traffic control as well. We just got the final approval through for flying them in the marina, but things do take time to get approved out here.”

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PTO Tour

Teams and tech at the ready

“It’s really interesting to have two races in the same broadcast slot and there will always be technical challenges, but we’ve got a really good team here” PHIL SIBSON, FILMNOVA

The event called for an 80-strong team of tech and production personnel, with Gravity Media supplying the OB on this occasion.“The OB is made up of two trucks, one that’s come from the UK, which is the main scanner, and then we’ve got one that’s come from mainland Spain,” says Sibson.“That one is housing part of our VT operation and our highlights team, who do the same-day, fast-turnaround highlights.We also have our graphics team from AE Live in there. They are the same team who come on the whole tour; they’ve come in from Singapore for this.”

“We’ve got 16 cameras in total: those four motos, some handheld RFs and cable cameras, and the two drones,” he continues. “One drone stays permanently at the run course, while the other one covers the swim and then transports to the finish to do the tail end of the run there. The cable cameras are covering the runs and the transition.

“We’re also using a Sony FS7 to provide some high frame rate shots. It’s a mobile camera that records onto cards, so we’re running those back to the truck, ingesting

them and playing them in at a high frame rate. We’ll try and get those into the coverage as much as possible as well, just to show some really nice shots of the athletes at high frame rates.”

The coverage of the staggered races is a six-hour marathon. “We’re off the air at two o’clock, and then we have some other commitments, such as a VNR for distribution,” he adds. “We also have an hour-long highlights programme, which is a fast turnaround, and which we play out two hours after we go off-air for distribution by satellite.”

FilmNova has two editors working on that edit while the race is ongoing. “We take the commentary from the world feed. We shoot some links straight after we come off-air with the main programme and create any additional graphics that we need.

“It’s really interesting to have two races in the same broadcast slot and there will always be technical challenges, but we’ve got a really good team here.

Everyone’s pulling together, it’s a really happy team and we know we’ve got the best people working on this.”

Overcoming island challenges

Setting off for the swim segment

The initial swim segment threw up issues for FilmNova as the drone that was meant to be providing coverage wasn’t permitted to fly over the marina by the local port authority. This was even though permission had previously been sought and granted by Spanish air traffic control.

“That delayed the drone guys in terms of their testing, and in terms of the RF link

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that was associated with it,” says Matthew Coliandris, senior director at host broadcaster FilmNova. “That gave us a bit of an issue on Saturday morning — we didn’t have the drone for the men’s swim because the RF link wasn’t holding up.”

It was left mainly to just one camera to provide the main coverage, sited on a raised breakwater

and fitted with an 86:1 box lens.

“Essentially that men’s race was all down to Scott, our cameraman on the big lens, for the swim. He was working very hard to make sure that the variety of shots that we got made it interesting,” says Coliandris. “We also had two cameras in the transition area doing their level best to give us other shots to cut in between.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Garnes: ‘It is the right time to make all these changes to our workflows and to grow the sport and the entertainment side of the league’

Jose Garnes on overhauling the BBL’s media operation

BY GEORGE BEVIR FIRST PUBLISHED 5 MAY 2023

“I want to give people a reason to care about why they should follow a team, player, or the whole league.

That’s my main focus” JOSE GARNES, BBL

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he British Basketball League (BBL) has some ambitious growth plans. Back in December 2021, Miami-based 777 Partners invested £7 million and took a 45% stake in the professional league.

At the time, BBL announced a raft of initiatives, from committing to a grassroots ‘Inspires’ programme and investing in the development of officials and referees, to installing new in-stadia technologies – as well as an overhaul of its content operation.

A new chief executive,Aaron Radin, was also appointed.

Radin said his top priority on joining was to “set up our organisation to be able to present our product and tell our stories in the most compelling, engaging way” by adopting a “hands on” approach to producing content. All of this is with the aim of reaching what Radin described as an “untapped” market.

The task, then, says recently recruited BBL chief content officer Jose Garnes, is to build awareness of the league and make viewers care about the sport. “People don’t watch elite sport just because it’s good sport, people watch it because there is a backstory that they want to follow and they want to see how that plays out.

“As a league, we have a very good level of basketball that is played, but that’s not always enough for people to watch the next game and the next game, or to follow a team.

“What we need is storytelling; why do you need to care about the team that is bottom of the league? What is at stake

British Basketball League

for the top of the league? I want to give people a reason to care about why they should follow a team, player or the whole league.

And then, of course, there’s a lot of things that we need to do to accomplish that, from improving the level of our broadcasts to growing the volume of content creation that we do in between games, and more.”

Garnes was appointed at the end of last month to the newly created role of chief content officer, with a remit of leading the creation of the league’s broadcast, digital and social media content.

His appointment is the first of several hires in the media and content department, with the BBL recruiting an executive producer, producer, co-ordinating producer, live director, editor, media manager, head of content, designer and writer over the past month as the league looks to create its own in-house production team. A core team will be in place by the time the 2023/24 season starts in September, with a second round of hires likely in January.

“We are building a production arm of the league, which we are transforming from an event business into an entertainment business. As part of that we’re going to be increasing our knowledge and expertise in production, and we are going to be pairing with some third parties who will have the knowledge on remote production and the workforce that is needed for that. But all of the editorial knowledge on what stories we want to tell will be within a core group within the BBL,” says Garnes.

Improving production values

Sky has been airing a BBL match on a Friday night for the past three years, and conversations about continuing that partnership are taking place. All other BBL games are streamed live via BBL’s own YouTube channel.

“Linear TV is valuable and it’s a place that we want to be as a league, but we know that we need to prove that there’s an appetite. And we know that there is, because we have been streaming our games for the past few years, but not to the level that can really swhowcase what the BBL has to offer. There’s a lot of games that aren’t getting the attention or the exposure that they should, so we’re going to be working on increasing the production values on those games from September.”

Over the past two months BBL has also been involved in an RFP process for a facilities partner, with an announcement to be made “very soon”. Says Garnes: “The people that we have been talking with will allow us to get up to speed very quickly on the level of production that we want.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

British Basketball League

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“We are building a production arm of the league, which we are transforming from an event business into an entertainment business” JOSE GARNES, BBL

A key element will be a shift to remote production.“If three years ago you had asked me about remote production, I would be very afraid of that word. But the three-anda-half years that I spent with SailGP taught The production value of games has been in focus me that remote production can work very well, it just takes a different mindset. And it allows you and short clips of the best plays. It uses Greenfly to share to create content in volume, because you are not wasting content with players and teams. time travelling up and down the country. And, of course, The plan for next season is to create a self-service set of some of the benefits of having everyone centrally are that tools and resources for players and teams to use.“Then all you can create a lot more with a small team.” they have to do is post that content,” says Garnes.

“We will be busy, but I think it is the right time to do Social media these things... It’s going to be difficult, and it will feel like Social media is an area also set for an overhaul, with we are going uphill at times, but now — with the support current activity just “the tip of the iceberg”, says Garnes. In of 777 Partners and the vision of our CEO Aaron Radin September last year, BBL signed a three-year partnership — it is the right time to make all these changes to our with WSC Sports for automated highlight creation, workflows and to grow the sport and the entertainment including top 10 montages, condensed game highlights side of the league.”

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The match will be captured by 32 cameras, including corner flag cameras, a railcam and an extra high-speed Polecam

Record number of cameras for Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund Bundesliga tie

BY GEORGE BEVIR

FIRST PUBLISHED 31 MARCH 2023

A

record number of cameras will be used to capture the action at Saturday’s match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, with additional cameras positioned around the Allianz Arena in Munich for the top-of-the-table clash.

A Bundesliga match is usually covered by at least 19 and up to 26 cameras, but the match on Saturday will feature 32 — a record for a Bundesliga broadcast.

The UHD-HDR coverage and camera plan has been devised by Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) subsidiary and host broadcaster Sportcast. It includes corner flag cameras, a railcam and an extra high-speed Polecam attached to a four-metre-long jib arm that covers the entire goal, including the view through the goal net, and enables extreme slow motion.

An additional ultra-slow-motion cam with a focus on extreme slow motion that captures six times more images per second than an ordinary camera will also be deployed. A second wireless handheld cinematic-look camera will also be used, along with additional cameras for capturing reactions from coaches and players. A 130

Der Klassiker

drone outside the stadium and an aerial camera system will provide shots from the air.

Sky and nume rous international media partners will also be showing the Tactical Feed, where the main camera always shows the full-pitch view, including all 20 outfield players, while information and graphics are shown at relevant points throughout the match in a J-shaped frame at the edge of the screen. These include the Bundesliga Match Facts powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), with the average positions of both teams, tactical team data and individual information on the players.

Three international media partners — SkyPerfecTV! in Japan, Network 4 in Hungary and Sky in Mexico — will also be giving their viewers the chance to watch Der Klassiker via the Interactive Feed from the DFL. Along with the live stream, it will provide viewers with match data which they can display on their screen or hide. They can also view highlight videos on demand.

International media partners will be able to use content produced by DFL subsidiary DFL Digital Sports from the organisation’s International Product Portfolio, which includes the entire match with English-language commentary, interviews and highlights.

International interest

With just one point between league leaders Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, the DFL is anticipating keen interest in the fixture.

The match will be broadcast in more than 200 of the 211 FIFA member countries. In addition to the national media partners, a host of international TV broadcasters will also be dispatching their own crews to the Allianz Arena in Munich to cover the 108th Bundesliga meeting between the two clubs.

The list includes ESPN (US), ESPN Deportes (US, South America), Viaplay (Poland, Norway, Sweden, Finland), beIN Sports France, beIN Sports Middle East, Network 4 (Hungary), Canal+ (Sub-Saharan Africa), OneFootball and BAND Sports (both Brazil), all of which will be reporting live from the stadium with commentary in their respective languages and interviews with players and experts pre- and post-match.

On the day of the match there will also be watch parties in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, Indonesia, China and Nigeria.

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European Athletics Team Championships

A 400m qualification heat during the European Athletics Team Championships 2023

Inside the EBU’s AI voice cloning project

BY GEORGE BEVIR FIRST PUBLISHED 20 JUNE 2023

T

he European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is exploring the practical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sports broadcasting with a voice cloning project during the European Athletics Team Championships in Poland, which begins today (20 June).

In between the live sessions of the championships, AI-generated content will replace traditionally edited highlights with the cloned voice of former Team GB athlete-turned-commentator Hannah England.

England’s voice will be used to turn a live blog into audio as part of a 24-hour live stream on the European Athletics website and YouTube Channel.

Eurovision Sport head of audio and innovation Christophe Pasquier told SVG Europe that Eurovision Sport had been inspired by EBU Swiss Romand member Couleur 3, the radio station operated by RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. In April, Couleur 3 used AI to generate a day’s worth of content, including the selection of a playlist, the voice cloning six of its DJs and their scripts.

“We listened to that and we were impressed by the quality of it,” says Pasquier. “So we said, OK, let’s brainstorm and try to do something. The idea was not 132

to create a precedent as such — not to reinvent the wheel — but to optimise the existing resources and so we saw that the text-based blogs could be exploited in a different way. We considered text to speech, that became text to a cloned voice, which then became text to the clone of Hannah’s voice.”

“During the live sessions, fans will be able to listen to the real commentary created by a genuine human being, sharing the live emotion,” he adds.“And then between the live sessions, the idea is to generate a loop, maybe 10, 15 or 20 minutes long, depending on the content, which will be made available between the live sessions and will be fully AI-generated content, including the blog-to-clone voice.”

When the cloned version is played out, listeners will be alerted to the fact it is a cloned voice, which is an important feature, says Pasquier, who also spoke of the ethical dimensions involved in the use of AI, all of which are arguably heightened by the public service remit of the EBU. He adds: “AI and data are central themes for public service media today, and we are all aware of the potential abuses linked to the irresponsible use of AI. The EBU has, for instance, created an AI ethics group. Our organisations wish to test and demonstrate that these technologies can be effective tools if used in a strict and judiciously supervised framework.

“By developing AI strategies in close collaboration with our partners, we believe we can relieve the workload of our talents by delegating certain thankless tasks with low added value to algorithmic assistance.”

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European Athletics Team Championships

Fascinating journey

EBU radio senior sport producer Micky Curling has been tasked with combining the live commentaries of European Athletics experts with summaries generated

by AI. He says: “Between live sessions of athletics, we have traditionally produced a mixture of highlights and reaction, a process that has been time consuming and labour intensive.

“As a producer, I now have the ability to generate fresh content without expecting my presenter to remain glued to her seat for hours after competition has finished. This experiment represents the start of a fascinating journey which could free-up our commentators to focus on preparing for their next live session, while we deliver content on their behalf. This requires a deep level of trust between the presenter and producer that goes further than the existing relationship involving traditional editing and scripting.”

The EBU is working with AI start-up Respeecher to generate the clone of Hannah England’s voice, with Respeecher providing the voice cloning software for the initiative.

Respeecher synthetic speech artist Valerii ZablotskyiDrohan says: “Considering it’s a 24-hour live audio stream, there is a lot of pressure and responsibility on the

event host and organisers. We’re glad that Respeecher AI technology could help them save time and optimise resources so they could focus on the championships and distribute even more high-quality content for fans. The intersection of sport and AI is fascinating, so it’s great to see European Athletics and the EBU encourage it, as there is a huge space for creativity.”

This project is part of Eurovision Sport’s efforts to explore how text-to-speech and voice-cloning technologies can allow European Athletics to exploit its content, data and journalism across multiple platforms.

Eurovision Sport, the sports division of the EBU, is the longstanding broadcast partner of European Athletics, and both organisations are also concerned by the notion of inclusiveness, says Pasquier.

European Athletics CEO Christian Milz adds:“Athletics is arguably the most inclusive sport in the world, but we want to expand it further, making the sport available to everyone and customised to their needs — however they wish to engage with it.

“That’s why we’re constantly exploring how we can leverage advances in technology to achieve this and now, thanks to the wonders of AI and our partnership with Eurovision Sport, we have another innovative way to bring athletics to more people.”

“This experiment represents the start of a fascinating journey which could free-up our commentators to focus on preparing for their next live session, while we deliver content on their behalf” MICKY CURLING, EBU

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Badminton Horse Trials

Over the solar panel fences at the halfway point of the 4.2-mile course

Jumping obstacles: EMG deploys expansive operation for Badminton Horse Trials

BY MICHAEL BURNS FIRST PUBLISHED 5 MAY 2023

“The infrastructure is the biggest problem on the job. Sometimes the course runs where a cable would have been last year, so it’s just tying it all together” JOE FLOWER, EMG

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he Badminton Horse Trials is one of the world’s toughest equestrian events, seen as the pinnacle of the horse trials calendar. Set across the expansive grounds of Badminton House in Gloucestershire, the event has been running since 1949 and was first televised in 1956. Things have changed a little on the broadcast front since then.

This year (4-8 May), EMG deployed a large OB operation comprising around 40 staff, two OB trucks, 20 cameras and a drone on site. EMG works with Badminton TV to stream the event live, with a highlights show on the BBC on Monday 8 May. It’s the 14th time EMG has covered the event, with unit and technical manager Joe Flower comparing it in a geographical scale to a high-level golf tournament.

“It’s quite a large operation in terms of personnel,” says Flower. “We have over 50 staff in total, comprising engineers, graphics, a 10-strong edit team, as well as 20 camera operators plus jib assistants.”

The course is different every year, so a month before the event Flower goes around the site with the course planners, accompanied by Chris Lewis Media (EMG’s client for the coverage) and the BBC.

“The infrastructure is the biggest problem on the job,” says Flower. “Sometimes the course runs where a cable would have been last year, so it’s just tying it all together.”

Ground control

The trials kick off with two days of dressage in an arena, but the cross-country event on day three (Sunday) poses the biggest challenge, both for the competitors and the broadcast crew. The course of four miles sees the horses jumping a series of man-made and natural obstacles within a set time. Then on day four, it’s back to the arena for show jumping.

EMG’s triple-expanding Nova 134 truck is the heart of the on-site production, supplying subscription-based internet TV channel Badminton TV, which streams live and catch-up footage via the Brightcove platform.

“We have a VT truck, which does all the edit and the VT side of things, we have a tender support vehicle from which we run the Badminton TV commentary, and we also have a cabin to do the voiceover dub for the cross country,” explains Flower.

EMG does a submix for the cross-country coverage.

“Our 20 cross-country cameras are split across two directors, in order to control it a bit more,” Flower adds.

“Predominantly what they look for is being able to see the jump, but once they’ve done the jump, we want to be SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Badminton Horse Trials

able to swing the camera shot so that it passes on to the next jump for continuity. So every camera needs to be positioned to be able to see the approach, the jump and the away.”

“After the cross country everything shrinks down into a six-camera OB for the show jumping,” he continues.

In terms of camera comms, everything goes through the CCU. “There are headsets and radio kit for all of the crew, the audio crew, vision crew and riggers, everyone else is on a handheld radio,” says Flower.“We have comms to the Badminton show itself; it’s so vast and everyone’s on an-event wide channel, including electricians and the PA system. So, if anyone needs something or if cables are going the wrong way or whatever, everyone can be in touch with each other.”

Live presentations take place at the end of the cross country and during the show jumping. “We do the presentation from the arena,” he adds. “It’s a standard presentation — just one single handheld RF camera that comes in and rigs on Saturday, ready for the Sunday, with main RF mics and a backup system. The mics go out on the Tannoy so we give feeds to the people doing the PA system.”

Big rig

According to Flower, the event demands a “three-day constant rig”, even while individual events are taking place. “We start on Thursday by getting everything rigged for the dressage, and we cover that on the Friday and Saturday from 10 o’clock in the morning until about 4pm,” Flower explains. “Then, on Saturday, it’s a quick turnaround to get everything out into the cross country.

We don’t really finish rigging until Saturday night to be ready because it’s so vast.

“There are 14 extra cameras that need to go out [on the cross-country course. We can’t put out any camera heads on Thursday or Friday, as we can’t leave them out for security reasons. So we have to check all those cameras before they get rigged.”

And there are a lot of cameras and lenses to check: “We run 20 Sony HDC-3500 and HDC-4300 heads. Because of the distances involved, we use longer lenses, such as the Canon Digisuper 86. On the jibs, we use Canon HJ11 lenses to get nice wide shots, and we have some HJ14 lenses sprinkled around,” he explains.

“Every camera is manned bar one on the show jumping, which we have on lock off. There’s also drone coverage round the lake, and then for four to five jumps across a long stretch. It looks great.”

The drone is supplied by Steve Peters Drones, piloted from an area on the course by Badminton Lake.

“Essentially when they get to a certain point in the course, there’s such a break that to cover it and to cable would be too costly,” says Flower. “And it’s much nicer to have on the drone.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

A muddy OB compound after the weekend rain

Clip clop

Sound is provided by on-camera audio.“It’s a stereo show.

On every camera we put out we have a Sennheiser 416 or 816 rifle microphone, depending on how far away they are from the course,” says Flower.“That all gets brought back through camera channels.”

The camera positions are spread out across the whole estate, connected by a fibre infrastructure pre-installed by a third party. It remains on site throughout the year.

“After a year of it being underground, the challenge is in digging it out, getting all the dirt and water out, and making sure everything works. You never quite know what you’re going to get,” he says.

“We’ve set out hubs that run all the cable to and from the trucks; we run fibres to our hubs, and then bring the cameras back to them. Some of the distances are 1,200m per camera from each hub, so geographically and logistically it’s quite a tough challenge.”

This is hampered by the fact that from the Thursday ticket holders are allowed into the grounds.

“The public is in on Thursday for what they call the ‘trot up’ where they come and have a look at all the horses that are going to be competing,” says Flower.“So you have to get through the crowd with the vehicles and all the camera kit… going all around it just takes forever. It’s such a challenging operation in terms of getting everything ready because you move everywhere at a snail’s pace.” “[On Saturday] we test it all, drone included, and get ready for Sunday when we cover around 10 hours’ worth of cross country,” continues Flower. “We then spin round all the footage into an edit which gets dubbed on Monday ready for the TX by the BBC. While that’s going on, we cover the show jumping, which runs a solid eight hours.

“The show is quite complex in that sense because even when we’re broadcasting the show jumping, there are people in the background, rigging cameras, doing all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes that still needs to be done.”

Flower feels the spectacle on the Sunday makes up for all the effort of the previous three days. “I’m not really a horse person, but the cross country is great,” he says. “It’s a lush place to be, so all the different camera shots look really cool. It certainly keeps you entertained.”

“The show is quite complex… because even when we’re broadcasting the show jumping, there are people in the background, rigging cameras, doing all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes that still needs to be done” JOE FLOWER, EMG

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Host court side cameras on Court 6 at Roland-Garros

FFT and HBS on this year’s social media proof of concept service

BY HEATHER MCLEAN FIRST PUBLISHED 9 JUNE 2023

“We know that the young generation is consuming less and less [traditional] TV, and more and more on digital platforms. If we want to renew our audience, we also need to be able to get access to those people” AMANDINE TYL, FFT

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“Also, most of this [social media-specific] content is coming from cell phones,” she continues. “So this is not normal broadcast; this is really something dedicated to digital teams. We get the content really quickly; basically those guys [working on this content] are, for example, on the court with their cell phone. They’re just shooting something, they send it immediately, and less than one minute later the broadcaster can get access to this content.”

The FFT launched its main content hub for all its rights holding broadcasters, both on and off site, in 2021. It is called the RG Live Server. The type of content covered on the new Social Media Interface includes classic court content, but also, says Tyl, a lot of behind-the-scenes footage, such as players just before they enter a court, arriving at the venue in their cars, walking to their practice sessions or in the gym, and so on.

oland-Garros is ready for the final call of ‘game, set and match’this weekend, as the tension builds towards the champions battling it out on the red clay courts.

Following the Fédération Française de Tennis’ (FFT) takeover of the host broadcast from France Télévisions in 2021, its relationship with technical services provider for Market trends the annual production of the French Open, HBS, is going The FFT decided to create the Social Media Interface from strength to strength. proof of concept itself, partly through observing market trends and partly through watching what its rights holding Social stories broadcasters were doing with the world feed content Social media is the big story of Roland-Garros 2023, where provided in recent years. a proof-of-concept service has been launched this year for Notes Tyl: “We are just following the market. We all broadcasters to access.Amandine Tyl, head of broadcast understand that broadcasters need more and more and production in the media and production department content for their digital platforms. To be honest, we at the FFT, explains:“[Our social media strategy] is evolving are quite lucky at Roland-Garros because most of our a lot. This year as a proof of concept, we have launched a broadcasters are on site, which is not the case for all new service for broadcasters together with HBS. It’s called events, but still there are some broadcasters who are not the Social Media Interface. Basically this is a web-based on site who don’t have any ENG crew and just rely on us interface which is developed by HBS and on this platform to give them [all of their] content. Now, through the Social we provide to all our broadcasters only content dedicated to Media Interface, we have two platforms [including the RG digital platforms, which means content here is really made Live Server] which are really easy to use for broadcasters, for digital, not coming [direct] from the world feed. Some on which they can get content as if they were in Paris.” of it may come from the world feed, but then it is released in Social media reach is also key for the FFT in order to a format which fits with digital needs.” bring in a new generation of tennis fans, who due to the SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Amazon Prime’s presentation position at Roland-Garros 2023

“We have invested quite a lot of money in our venue and we are very proud of what we did so we want to be able to show it to all broadcasters” AMANDINE TYL, FFT

viewing habits of that demographic may not be watching linear TV. Explains Tyl: “Of course this is key for tennis and for the French Tennis Federation because we know that the young generation is consuming less and less [traditional] TV, and more and more on digital platforms.

If we want to renew our audience, we also need to be able to get access to those people. This has to be really short content, less than 10 seconds, really ready to use for digital platforms like Instagram, TikTok and so on.”

Enhanced content

Also for the first time viewers are now able to view RolandGarros from the sky, as well as many iconic views of the city itself. Explains Tyl: “This year we have introduced a drone. We have drone shooting during the 15 days of the main draw, from 10 in the morning till 10 at night in order to give an overview of the venue itself, to show the venue [in situ] next to Paris, to the Eiffel Tower, but also to show the venue itself. We have invested quite a lot of money in our venue and we are very proud of what we did so we want to be able to show it to all broadcasters.”

“It also gives us an opportunity to have different views of the courts,” Tyl continues. “The drone we have this year has three different optics, so it makes it possible to overlook onto Court Philippe-Chatrier for example, but also on Court Simonne Mathieu and all the other courts of the venue.

“The coverage of the court, what is happening on court, making sure that we don’t miss anything is key. But also being able to enhance the coverage through those kinds of beauty cameras.We have also quite a lot of beauty cams to show the venue inside Paris.”

Constant learning

Both the FFT and HBS learned a lot last year, as crowds returned to the venue and further enhancements were rolled out for the production. That knowledge is shaping how things are being done at Roland-Garros today.

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Philippe Oziol, director of HBS France Production, says: “There was quite a lot of things that we learned last year. Because last year it was the first full year as such [since COVID]. As Amandine said, we also want people who don’t have the possibility to come to Roland-Garros to experience the uniqueness of the venue. So we changed the position of the beauty cameras to enhance the stadium quite a lot.”

However, the key learning was about the full IP-based network that HBS used for Roland-Garros in 2022. States Oziol: “It has been a huge learning curve because it’s clearly something quite new in this industry.

“Compared to an SDI system, now you can have all the different sources and you can organise and distribute them remotely, which changes the way you work. It also changes the kind of profiles that you work with. It’s an engineering-based technology. Everyone, when you have a change, you need to learn about it, to have different skills.

And it clearly doesn’t require the same skills everywhere.”

Elsewhere, HBS also added a further court to its remote production this year, taking the total being produced in the north of Paris to 13, while the production for the main four courts remains on site.

The four main courts are being produced in full IP ST 2110-20/30 UHD HDR production workflow, while the additional courts are being covered with a full remote 1080pSDR production workflow, with four cameras per court on an all-in-one production set up.

The Master Control Room is overseeing and guaranteeing the distribution of a total of 138 feeds including UHD HDR, 1080pSDR and 1080iSDR. There are a total of 120 cameras within the whole Roland-Garros site, all of which are Sony Global shutter cameras. All 120 cameras are shaded and supervised within one single, centralised gallery overseen by two senior supervisors.

On the topic of audio, Oziol says for Roland-Garros 2023, microphones have been shifted in position and their numbers increased, with the addition of umpire mics, to allow viewers at home to become more immersed in the action.

He says: “We have put microphones at the ground level [on the courts] which allows us to have a better sound of the players; [this low mic] allows us to hear the clay, when there is a slide on the clay. And on top of it as well, with the support of the FFT, we have the referee microphone, meaning that we can hear everything that they are sharing with the players. That’s really a huge enhancement.”

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Four OBs were on site to capture the main race and additional content

RaceTech expands coverage of the Epsom Derby Festival

BY WILL STRAUSS FIRST PUBLISHED 9 JUNE 2023

“I was particularly impressed with our dual outputs for the RCTV zoned productions” JOHN BOZZA, RACETECH

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s the primary technical and broadcast service provider for British horse racing, RaceTech covers the crown jewels of the racing calendar including the Epsom Derby, the most prestigious flat race in the world.

RaceTech’s planning for coverage of the Derby Festival at Epsom (2-3 June 2023), which is watched by more than 150 countries, is a year-on-year process, working with the racecourse teams, The Jockey Club, The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and additional rightsholders to produce full live output over the two days.

RaceTech used four OB units in total with additional support vehicles to cover multiple productions at this year’s event.

The main race production took place in a dedicated OB unit with its own director focusing purely on race coverage. This unit managed many of the cameras and audio sources and supplied the integrity coverage with replays to the BHA stewards and officials as required.

Racing TV’s live broadcast covered a multitude of areas as well as its main focus on the racing. RaceTech used a combination of RF cameras and fixed position presentation cameras managed from one of its smaller

Derby Festival at Epsom

footprint OB units. Two presentation outputs covered racing interviews alongside crowd interaction looking at fashion and on-course entertainment, simultaneously produced by technical and production staff on-site.

The Racecourse TV output (RCTV) at this year’s renewal took place with two productions and newly designed Derby graphics. The main site-wide RCTV production was complemented by a second production exclusive to the Family Festival Enclosure with its own large screens.

RaceTech’s OB10, with its dual production rooms, was on site. A total of six cameras (both fixed and RF) were used across both productions. Also proving popular and used at Epsom for the first time, was the FanCam, a live fan engagement tool allowing racegoers to be seen live on screens via their mobile phone cameras.

John Bozza, RaceTech CEO, said: “I was particularly impressed with our dual outputs for the RCTV zoned productions. We had a mixture of 30 technical OB and production crew working on this, all using RaceTech facilities. The result was hugely successful, with racegoers and their families enjoying dedicated content specifically designed for each area.”

Using a second smaller OB unit (OB6), RaceTech provided dedicated OB space for the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) production on Saturday. This production pulls together racing and presentation feeds to make a world feed distributed to HKJC. This space included an Evertz Dreamcatcher production server for replays and a graphics platform to display in-running data.

In addition, RaceTech used LiveU connectivity to provide dedicated presentation camera facilities for an on-site reporter/presenter for Sky Australia.

Fandual (formerly TVG) was provided with a similar facility on-course, plus RaceTech provided various UK bookmakers with presentation slots allocated for their own talent to appear on-course utilising the RaceTech OB facilities and RMG connectivity.

RaceTech’s Derby Festival provision also included full public address management, covering commentary, announcements, music, audio of marching bands, national anthem and presentations.

James Gray, commercial director at RaceTech, said: “The RaceTech crew and our associates have worked tremendously to bring such an elaborate multiproduction outside broadcast together. It is fantastic to see the full complement of RaceTech OBs simultaneously at use for this festival, from the agile and versatile OB5 and OB6 through to our dual output, flagship unit. It’s also great to see new innovation on display with the FanCam on the RCTV outputs.”

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A hugely experienced presentation line up for the 2023 Boat Race included Clare Balding

FilmNova brings drones and IP to The Boat Race

BY HEATHER MCLEAN

FIRST PUBLISHED 30 MARCH 2023

“You can’t try and be too clever. You have to tell the story of what’s happening out there” MATTHEW COLIANDRIS, FILMNOVA

W

ith 194 years of rivalry and counting, The Boat Race — where students from Oxford and Cambridge Universities pit themselves against each other on the River Thames in London — has become synonymous with British tradition and excellence.

The 77th Women’s Boat Race and 168th Men’s Boat Race took place on 26 March 2023, with FilmNova working with both EMG and Timeline TV to bring all the thrills and spills to viewers on BBC One, The Boat Race’s own YouTube channel, and over 200 rightsholders via the world feed.

Phil Sibson, FilmNova managing director and executive producer of the Boat Race, comments: “We do the BBC’s domestic coverage, including the race, and then we do a separate international feed that we produce as well, which was done remotely from Ealing. We’re the production partner of the BBC, so the technical aspect is contracted directly by the BBC, although we were involved in the tender process for the reappointment of EMG.” While EMG covers all on site technicalities, at Timeline TV in Ealing FilmNova had a producer, a continuity announcer and an EVS operator working on the world feed.

Race plan

Matthew Coliandris, FilmNova’s race director, comments on the plan for the race: “The BBC let us get on with it for the most part. For the most part we stuck with the plan as was last year. But, having done it last year, we thought there were ways to streamline the coverage and make it more efficient.”

The biggest difference implemented is that previously, 142

The Boat Race

the race was completed with two OB trucks — one at the start in Putney and one at the end in Mortlake — each with separate crews, including directors. Thanks to EMG bringing in IP connectivity, the race was managed from the main truck at the start of the race for the first time this year, while an OB was in place at the end of the race as part of the disaster recovery plan.

Comments Coliandris: “We’ve now pulled all that control back so that Putney — the start OB and the main race OB — does the entire event. We still have an OB at Mortlake because it’s able, should there be catastrophic failure at Putney in terms of broadcast, to still put the broadcast to air; it can receive a certain amount of our cameras.”

He adds:“Part of the reason why this has never happened before is because the technology’s never existed before, to be able to get all those cameras back from the finish.”

Sibson says of the technology being used: “So we’re now using dark fibre; it’s an IP mesh that EMG is using.

Previously it was done through street access lease lines.”

Camera plans

The FilmNova team delivered a highly complex OB involving 31 cameras across the 4.2-mile course. The camera spec included use of a helicopter, two drones — one for the race and one for the warmup — and live feeds from minicams showing the cox and stroke athletes on each of the Oxford and Cambridge boats as they raced.

The camera plan is quite complex for this very fast race. Coliandris says: “We try and build a plan whereby we bring those cameras into coverage in conjunction with the mobile cameras we’ve got; the cameras on the water and the aerial cameras. We draw up a flight plan for the helicopter, for instance, which puts him in a certain position at a certain time, which coincides very nicely with the next camera we’re going to on the land and vice versa, so we never have a clash.

“We do the same with the drones; we give them moves.

We don’t just want them to follow two boats, two crews down the course. We want to be moving them around, we want them to be in front, behind, left, right. So quite a lot of planning goes into putting that together for two of what are our most dynamic cameras.”

Sibson comments: “We used the drone last year for the first time. And then this year we were able to use two.

We had one for the race, which was flown from a boat following the flotilla, and then there was a drone that was specifically to cover the warmup, because when the boats first enter the water, they go the other way [to the race course]. None of the fixed cameras are that way and in the past [the boat crews] have known that they can go there to get away from the cameras. But now we’ve got drones!”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

svgeuropeupdate

The Boat Race

Directing control

There were still two directors working on the day, with one covering the race itself and the other the presentation.

Coliandris explains: “We split the presentation and the race direction solely because of what happens on event day. It’s largely in the lead up; there’s so much to test within the race truck and rehearse that you would not have enough time to be able to run through presentation properly. You couldn’t dedicate enough time to reporters and presenters because you would just have too much to do with the race.”

Coliandris, as race director, was faced with maintaining the long heritage of this race while improving the coverage as much as possible this year.

He comments: “You’re always totally in the lap of the gods in terms of what happens out on the water. You can’t try and be too clever. You have to tell the story of what’s happening out there. Certainly for the first half of the men’s race, you just have to pay attention to what’s happening on the water. We put plans in place for the helicopter to be in a certain place and the drone to be in a certain place, but that was in conjunction with what was happening in the race live. It’s a very, very quick race.

They’re 18 to 20 minutes depending on conditions, so there’s a lot to get in.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Two directors worked on the day, one covering the race itself and the other the presentation

Challenges on water

This year the weather and the rowers themselves created a few challenges for the FilmNova team. Sibson says: “The weather was certainly challenging in the lead up. The week before was shocking, and for the crew out on the water in particular, it’s really tough. The drone is the one camera which is affected by weather conditions more than any other. We probably never saw the drone in anger until the women’s race went off on Sunday and even then, would you believe it, [the drone operator’s] boat had an engine problem. So there are challenges. It’s a big OB, it’s a very complicated OB, and it’s subject to weather conditions. An awful lot has got to go right for you for everything to work.”

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Holmenkollen Ski Festival

NEP Norway takes Holmenkollen Ski Festival to new heights

“And then we used one wireless camera.

Wireless cameras capture literally in the moment where the audience is. We also used it to interview the [athletes] who were skiing, and also the cross country.”

NEP Norway also used a Polecam to capture the up-close action at the top of the ski jumps, where the space available is narrow, but the facial expressions of the athletes are a must see as they prepare to jump.

“On the ski jump, we used around 15 cameras, and on the cross-country event we have around 30 cameras. So it’s quite a large amount of cameras to be able to cover such a big event,” adds Jafri.

There are myriad challenges for this event, but the temperature is the main one, says Jafri: “The challenge we face is the cold weather, which is somewhere around -10 degrees Celsius. Our camera crew uses heating pads inside their gloves and actually on their feet as well, because they’re standing there for hours and hours. To protect our cameras, we use arctic rain covers, for rain and snow.”

BY HEATHER MCLEAN

Sound of powder

NRK camera capturing a climb in front of large crowds in Saturday’s Men’s 50km Cross Country race

FIRST PUBLISHED 17 MARCH 2023

“We have such great experiences doing these kind of productions, that whatever challenge we face, we always manage to deliver the ‘wow’” TOSSIEF JAFRI, NEP NORWAY

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he FIS World Cup Cross Country Skiing, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival in Norway took place last weekend from 9-12 March.

This event was a huge effort by host broadcaster NRK of Norway, which used its own OB units as well as being supported by technical provider NEP Norway. This is one of the biggest OBs of the year in Norway, with cameras spread over a wide area to cover the 8.3km-lap Cross Country course and the Holmenkollen ski jumping hill.

This event also had the first-ever FIS Women’s 50km Cross Country race on Sunday — racing the same distance as Saturday’s Men’s race — and saw a popular Norwegian winner in Ragnhild Haga.

Capturing juicy pictures

NEP had three OB trucks on site and NRK had a further two trucks of its own, Host and National, on location.

Tossief Jafri, head of sales at NEP Norway and project manager for the Holmenkollen Ski Festival, tells SVG Europe: “We used EVS to get all the footage recorded.

We had five EVS’s in total, with three of them supported

by NEP. We also had two super-slow motion cameras.

The slow mo cameras were capturing those really juicy pictures that we like!

“Then we used four of the big 90x lenses. They were capturing those beautiful close ups of the cross-country guys and the women and the people jumping, and giving you those beautiful, amazing shots.

On the audio, Jafri notes that NEP Norway uses sampler effects for this event. He explains: “The sampler effects give the audience a unique experience, because it’s very challenging to record [certain sounds on the slopes], especially when the ski jumper jumps; that ‘swoosh’ sound, it’s very challenging to record that on live.

“We still use microphones around the arena, but that’s the environment sound from the audience; you want to get that sound too, where people are shouting.”

NEP Norway also made sure this was a green production, in line with its client’s goals and ambitions, and its own. It used electric vehicles on site, encouraged the use of public transport for crew to get to locations, and rolled out environmentally friendly utensils for the crew meal times.

Concluding, Jafri says: “We have such great experiences doing these kind of productions, that whatever challenge we face, we always manage to deliver the ‘wow’.”

Camera capturing a long shot of the Holmenkollen ski jump SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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PFL Europe

and its growth as a sport.We’ll have additional media partners distribute beyond DAZN, [to get] PFL Europe throughout the rest of the world.”

PFL is producing all the events in Europe itself. Says Murray: “In line with our global product standards and the experience that we pull together, it’s a PFL production in partnership with DAZN.”

Newcomer with ambition

Two-time US Olympic gold medallist Kayla Harrison (left) has seamlessly transitioned from Judo to MMA to become one of the best women’s fighters

PFL CEO Peter Murray on honing new talent

BY HEATHER MCLEAN FIRST PUBLISHED 1 MARCH 2023

“Our vision is to advance and grow the sport and really do that in a constructive way, but also to ensure that fighters have more opportunity” PETER MURRAY, PFL

P

rofessional Fighters League (PFL) is kicking off its new European league — PFL Europe — on 25 March in Newcastle, UK. In October 2022, the PFL and DAZN announced they were teaming up to bring the first of the league’s plans for six regional championships to the world, starting with the creation of PFL Europe.

Peter Murray, CEO at PFL, comments: “Our vision is to have some of the best fighters in the world at different stages of their careers, and throughout the world, to create opportunities for them to compete on major media platforms against top competition. [They will compete] under the PFL banner and our format, with a regular season playoff in a championship, enabling fighters to become regional champion. Then we’ll activate not only in-region competition, but pan-regional competition among those leagues and fighters.

“The top talent in those championships will then have a path to PFL Global and get into the Global League season where fighters compete for the championship and a million dollars. Our vision is to advance and grow the sport and really do that in a constructive way, but also to ensure that fighters have more opportunity.”

The PFL is growing rapidly despite being a relative newcomer to the MMA arena, having only launched in 2018.“We’re growing 40% year over year in terms of our audience on average globally,” adds Murray. “We’re fast growing, but every market has its own set of goals and metrics. Europe is a massive opportunity, and the targeted markets [that we’ll be expanding to], that’s where we’ll be putting a lot of resource both from the PFL as well as DAZN.”

Growing fanbase

As to why viewers should tune into PFL Europe rather than other rival MMA competitions, Murray states:“Our view is we’re the number two MMA company in the world. We’re fast growing, poised to be co-leader — there’ll be more than one winner in this sport as a global organisation. This fan base wants access to more quality competition and fights.

And that’s what we’re providing, but it’s differentiated.

“The format is everything. Some of the best fighters in Europe will be coming together across four-week classes, three men’s, one woman’s, and it’s a sport format where the athletes compete and they have to get through the regular season.

“Those top performers who win get into the playoff, and then it’s a win and advance, lose and go home playoff as a semi-final. Then there’s a championship where there’s six figures on the line for all four champions. So fans have the opportunity in Europe to follow some of Europe’s greatest fighters, and a format that’s no different than the English Premier League or other major traditional sports season type formats where they can really invest in a season experience from beginning, middle and end.”

Strategic European plan

DAZN is the strategic and media partner in PFL Europe, with equity in the league. PFL and DAZN also announced a multi-year media rights agreement to bring all PFL global events exclusively to DAZN in select major international markets, with a focus on Europe.

Murray adds: “We’re really excited about DAZN being part of this. They share our vision of MMA and of the PFL 146

PFL Europe is a fast-growing league featuring some of the best fighters in the world SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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City Studios

entertain them and bring them closer to the club and the players, and closer to what the Manchester City brand stands for? Everything we do is in service of the fans.”

The content designed to fulfil that brief is created by City Studios, an in-house B2B department launched in 2022 that consists of creatives, production talent and facilities. Between them, they are responsible for live production,‘behind the scenes’, documentaries and social content, as well as ‘activations’ for commercial partners and sponsors.

The output is made available on various platforms including the City+ subscription OTT platform, social media networks and YouTube. Some is shared with broadcasters too.

From a live production A video recreating 16-year-old Erling Haaland sitting on a sofa got 185 million views perspective, while City Studios cannot show the club’s Premier League games, those are sold as part of a multi-billion-pound league-wide broadcast rights deal, of course, there are various other matches and activities that they do cover, including Under 21 and Academy matches, pre- and mid-season friendlies, and press conferences. They also produce live City-centric wraparound programming for all City’s first-team matches.

The latter is called Matchday Live, a show that goes out

BY WILL STRAUSS on City+ pre-match, at half-time and post-match.

FIRST PUBLISHED 26 JANUARY 2023 A crucial cog in the club’s output, Matchday Live is produced from two studios: Studio 2, which is inside the odern-day professional football clubs Etihad Stadium and affords space for a presenter and are no longer just competitive sporting various ex-player pundits to provide analysis for home organisations. From top-flight to non-league, matches. And Studio 1, a new state-of-the-art multi-use they are also media production machines, 98sqm studio inside the City Campus, adjacent to the club’s pumping out oodles of multimedia content for multiple training pitches. This is used for Matchday Live when City platforms, and for multiple audiences, all in the name play away. The actual match coverage in both scenarios is of entertainment, PR, marketing and, perhaps most limited to audio commentary only. importantly of all, fan engagement. Football is big Where City Studios really goes to town is on those business. And media content plays a huge part in it. games where they do have the chance to show full match Premier League champions Manchester City are a great coverage. example of how things have changed.

Gavin Johnson, group media director at City Football “We’ve got this amazing audience here,” says James Group, cites the example of a mid-season friendly versus Wilkins, executive creative director at Manchester City, Gerona that took place at the 7,000-seater Manchester chatting to SVG Europe on the day of the home team’s City Academy Stadium (across the road from the club’s Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

53,400-capacity Etihad Stadium) in December 2022 as “We have these passionate fans all around the world. being indicative of the kind of treatment City Studios can [With our content we ask] what are we going to do to give to matches.

Model Citizens: Inside Manchester City’s media production machine

M

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SVG Europe Wellbeing Fund

Providing financial aid for people working in European sports broadcasting and production who require mental health support, therapy or counselling.

The Fund provides up to €400 per person towards the cost of psychological wellbeing services.

To apply for assistance please visit www.svgeuropefund.org for more information. The applicant’s name and identity will remain private throughout the process and personal information will only be made available to the person on the Wellbeing Fund team who receives the application and the Fund manager who will contact the applicant for Fund distribution processing.

“Mental well being continues to be of growing importance across all industries and many entities in the sports production industry have responded with deeper and more meaningful services. Here at SVG Europe our goal is to offer additional support that fills in some of the financial gaps that people can find challenging.”

Ken Kerschbaumer SVG Europe Co-Executive Director

www.svgeuropefund.org

svgeuropeupdate

The media team has developed a close relationship with the club’s players and management

“We agreed with the local producer that [a camera operator] could go onto the pitch after a goal was scored to join in with the celebrations. We try to push the boundaries in that way too” GAVIN JOHNSON, CITY FOOTBALL GROUP

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“Our production quality is very high,” he says. “We are set up to do a live seven-camera shoot. We will do pitchside pre-game, presentation, an interview with [manager Pep Guardiola]. We’ve come a long way. But I have ambitions for us to get even better.”

To that end, the City Studios team has doubled in size over the past two years. From approximately 45 staff up to around 90, including admin and content distribution.

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At this point, Johnson is quick to reiterate the importance of trust and the close relationship that the media team has with the club’s players and management.

“A lot of [training] stuff cannot go out [publicly]. We can’t show who has got the bibs on in training [as that indicates who will be playing in the next match]. If we did, suddenly the opposition knows our tactical plan.

There has to be a real trust element.”

The same applies to new player signings.

“Erling Haaland [signing from Borussia Dortmund] was a great example,” he adds. “Everyone knew it was happening, but it was still cloak and dagger that he was here on that particular day. The football department needs to know that they can trust us to capture the content in the right way and keep it that way.”

When a new player joins the club, there is an awful lot of media activity going on at the same time, especially when it comes to the big reveal.“Vertical video is massive now,” says Johnson. “TikTok is huge and accelerating; Instagram reels are huge and accelerating; but also YouTube. We spin a lot of plates.”

“We did have some time to prepare for Erling though,” adds Wilkins, “which we don’t always get. We had time to talk to his agent to find out what Erling would like to do.We did a number of different videos, but the biggest video was

City Studios

the recreation of the 16-year-old Erling sitting on a sofa.”

This saw the City Studios team replicate a photo from the player’s youth. The original photo of Haaland showed him wearing a 2008/2009 Manchester City shirt while sitting on a dark sofa with a pillow on either side of him. His affiliation with the club came from his dad, Alfie, who had played for City in the early 2000s. This image was recreated in Studio 1 but with the now 21-year-old wearing the club’s 2022/2023 kit.

“It was a fan feedback thing,” says Wilkins.“They were saying: ‘If City don’t recreate that image, they are missing a tap in!’ So I went onto eBay and bought a sofa. Somebody’s partner embroidered the cushions.

We set up that scene in Studio 1.”

“We probably took it too far,” he jokes.“We didn’t need the level of detail. There was a little bit of self-indulgence.

But it wasn’t just about the content. It was also to make a big statement to Erling as well. He walked into Studio 1 and found it really funny.”

And it worked. On a number of levels.

Wilkins says: “The Haaland sofa launch video was our most successful. It got 185 million views. It could sit on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. We did a behind-thescenes video that went on YouTube. And then a minute after that shoot, he was sitting there watching the goals that his dad had scored for the club [and that was another piece of content].”

Pep talk

Documentaries are also a part of the City Studios output, with a team dedicated to making docs. These are primarily for City+, but they are also made available on Recast, the micro-transaction streaming platform. A film with Aymeric Laporte, called Laporte ABC, was released before Christmas. One with Riyad Mahrez is due out soon.

“We do look back with pride at the legends of the club and we try to bring that through in the content too. We celebrate that as part of our identity,” says Johnson.

It’s an example of City Studios’ efforts to appeal to all. “We never want to disenfranchise anyone on the content,” he adds. “And that is why I hate it when people say younger generations don’t have an attention span.

That is nonsense. Young people love Netflix and they will binge-watch series. Equally, young people like TikTok as well. So, we make sure we are optimised for every single channel where we think our audience is.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

9 June 2023

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SVG Expands Presence in the APAC Region Thank you to our members and sponsors who made our recent events in Japan and Australia possible!

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9 August 2023

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Sponsor Update

2023 SPONSOR UPDATE In a year that has seen major sporting events across the globe and tech innovations aplenty, Michael Burns speaks to SVG Europe’s Platinum, Gold and Bronze sponsors to find out more about their recent highlights, plans for the future and how they’re adapting to evolving industry trends

808 Talent BEN SWANTON

CEO AND CO-FOUNDER

“With 808 Talent specialising in recruitment, talent consulting and coaching within the global broadcast and sports media technology industry, our role is working in partnership with our clients and candidates and keeping them abreast of industry trends,” says Ben Swanton, CEO and co-founder of 808 Talent. “That means consulting and understanding what their challenges are, their pain points and how the economic turmoil of the past 12 months has impacted and changed their approach when it comes to future staffing and hiring cycles.

“808 Talent has been engaged with several established and fast-growing vendors within the sports production market, making crucial hires globally as these companies adopted a mindset of hiring local talent in local markets. Over the past nine months alone, we have recruited key strategic hires in the US, Brazil, China, India, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Mexico and Switzerland, encompassing roles from CRO, CTO, chief customer success officer, CMO and VP sales, to operations, pre-sales and support staff in these countries.”

Swanton says the biggest development this year for 808 Talent has been growing its coaching practice. “We see it playing an even bigger role now in supporting leaders and their teams within the sports broadcast community to achieve their goals and accomplish what it is they need to do, without the risk of stress, overwhelm 152

or burnout,” he says.

Swanton observes that the continued investment and adoption of remote production and virtualisation solutions are “clearly driving the way that sport is being captured and delivered to consumers”.

He says the continuing trend of enriching storytelling in sports with the use of new technology is prompted by sports rightsholders, federations and broadcasters having to find more creative solutions to attract and retain audiences. “We have seen interesting innovative solutions from the likes of Quidich during The Ashes to help enrich the storytelling by Sky Sports in this regard,” he continues.

“We plan on continuing to build our coaching and consulting practice, as we see wellbeing and mental health trending as the key influencers on our clients’ recruitment and talent challenges in today’s world. Our recruitment practice continues to go from strength to strength, particularly in the US and the Americas, and we will be looking to add more talent to our own team to help deliver for our clients across the sports production ecosystem.”

ACS MATT COYDE SALES DIRECTOR

As well as the coverage of the King’s Coronation for BBC Events, where it supplied 23 Smarthead P50 robotic camera channels, dual 12G fibre transmission systems and bespoke low-profile and ergonomic robotic camera brackets and mounts, 2023 also saw ACS supply a range of specialist camera services for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

“As part of the EMG delivery to Infront for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2023 Meribel and Courcheval, ACS supported an ambitious and highly innovative coverage plan for the event,” says Matt Coyde, sales director, ACS. “For Courcheval, two HFR-enabled Smarthead P50 robotic camera channels were

provided with special attachments for the ski course towers, along with the latest generation Dreamchip SSM-500 HFR minicams, providing spectacular replay coverage of the race. Two of the HFR minicams were supplied with a bespoke fibre solution and two were on RF systems supplied by EMG France with full camera and VT integration control back to the EMG OB compound.”

In addition to the robotics and minicam systems for Courcheval, ACS also supplied two Fancam Cine shallow depth of field gimbal handheld camera systems with full RF and camera control integration to the OB. “An additional two systems were supplied for Meribel along with another four HFR minicam systems with two fibre systems and two on RF,” says Coyde. “All ACS cameras were configured to the production format (1080 50p 3G) with a range of bespoke accessories supplied, including weatherised housings, customised mounts and battery power systems to ensure a reliable operation throughout the production despite the hostile weather conditions. Supporting the ACS operation onsite were a crew of six experienced technicians, including a number able to ski which was an essential skillset to access the camera positions across the mountain. It was a very successful production with some great feedback from the client on completion of the project.”

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Sponsor Update

The company is taking notice of trends such as the transition to formats such as 1080p HDR or UHD HDR, high frame rate POV camera systems, and 3G/12G, IP and cloud-based technologies.

“We are also seeing continued growth in the ‘cine’ look in sports as well as live events where the full production utilises large-format sensor cameras,” says Coyde. “With our colleagues at EMG Connectivity, we continue to explore and test the boundaries of 5G video and data transmission for use in specialist camera applications.”

AE Live NICK BAILY CEO

The past 12 months has been an exciting and busy one for AE Live, even by its own standards, a point acknowledged by CEO Nick Baily.

“Fortunate as we are to be working with so many of the world’s leading sporting federations and broadcasters, there never seems to be a quiet period, but the past year to 18 months has been particularly busy,” he concedes.

“Across men’s and women’s sports, from FIFA events in Qatar, Australia and New Zealand, Rugby World Cups in both union and league, not to mention a host of ICC events, including the Cricket World Cup, our teams have been at the sharp end of the host broadcast delivery of a wide range of graphics and data services,” he adds.

“Of course, the infrastructure required behind the scenes to cover this volume of events, often concurrently, is extensive. It really is testament to our global pool of resources, ranging from creative, through build and integration, technical planning, operational delivery and project management; it’s a huge collaborative effort across the group.”

AE Live celebrated its 30-year anniversary in 2022 and the strategic focus over that period has prioritised building its infrastructure, not only to increase the volume of work that it can take on but also broaden the range of services that can SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

be offered.

“We’ve made some key appointments in leadership and commercial roles in some of our regional offices, bringing in some excellent people with both industry knowledge and wider business expertise to offer a fresh perspective,” says Baily.

“We’ve also identified our creative agency, Ignite, as an area to invest, building a team out of the UK to support the existing global resources, as we feel it’s an area that can really enhance and complement our core business.”

The other headline news announced this year was the acquisition of Silver Spoon, a leading virtual production house based in New York.

“The acquisition of Silver Spoon is a great move on multiple levels,” enthuses Baily. “Firstly, it cements our presence in the US market which continues to be a primary focus for us over the next period and lets our clients know we are committed and here to stay. Secondly, it further extends the expertise that we hold in Unreal Engine and Virtual Production and, as is the case with Ignite, enables us to enhance the range of services we can offer our clients.

“Finally, given our international profile, we will bring Silver Spoon to the non-US market, giving the global events that I talked about earlier the opportunity to benefit from their creativity and innovation.”

AETA Audio Systems THOMAS FENGEL

AREA SALES MANAGER EUROPE

Audio transmission specialist AETA Audio Systems offers a full range of audio and IP codecs designed to adapt to all operating conditions, both in the studio and in the field.

with AETA codecs. This year they did the commentary on the 2023 Great Ocean Race for their Eurosport channel live from the venue, as well as remotely in their London studios.” “[This year] we launched a new reportage and commentary codec for live sports and news production,” he continues. “The new ScoopyFlex can either be carried around like a professional mobile phone for interviews or live commentary on the go. The connection to the broadcast centre gets established by two 4G-LTE and 5G mobile adapters. Sliding the device into a docking station turns the mobile codec into a light commentary system with four microphone positions, with additional Ravenna and Dante interfaces for connection to AES67 networks. This creates ultimate flexibility for sports reporters and technicians on site, simplifies production workflows and reduces the amount of gear brought to venues. For example, reporters can walk around doing live interviews during breaks, then return to the bench and slide the device into the docking station to continue commenting.”

Fengel observes that centralisation and virtualisation of communication links in the audio over IP arena is “not a trend anymore”.

“Broadcasters are requiring this already for managing audio links in the OB truck and MCR,” he explains. “Therefore, we created a software codec suite next to our traditional hardware products. The new software codec suite, called INES, centralises and virtualises all communications needed by broadcasters and will manage SIP hardware codecs, SIP software codecs, VoIP telephone lines and webRTC sessions for audio and video in one single screen.

[It’s] server-based, virtual machine based and cloud-based. The impact on us is that we will move away from being a supplier of hardware, becoming a provider for the complete audio workflow.”

AJA Video Systems NICK RASHBY PRESIDENT

“With our codecs, clients establish reliable audio-over-IP links for live commentary from a mobile production location to the broadcast centre,” says Thomas Fengel, area sales manager Europe, AETA Audio Systems. “The gear is also used to do remote production, with the live commentary at the broadcast centre. Warner Bros. Discovery does both [of these operations]

“As live sports production professionals continue to c o m p e t e f o r v i e we r s hip, in n ov at in g t h e au d i e n c e experience is crucial,” says Nick Rashby, president, AJA. “Many broadcasters are looking to 8K and HDR to ensure a competitive edge.

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live content to global audiences whether 8K/ UltraHD2 live broadcasts, HDR/WCG colour content, or immersive AR graphics or visuals.

Streamlining the creation and delivery of compelling content is another area of focus for modern sports productions, which is partly why we’re beginning to see more IP adoption in the space. As SMPTE 2110, NDI, Dante AV and other emerging IP technologies evolve to meet the demand, AJA is focused on providing technology that helps productions work the way they want, and that offers a bridge between traditional baseband workflows and emerging IP protocols.

“In April of this year, we launched two new transmitter/receiver converters for transporting and controlling low-latency, professional-quality 4K/UltraHD/2K/HD/VESA Dante video and audio to/from 12G-SDI or HDMI 2.0 devices over a 1GigE Dante AV network. The devices let users seamlessly incorporate high-quality, visually lossless video into AV-over-IP environments spanning stadiums, arenas and more.”

Updates to the Helo Plus H.264 streamer/ recorder, Bridge Live multichannel UltraHD and HD live video solution, and FS-HDR real-time HDR/WCG converter/frame synchroniser with Colorfront Engine video processing were also introduced in April.

“At IBC2023, we announced our new Kona X, a four-lane PCIe 3.0 desktop I/O card with integrated streaming DMA ,” says Rashby. “It provides as low as sub-frame latency video capture and playback, which is especially crucial in esports and live sports production, where AR graphics and graphical overlays must sync to avoid noticeable delay for viewers. For applications that require analogue or AE S audio, LTC , R S -4 2 2 and other functionality, we’ve launched an optional Kona Xpand break-out board, which fits into an adjacent PCIe slot. AJA Kona X also lets users take advantage of AJA’s Desktop Software, including new v17 enhancements, such as improved closed caption support, performance improvements for Apple silicon systems, support for Rocky Linux and more.

“We also recently unveiled new 12GSDI openGear cards, which integrate the functionality of our 12G-SDI audio and HDMI conversion solutions into an openGear rack frame. We’ve released them just as we’re 154

Sponsor Update

seeing more demand in live sports for highresolution HFR workflows. AJA OG-12G-AM and OG-12G-AMA enable 16 channels of AES and eight channels of analogue audio embedding/ disembedding respectively, and support 12G-SDI input and output up to 4K/UltraHD. The cards facilitate 12G-SDI conversion to/from HDMI 2.0 and are also available in LC and ST fibre models.

Each card is hot-swappable and built for use in high-density openGear 2RU frames, including AJA OG-X-FR.”

Alibaba Cloud YINAN QIAN

MARKETING DIRECTOR

“Alibaba Cloud’s robust, reliable and secure technologies supported the first ‘Asian Games on the Cloud’, to facilitate a more intelligent, sustainable, sophisticated and efficient Asian Games — held in Hangzhou, where the company is headquartered, from 23 September to 8 October,” says Yinan Qian, marketing director, Alibaba Cloud France, Benelux, South Europe. “The Hangzhou Asian Games was the first in the event’s history during which rightsholding broadcasters (RHBs) received live footage through public cloud infrastructure.

Alibaba Cloud transmitted more than 5,000 hours of live footage through as many as 68 HD and UHD feeds during the event. In addition to live broadcast, the cloud-based content platform delivered footage in HD or UHD, highlights of the games, and news flashes for RHBs to present to the audience’s mobile or other devices.”

“Prior to cloud broadcasting, broadcasters had to rely on dedicated and more costly international telecommunication optical circuits and spend a considerable amount of time setting up the equipment to send live footage halfway across the globe back to their home countries.

Now, leveraging the highly scalable, resilient and secure global infrastructure of Alibaba Cloud and its network acceleration service — Global Accelerator — live multilateral content in high quality over the public cloud can be delivered with a fraction of the cost and minimum time for set-up.”

Participants of the Hangzhou Asian Games could also adopt low-carbon habits and cut emissions by using Energy Expert, a sustainable lifestyle tool that integrates Alibaba Cloud’s AI technologies with traditional emission datasets.

“L everaging the latest tech - driven sustainability solution, Energy Expert allows event organisers to identify the sources of carbon emissions from venue construction and operation, quantify the carbon footprint generated by a venue and visualise a venue’s sustainability performance via an integrated dashboard and online reports,” says Qian.

Deployed through Alibaba Cloud’s partnership with the International Olympic Committee, the tool was first trialled to measure and analyse carbon emissions from temporary construction built to host the first Olympic Esports Week in Singapore, generating datadriven insights on the choice of materials and equipment.

Amagi KA SRINIVASAN

CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER

She continues: “During the games, the cloud broadcasting transcended physical boundaries and bought the excitement to audiences across Asia and the rest of the world, through Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure and services in Hangzhou to ApsaraVideo Live centres in Shanghai and Beijing as well as regional cloud resources in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Singapore.

“In 2023, Amagi solidified it s position in the spor t s production landscape through strategic partnerships with sports rights owners and content providers,” says KA Srinivasan, co-founder and chief revenue officer, Amagi.

“One notable collaboration was with the Urban Edge Network (UEN), a Black-owned media company committed to amplifying content from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This partnership enabled Amagi to orchestrate live events on UEN’s owned and operated platforms and apps, aligning with UEN’s mission to connect brands with culture and facilitate monetisation opportunities for HBCUs. Leveraging Amagi’s advanced live SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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event orchestration solution, Amagi Live, and flagship broadcast-grade channel playout tool Amagi Cloudport, UEN efficiently managed and distributed an array of premium sports channels.

“Additionally, Amagi was chosen by the NHL to pioneer the creation and distribution of its inaugural FAST channel on The Roku Channel and on other platforms in the future.

The channel offered a curated selection of NHL content, featuring highlights from historic games such as the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stanley Cup Final and NHL All-Star games.

“Utilising Cloudport, the NHL delivered post-game highlights to engage and captivate devoted hockey enthusiasts. The flexibility to seamlessly incorporate ad breaks and integrate captivating graphics, either manually or programmatically, stood out as a hallmark of their system. The advanced graphics insertion, ad placement and monitoring capabilities of Amagi Cloudport combined with Amagi Live empowered a single operator to trigger actions for different graphics and ad breaks across multiple endpoints.”

“We’ve made great progress with our live orchestration plus master control solution called Amagi Dynamic, which brings spin-up, spindown flexibility to master control workflows,” he adds. “It took us a lot of engineering investment to be able to offer all of those commercially critical master control features — SCTE control, frame accurate playlisting, switching and integrating other sources, graphics, closed captions, SCTE control from remote production systems — in a stand-alone platform for single live events.”

Vidyasagar says the growth of FAST channels and CTV EPGs opens opportunities for sports rightsholders to make the most of their live content during non-live hours.

“For example, one of our customers is using our partner vendor Singular.live inside Amagi Cloudport to execute overlays that actually freshen up old ticker data,” he adds.

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“The possibilities here are endless for more co-ordination between production and master.”

“We are going to double and triple down on graphics, cloud editing and production, AI and app experiences as well,” he continues. “Much of this will be partnership driven — we demoed with Tellyo at IBC, we showcased Grabyo at FAST LA, and both VizFlowics and Singular. live are close partners as well. We all need to work together to make better content, to hook younger audiences, to rebuild the bundle and take it from FAST to freemium.”

resources, which will contribute to the company meeting its business and sustainability strategic goals.

In September, as Millenium Signature 19 launched just in time for the Rugby World Cup in France, the company highlighted it was equipping the vehicle with a Riedel MediorNet real-time media network and Riedel’s wired and wireless intercom systems.

AMP VISUAL TV’s implementation of Riedel technology extends beyond its OB vans, as the company’s media centre and numerous TV studios rely on a redundant telecom backbone — also built on Riedel technology — around AMP VISUAL TV Paris. All these resources will be vital as the AMP VISUAL TV operates 40 outside broadcast company takes on some of the world’s largest, facilities and fly-away control rooms, 26 TV sets and most popular, sports competitions in the and nearly a dozen studios, and employs more coming year. than 550 staff who work across a range of genres including sports, gaming, entertainment, Appear magazines, major events and live shows.

MATT WILLIAMS-NEALE VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Photo credit: NBA Photos

In January 2023, AMP VISUAL TV provided OB trucks for the NBA game in Paris between six-time NBA champion Chicago Bulls and threetime NBA champion Detroit Pistons. With the broadcast remotely produced from the US, there were also two main broadcasters on site: Canal+ taking care of a world feed using Millennium Signature 12, and beIN Sports France producing its domestic feed using Millennium Signature 6.

In February, Stéphane Alessandri was appointed managing director of AMP VISUAL TV, sharing the company’s management functions with president and founder Gilles Sallé.

Alessandri joined the company in 1997 as a technician, rising to technical manager, then deputy managing director in charge of the company’s internal transformation projects and international relations, an area he also continues to manage.

In April, AMP VISUAL TV selected Sony equipment, including the MLS-X1 modular system, as the core switcher for its next generation premium fleet vehicles, the Millenium Signature 14 and Millenium Signature 19. The trucks can cater to all sorts of production set ups, from the simplest to the most complex, without over-utilising or under-utilising

In April, Appear introduced a hardware-accelerated Secure R e liable Tr ansp or t (S RT ) solution on its X Platform, addressing the challenges faced by media and entertainment companies to reduce the cost of transporting high-quality video over the internet. “The technolog y offers sports broadcasters significant performance improvements, enhanced efficiency, ROI and operational flexibility,” says Matt Williams-Neale, vice president, marketing & communications, Appear. “With the capability to handle up to 22 UHD camera feeds, the hardware-accelerated SRT solution significantly reduces transmission costs over the public internet, replacing costly satellite links and fibre circuits. SRT also enables cost-effective migration of studio functions to the cloud and the X Platform’s compact design optimises space and power consumption.”

“The X Platform is already widely used for live sports contribution, remote production and distribution,” he continues. “It supports various encapsulation formats and codecs, including high-capacity SRT, meeting the diverse needs SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sponsor Update

of sports broadcasters. The platform aligns with Appear’s vision of enabling signal transmission from event locations to cloud production platforms, eliminating the need for on-site production teams.”

Appear announced a partnership with Riot Games this year, supporting its esports remote broadcast centres for League of Legends and Champions Tour.

“Riot Games, renowned for its esports excellence, utilises Appear’s X Platform to ensure high-quality, low-latency video streaming,” says Williams-Neale. “This partnership enhances the viewer experience, exemplified by the success of the 2023 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational.”

“Eurovision Services also selected Appear as its live contribution partner for a major tennis tournament in Paris earlier this summer,” he continues. “Appear’s X Platform delivered flawless 1080p HD channels, offering operational efficiency with minimal energy consumption, reduced shipping costs and uncompromised quality. Eurovision Services benefited from the X Platform’s scalability and compatibility with various industry standards, such as HEVC/AVC and ST2110. In addition, PSSI Global Services selected the X Platform to support the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) with high-capacity REMI productions. The X Platform’s flexibility and density impressed PSSI, enabling them to scale efficiently and reduce costs. Appear’s technology, including HEVC ultra-low latency encoding and decoding, ensures high-quality transmission for UFC coverage worldwide.

“Over the next few months we will demonstrate how our focus on efficiency and engineering enables us to be the global leader in live event contribution and we will be sharing updates on the initial customer deployments of our hardware-accelerated SRT.”

Arista ALBERT FAUST TECHNICAL LEAD

“Arista was at the core of many sports production events in 2022/2023, including the Fox Sports Jewel Events Flypack,” says Albert Faust, technical lead, Arista Networks. “Production and outdoor broadcast companies have learned to rely on Arista productions for the orchestration and visibility solutions that Arista products provide as well as the unmatched reliability. We continue to SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

increase the reach of Arista’s Media Control services while providing real-time streaming telemetry of the entire network fabric via the Cloud Vision Portal.”

“Regular participation in industry and SVG events is critical to getting the Arista message across,” Faust adds. “This year Arista was proud to host an all-female panel at IBC2023 where the Arista advisory board audience was able to listen to the unique experiences of women in media leadership. Arista is committed to encouraging and mentoring women in the networking and media industries.”

He continues: “One of the main trends that is being seen in the broadcast network space is scale. We are seeing unprecedented scale in infrastructure that has hundreds of thousands of media flows. As consolidation continues to be a factor in the media industry, organisations are taking the advantages that scale can give them as they get maximum efficiency from their infrastructure to meet the needs of main workflows in the same topology. No longer does the industry need to have multiple silos to meet various content demands, but a single integrated media infrastructure can provide for the demands of many productions without bespoke builds for each one.”

“Arista is excited to be a core part of the changing media landscape and will continue to focus on staying connected to customers and broadcast manufacturers to continue to deliver best-in-class media networking,” he adds.

“Arista will be at the centre of many of the world field, track and motorsports events over the next 12 months.”

Arkona ERLING HEDKVIST

SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

“We’re proud to have taken part in many of the Tier 1 live sports productions over the past 12 months. For example, the FIFA World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year and more recently the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand,” says Erling Hedk vist, sales & business development, Arkona. “For the Women’s

World Cup, we worked with NEP to provide JPEG XS connectivity between the venues. In general, we pride ourselves on supporting the most discerning broadcasters for their most important workflows and are looking forward to continuing supplying technology for this space.”

Hedkvist says over the past 12 months Arkona has shifted from being an OEM supplier to directly supporting clients.

“That has primarily involved setting up sales channels around the world,” he explains. “We are proud to now have representation in over 35 countries worldwide. This Herculean effort would not be possible without the support of our excellent partners.

“We are very excited about our partnership with Manifold Technologies which is a 100% software solution that runs on our Blade//runner hardware platform, as well as on COTS FPGA accelerators.”

The manifold Cloud infrastructure is intended for live broadcast production.

“The background behind manifold Cloud was that we were clearly seeing how the benefits of virtualisation and cloud computing would be beneficial for our customers, but they did not want to compromise on the performance and quality of their existing solutions,” says Hedkvist. “manifold Cloud was developed to provide these benefits, such as a user-friendly single sign-on easy webUI, a 100% softwarebased service architecture which can easily scale on-demand, built-in automated resiliency and the ability to run on COTS hardware from a multitude of manufacturers.”

Hedkvist says Arkona will be heavily focused on the continued development of the Blade// runner platform in the near future. “However, we are also focusing on making sure that we can provide continued and seamless support for the many end users who are using our OEM platform as they start to have direct relationships with us. Our mantra is to never leave a customer behind.”

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ARRI THOMAS STOSCHEK

CAMERA SYSTEMS SALES MANAGER

“ARRI Solutions is a newly dedicated business unit that designs, engineers, builds and operates state-of-the-art production environments for leading studio owners, operators and content producers,” says Thomas Stoschek, camera systems sales manager, ARRI. “ARRI Solutions combines the company’s unrivalled film industry expertise in professional camera and lighting systems with efficient workflows, digital assets and innovative studio design.”

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“To further enhance the broadcaster’s coverage, additional virtual and AR elements were introduced, including the presenters teleporting in and out of the studio,” says Stoschek. “A remote location was set up as a small green screen, and then camera/lighting angles matched to the main studio, so that a photorealistic augmented guest could appear on the studio set from anywhere in the world.”

“An important development of the past year has been the Trinity Live, ARRI’s camera stabiliser for broadcast applications,” he continues. “Since their inceptions, ARRI has remained dedicated to making continuous improvements to both the Amira Live and the ARRI Multicam System, both of which are heavily utilised in sports broadcasting.”

Ateme RÉMI BEAUDOUIN

CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER

ARRI Solutions was tasked with the design and installation of the physical lighting network in a new studio for Alkass Sports, an international sports broadcaster from Qatar.

“The virtual studio with Zero Density was delivered to launch with Alkass’ coverage of the 2022 World Cup but needed to be flexible to also support a wide range of programming in the future,” says Stoschek. “The ARRI Solutions team also provided lighting as a fundamental element in achieving effective and realistic coverage as well as network control and electric distribution across the studio.

“The lighting design comprises a mix of SkyPanel fixtures: S120 are installed to enable consistent lighting as presenters and guests move around the studio; S30 paired with Chimera softboxes provide diffused lighting for the green flooring; and S60-C together with S30 fixtures with Honeycomb provide fill and diffused back lighting. Key lighting for talent is provided by a series of L7 LED fresnel and Robe T11. Robe ParFect effect lighting fixtures were also included in the design where additional coverage or highlights are required.”

During the Men’s World Cup, Alkass produced three different shows from the studio, mostly 60-minute post-match review and analysis sessions with pundits and presenters.

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“Ateme partnered with Globo, the Bra zilian mediatech company, to provide immersive audio for live over-the -air commercial coverage of all matches during the World Cup in Qatar,” says Rémi Beaudouin, chief strategy officer, Ateme. The company’s Kyrion encoders provided low-latency video and immersive audio codecs to enable captivating experiences available to viewers over commercial free-to-air television in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Globo’s Recife market, based on Dolby Atmos and MPEG-H formats.

tested in a Wavelength zone within a Tier 1 operator’s network.”

In March 2023, Ateme partnered with Six Floor Solutions and Pushologies to deliver an automated end-to-end solution for sports content rightsholders and streamers to increase fan engagement.

“The joint solution, demonstrated live at 2023 NAB Show, also empowers broadcasters and service and content providers to increase content monetisation by connecting video experiences with ecommerce,” says Beaudouin.

“The end-to-end solution was fully automated and data driven, all the way from AI content detection and creation of event triggers to content clipping through to content assembly and delivery.”

Ateme has also launched a Virtual Lounge solution, which brings OTT streams into a gaming environment, facilitating social interactions between viewers of live events even when they are very distant from each other.

“This digital space embeds multiple lowlatency OTT players that can stream the same event viewed from different angles, all in sync, or even multiple events, bringing the experience of a sports bar into the digital space,” says Beaudouin. “By projecting themselves into a common virtual space, audiences can design their own video consumption experiences, while D2C streaming providers and sports leagues can increase monetisation with ad-placement opportunities.”

“As we move through the next few months, we will continue helping our customers build more efficient, scalable and flexible platforms by enabling their migration to the cloud. Our latest Cloud DVR solution, already being deployed in the public cloud by Swisscom, is one example of this transformation,” he continues. “In parallel, we’ll continue to improve the quality of experience for OTT audiences, such as our next-generation video compression solution, Gen 7 Stream, recently introduced through our Titan suite.”

“ In e a r l y 2 0 2 3 , C y t a (C y p r u s Audio-Technica Telecommunications Authority) selected GARY DIXON Ateme’s encoding and packaging software DIRECTOR, BROADCAST BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT solutions that allow sports coverage and premium content to be processed and delivered “ B u il d in g o n d e c a d e s of in less than four seconds,” continues Beaudouin. experience working alongside “In February, Ateme integrated its 5G media the broadcasters of some of streaming solution into Amazon’s AWS the world’s largest sporting events, AudioWavelength 5G Mobile-Access Edge Computing Technica has recently entered into an exclusive infrastructure. The integration was successfully relationship with the MotoAmerica motorcycle SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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CLOUD PRODUCTION

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race series, serving as the official Broadcast Partner for microphones and headphones for the organisation,” says Gary Dixon, AudioTechnica US director, broadcast business development.

“MotoAmerica is the USA’s premier race series sanctioned by the American Motorcycle Association. The country’s top riders in multiple classes compete for the title each season across several race events. The series is broadcast in stereo audio to Fox Sports FS1, MAVTV, ESPN Latin America, SuperSport, Star+ MotoAmerica Live+ streaming and YouTube, as well as other online outlets. Additional programming includes the Pressure To Rise documentary series and the Off Track With Carruthers and Bice official podcast and social media shorts.

The audio is a crucial part of the series’ broadcast coverage, including real-time commentary from knowledgeable announcers, rider interviews and the roar of the vehicles around every turn.”

“Under the terms of this new partnership, Audio-Technica broadcast and production microphones will be used to capture the sounds on the track, for post-competition interviews of the riders and interviews on the champion podium,” says Dixon. “Additionally, Audio-Technica headsets will be worn by the series’ announcers, with additional mics and headphones used in the production of the official podcast and behind-the-scenes programming. These events push the limits of the rider and the machine and it’s the same for the production equipment: loud sounds, variable environmental conditions and the rigours of setup and tear-down with hundreds of miles between tracks. Audio-Technica is proud to be the go-to provider of audio solutions for this exciting series.”

Sponsor Update

recording microphones. Broadcast announcers, press conference and ENG crew will use BPHS2C broadcast stereo headsets and 3000 Series frequency-agile true diversity UHF wireless systems.

The AT897 Line + gradient condenser microphone will be used for the Pressure To Rise production, while the Off Track With Carruthers and Bice podcast will utilise BP40 largediaphragm dynamic broadcast microphones and ATH-M40x professional monitor headphones.

ATH-M50x headphones will be used for video editing.

AWS JULIE SOUZA

M&E PRACTICE LEADER, SPORTS

“In the last year, AWS has continued to partner with major sports leagues and broadcasters to help accelerate spor t s innovation via AWS solutions and services that span the full spectrum of sports organisations’ IT operations, from fan engagement to performance analytics and beyond,” says Julie Souza, M&E practice leader, sports, Amazon Web Services (AWS). We’ve worked to help customers in sports leverage data to promote, monetise and deliver personalised experiences that enhance fan engagement; support performance analytics that help leagues and teams monitor athlete health and safety and optimise scouting, officiating and performance; and facilitate low-latency, highquality broadcast workloads backed by the most agile, flexible, scalable and reliable cloud infrastructure.

pipeline for the league in under three weeks, just before the start of the 2023 season in June.

The collaboration marked the first of its kind for a pan-European sports league.”

“Fox built and deployed a new AI-powered Catch Up With Highlights feature ahead of its US broadcast coverage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” Souza continues. “Leveraging Amazon’s open-source Media Replay Engine framework for automating video clipping and replay generation, alongside AWS infrastructure and solutions, the end-to-end solution can ingest broadcast streams, identify valuable match moments through AI-trained computer vision, and then encode delivery streams with metadata across user devices.”

Souza notes that powerchair football has expanded its participant base and cultivated an impressive international fan following. “With this growth, the sport has seen increasing demand for live stream match coverage, which the Wheelchair Football Association (WFA) has worked to deliver. Leveraging guidance from an AWS team in the UK and more than $25,000 in funding secured through the AWS Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Innovation Fund, the WFA had originally established a ground-to-cloud workflow using AWS Elemental MediaLive to live stream high-quality match coverage to YouTube.”

New services and service updates in 2023 include AWS Elemental MediaConnect Gateway, a cloud- connected software application to transmit live video between on-premises multicast networks and AWS, and AWS Elemental Link UHD support for AWS Elemental MediaConnect, which provides a simple, cost-effective way to create live video workflows in the cloud, saving time and resources compared to traditional on-premises, satellite, or fibre infrastructure.

Backlight: Wildmoka CRISTIAN LIVADIOTTI

CO-CEO, BACKLIGHT, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF WILDMOKA

A wide selection of Audio-Technica products will be employed for the MotoAmerica series and related programming, including on-track/ on-camera microphones such as BP28L Line + gradient large diaphragm condenser microphones, BP4027 stereo shotgun microphones and BP4025 X/Y stereo field 160

“The European League of Football (ELF) began looking to sustainably scale its production infrastructure in the last year with an assist from AWS. Together with ELF’s production and streaming partner novel.media and AWS Partner Logic media solutions, AWS helped realise a cost-efficient, cloud-based remote production

“Wildmoka has helped customers across the sports industry get the maximum amount of value from their sports rights by giving them the tools to simplify and optimise the creation, distribution and monetisation of their live sports content,” says Backlight/ Wildmoka’s Cristian Livadiotti. “Customers can leverage additional revenue streams SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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and expand the reach of their sports content through the creation of live sports broadcasts, near-live clips, highlight and match summaries, play replays, restreams of entire games and more, and distribute for additional monetisation across every digital destination.”

“Wildmoka helped a global sports federation produce and distribute content related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar,” adds Livadiotti. “The federation used Wildmoka to ingest live feeds from matches and quickly create content clips, highlight reels and match summaries, then distribute the content across social platforms, creating a consistent stream of digital media used to drive engagement and viewership throughout the tournament.”

Wildmoka has also updated its platform with new features and capabilities that allow customers to quickly and efficiently create clips and highlight reels from live.

“New updates introduced help content production teams increase their productivity with new automation capabilities, such as improved automation of highlight clips, reels and metadata,” says Livadiotti. “Wildmoka also added integrations with more third-party platforms popular with streaming audiences, enabling distribution of content to Instagram Stories and Reels, and integration with internal storage environments like Dropbox and Google Cloud. Over the past year, Wildmoka has also developed integrations with other Backlight products that help enhance sports content production and distribution workflows, such as iconik and Zype Playout.

“Recently, Wildmoka has launched Live Studio, which allows our sports customers to create more efficient, flexible live streaming sports broadcasts with greater flexibility and enables them to achieve production and distribution of near-live sports content at scale.

It allows users to create multiple versions of customised streams from a mix of live sources, VOD assets, images, graphics, audio tracks and more, and produce near-live outputs.”

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base EMILY PRYOR

HEAD OF MARKETING

“Working with The Football Association for many years, base enables The FA to store, send and manage its content in the cloud,” says head of marketing, Emily Pryor.

“Working with base, The FA has transformed the infrastructure of its content delivery, from hard drives to flexible and scalable cloud-based working. Being able to spin workflows up and down is essential. Due to the tournament-based content, the association deals with big spikes throughout the year and headline tournaments every four years.”

some time reviewing how Web3 and blockchainbased distribution can enhance sports production. Whether this is tokenising content for the fan or enabling the distributor to have full transparency on how their content is being used, managed and accessed.”

She sees generative AI as a key trend this year: “Despite many companies using AI over the past few years, generative AI is taking automation to the next level. The speed at which you can search for content using ‘human intuition’ searches, instead of exact match search is beginning to change the landscape for content management and distribution.”

Batcam JON HURNDALL CEO

“A large project was undertaken to move the archive content stored on physical hard drives into the cloud using tiered cloud storage, to make it as cost-effective and streamlined as possible,” Pryor continues. “Once this was complete, the content was tagged and metadata added to make content easily searchable. base provides integrated online media solutions that power these workflows, from one provider, simplifying the process. Most English sports fans will remember where they were when the Lionesses won Euro 2022 or when Kieran Trippier scored that free kick against Russia in 2018. The FA, working with base, has transformed its content delivery, enabling these heart-stopping moments and behind-thescenes action to be distributed via a cloud-based workflow.”

Pryor continues: “From a technology perspective, Web3 and AI have played an important role in the development of the integrated online media solution offering. The business is experimenting with a few in-house projects, one of which was to deliver the ‘Real Cannonball Run’ via the Eluv.io content fabric.

We are also delighted to have extended our partnership with The Football Association, as well as other team-based sports we can’t mention.”

Looking forward, Pryor says base is “spending

“2022 was a record year for us here at Batcam. We’ve worked on some fantastic events in the past 12 months,” says Jon Hurndall, CEO, Batcam. “A ‘little-known’ football tournament in Qatar kept us busy in December providing aerials plus Batcam Hold Cinestyle cameras, which really gained a lot of traction moving into early 2023 with the SPL picking up on the usage for their coverage.

Other notable events in the Middle East were the new Atlantis Hotel launch in Dubai — featuring Beyoncé — the Dubai World Cup horse race and the E gaming finals in Jeddah.

“Back in the UK, our highlights included our ninth full cricket season for Sky Sports, another successful Premier League season for Premier League Productions and the World Test championships for the ICC. Not forgetting a crew favourite, Crufts for Sunset+Vine/Channel 4.”

“It’s been a pretty hectic time the past 12 months and we’ve expanded our in-house team accordingly to cope with the ongoing demand for our services,” he continues, “going from five in-house full-time staff to today’s figure of 14.

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This has given us the platform to continue our growth; we plan to expand internationally in the next 18 months offering our services to new clients, sports and rightsholders.

“Our newest concept has been an adaption of our Batcam Trax product. We have installed permanent infrastructure at the Emirates Stadium in London to enhance football coverage with a computer game-style tracking angle of the play, which Sky and the Premier League have named ‘GameMode’. Huge thanks to our partners in the Premier League, Sky Sports and Arsenal FC who have been so supportive in believing in the concept.”

At time of publication, Batcam was intent on launching a raft of new products in the next three months. “We shall, of course, update the broadcast community when those products are ready to announce,” says Hurndall.

Blackbird IAN MCDONOUGH CEO

“It has been a very exciting year for Blackbird,” says CEO Ian McDonough. “In December 2022 the first ‘Powered by Blackbird’ licensing product was launched

by EVS. IPD Via Create, a web-based editing application, is part of its end-to-end PAM solution. The cloud-ready application, which is built on Blackbird’s core technology as part of a multi-year licensing deal, is designed to drive speed and cost efficiencies in live sports production. The ‘edit while capture’ workflow enables editors to quickly work on content as the feeds ingest.

“Another highlight for Blackbird was our contract win this September for use on the Global Summer Games of Paris 2024, including a youth games in South Korea and a schools project. This workflow will involve editors accessing instant content from 70 concurrent live streams and provide rightsholders all over the world with the availability of the full editing suite.”

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“Blackbird has been used across the world’s most recognised sporting events in the past 12 months from The World Cup, The Super Bowl and Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments, to The Open and the Rugby World Cup,” continues McDonough. “A huge highlight to note was Blackbird’s use across two iconic international football tournaments. As part of our multi-year deal with a global sports federation, the events saw Blackbird take in live feeds of all the games while remote editing teams around the world had instant access to frame accurate content for clipping and editing for on-demand highlights in multiple languages. Both deployments were a huge success and testament to the robustness and reliability of the Blackbird platform.”

A brand-new Creator SaaS product, elevate. io, is slated for launch in Q1 next year.

“The product, which addresses the wider creator economy, will be accessible by anyone with a laptop and internet access,” says McDonough. “It has a unique set of disruptive features, such as multi-player collaborative functionality, where teams can edit projects collaboratively in real-time — something which has not yet been successfully achieved in video. We are also doubling down on product development and engineering, investing in user interface enhancements for our core platform.”

Blackmagic Design SIMON WESTLAND

EMEA CHANNEL MARKETING DIRECTOR

“Blackmagic Design continues to be a ‘go -to’ supplier in traditional sports and esports sectors. Our live production and content creation workflows allow for the maximum creativity and technical reliability,” says Simon Westland, EME A channel marketing director, Blackmagic Design. “Live production has always been a crucial facet of sports broadcasting. However, the ability to reach larger audiences through web streaming expands both the opportunity and customer demand for live content. With smartphones and tablets now so ubiquitous, audiences expect to be able to watch live, irrespective of their physical location or viewing device.”

“Some of our production highlights where Blackmagic Design solutions have played a role include the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the FIFA World Cup, pro volleyball leagues in Italy and France, and the DreamHack Summer 2023 tour,” he continues. “More and more sports organisations

are taking in-house responsibility for content creation, providing rich content that’s often only available through their owned live channels. The ability to capture this content, edit and finish it, and then distribute it are now common in-house functions. The need for fast turnaround and high creative standards of this content has led to federations, clubs and leagues building their own internal media teams rather than relying on third-party producers. In-house teams often can gain greater access to content and are ever present to capture content as it happens.

Technologies such as ST2110 infrastructures around their facilities and the use of cloud-based content acquisition and post-production further transform in-house production capabilities, and both these areas are being embraced within sports environments.”

“We see the professional bodies and organisations we work with around football, basketball, tennis, volleyball and many others pushing the technical and creative boundaries to much higher levels than ever before,” he concludes. “Their feedback allows us to ensure that the technology we create will elevate their production capabilities and enable them to achieve their creative ambitions.”

Brightcove MARC DEBEVOISE CEO

“Over the past year, Brightcove has been making big moves in the sports space as we’ve expanded our roster of notable sports customers, supporting them in delivering scalable and reliable, live, on-demand and OTT streaming solutions for their audiences,” says Marc DeBevoise, CEO, Brightcove. “Recently, we announced a partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL) to power the digital video content for the league and its 32 teams across their web and NHL app presences.

“Around the same time as we announced the NHL partnership, we announced another SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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key partner in Yahoo! — becoming their exclusive streaming technology provider. This demonstrated our commitment to serving larger, global media entities, including many that stream live and on-demand sports content, such as Sky (Mexico) and Rogers Media (Canada).

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Broadcast Rental PAUL CHAMALAUN CCO

“The [latest] sport season for Broadcast Rental was especially busy, with RF during the big Dutch championships and Grand Prix coverage, including bonding systems on motorbikes throughout the Northern part of Europe, to a flypack for the table tennis World Championships shipped to South Africa,” says Paul Chamalaun, CCO, Broadcast Rental.

“Combined with the investments in more high-end equipment this guarantees quality and gives Broadcast Rental the possibility to grow even more in the future,” he says. “Next year in particular is going to be very busy for Broadcast Rental. Since our founding we have been the supplier for the IBC operation for the NOS during the Olympics. Once again, for the Olympics in Paris, Broadcast Rental has been selected as the technical partner for the NOS.”

Broadcast Solutions ANTTI LAURILA

CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER

“Another important highlight for us within the sports space was our partnership with Badminton Horse Trials, becoming their exclusive live streaming provider. Our solutions provided their huge international audience with access to the action throughout the event, giving them full ownership of their content and how to present it to viewers. Brightcove’s Media Solution also provided real-time viewer analytics so that they could make informed strategic decisions. The 2022 live stream attracted almost 75,000 viewers, demonstrating the demand for online, real-time event coverage.

“In 2023, we launched a host of new products to strengthen our monetisation offering for customers. One new solution, Ad Insights, allows our media customers to measure ad tolerance and revenue optimisation by analysing audience engagement across their advertising and calculating the impact of advertising intensity. Two subsequent products, Quality of Experience (QoE) Analytics and Insights, later launched to help media organisations understand the quality of the delivery of their streaming video content and measure its impact on user experiences.”

“Brightcove prides itself on its flexibility as a streaming provider, which serves us well in a realm that is constantly in flux.

It is an end-to-end platform; we provide everything, from streaming technology to ad operations consultancy and FAST channel capabilities through our partner Frequency,” he adds.“[Going forward] Brightcove is taking a more focused approach to data and working to help our customers have more customised solutions backed by analytics.”

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“Broadcast Solutions has implemented several remote production hubs in Scandinavia and built two OB vans for SuperSport in South Africa,” says Antti Laurila, chief strategy officer, Broadcast Solutions.

“IP1 is the largest OB truck to be produced by Broadcast Solutions, with full IP SMPTE-2110.

It was followed by IP2, delivered in October 2023, also with a full IP core based on Cisco, EVS, Imagine Communications and Sony technology.”

“We partnered with EMG during the table tennis championships, where with our scalable flypack based around the Ross Ultrix FR5, we provided the technical backbone,” he adds.

As a dedicated RF partner for the Dutch Champions league, produced in the Netherlands

by Freemantle, Broadcast Rental supplied Steadycam and Movi-Ben solutions.

This year Broadcast Rental invested in the development of an extra flypack.

“Based around the Ross Ultrix FR12, the new flypack is even bigger than the current one,” Chamalaun says. “During the summer months the engineering department has developed this extra-large flypack to be used in even more complex productions. During the last quarter of 2023 it is being used during several large HD and UHD sporting events around the world.”

“We at Broadcast Rental have foreseen a growing demand for EVS VIAs,” he adds.

“During 2023, we invested in more HD and UHD EVS VIAs to keep up with demand for the years to come.”

Chamalaun notes that during the past couple of years, Broadcast Rental has been able to grow its number of technical engineers.

“In collaboration with NEP Germany, Broadcast Solutions designed and implemented a complex and innovative remote production environment for new sports network Dyn Media. NEP Germany will operate it as a managed service for Dyn,” he continues. “DMC Production, the technical service provider offering infrastructure and production capacity for Norwegian broadcaster TV 2, commissioned Broadcast Solutions to plan and install the new DMC remote production hub, which found its home in the heart of Oslo. Over 700 matches, from football, handball and ice hockey to field hockey and many other sports, are to be managed from the hub.”

In addition to remote and mobile production, the company has been designing Video Assistant Referee (VAR) systems. “A centralised Video Operation Room and VAR van were rolled out for the Azerbaijan Football Federation, and a SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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series of VAR training systems produced for the Confédération Africaine de Football in Cairo.

Broadcast Solutions and EVS also co-launched the VAR Kick-Off Pack to help football associations and federations accelerate the implementation of VAR,” he adds.

“Broadcast Solutions is rolling out two flagship projects for our Northern European clients using the GV AMPP platform, which offers software-defined production and playout capabilities. This is integrated within the SMPTE-2110 framework, leveraging on-site and cloud-based (AWS) computing resources.

These initiatives will harness the advanced functionalities of GV AMPP, such as the local on-site computing platform and the GV AMPP Grid, which converts individual AMPP nodes into a high-performance, low-latency production cluster.”

Laurila says software-defined solutions are “finally seeing the light in live production”, offering operational and budgetary flexibility, as well as facilitating faster development.

“Another notable progression is in the domain of wireless video transmissions,” he adds.

“In venues, Broadcast Solutions MeshLink is becoming increasingly popular among live production entities. The adaptability of selfforming, self-healing meshed ad hoc networks, along with ultra-fast video encoders, simplifies deployment.”

BT Media and Broadcast DOMINIK WRONA

HEAD OF PORTFOLIO & GTM

needs, making it much easier to deploy wireless connectivity for large-scale productions, particularly in sports like golf, that take place in much more challenging environments.”

Also coming up is the launch of Cloud Media Connect, a fully managed service incorporating AWS direct connect for sending live content from ground to cloud, and vice versa.

“We’re working with partners to both provide cloud-based services through Vena, and to extend the platform itself into the cloud,” Wrona continues. “Examples of Vena in action this year include: supporting QTV in bringing VAR technology to top-flight Scottish football using our resilient network and helping them to expand into their cutting-edge remote production centre; and extending our long-term partnership with Racecourse Media Group, ensuring horseracing fans across the world can enjoy top-quality live coverage at over 700 race days per year, for a further five years. This year marks the start of RMG’s migration to Vena, with more visions, more data and a whole host of new features enabled by its software-defined orchestration.”

Wrona says during the 2022/23 season the company delivered over 380 English Premier League games with over 7,000 visions and around 100,000 hours of booked content; all UK-based UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League matches for UK host broadcasters and international rightsholders; and over 250 rugby matches in the UK, with in excess of 3,000 visions over the season out of each stadium, and full remote production at all UK stadium venues.

“During the past 12 months we’ve undertaken a series of pioneering collaborations to deliver live broadcasts in new and innovative ways — all underpinned by Vena, our intelligent broadcast platform, and our TV outside broadcast (TVOB) solutions,” says Dominik Wrona, head of portfolio & GTM, BT Media and Broadcast. “We have continued our innovation and industry partnerships, demonstrating at this year’s IBC show how an entirely wireless IP end-to-end system Calrec can simplify the camera connection to one DAVE LETSON radio link, shrink the satellite equipment into VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES something that can be mounted onto the roof “Introduced in September 2022, of a small car, and can be operated without the initial sales of Calrec’s native assistance of an engineer.

IP audio mixing consoles, the “We’re now in the early stages of the rollout Argo Q and Argo S, have been for our new 5G proposition, giving access to allocated to sports production,” says Dave a range of spectrum to meet broadcasting Letson, vice president of sales, Calrec. “NEP SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Australia installed two Argo S consoles and one 96-fader Argo Q into its Andrews Hubs facility in Sydney, which is a dedicated remote production facility used primarily for various sports productions across Australia. Shortly thereafter, Ross Production Services, a division of Ross Video, purchased three Argo S consoles for its Connecticut facility in the US. Since then, we’ve had further success with US sports facilities and sales across Asia.”

Towards the end of last year, Calrec introduced a compact form factor, native IP processing core for its Argo consoles called ImPulse1. He continues: “Designed for single console applications and based on Calrec’s large multi-console ImPulse cores, ImPulse1 not only expands the range of IP-based products but also provides our customers with greater choice to suit their budgets and applications.”

“Remote production continues to grow and with demands from sports broadcasters for greater capacity, we felt it was time to upgrade our Remote Production Unit (RP1) with more channels and more busses,” he adds. “RP1 is designed to provide low-latency mix-minus/ IFB monitoring mixes at the field of play while controlled from the consoles back at the broadcast facilities.”

Letson continues: We plan to add new features to Argo that will broaden its functionality for remote production and continue to push the boundaries of console versatility. In addition, we have another major sports project that we are undertaking, which will simultaneously utilise Argo’s distributed production and remote production features.”

Letson identifies three common themes which are helping to shape sports production workflows: “IP technologies, such as Calrec’s ImPulse core used with Argo, Apollo and Artemis consoles, are being implemented to take advantage of the flexibility and long-term scalability that ST2110 offers broadcasters; remote production has become a frequent way of working for major sports events such as the Premier League, Formula E and even the 165

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Summer Games; also the growth of distributed production, where control surfaces, cores and I/Os are not co-located in the same facility but can be distributed across large distances to maximum their use,” says Letson. “What’s really fascinating is that broadcasters are able to leverage all three technology workflows to suit their businesses and Calrec as a company is constantly learning new ways that our products can be used. We’re able to evolve these workflows as our customers’ needs grow.”

Camera Corps BARRY PARKER

COMMERCIAL MANAGER

“Following a busy 2022 with back-to-back major events c u l m i n a t i n g i n t h e F I FA Men’s Football World Cup in Qatar, Camera Corps predicted a quieter 2023, giving more time to consolidate and plan for a productive 2024,” recalls Barry Parker, commercial manager, Camera Corps.

“However, to the contrary we have had the pleasure this year of delivering specialist services for our clients at some of the toplevel events of 2023, including the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, The World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, and the Invictus Games which took place in Düsseldorf. At the same time, we have been supporting our domestic and European OB clients with products and services to help them fulfil their various commitments over the year.”

“The World Cup in Doha was a huge undertaking for Camera Corps,” he continues.

“We provided an efficient team to deploy city beauty cameras, goal cams, tunnel cams, as well as remote tactical cameras, all controlled remotely over IP from venue to IBC. We were also responsible for the commentary camera installation at each venue, designing and 166

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packaging a new comm cam solution for easier movement between matches.”

Parker adds: “This year, Camera Corps has improved and upgraded its widely used equipment, including new HDR camera modules integrated into Stumpcams used for The Ashes test matches during the summer.

We have also combined the Qx camera with a specially modified, inverted dual remote head to create the Q Air. This is a lower cost, easier to deploy, alternative tracking system that can capture exciting aerial shots within a venue, used effectively at the Invictus Games. Also, demand for our recently updated suite of aquatic cameras remains strong, and successful global partnerships have kept us at the leading edge in this sport.”

“We have a proven track record of working closely with federations, event owners, rightsholders and host broadcasters to introduce new ideas and innovations in advance of major projects,” he continues. “Our priority over the next six months is meeting the demand for new formats and optimising equipment and crew delivery for maximum efficiency. As a result of this, we have recently become the preferred specialist camera supplier for a major US sporting federation and are currently planning for the 2024 Summer Games.”

The 2023 season brought another milestone as Caton was contracted to transmit Major League Baseball games from the group’s broadcast centre in New York to three Taiwanese broadcasters: Eleven Sports Taiwan, Chinese Television System and streaming service ELTA. Weiser adds: “It’s noteworthy to mention that baseball commands immense popularity in Taiwan, and these three rightsholders collectively reach more than 75% of the fan base in the country. This accomplishment underscores our dedication to excellence, reinforcing that our solutions are tailor-made for high-quality sports content, ensuring a zero-error transmission and seamless viewing experience for sports fans around the world.”

Weiser also highlights the launch of Caton Media XStream. “This innovative cloud-native service is geared towards broadcast-grade media stream transmissions over the public internet, thanks to its AI-driven intelligent routing, autorecovery and real-time sensing capabilities.

With the support of the Caton Cloud network, the core benefits of Caton Media XStream is its unmatched reliability, achieving a 99.9999+% availability, and its ability to dynamically manage the network, ensuring optimal routes for data streams even in the unpredictable landscape of the public internet.”

Caton

Chyron PAUL WEISER

SVP, SALES & MARKETING

“Since September 202 2, our sports production has achieved significant growth and technological advancements,” says Paul Weiser, SVP, sales & marketing, Caton. “One standout achievement was our partnership with Eleven Sports Taiwan, now a pivotal part of DAZN. Caton facilitated the IP transmission for both National Basketball Association and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) games for the 2022 season. This success resulted in the extension of our contract with NPB for an additional five years.”

NAB 2023 was a significant show for Chyron, reflecting its larger successes across product innovation, delivery of customer-centric features and solutions, and leadership in cloud implementation for live production. The company announced its inaugural Chyron Designer of the Year award and introduced new features and capabilities across its product portfolio, including the Chyron Live cloudnative production platform. Visitors had the chance to try out the platform’s new Matchpad module, optimised to enable seamless production of live football coverage, and to see the new Commentary and AI modules that further accelerate production workflows and SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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drive greater ROI. Enhanced with new tools for even more robust handling of data, Chyron’s Prime Platform was also a highlight.

Chyron Live 1.5 made its debut at IBC2023, featuring additional user control over the cloud environment and new sports-specific features.

Also new, Prime Video Walls supports any aspect ratio and pixel count, while Prime Click Effects provides venue control capabilities that make it easy to drive graphics to any in-studio or in-stadium display. Broadcasters, sports teams and leagues can further enhance their storytelling capabilities with Paint illustrated replay, as well as Virtual Placement for on-field virtual markers (down and distance, offsides) or virtual, regionalised advertising on the field, around the pitch, or on virtual billboards.

Among the beta releases showcased at IBC were Prime 4.9 (graphics), Paint 9.6 (illustrated replay), Weather 2.0 and Camio 5.4.

Highlighting Chyron’s commitment to cloud production and to ensuring that Camio is as NRCS-agnostic as possible, the 5.4 release of Camio offers integration with Seven Mountains DiNA, a fully cloud-based NRCS with an on-premises gateway. Camio 5.4 also includes new asset management efficiency and quality features, including watch folder ingest logic, exportable folder content lists, a file size meter displayed prior to file transfers, user-defined asset deletion and purge preferences across a hub-and-spoke ecosystem.

Cobalt Digital SUZANA BRADY

SVP OF WORLDWIDE SALES AND MARKETING

“At Cobalt Digital, 2023 has been an incredible year for industry firsts and bringing innovative solutions to market,” says Suzana Brady, SVP of worldwide sales and marketing.

“We launched our Indigo 2110-DC-01 native 2110 solution last year as an interface option for our 9905-MPx and 9904-UDX-4K openGear cards designed to circumvent the error-prone and expensive need for multiple devices in the data path. Indigo offers advanced processing with IP inputs and outputs and eliminates the need for any external gateways. When combined with the 9904-UDX-4K card, the option offers support for high density native 4K ST2110 audio and video processing on an openGear form factor.

“Cobalt’s SafeLink Gateway can now perform 168

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that same service as a virtual machine and in the cloud. The SafeLink 8TS is ideal for cloud redundancy switching, and ground-to-cloud/ cloud-to-ground transmission using the Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST).

Keeping with a theme of highd e n s i t y solutions and industry firsts, Cobalt made D a n t e ’ s IP-based audio networking s o l u t i o n available to users on a licence-basis in a much higher density scale by incorporating the functionality into the company’s quad channel 9905-MPx in addition to the existing 9904-UDX processing card solution. “+MPx-Dante-64x64 paired with the 9905-MPx card results in the industry’s first licence-based quad-channel 3G-SDI bridge to Dante audio,” she adds.

“Our recently launched Sapphire 8JXS-8S is an ST2110 JPEG XS to SDI bulk gateway in openGear form factor that occupies four slots, allowing for up to five cards and 40 signal conversions in a standard openGear chassis. Cobalt’s new Wave family of routers and control panels were developed to accommodate virtually any application with support for signals up to 12G-SDI.” The company also introduced a series of control panels at IBC developed to accommodate the Wave router family. “The Wave CP-84L features 84 back-lit LCD dot matrix display buttons, while the simpler Wave CP-78 features 78 back-lit buttons; they allow different setups to be stored and recalled from the browser to provide extremely flexible operations.

“Also new is Cobalt’s UltraBlue IP-MV scalable, software-based multiviewer solution, designed to grow with customers’ needs.

Offered as a software package, pre-installed on hardware, and as a cloud instance with a WebRTC output, UltraBlue IP-MV can handle a variety of compressed and uncompressed IP inputs and an arbitrary number of outputs (including individual rotation to portrait), with flexible audio routing and an intuitive web interface.”

Cyanview DAVID BOURGEOIS CEO & FOUNDER

“Our products are used for remote shading of specialty cameras, mostly on high-end events,” says David Bourgeois, CEO & founder, Cyanview. “The expansion of the use of large-sensor cameras on sports has continued this year. For us it started with Fox’s Megalodon, controlled over LTE for the whole NFL season. Fox is also controlling drone cameras like Sony FX6, Red Komodo and Atom One cameras on Nascar. CBS used our system to control a Panasonic GH5s within a Freefly MOVI gimbal on the Golf Masters. This NFL season, BSI, 3G Wireless, CP Communications and C360 all used our control system for the pylon cameras. ESPN is also controlling wireless large sensor cameras, Sony FX9 and Venice on Monday Night Football, while ACS, Timeline and NEP are using it in the UK. There were 30 field camera feeds going through some kind of Cyanview control at the Superbowl LVII played on 12 February 2023.”

“We saw an increase in requests for controlling large-sensor cameras on mobile setups, like Steadicam and gimbal, during sport events,” continues Bourgeois, “such as Sony FX3 and FX30 during the Six Nations rugby and ATP events, Canon C70 on the NBA, and Red during football matches. “[We support] other specialty cameras, mostly mini cameras and PTZ, as well as the Dreamchip SSM500 slow-motion camera that our RCP interfaces with EVS or a shuttle remote. Following the trend of last year, more companies started to use our products for remote production. PGA now covers multiple events at once controlling Sony ENG cameras on golf courses from their control rooms in Florida.”

“We released the iris joystick for the RCP in June and the feedback from our customers has been very positive,” he adds. “So far the main SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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value of our RCP has been to control a mix of cameras and colour correctors of different brands and models from the same remote. The iris joystick doesn’t work in this context and would have been counter effective. The reason we’ve added it this year is that, thanks to the new developments we introduced, we are now controlling single cameras in various setups, such as the main cameras on remote production, large sensor cameras, wireless ENG cameras and multicam cinematic productions. That’s just for outside sports but many OB companies are also covering concerts and so we now control Arri, Red, Sony Venice, Panasonic Varicam, Canon EOS and others.

“Wireless is also something that we are expanding into, collaborating with more companies that cover wireless video and would like to have a universal control solution associated with their system.”

Deltacast LIONEL DUTILLEUX

INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER

This year, Deltacast is placing efficiency and versatility at the core of its sports solutions, enriching them with impactful new features.

“Our goal is to provide cutting-edge solutions that enhance the sports viewing experience,” says Lionel Dutilleux, international sales manager, Deltacast. “On the one hand, Deltahighlight, Deltacast’s match analysis solution, has been equipped with unique features specifically designed for rugby, coinciding with the Rugby World Cup in Paris. These additions allow for a more in-depth analysis tailored to this sport. Woven seamlessly into our methodology is a dedication to converting data into meaningful insights for fans via AR graphics, ensuring a captivating and enlightening experience.”

“On the other hand, the offside line solution for VAR, Delta-offside, has once again received FIFA Quality certification. This new version not SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

only maintains high standards but goes beyond, offering an even faster, intuitive and easy-tocalibrate experience,” adds Dutilleux. “The evolution of Delta-offside confirms Deltacast’s ongoing commitment to staying at the forefront of technology to meet the rigorous demands of the sports world.”

Deltacast solutions were also showcased at partner stands during IBC2023, including that of Riedel Communications.

“Riedel seamlessly integrates Deltacast’s 3D offside line into its VAR solution,” says Dutilleux.

“Live storytelling solutions for sports events continue to leave their mark at Eleven Sport for the upcoming season. Argentina is also pulsating with the rhythm of these captivating stories, using Deltacast solutions to enhance the country’s football experience.”

“It’s a new season that promises to be rich in innovations and exciting narratives thanks to Deltacast solutions,” concludes Dutilleux.

Deltatre ANDREA MARINI CEO

“At the start of this year, Deltatre and Sportec Solutions, a j o in t ve n t u r e b e t we e n Deltatre and the DFL, was appointed by Major League Soccer (MLS) to create next-generation enhanced data feeds for all MLS matches, and to power Apple’s MLS Season Pass,” says Andrea Marini, CEO, Deltatre. “While Sportec Solutions provides and integrates advanced gathering, storage, analysis, distribution and analytics of live event and tracking match data, which will be used by MLS and its clubs, Deltatre is responsible for bringing Sportec Solutions’ next-generation metrics to Apple TV+ viewers through advanced graphics and data visualisations. Having partnered with MLS since 2021, we were thrilled to expand our remit and work in tandem with our subsidiary, especially at the start of a new cycle with Apple TV+.”

“The past 12 months have also seen us continue to develop and roll out groundbreaking broadcast graphics for ATP Media, changing the way fans consume tennis,” he continues. “Designed by Deltatre and ATP Media, and created and implemented by Deltatre, the premium new graphics were initially rolled out ahead of the Open in Indian Wells in 2022 and have been continually updated throughout 2023 for key events, including the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and ATP Finals in Turin. Having worked with ATP for more than half a decade, it’s an amazing feeling seeing [the graphics] rolled out at some of the biggest tennis events around the world.”

Ahead of IBC2023, Deltatre launched D3 Volt, an integrated streaming platform that represents the future of streaming.

“D3 Volt is a platform for both established streaming operators and new entrants to the market,” says Marini. “It offers fully native reference apps across web, mobile, tablet, TV, set-top box and game consoles, as well as new levels of functionality spanning acquisition, packaging, encoding, security, distribution, content management and playback.

“D3 Volt integrates several Deltatre products, including Axis, the pioneering UX product to configure streaming services, Diva, the proven video player for rich user interactivity, and Forge, the highly scalable CMS for the world’s biggest names, with chosen partners to create end-toend streaming and digital platforms. Presenting the ability to launch in as little as 90 days, it simplifies operational complexity and eliminates the need for changing technology suppliers as services grow.”

Digigram XAVIER ALLANIC MANAGING DIRECTOR

“In 2023, Digigram consolidated sports-related partnerships throughout Europe,” says Xavier Allanic, managing director, Digigram. “Our Iqoya Connect platform has shown remarkable stability and reach, ensuring that our partners can focus on content rather than technical aspects of setting their devices.”

“Thanks to our partner Cerberus, Germany’s Dyn Media deployed an intercommunication project with Digigram solutions: two Serv/Link units with 64 channels each, five Iqoya Talks, and our cloud-based service Iqoya Connect facilitate seamless live sports broadcasting,” he 169

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adds. “Additionally, Eurosport, a Warner Bros.

Discovery entity, has upgraded their systems with Serv/Link to collect multiple-language sports commentaries. Iqoya Connect provides supervision of these contributions.

voices and opinions into shoulder programming and the event itself on linear TV or powering alternate streams or watchalongs with audience interaction and sports stats,” says Peter Cassidy, commercial director, Dizplai. “Our new CMS has a simplified UI that makes it easier than ever for producers to manage an interactive, dynamic production in real time. The addition of web apps as a means of engagement means that our customers are less reliant on social media and can also use these interactions as a means of collecting first-party data. Dizplai has also signed major deals in 2023 with another of the leading Premier League teams, CYBC, the Cypriot state broadcaster, Super League “Euronews has been another milestone in our Triathlon and one of the biggest gaming sports broadcasting portfolio. Utilising Iqoya companies in the UK.” Talk and Serv/Link, they have the flexibility to scale their channel capacities for each event. The Iqoya Connect platform provides them with realtime statistics, further enhancing their broadcast capabilities.”

In 2023, Digigram acquired AuviTran, a French audio networking company. “This acquisition amplifies our capabilities in the sports broadcasting sector,” says Allanic. “AuviTran Cassidy says the company has delivered solutions are part of famous sports venues some “truly groundbreaking” interactive live worldwide, such as the MetLife Stadium.” experiences for its customers over the past 12 Additionally, AuviTran has recently received months.

AVB Milan certification. Building on that “Working in collaboration with Sky Sports, momentum, Digigram has appointed Laurence we developed Viewers’ Verdict, a whole new Fornari as head of sales. Fornari, a seasoned way for boxing fans to get involved with a match executive with 25 years of experience in in real time, letting them score each round from broadcast and tech, will supervise global sales the comfort of their sofa and then see the global operations in Montbonnot and Singapore, and result on air moments afterwards,” he says. spearhead the company’s growth policy.

BT Sport was using the Dizplai platform to Looking forward, Allanic says Digigram aims bring audience social media and messages into to strengthen its position in sports broadcasting its Champions League Tonight and Early Kickas a reliable provider of audio-critical solutions. off shows. “Over the summer of 2023, Dizplai “Our pivotal role in the 2020 Tokyo Games worked with BT to transition to the new brand and proven track record in handling large-scale — TNT Sports — and it is in the process of sporting events make us a trusted partner for rolling out graphics with the new look and feel,” the 2024 Paris Games,” he adds. “We are also says Cassidy. “In addition, in September 2023, gearing up for Euro 24 in Germany, playing a TNT Sports started using the Dizplai platform significant role in providing reliable and scalable to power graphics for live watchalong shows solutions in live sports broadcasting.” streamed on Discovery+ during UFC fights.”

“The United Stand, the biggest football fan channel on YouTube, uses Dizplai to power Dizplai all the graphics on its hugely successful live PETER CASSIDY COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR watchalong shows,” he adds. “This combines “Our mission is to empower audience voices, social media and real-time stats producers of live sports content and updates to create a dynamic companion to create engaging, interactive experience to the big game.” live experiences for their In August 2023, Dizplai launched the Podium audiences — whether that’s bringing viewers’ Predictor for Super League Triathlon’s (SLT) 170

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2023 Championship Series. “During each race, broadcast in 87 countries around the world, a QR code pops up on screen, driving viewers to make their predictions on a predictor web app embedded on SLT’s website, which is also designed to collect first-party data,” he says.

Dolby ANAÏS LIBOLT

DIRECTOR BROADCAST & CONTENT EUROPE

“2022/2023 was a very good year for us in terms of sports, especially football,” says Anaïs Libolt, director broadcast & content Europe, Dolby Laboratories. “First, there was the 2022 FIFA World Cup, produced in UHD HDR and immersive audio and distributed in Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos by 11 broadcasters. Nine of them did so for the first time. The UEFA Champions League was produced in UHD HDR and immersive audio from the round of 16 to the final. Last season, the weekly Bundesliga top match was also produced and distributed in Dolby Atmos for the first time, as were several other Bundesliga matches and selected matches from the 2nd Bundesliga.”

“In the coming year, we will spend some more time and effort on major soccer events, such as Euro 2024 in Germany. And, of course, there will be the 2024 Olympics in Paris, as well as some major sporting events in the US,” she continues.

“In addition, we will focus our energy on helping rightsholders distribute content in the best possible format.

“We’re also looking at the playback side and the penetration of Dolby-enabled products in homes. We continue to work closely with manufacturers to bring premium technology to SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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the mass market. It is important to us that not only consumers with high-end devices can enjoy the formats. In this context, there is also a new category of devices that we call ISS: integrated set-top box soundbar, basically a set-top box with Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers. We see it as something that creates a more immersive, clear and emotional experience for fans without having to set up a full home theatre.”

Libolt observes that HDR has been a challenge for broadcasters and content producers in recent years. “They needed new camera settings, a different way of monitoring, the shaders had to learn a different way of shading. But today it’s less of a challenge because it’s a standard for most major sporting events: we see a lot of major championships produced in UHD HDR or 1080p HDR,” she says. “The same is true for immersive audio, also becoming more standard in premium productions. However, distribution remains a challenge, as we see that this content is not necessarily being broadcast to the mass market yet. Broadcasters invest heavily in acquiring content that is valuable to their viewers, but they don’t always distribute it in the optimal format.

Thus we are focusing on helping broadcasters to enable the workflows that make it possible for them to deliver lasting services in HDR Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.”

Domo Broadcast Systems MIKE BUDGE

BROADCAST UNIT DIRECTOR

“Over the past year, Domo’s encoders, decoders, COFDM, fibre and Mesh solutions have been integral to ensuring audiences around the world have received only the highest quality transmissions of numerous premium events, including Formula 1, Le Mans, football championships, the Rugby World Cup, the US Tennis Open, SailGP, Superbikes and the FIA World Endurance Championship,” says Mike Budge, broadcast unit director, Domo Broadcast Systems.

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the Women’s football championships this year.

Viewership of the Australia vs England game was record-breaking, with 11.5 million viewers. Our solutions were at work everywhere, including broadcast radio cameras in the stadium for the global feed via NEP Australia, in-stadium camera for the big screen coverage via Stadium Australia Group, and helicopter downlink reporting from Gravity Media.”

“Domo’s work with Formula E this year is proving a game-changer for sports involving multiple participants and locations, and necessitating UHD quality at high speeds,” he continues. “Working in collaboration with Timeline TV and Formula E Technology, we distributed 220 onboard cameras across all 22 cars in a single race. The technology enables transmission of multiple camera angles simultaneously or individually, with seamless built-in switching, real-time over-air playback and remote operator control of multiple cameras. Prior to the bespoke efforts of Timeline and Domo Broadcast, it wasn’t possible to cut between onboard cameras, go direct to air, or preview the coverage coming from multiple onboard cameras. By the time of the Formula E race in Monaco in May, the team had managed to offer a complete onboard lap, cutting synchronously between 10 cameras — with no break-up.”

Budge says Domo is seeing “huge interest” in its Quartz Connect system, which combines HEVC encoding, COFDM and IP Mesh designed specifically to serve the needs of the broadcast and commercial markets. “The system allows broadcasters to centralise control of their wireless devices, including cameras, from a base — and all on a single RF channel,” says Budge. “Several broadcasters are participating as early-adopters in our final proof-of-concept testing stage.”

EditShare STEPHEN TALLAMY CTO

“The big news this year has been our merger with Shift Media, developer of the MediaSilo SaaS product,” says Stephen Tallamy, CTO, EditShare. “It is really complementary with our EditShare storage architectures and flow asset management. MediaSilo is all about collaboration, making it easy for all those who need it to see and use content. That makes it a “We’re particularly proud to have had our very valuable addition to sports workflows, to solutions working hard behind the scenes at help tell the story around the game.”

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“As a great example, a major sports league with a global profile needed to find a way to securely share material to media outlets and stakeholders: as demands had grown, workflows had become chaotic and operator intensive,” says Tallamy. “MediaSilo accessed the organisation’s entire library, on the ground and in the cloud, and opened it up in a one-touch collaboration centre.

It integrated seamlessly with the existing asset management and embraced new material as it came in, obviously vital for live sports. It provided all the security needed to protect the content and created real efficiencies by eliminating much of the content duplication as well as fully automating processes.”

Tallamy continues: “Our business is in empowering storytellers, and sport is about great stories. A great example is Kansas State University, one of the biggest names in collegiate athletics in the US. K-StateHD.TV provides comprehensive linear, web and social coverage of all 16 men’s and women’s sports, and provides coverage and production for external media companies too. They have used EditShare shared storage for 10 years, but recently have greatly expanded and upgraded their facilities. The new installation provides extensive facilities for online and nearline storage on-site in the K-State production centre. It also adds cloud storage, for live material and for archiving. EditShare provides not just the storage appliances, but a rich software environment to manage and use the material.”

Looking ahead, the next release of Flow and EFS is being finalised. “It features many exciting innovations, in particular the enablement of multi-site workflows that encompass both storage and asset management,” says Tallamy.

“This will allow customers to deploy multiple storage systems in different locations and see a combined view of assets from a central Flow system. This can be very valuable for creative teams working in multiple locations and has powerful features to allow for distributed processing, for example to transcode material locally or move media from one site to another.”

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EMG Group PATRICK BRAND

GROUP HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

“EMG Group started 2023 with the consolidation of its connectivity services under EMG Connectivity, bringing our unrivalled knowledge and resources of the whole group to integrate world-leading solutions in remote production, IP technology, RF, satellite and 5G into sports productions,” says Patrick Brand, group head of communications and marketing, EMG.

“[Looking forward], in addition to the hundreds of local sporting events we will capture with local teams and gear for dozens of clients, our teams from different countries are collaborating more, and we only see this increasing,” he adds. “For example, we have seen Belgian OB trucks at the Rugby World Cup in Paris, Dutch trucks at the Champions League in England, and English trucks at NFL games in Germany. The biggest production for EMG next year also happens to be the biggest television production of the entire sports world, which takes place in Paris.”

ES Broadcast GREG DE BRESSAC MANAGING DIRECTOR

“EMG has also progressed its long-term plan to increase the sustainability of its fleet of golffocused OB trucks with the addition of six Volvo FH (Forward High) tractor units. Their turbo compound engines deliver a 7.5% increase in fuel efficiency and adhere to the Euro 6 standard for clean exhaust emissions, covering major DP World Tour golfing events in a way that is more considerate to the environment. This has been followed by the addition of four new sustainable OB vans dedicated to remote production, with the first one making its debut by providing coverage for Sky Sports on the LV County Championship first division.

“Other brands under the EMG Group have also grown in the live sports events sector.

Boost Graphics, for example, has been selected as the graphics partner for the broadcast of Ares Fighting, providing a range of graphics capabilities and integrations including a dynamic design refresh for the ambitious Mixed Martial Arts league. Origins Digital has been chosen by the Swiss Football League as its digital partner to create a cutting-edge, fan-focused online experience that prioritises customer centricity and the innovative use of data, and supported the French Golf Federation to build its new and enhanced OTT platform.”

Some highlights in sports production for EMG were the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, many Champions League Football matches, the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in France, Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

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The past 12 months has seen ES Broadcast enjoy technological partnerships old and new with leading sports clients. Greg de Bressac made the move to the UK from Australia to take up the role of managing director of ES Broadcast, with commercial oversight of the company’s sales and systems integration operations.

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“ES Broadcast has always striven to nurture long-term relationships built on expertise-led technical consultancy that aims to understand and underpin our clients’ long-term business goals and it is very rewarding to see these endeavours paying off for our partners,” says de Bressac. “Casting our minds back to October 2022, our hire division in Spain played a key role in delivering the first REMI IP production of the South American Games in Asunción, Paraguay.

Thirty Sony HDC-4300 channels — alongside a range of Canon and Fujinon lenses and Vinten tripods — were crucial to host broadcaster Quality’s capture of more than 1,000 hours of coverage of 53 sports across 36 venues.

Sports including athletics, handball, volleyball, basketball, badminton, skeet shooting, boxing, hockey, swimming and weightlifting were

captured using ES Broadcast Hire equipment in what was the first production of its kind in the history of IOC-recognised Games.”

“QTV has seen stellar growth over the last five years,” he adds. “Late 2022 saw the introduction of video assistant referee (VAR) to Scottish Premiership games, with the operations centre run from QTV’s Clydesdale House, a custombuilt remote production facility delivered in 2021

by ES Broadcast. Several phased expansions of infrastructure have taken place since the facility’s launch, with the latest being a 12-camera REMI gallery and 12-camera production control room, which went live in summer 2023.”

He continues: “Virtual advertising specialist Supponor is a newer client with whom ES Broadcast has worked collaboratively to create a technology roadmap that will eventually see four portable production units (PPUs) delivered to support their expanding remit to deliver virtually enhanced advertising spaces to the live sports broadcasting market. The two PPUs currently in operation have seen action primarily on Germany’s Bundesliga fixtures, as well both club and international UEFA matches.”

In May 2023, ES Broadcast opened a new rental office in Reims, France. “Located barely two hours from Paris, the office has been opened to offer a central European base to support not only some of the biggest broadcasters in France, including France Télévisions, NEP and EMG, but also clients in the Benelux and German markets.

The office is headed up by branch manager Sandrine Carvalho, who joined from Gravity Media and offers almost 20 years’ experience in commercial management roles in the French broadcast sector, having also worked for ACS France.”

Eurovision Services FABIEN ROBINEAU

GLOBAL HEAD OF SALES & MARKETING

“[In 2023] Eurovision Services continued years of successful delivery at the peak of world football, motorsport and cycling events,” says Fabien Robineau, global head of sales & marketing, Eurovision Services. “Of particular note were the logistical challenges of the Tour de France and its multiple mountain stages, the multiplication of feeds with regionalisation and advertising replacement, and the relocations of some competitions from one continent to another at short notice. We also enjoyed ongoing smooth and efficient 173

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co-operation with Eurovision Sport — which remains part of the European Broadcasting Union — to deliver the UCI World Cycling Championships in Glasgow in August.”

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Evertz MO GOYAL

SENIOR DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT — LIVE MEDIA

“Evertz continues to be a part of the biggest sports productions in the world,” says Mo Goyal, senior director, international business development — live media, Evertz. “For the World Cup in Qatar, we provided our XPS technology to a major US broadcaster (Spanish rightsholder) for contribution over a private network using Secure Reliable Transport.

Camera feeds from the venues were sent over a private IP network to the production facilities in Robineau reports that since becoming Miami using HEVC encoding.” an independent company (Dubag Group acquired ES in January), Eurovision Services has further sharpened its focus on investing for the future. “This is the opportunity to reset while building on our legacy of delivering the biggest properties in sport,” he says. “We are building infrastructure ready to tackle tomorrow’s challenges, from new back-office processes to new delivery infrastructure that will drive more orchestration and automation to handle “We’ve provided core IP technology for the multiplicity of feeds, formats and delivery production partners of the Masters and Super technologies needed to service customers.”

Bowl, based on our Software Defined Video “Satellite will remain part of the contribution Networking,” he continues. “This includes mix for the foreseeable future, especially from our EXE and NATX switch fabrics, ev670poorly connected venues to deliver world feeds X30-HW (for multiviewers) and gateways at scale, with the richest content delivered via control by Magnum-OS. Evertz has provided fibre on our Content Hub,” he adds. “Finally, to DreamCatcher Replay systems in the public match budget or less well-connected locations, cloud for a number of technology showcases internet delivery, whether SRT or equivalent, is for the Deutsche Fußball Liga and the National another part of our hybrid toolkit to ensure we Hockey League. provide the best customer experience.”

Goyal notes several company developments “The Virtual Board Replacement (VBR) that address the challenges of sports production. technology has also been a game-changer in “The first is remote contribution: here we have sports production. By allowing for localised added JPEG XS using TR-07 or TR-08 across advertising on stadium boards during live a number of platforms, including our XPS, broadcasts, VBR introduces new revenue Scorpion and ev670. The flexibility and lowstreams for content owners and sponsors. As a latency characteristics of JPEG XS makes it ideal B2B service provider, we provide our customers for both on-premise and cloud applications,” with a personalised, market-specific advertising he says. “For production tools, we continue to experience, which has been a major value-add evolve our DreamCatcher Bravo Studio and for our service.” we’ve integrated more of the Studer Audio The increased adoption of remote production technology into platforms for enhanced audio workflows has also impacted business. mixing and added controls to the Vista consoles “Remote production allows us to produce into our Vue product. high-quality broadcasts with fewer resources “With Vue, operators have a softwareon-site, reducing costs and improving efficiency. based contextual interface to control devices With this model, production companies cover and routes, and we have added over 2,400 more events without compromising the quality,” controls for Vista into Vue which makes remote says Robineau. audio production a reality. For Bravo Studio, 174

we’re adding more AI-based co-pilots, such as our Highlight Factory, to create stories more efficiently and quickly for our customers’ audiences.”

“The plan is to continue to develop tools that allow for more cost-effective production from anywhere,” continues Goyal. “The fragmentation of sports broadcasting is creating the opportunity for more personalised experiences across multiple devices including mobile and connected TVs. With the interactive overlays from our Ease Live solutions, we are enabling fans to reach back to the production to get their own highlights or follow their favourite player. This requires more production streams and a new way to create them.”

EVS SÉBASTIEN VERLAINE HEAD OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

“In September this year, EVS introduced its VIA Media Asset Platform (VIA MAP), marking a significant leap in the company’s live content creation and media management capabilities,” says Sébastien Verlaine, head of marketing & communications, EVS. “Serving as the central infrastructure for multiple solutions, including LiveCeption for live replays and highlights, MediaCeption for asset management, MediaHub for distribution and monetisation, and PowerVision for reviewing and critical decision-making, this platform establishes a cohesive and open ecosystem that aligns with the dynamic requirements of today’s media landscape.

Additionally, it capitalises on EVS’ MediaInfra solutions, enabling users to fully harness the potential of an IP-based backbone in live video operations through advanced routing, monitoring, orchestrating and media processing flows.”

“VIA MAP, which is built upon a microservicesbased foundation, embodies EVS’ dedication to flexibility and scalability, facilitating a smooth SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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transition from traditional to cohesive media operations,” he says. “Content professionals are empowered to efficiently create and manage media assets but also strategically utilise them for distribution and monetisation across diverse media channels.”

In terms of technology trends, Verlaine says EVS has continued to integrate artificial intelligence into its solutions to “unlock new creative possibilities and redefine on-demand, high-quality content generation”.

“One standout example is EVS’ XtraMotion super slow-motion service, which has continued to gain industry recognition for its impact on storytelling and audience engagement in live sports productions. This year, EVS launched XtraMotion 2.0, offering customers the flexibility to deploy the service in the cloud or on-premises, catering to diverse production preferences,” Verlaine says. “At IBC2023, EVS unveiled additional AI-based special effects for live replays including deblurring and zoom capabilities. EVS’ latest white paper, titled ‘Beyond slow-motion — Enhancing live replays with AI-powered special effects’, explains how generative AI allows for real-time adjustments on live replays, creating special effects that capture the full excitement and emotional impact of the game, without compromising visual quality or creative choices. AI-based features have also been integrated in EVS’ MediaCeption line for content management and the MediaHub for content exchange, with capabilities such as facial recognition and celebrity recognition accelerating the entire process of finding, repurposing and delivering content. Furthermore, EVS’ FIFA-certified VAR solution Xeebra uses AI to create a 3D virtual offside line for faster and more precise decisionmaking.”

Fujinon (Fujifilm) CHIKATSU MORIYA

DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER

Sponsor Update

a ‘cinematic look’ in live broadcast has been standing main monitor with a programme of increasing, to add to the story, which is why premium learning and listening experiences, larger image sensor cameras are used in some both face-to-face and virtually.” areas.”

“Up until now, the challenge was always that the focal length of existing lenses was not long enough for sports,” he continues. “This is why the Duvo25-1000 is unique. We’ve tested the lens at many events, from football to rugby and motorsports; the biggest concern was the focusing, everybody was afraid of it due to the shallower of depth of field, but in the end, thanks to the improved image quality, finding the peak focus was not difficult.”

“Wireless controllers are a common tool to control focus in cinema and the Duvo is no different,” he adds. “Thanks to the faster aperture, always good for high-speed cameras, and the optical stabilisation that is installed, you can get great images in any conditions.”

“We shared more details about the next Duvo lenses at IBC2023,” he adds. “The Duvo24-300 will be delivered to customers from March 2024, and the Duvo14-100 will arrive later in 2024.

These are portable versions in the Duvo series.

“We don’t expect the cinematic look to replace that of the existing broadcast system, but this will continue to increase in years to come. The important thing is that they work together. Anybody from the broadcast industry should be able to manage these cinematic-look lenses without any issues: this is the first priority when introducing a new lens.”

According to Fujifilm’s Chikatsu Moriya, the Duvo25-1000 lens Genelec has been the most significant HOWARD JONES from the Fujinon brand. “It COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR was developed to be used at live events, which “2 0 23 ha s b e en our 45th traditionally were the realm of broadcast anniversary year, so we’ve been shooting, but offer a cinematic look,” says on our Genelec 45 World Tour Moriya. “The Duvo25-1000 was released in — which celebrates sound and March 2023. This box type lens with the PL the passion that powers it,” says Howard Jones, mount supports not only S35 but also LF sensor communications director, Genelec. “The tour if the built-in expander is used. The demand for has combined the launch of our 8381 floor176

“O ur m os t sig nif ic ant t e c hn olo g y development in 2023 has been the new Unio audio monitoring platform, which we unveiled at IBC,” he continues. “Unio brings together the power of our Smart Active Monitors (SAM), GLM calibration software and the Aural ID personal headphone plug-in, allowing audio engineers to switch instantly between well calibrated in-room and headphone monitoring — and empowering them to produce accurate and reliable mixes, with no interruption in workflow.

“At the heart of Unio is the compact new 9320A reference controller. With flexible connectivity, a reference-grade headphone output and tactile hardware control of SAM, GLM and Aural ID, the 9320A provides an exceptional hub for both static and mobile professional audio monitoring applications.”

Jones says the trend towards decentralised workflows and remote operation was “accelerated by the pandemic and has continued”.

“This has led to increased demand for audio monitoring solutions that are compact and can adapt to ad hoc or challenging acoustic environments, allowing the user to produce consistent results wherever they’re working,” he says. “We were already well placed for this with our Smart Active Monitors — which adapt to the room via our GLM calibration software — but this has also driven the development of Unio, which recognises the role that professional headphones also play in audio production. By bridging in-room and personal headphone monitoring, Unio offers completely optimised audio monitoring workflows.

“Looking ahead, we’ll be focusing on further developments to the Unio monitoring platform, so expect major announcements over the next few months.”

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Sponsor Update

Globecast JEAN-CHRISTOPHE PERIER CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

“In October last year, Globecast brought the ultra-trail race, Le Grand Raid de la Réunion 2022, to viewers in 4K,” says Jean-Christophe Perier, chief marketing officer, Globecast. “The 30th anniversary of the globally renowned event, which takes place on the Indian Ocean island French territory, saw Globecast partner with local TV channel Réunion la 1ère and France Télévisions to capture what’s recognised as one of the hardest trail races. As well as start and finish line coverage, Globecast also worked with Orange to provide all the 5G and 4G mobile communication modules that allowed Réunion la 1ère to capture full HD footage of the athletes on the course during the race.”

sector increasingly recognises the benefits of cloud use across the video value chain,” says Perier. “Globecast combines its decades of understanding of live and on-demand content contribution, acquisition, distribution and delivery, with its extensive range of cloud processing capabilities. It integrates this unrivalled connectivity across satellite, fibre, 5G and IP with industry leaders’ media supply chain SaaS solutions, designing advanced, end-toend services orchestration. And now it can also provide 24/7 fully managed services. With the help of AWS and other partners, we are currently developing workflows for global rightsholders designed to deliver sports events from Paris and the United States to the world.”

Grabyo CLARE BUTLER VP OF MARKETING

“Throughout 2023, Grabyo was involved in two major points in the tennis calendar — Wimbledon and the Australian Open,” says Clare Butler, VP of marketing, Grabyo.

Globecast also announced an alliance with Simplestream, a provider of live, Live2VOD, VOD and VOD2Live streaming services across all platforms. Perier continues: “The collaboration between Simplestream and Globecast kickedoff with the launch of the GAAGO — the Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish broadcaster RTÉ sports subscription channel — suite of OTT services earlier in 2023. Globecast plays a key role in providing the fully managed services for production, ingest and encoding workflows, as well as eyes-on support, which encompasses a 24/7 service desk with instant Slack and telephone support during live events.

Furthermore, the alliance extends to live channel acquisition from satellite, leveraging a global network of facilities and meeting budget-related demands among customers thanks to different levels of failover.”

Globecast has also significantly advanced its cloud strategy, benefitting both customers and SaaS providers.

“Having led the way with cloud playout since 2018, the last year has seen significant acceleration of the company’s proposition as the broadcast, media and entertainment SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

“In June 2023, the All England Lawn Tennis Club utilised Grabyo’s live clipping platform with new enhancements for multi-location coverage.

To manage and capture stories from multiple live feeds at once, the team used Grabyo’s multistream live clipping functionality, which allows a single editor to monitor and clip from up to nine feeds, in all aspect ratios, simultaneously. This streamlined clipping workflow for its editors and reduced the resources it needed to cover every court. Wimbledon’s team also used Studio’s video markers to mark up live feeds for seamless retrieval of key moments when creating compilations or packages.”

“Our live production platform — Grabyo Producer — has powered multiple major sporting events in 2023,” she continues. “The rightsholding broadcaster TV8 MontBlanc used Grabyo Producer to cover the Trail de Haute Provence mountain footrace. Using

Grabyo, TV8 has saved an average of 65% on its live production costs, removing expenditure on OB equipment, production, personnel and transport costs by moving to a cloud-based production workflow.”

The company’s browser-based production platform benefitted from an instant replay upgrade in 2023, with slow-motion playback and speed controls. In April, Grabyo also added a broadcast-grade audio mixer with compression and multi-track output for live sports production.

“For monetising live content, Grabyo Producer now supports SCTE-35 ad marker insertion with support for passthrough to playout systems for FAST and OTT using SSAI,” says Butler. “Grabyo is also one of the first platforms to support YouTube live ad markers, where users can insert ad triggers into RTMP streams delivered to YouTube, setting custom ad breaks. YouTube RTMP ad markers are integrated with Google’s dynamic ad insertion server, delivering personalised ads to viewers on YouTube.”

“We are also bridging the gap between cloud production and traditional hardware-based tech stacks with custom hardware integrations into Grabyo,” she continues. “Users can now take any piece of hardware equipment, from Stream Deck devices to larger consoles, including X-Keys devices, and map these to operate Grabyo however they like. For real-time clipping and highlights creation, we released custom video markers, enabling social and video editors to mark-up live streams with metadata for seamless content creation and retrieval. Building on that workflow, we partnered with AI platform Magnifi to create a human-centred automated clipping workflow in which video markers are generated automatically using machine learning and data, notifying video editors of highlight moments in live streams to curate clips and content.”

Grass Valley LOUIS HERNANDEZ, JR CEO

“To c atch eve r y mom e nt of game action, you need powerful, reliable gear designed for today’s demanding live sports environment,” says Louis Hernandez, Jr, CEO, Grass Valley. “As the industry transitions from SDI to IP, we at Grass Valley understand the needs of our high-value sports customers, 177

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whether they’re producing live events from control rooms, OB trucks, REMI remote IP configurations and, increasingly, live OTT streaming. We’re addressing industry demand by delivering powerful, reliable advanced solutions with familiar control interfaces, custom-tailored workflows and the freedom to work from anywhere as an integrated creative team.”

Sponsor Update

driven by any MOS-compatible system, such as a newsroom computer system. As part of the AMPP cloud-based ecosystem, Framelight X further allows customers to produce anywhere and distribute everywhere, making it well-suited to remote sports production and collaboration.”

Greenfly NICK SHAW

MANAGING DIRECTOR, EMEA

At IBC2023, Grass Valley demonstrated it s newly up d ate d 4 - strip e K ayenne production switcher control surface driving a “no-compromise”, full raster 4K 2160p K-Frame XP video processing engine. “The industry’s standard, K-Frame XP’s versatility is evident in its video processing of popular IP formats, SDI video sources, or a combination of both,” says Hernandez.

The company also debuted the LDX-C150 broadcast camera, which puts the functionality of its full-size LDX-150 native IP/UHD camera into a compact form factor. “With capabilities that no other camera on the market offers, the C150 provides superior native IP and UHD HDR imaging, 3x UHD and 6x 1080p/60 HDR speed modes, and ST2110 and JPEG XS compression directly from the camera head,” says Hernandez.

“For backwards compatibility, the C150 also supports connectivity to the camera base station for system installations. It’s particularly ideal for Skycam, Steadicam, beauty shots, ultra-slo mo and unmanned applications.”

Also in the IBC spotlight was Grass Valley’s LiveTouch X replay system supporting 16+ sources, which can run on standard COTS servers in the truck, the control room and in the cloud on AWS or any other cloud-based computing service. When running on Grass Valley’s cloudbased AMPP platform, which complements on premise-based hardware, it offers reliability and pay-as-you-go SaaS elasticity, along with the flexibility for replay operators to be anywhere in the connected world.

“Grass Valley’s vast product portfolio also encompasses the newly upgraded Framelight X media asset management system, which now features a native MOS clip list player,” says Hernandez. “This allows playout to be 178

“Greenfly has seen some amazing growth in the past year as sports leagues, clubs, associations and their broadcast partners are increasingly taking a mobilefirst approach to content,” says Nick Shaw, managing director, EMEA. “We’ve added many significant partners around the world, including Six Nations rugby, PGA, LPGA, DP World Tour and Media Pro/La Liga. Sports organisations use Greenfly to collect authentic short-form digital media at live events and deliver it in real time to broadcast partners, sponsors, athletes, their owned mobile apps and more — so fans can enjoy it immediately.

“The volume of content flowing through our platform has grown exponentially during this time. With nearly 2 million mobile assets created and a 24% increase in mobile assets downloaded and shared, mobile-first content is showing that it’s not going anywhere. And more fans are joining in. They added 439% more usergenerated content assets year over year.”

“Our biggest product update is our acquisition of Miro AI, which has allowed us to launch +AI Vision,” Shaw continues. “Miro AI is the industry leader in AI asset recognition in the sports industry. It was built specifically for sports and excels among other AI image recognition software in a few key areas: it recognises subjects in photos and video; and it detects the scene or context of the asset, whether that’s a player arrival, goal, celebration, crowd of fans or more.

Assets are identified and searchable based on context; and it recognises athletes with helmets and other face obstructions.”

This acquisition doubles down on Greenfly’s commitment to creating real-time feeds for short-form content. He adds: “On match day, time is crucial. With no manual tagging, content creators can capture more content that gets in the hands of stakeholders in seconds.”

“We collaborate closely with our customers to create more value from Greenfly and meet their business objectives,” says Shaw. “In the past year, we have seen how our AI-powered platform has become the core infrastructure for clubs, leagues and associations. With Greenfly, content isn’t siloed, used once (or not at all), then lost to the ages. Instead, it’s organised and shared immediately across these organisations and their partners. And it’s helping them experiment to learn what resonates with fans, which may vary across regions.”

Hitomi RUSSELL JOHNSON DIRECTOR

“Cloud-based workflows have yet again been prominent topics this year. Recognising this trend, Hitomi has been busy working on adapting its MatchBox latency and lip-sync solutions to be deployed in flexible software environments, including on-prem as well as in the cloud,” says Russell Johnson, director, Hitomi.

“As a crucial partner to PSSI, Hitomi played an indispensable role in the WWE’s show at the O2 Arena,” says Johnson. “Our advanced lip-sync measurement tools, specifically the MatchBox, were implemented to ensure synchronisation across multiple channels, especially given the added complexity of international commentaries in various languages. Beyond just providing equipment, our collaboration with Tracy Michaels of PSSI saw us upgrading and fine-tuning our technology to meet the demanding specifications of the event.

Achieving perfection in lip-sync was a significant challenge, given the multiple transmission paths and vast distances involved. With our MatchBox SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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System T Tempest Control App Full Broadcast Audio Production from a Software Application

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Tempest Control App brings the full feature-set of System T into a software application with direct control of Tempest DSP Engines, providing an additional control solution for key applications including remote production, news-room production, backup scenarios or anywhere where a physical control surface may not be required.

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technology, we reduced potential discrepancies in synchronisation, aiming for zero milliseconds, outperforming the industry’s standard tolerance of plus or minus 10 milliseconds. Ensuring that fans worldwide received a seamless viewing experience fortified our reputation as industry leaders in our niche.”

Beyond WWE, Hitomi has been actively involved in an increasing number of stadiumbased and international sporting events. “From golf tournaments and soccer matches to highadrenaline motor racing events, we’ve been at the forefront, offering our expertise in lip-sync measurements and ensuring broadcasters deliver a top-tier viewing experience,” he adds.

As demonstrated at NAB and IBC this year, Hitomi is moving towards cloud-based solutions to measure timing that open up the breadth of applications to more sports at more levels.

“We’re also busy rolling out our native SMPTE ST2110 IP interface to our MatchBox solutions,” says Johnson. “This will be able to be added to existing hardware, enabling timing measurement across mixed environments, such as SDI and IP.”

Hyper Studios SAM WILSON

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Since September 2022, Hyper has engaged in numerous thrilling sports initiatives, collaborating closely with partners such as IMG, The EFL, Sky Sports, G A AG O, M an c h e s t e r C it y, S p ur s T V and others,” says Sam Wilson, business development manager, Hyper Studios. “A standout moment for us was offering statistics collection/display and live telestration for the Professional Fighters League (PFL) on DAZN. Our Hyper Sports system receives data through Xbox controllers, colour-coded red and blue for the respective corners, positioned at ringside.

Each button or combination corresponds to specific statistics, allowing for lightningfast data delivery. PFL hosts enthusiastically adopted our live telestration tool, Hyper Sketch, introducing an entertaining and informative layer to an already stellar production.”

“Hyper has been significantly investing in the enhancement of our cloud-based data and graphics solutions, ensuring they encompass all the features broadcasters expect from real-time graphics products, but hosted in the cloud,” he continues. “For instance, our design and 180

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authoring tool, Hyper Design, has been updated with several new features such as multi-aspect ratio templates and video-input capabilities.

This enables us to design and broadcast for videowalls directly from the cloud. Additionally, we are dedicating time to integrate with top-tier automation, NRCS systems and tools, as well as collaborating with emerging tech brands.”

management and distribution,” he adds. “We have some exciting new capabilities spawning from our recent launch of Imagen Live Connect, such as polling live data-feeds, AI enhanced search and smart-clipping capabilities, plus integrations with the best-of-breed adjacent technologies to create a complete content ecosystem.

“In the realm of sports production workflows this year, cloud-based production, automation and artificial intelligence have been the most influential technology trends,” he adds.

“At Hyper, we’ve been actively engaged in pioneering projects in collaboration with top-tier broadcasters and manufacturers. While I cannot delve into the specifics, these advancements have significantly impacted and enhanced our business operations.”

Looking ahead, more integration and growth are on the cards for Hyper Studios.

“We are actively working on broadening our integrations and collaborations,” says Wilson.

“To accommodate the surge in new business, we aim to enlarge our developer team.

Furthermore, we intend to bolster our sales and marketing departments, gearing up for a comprehensive promotional and sales drive at the onset of 2024.”

“Rightsholders, sponsors, agencies, internal production teams... whoever is entitled to access your media can have one single destination with secure, permission-based access to live, archive, graphics, brand assets and digital-ready content packages.

“As is always the case, we are unable to name names of all our new customers, nonetheless we are delighted to have them join Imagen.

Equally, we are very pleased to welcome SPL Media House, the media subsidiary servicing the Saudi Pro League, Cricket West Indies and the America’s Cup, all of which will be using Imagen to provide a media archive alongside Live Connect enabling them to ingest and capture live events into their archives in real time and redistribute live feeds to smaller broadcasters, OTT channels and new territories via SRT.”

Imagine Communications JOHN MAILHOT

Imagen

CTO OF INFRASTRUCTURE

TOM BLAKE

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

“In mid-2023, Imagen was acquired by Thomson Reuters, a global content and technology company, to be operated as part of the Reuters News Division,” says Tom Blake, commercial director, Imagen. “The acquisition has created significant opportunities to betterserve our existing and new sports customers through access to greater resources to accelerate our customer use-cases and product roadmap.”

“The Imagen product remains focused on being the optimal platform for sports media

“Imagine’s sports-related implementations over the past year ran the full gamut of technology solutions and deployment models, but there were two common denominators: helping customers drive efficiency today and set a foundation for the future,” says John Mailhot, CTO of infrastructure, Imagine Communications.

“In one example, Italy’s EI Towers broadcast the 2022/23 season of the football Lega Serie A from a new International Broadcast Centre built on ST2110-compliant IP infrastructure from Imagine. The hub provides centralised contribution and distribution of audio, video SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sponsor Update

and data for broadcasters and rightsholders SNP’s HDR and UHD processing and graphics in Italy and around the world, enabling the functions heading into the various large-scale company to operate far more efficiently, while sports events next summer.” also delivering the best viewing experience for football fans over multiple platforms.”

InSync Techology

“Another highlight was a project with Malta’s leading communications services company, Go, where a complete Imagine playout and media management architecture was implemented to support the company’s expanding premium sports rights portfolio and channel count,” he adds. “While Go is still operating in SDI, the Imagine system provides a foundation for moving to IP. This project demonstrates that even broadcasters serving a small community — the population of Malta is little more than half a million — expect to be able to deliver premium experiences for their audiences, with efficient, modern, future-proof workflows, and Imagine is committed to providing practical solutions for customers of every size.”

“We’ve also been heavily focused on helping customers leverage the benefits of mixing on-prem and cloud. Examples of our recent developments include Magellan Connect, which extends our well-established Magellan Control System to include routing in the cloud; and Aviator Orchestrator, which consolidates on-prem and cloud multi-site workflows into a single operationalised environment,” adds Mailhot. “Another significant development was the recent introduction of master control and branding functionality in our Selenio Network Processor (SNP) platform, providing customers with an easy path to incorporate HDR and UHD animated graphics and branding to create lightweight, UHD/HDR-capable channels.”

Mailhot thinks that the upcoming Paris Summer Games have the potential to be a “watershed moment for live HDR productions”.

“SNP has become an essential part of modern production architectures, with more than 2,500 units deployed around the world to date. We just announced a major addition to the lineup with SNP-XL and a new double-density gateway, and we will continue to round out the SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

1080i/p presence with an increased HDR importance, especially in the Americas, and our hardware and software is perfectly placed here with deinterlacing and HDR/SDR conversions.

We have seen an increasing interest in the 9:16 aspect ratio for mobile device usage and we will, JAMES TAYLOR MANAGING DIRECTOR no doubt, be asked to add this to our support “T h e p a s t ye ar ha s b e e n and aspect ratio conversion toolkit. So it will be an exciting one for InSync. interesting to see the uptake of this format, even We have improved product if for short-form programming.” performance and reduced product operational costs, improvements Intel which directly reduce environmental impacts,” SARAH VICKERS says James Taylor, managing director, InSync DIRECTOR OF OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC OFFICE Techology. “We have seen more cloud-based software adoption of FrameFormer motion With less than a year to go until compensating frame rate conversion and we the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, launched a new, very low power, compact, Sarah Vickers, director of Intel’s dual channel product that we already have Olympic and Paralympic Office, says the sales and major interest from broadcasters company is “fully committed to delivering the for the big sporting events of 2024, including most innovative solutions to enhance the overall the Paris Olympics and European football experience for everyone involved”. championships.

“Other key sports-related highlights of the past 12 months include one of the largest US sports broadcasters adopting our FrameFormer software for multiple 24/7 channels; our 4K hardware, MCC-4K-A, was used in the European Champions League final and has now been adopted as the quality solution by the service provider to offer its customers for major sports events; FrameFormer has been used by “Our focus spans operational support to a major broadcaster at the Rugby World Cup help the organising committee manage the and was deployed live through new partner Games, leveraging AI to deliver top-notch Comprimato’s live transcoder solution.” content for fans both at the Games and at home, providing cutting-edge connectivity solutions for broadcasters with 5G technology and offering amazing AR experiences. We are proud to have an ambitious plan to showcase Intel’s comprehensive technology portfolio and solutions in Paris, and our teams are working diligently with our partners and the broader ecosystem to ensure that we achieve success. Our “InSync participated in, and will continue goal is to provide an unforgettable experience for with, the Connect and Produce Anywhere IBC all participants and spectators alike.

Accelerator to optimise the delivery of remote Intel has a motto, ‘Bringing AI everywhere’ productions using cloud and edge production which reflects one of the biggest trends of the capabilities,” he adds. past year.

“Over the next 12 months we will add further “Every industry is racing towards AI and its IP capability into our hardware with ST2110,” potential to improve many aspects of our world. he says. “There will be further integrations Sport is not an exception,” says Vickers. “Our of FrameFormer, including with Techex (and goal is to ensure it’s not limited to the few with one TBA), adding to existing integrations with vast resources, that it is accessible across all your AWS Elemental, Comprimato, Dalet, Hiscale, devices — delivered with visibility, transparency, M2A and Telestream. We certainly see a steady privacy and trust.”

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“With AI capabilities included in our newest processors, for both client and servers, we help start-ups and sports companies alike meet the workload demands of broadcasting,” Vickers continues. “Additionally, Intel has developed new AI software that allows customers to build computer vision models in a fraction of the time and with less data, resulting in significant benefits for users, such as performance analysis for athletes. Customers report improved performance and greater efficiency. Overall, Intel continues to innovate and address the evolving needs of the sports industry.”

Vickers says it’s “truly remarkable” to witness how AI is revolutionising the broadcasting industry.

“Various organisations, leagues and broadcasters are constantly exploring how AI can transform the viewing experience, both behind the scenes and for the audience,” she says.

“Beyond AI, there are two additional technologies that will bring a significant impact to the broadcast space. The first is virtualised and remote production, with a focus on migrating media production applications to a more standardised model that will help reduce production costs while enabling scalability.

“Lastly, we are thrilled to collaborate with our partners to provide 5G solutions that will support the Olympic Games. We believe that the utilisation of 5G will only continue to grow for sports in broadcast and event management.”

IPV NIGEL BOOTH

VP OF CUSTOMER SUCCESS

“IPV Curator is the world’s leading media asset management (MAM) solution on the market for professional sports teams and global enterprises,” says Nigel Booth, VP of customer success, IPV. “On game day, Curator’s AI automates video ingest and automatically tags assets, reducing hundreds of hours of manual tagging and giving media teams the time and freedom to instantly access game footage. By automatically tagging video assets on ingest, Curator helps broadcast teams intelligently store game day footage so that it is easily discoverable for reuse, leading to increased media ROI and media monetisation across channels.

“Curator streamlines collaboration to increase video content velocity across platforms, and boosts conversion rates and market saturation 182

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by allowing enterprises to create better video content at scale. Curator’s media production solution connects the entire video supply chain, and automates manual production processes to power a complete, end-to-end video production workflow that is efficient from kick-off to deployment.”

“With the acquisition of InPlayer in January and the subsequent integration of subscription and identity management into our platform dashboard, customers are now able to drive revenue with flexible monetisation models for live and VOD streaming. From PPV to AVOD, JWP sports customers can offer their fans the ability to view live streams, catch-up with VOD via live clipping, own their own user data and get customer support, all from our platform.

And with the JWP solution, customers can not only manage multiple user flows and streams, but they are also given the ability to design templated landing pages or create web apps to create immersive fan experiences with ease.

In addition to platform features, we have also expanded our partner network to provide outAltitude Sports uses Curator to efficiently log of-the-box solutions for application build and entire games for the Colorado Avalanche and FAST experiences as well.”

Denver Nuggets. The footage is then easily accessible by marketing, broadcast, sales and other linear teams within Altitude Sports as well as at the Nuggets and Avalanche.

“As of September 2023, Altitude has used Curator to tag and house 1.8 million clips and 135TB of footage,” says Booth. “As Curator becomes more pivotal to their broadcast and marketing needs, Altitude is actively scaling deployment across internal teams.”

According to Tim De Lay, senior director of operations at Kroenke Sports Enterprises, the “JWP has had quite a few highlights within the group owners of Altitude Sports, there’s a “good sports video businesses in 2023,” adds Beebe. tactical use for IPV across many platforms, for “With quick-to-market solutions encompassing sales and marketing to be able to go in search live+VOD streaming combined with in-house for particular Denver Nuggets or Colorado subscription management, we have seen an Avalanche games and look for certain things like influx of interest from new sports partners and their sponsors to clip out. It gives our sales folks increased success from our existing sporting the ability to go back, sub-clip those assets and customer base. One example is PSV Eindhoven, send them over to their respective clients.” which is again representing the Eredivisie in Booth says Kroenke Sports Enterprises also the Champions League this season. With one reports that “logging is more efficient because of the most loyal and passionate fan bases in of our work with IPV’s Curator”. world football, PSV is always looking for ways to Some of IPV’s other professional sports clients engage its dedicated audience.” include Manchester United, Italy’s Serie A, the “To satisfy demand from their fans for Seattle Kraken and more. premium video content, the club increased investment into a new, scalable video solution by partnering with JWP,” he continues. “This JW Player relationship allows PSV to deliver video across RYAN BEEBE SVP GLOBAL SALES its website and app while providing the ability to “JW Player has had great success utilise JWP’s live streaming and subscriptions to since last year enhancing take its content direct-to-consumer. our end-to-end solution for “As a result, PSV achieved 50% higher views video-driven businesses — than launch projections at the start of the particularly those in the sports space,” says partnership and significantly more direct-toRyan Beebe, SVP global sales, JW Player (JWP). consumer revenue. This was accomplished SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sponsor Update

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because JWP was able to successfully and seamlessly migrate web and app integrations along with on-boarding in a timely fashion.”

“For the next few months, JWP is working hard on enhancing our end-to-end solution with features like trick play, enhanced revenue analytics, profiles for all platforms and customised workflows based on media types,” says Beebe. “For VOD, we are focused on bringing interactive experiences into the dashboard for easy execution and taking the complexity out of serving video ads with our video strategy rules tool.”

LAMA EWAN CAMERON

CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER

Lean And Mean Audio, or LAMA for short, is an audio software developer based in the Netherlands.

“One of the biggest highlights in the past year has been with our AutoMix and AutoSync solutions that are used by Warner Bros. Discovery as part of its pan-European IP network and European Technology Transformation (ETT) project,” says Ewan Cameron, co-founder and chief commercial officer, LAMA. “These solutions were used in delivering the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, all the major tennis tournaments and many other major sports. This success has really proved the viability of our softwarebased audio solutions philosophy for the most prestigious of sporting events.

“Based on our close relationships with many global broadcasters, we understand that although there may be common systems and setups, in reality each of them has unique workflows. As a result, to maximise the value of our audio solutions, we have had to design custom software elements that can slot easily into their setups. To strengthen this customised approach, we have set up a new division of talented DSP, C++ and web developers. This makes it possible to develop these custom solutions and solve our customers’ broadcast 184

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audio issues that cannot be addressed by standard off-the-shelf products.”

Cameron adds: “We have seen that our standalone AutoMix solution works well for certain user cases, we have also had feedback that broadcasters would like to combine this functionality with the ability for manual mixing.

To cover this requirement, at IBC we introduced the beta version of our software mixer, LAMA Mix. “This mixer is designed to be a software replacement for a large-scale hardware broadcast console but will also include the option of using the same algorithms that we use in our AutoMix solution. This will allow for ‘best of both worlds’ solutions and will also not have the limitations of the traditional hardware mixers, due to the unlimited channels, busses, groups and so on. Also, as it is software, it is more flexible and scalable as it can run anywhere — on premise, on private or public cloud — and can be easily turned on and turned off on demand.” “[Looking ahead], it is clear that due to several factors like diminishing production budgets and the shortage of skilled labour, there will have to be a move towards automation and software,” notes Cameron. “Our company is based on the vision that automation and software will offer the broadcast industry a more flexible, scalable and cost-effective future and we are proud to be playing our part in this change.”

Lawo KARLHEINZ AMBERG

DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL EVENTS

“Lawo’s involvement in sports pro duc tion this ye ar ha s showcased our commitment to delivering cutting- edge technology solutions to major international sports events,” says Karlheinz Amberg, Lawo’s director of global events. “Two noteworthy highlights stand out. At a recent prominent women’s tournament held in Australia and New Zealand, the host broadcaster was using Lawo’s Home apps for the first time in addition to its existing Lawo IP video, audio, control and monitoring solutions. Lawo’s Home UDX up-/ down-/cross-converter played a pivotal role in ensuring flawless video quality across the production’s signal chains.”

The Rugby World Cup in France is another recent example of Lawo’s contribution to worldclass sports productions. “Host broadcaster HBS based its fibre optic ST2110 network

architecture on Lawo’s .edge SDI/IP gateways, connecting OB trucks at the world cup arenas across France to the IBC in Paris,” he adds.

“These units efficiently managed bidirectional stream traffic over Orange’s transport network, seamlessly integrating with HBS’ existing IP core infrastructure. HBS furthermore took advantage of Lawo’s Home apps by deploying the Home Multiviewer app and integrated it in their workflow. In both instances, the apps contributed significantly to delivering exceptional results and stunning content.”

“The introduction of Home apps is by far the most important development of Lawo, not only for the company but also for the industry in general,” says Amberg. “They represent the abstraction of broadcast and media functionality from the hardware that does the compute heavy lifting. Running on standard on-site servers, in private data centres or in the public cloud, these microservice-based apps are managed and controlled via Home’s unified user interface. Available apps include Multiviewer, UDX Conversion with HDR Processing, Stream Transcoder and Graphic Inserter. Introduced at IBC2023, the .edge SDI/IP interface, designed as a hyper-density conversion unit and SDI router replacement for IP/hybrid infrastructures, now also offers a new JPEG XS option for ultralow latency compression to mitigate network congestion. Another new feature of .edge, the .proxy option generates downscaled picture sizes and transmits them, along with the original resolution, to the desired destinations. Both options operate right at the network’s edge, to avoid unnecessary network traffic already at source.”

“Our primary focus for the next months will be the rollout of Lawo Home apps to the market,” concludes Amberg. “While the perpetual licence approach remains available and continues to be a great option for many customers, we introduced Lawo Flex as a flexible combination of perpetually owned licences and subscription plans.

Subscribers have the freedom to switch between apps and add-on functionality as needed, spinning desired apps up and down as needed.”

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Sponsor Update

Leader Europe KEVIN SALVIDGE

SALES ENGINEERING & TECHNICAL MARKETING MANAGER

EMG recently chose Leader multiscreen rasterising waveform monitors for integration into three new OB vehicles. “A total of 16 LV7300 rasterisers, supplied by Leader channel partner Thameside.TV, are being used for master reference during live transmissions and related post-production,” says Kevin Salvidge, sales engineering & technical marketing manager at Leader Europe. “Leader test instruments have been EMG’s preferred choice for nearly 10 years. Many of the projects that EMG works on are very large scale with feeds sometimes exceeding 100 cameras. The LV7300 has a similar menu structure to Leader instruments in EMG’s other OB vehicles so operators can move freely between them.

Multiple display tools can be combined in a single screen view to allow easy side-by-side comparison of related parameters or channels.”

synchronisation, 4K quad-link, 3G-SDI, HD-SDI and SD-SDI outputs in any combination, allowing optimal management of synchronous systems.”

“In the run-up to IBC, we announced new additions to the feature set of the Leader LVB440 IP analyser,” Salvidge adds. “Designed for use in IP environments, the LVB440 can be accessed locally or remotely by up to eight users at the same time via a standard HTML-5 web browser.

Applications include monitoring and analysing high-bitrate media traffic in broadcast studios, OB vehicles, remote production facilities, master control environments and transmission networks. The new additions include an extended audio toolset supporting all current Dolby standards, enhanced event logging capabilities and a supplementary information display giving operators advice relevant to each measurement. The IP error logging capabilities of the LVB440 have been expanded to capture and log up to 2,000 events on a continuous rotation basis. This provides a highly efficient reference record of network activity prior to a QoS-related incident.”

LiveU RONEN ARTMAN VP OF MARKETING

“Telewizja Polsat, one of Poland’s largest broadcast networks, recently chose Leader reference signal generators and hybrid IP/SDI test and measurement instruments for a new IP-based 4K HDR outside broadcast camera truck,” continues Salvidge. “The instruments were supplied by Leader channel partner 4Vision. The vehicle is being used to capture entertainment and sports events right up to HD-HDR and UHD-HDR.” At IBC2023, Leader announced the LT4670 1U full-rack width synchronous signal generator.

“Designed to ease the migration from SDI to IP, this comes with a wide range of features augmented by additional tools which customers can purchase when they need them,” says Salvidge. “Connectivity capabilities provided as standard include six independent analogue synchronous signal outputs, digital audio outputs, word-clock outputs and LTC in/out.

Options include GNSS synchronisation, PTP SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

“The LiveU EcoSystem is being used in a full ground-to-cloud live production at the European League of Football (ELF), where LiveU’s multi-cam encoding solutions are interconnected with Vizrt and AWS,” says Ronen Artman, VP of marketing, LiveU. “The live production is being managed entirely in the cloud by German production house novel. media, from its Munich facility. We’re seeing growing interest in cloud productions for live sports coverage, offering proven efficiencies, full scalability and increased monetisation opportunities. Our solutions are being used for main game coverage as well as creative fan engagement.”

“The Qatar World Cup saw a massive increase in LiveU usage across the board,” continues Artman. “Over 1,000 field units were used by broadcasters and sports organisations from 60 countries, compared to 485 units from 40 countries in 2018. The tournament saw a 160% increase in live sessions to 78,000, with 40% of them over 5G, and a 73% increase in data usage, with 62TB of live transmissions. Over 20,000 hours of continuous live broadcasts from Qatar were recorded.”

“This year saw the expansion of our advanced IP-video EcoSystem across contribution, production and distribution,” he adds. We announced two major developments — the launch of LiveU Studio and the On-site production solution. LiveU Studio is the first cloud IP live video production service to natively support LRT (LiveU Reliable Transport). A fully scalable, SaaS solution, LiveU Studio makes it easy to create and distribute more live content across a myriad of digital media channels. The solution is being used by leading brands, for example PSG.” LiveU’s On-site production solution adds remote production efficiencies to outside broadcasts. It enables bonded wireless transmission from the field straight into the production truck in a single click, with no need for a fixed internet connection.

Other major developments during the year include the implementation of cloud workflows for more sustainable live sports productions, such as a use case with BT Sport for the UEFA Youth League semi-final, organised by TEAM Marketing; increasing deployment of 5G in live productions, for example with Sky Deutschland for the Special Olympics; continuation of innovative multi-cam remote productions for example with Eurovision Sport and Actua Films; expansion of IP distribution solution LiveU Matrix with key customers, for example, Volleyball World; and collaboration with SES. “[Looking ahead], we’re gearing up for the Paris Olympics where LiveU will be offering its full EcoSystem with its set of IP-video solutions,” adds Artman. “Our cutting-edge 5G connectivity solutions will be available for remote and on-site workflows, ensuring seamless live broadcasts from any location. We’re also expanding our cloud productions, enabling our customers to expand fan engagement and better monetise their sports assets, using efficient remote production workflows.”

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LTN Global BRAD WALL CTO

“LTN has continued working with its customers enabling them to harness opportunities in the live sports landscape,” says LTN CTO Brad Wall. “A great highlight of LTN’s work over the past year was its partnership with US sports network group MSG Networks. MSG Networks selected LTN Wave to migrate its channel distribution to IP quickly and efficiently while increasing operational efficiency.

“With LTN Wave, MSG Networks can deliver live coverage of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres to its audiences. Wave provided MSG Networks with greater flexibility and business intelligence while supporting the rollout of MSG+, its state-of-the-art streaming service.”

“Earlier this year, Spanish-language media and content company TelevisaUnivision selected our LTN Arc solution,” continues Wall. “LTN Arc has been utilised to deliver the scalable versioning, backhaul, cloud ingest and multi-bitrate encoding and decoration of multiple concurrent live sports events for TelevisaUnivision’s new global streaming services, ViX and ViX+. Through LTN Arc, TelevisaUnivision brings localised, culturally relevant live sports content to the 600 million Spanish speakers worldwide at a tremendous scale. TelevisaUnivision has benefitted from the seamless versioning and decorating of multiple concurrent live sports events, including more than 4,000 live games across two years.”

“Over recent years, live sports broadcasting has undergone a massive technological transformation,” says Wall. “The industry will continue its transition from satellite to IP. With sports fans wanting more reliable, crystalclear pictures with little to no latency, we are already seeing IP-based broadcasting become more attractive as it offers a cost-efficient, flexible, high-bandwidth solution. LTN has 186

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been innovating in this space for a long time, and the LTN Arc and Wave solutions offer a fully managed, ultra-reliable and low-latency IP-based transport solution. Through LTN Arc, sports leagues and organisations can guarantee their content will get to the customer in the highest quality.”

all over The Americas, with our wirecams and remote systems.”

“The end of October was really busy for Luna with the Premier League and two England International games at Wembley, followed by work with Whisper in Saudi covering the basketball at The Neom Beach Games with our smaller 50x50 4-point wirecam,” says Adams.

“Obviously the Premier League continues Luna Remote Systems through until May next year, but there’s already JO ADAMS COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR a great deal in the pipeline for 2024; we’re “This year we had our first looking forward to our first Olympics so that’s Wimbledon experience, our exciting for us too.” first Basketball World Cup and started working with Premier M2A Media League Productions providing a 4-point Falcon MATT HUGHES wirecam on the Premier League. It’s been a CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER huge year for us and we’re really grateful for “In addition to our continued the continued support from the industry for support to existing sports clients old and new, in the UK and all over the broadcaster and rights-owner world,” says Jo Adams, commercial director, customers such as DA ZN, Luna Remote Systems. “Obviously embarking ATP Media and FIBA Media, M2A Media has on a contract with Premier League Productions expanded its customer base in 2023,” says is a huge deal for us and we’re immensely proud Matt Hughes, chief commercial officer, M2A to be working on one of the most prestigious Media. “In January of this year, we announced sporting events in the world.” that Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) had chosen M2A Media to transition its live video workflows to the cloud. Following a decision to move its media workflows to AWS Cloud, while adopting AWS Media Services, the union sought help from M2A Media to manage and optimise its use of cloud infrastructure. The live capture of video streams was also a priority in order to service JRFU affiliates with valuable match content rapidly after the events. M2A “We unveiled our 1KM, high-speed point-to- Media proposed a combined offering of its live point wirecam this year in February at The Saudi IP transport product, M2A Connect, along with Cup,” continues Adams. “It’s super lightweight its live capture feature and managed operations for its type and therefore capable of going up to service.”

72mph. This then went on to work at Wimbledon and on the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. As well as a standard or wide lens, the system can also hold a larger HJ45 lens, meaning it can get a tighter shot at the distance, so it is really versatile in that sense too. From 2024 we’ll have two of these systems on the road as it has proved extremely popular.”

“We’ve added three new 3D/4-point Falcon wirecams to our inventory due to demand globally, and now own and operate the largest amount of Agito systems in Europe. Very importantly, we also opened a new office and “In April we announced our work with workshop in the United States, specifically Los Universal Tennis to help syndicate the delivery of Angeles,” she adds. “This gives us a base to its live match feeds in the cloud,” he continues. operate our growing number of productions “Universal Tennis uses M2A Connect, to SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sponsor Update

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automate, optimise and manage the transport of its live match feeds to partners, affiliates and third-party service providers. The M2A Connect deployment supports Universal Tennis as it seeks to engage an even larger global audience and elevate the UTR Pro Tennis Tour to new heights on Amazon Prime globally.”

“At NAB this year, M2A Media launched EBAM, or Encoder-Based Ad Manipulation, as an add-on feature to M2A Live,” says Hughes.

“Using a combination of Event Signaling and Management (ESAM) and the Placement Opportunity Information Service (POIS), M2A’s EBAM feature handles SCTE-35 and SCTE-224 messaging to insert advertising content at the encoder side of a live video workflow. M2A has also built out the features available under its M2A Capture suite of products: Live Capture, Capture and Harvester.”

“Also this year, M2A Media and Panasonic Connect confirmed a strategic collaboration,” says Hughes. “Through an integration with Panasonic Connect’s Kairos advanced remote production capabilities and M2A Connect’s acquisition, automation and distribution functionality, broadcasters and rightsholders can now access a one-stop solution for remote production and distribution.

“At IBC2023, M2A Media and Videon announced a collaboration that sees the integration of Videon’s LiveEdge Ecosystem into M2A Connect, a feature-rich tool for the acquisition and distribution of live video decreasing the technical time.”

Magnifi ROSS TANNER

DIRECTOR — NEW BUSINESS & SALES EMEA

“Magnifi unveiled its latest product designed exclusively for entertainment content at IBC,” says Ross Tanner, director — new business & sales EMEA. “This solution automates the creation of short clips from long-form content using advanced recognition of faces, speech, places, objects, actions and audio cues. The platform is expected to be launched in beta to a select set of early-access clients by the end of the year.

“Also new is Bulk Auto-Flip, a solution in conjunction with Digital Highlights Pro, which empowers users to ‘auto-flip’ a large quantity of videos simultaneously with exceptional accuracy. The feature automatically adjusts 188

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the aspect ratios of each video, enabling rapid production and efficient go-to-market delivery.

Magnifi’s high-performance ball tracking technology ensures that the action remains centred during the auto-flip process. It was used in the 2023 season of the Vietnam Pro Basketball League (VBA), where it efficiently handled multiple aspect ratios of 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1. Magnifi also collaborated with the VBA to generate AI-powered video highlights of the matches, video on demand and social media features. The league also benefited from Magnifi’s social media publishing on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.”

are aggressively fine-tuning for American sports and introducing new tags for baseball, softball and more; we’ll introduce new and improved editing options on our platform to allow for more graphics and personalisation of content; and offer enhanced packaging and editing features.”

Mavis Broadcast PHIL WATTEN CTO

“It’s been a busy year at Mavis HQ with the release of Mavis 2.0, enabling a true self-serve deliver y model,” says Phil Watten, CTO, Mavis Broadcast. “We are empowering content creators, production companies and broadcasters alike, with a streamlined end-to-end solution for producing captivating live video content with a clear pricing model. Additionally, we have expanded the number of camera inputs we can put into a “Magnifi presented its recently acquired show and updated our Pro Camera iPhone app Reely.ai, an esports AI-powered content creation to be a live source.” and social media distribution company, at IBC,” says Tanner “Reely’s platform automatically identifies highlights and key moments within a game, simplifying the creation and sharing of highlight videos across various social media channels.”

The company has also started its integration into VideoVerse’s suite of solutions to expand “Mavis 2.0 also boasts an award-winning and enhance capabilities in the gaming market, integration with Atomos monitor-recorders, providing advanced tools to players, streamers offering an end-to-end SDI workflow, with and content creators seeking to develop, share integrated tally and talkback, via our ultra-low and extend the reach of high-quality video latency cloud-native transport mechanism,” he content. adds. “Simultaneously, the Atomos devices will “Magnifi’s AI-powered solutions have also record ProRes ISOs locally, opening a world delivered impressive results for clients. For of as-live production possibilities.” example, SuperSports School, a prominent “We’re also really excited about the future school sports platform, sought to create greater and our upcoming features,” continues Watten. awareness of school sports, enhance viewership “These include a dual 9x16 and 16x9 output, a and attract more users to its YouTube channel. ‘Remote View’ feature which won an award By leveraging Magnifi, SuperSports School at IBC2023, enabling third parties to watch a achieved near-real-time processing of 350+ production from anywhere in the world, and hours of sports feeds, resulting in more than automatic edit decision list generation.

16,000 personalised game highlights. Moreover, “With the ever-evolving sport industry Magnifi’s automatic generation of condensed landscape, we are seeing a demand to build (4-5 minutes) and extended (10-12 minutes) direct relationships with fans irrespective of highlights for each match elevated the sports their location in the world. It’s our view that viewing experience for SuperSports School’s producing high-quality live content — on the audience.” platforms that fans are on — is the key to this He concludes: “Looking forward, the success. This is an enabler that can lead to a more entertainment solution will be launched after defined commercial model, and we feel Mavis is inputs from the early access programme; we the platform that can support in this journey.”

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Sponsor Update

MediaKind JEAN-CHRISTOPHE PINEAULT SALES MANAGER, BROADCASTERS & SPORTS

Since the end of last year, MediaKind has continued its strategic partnership agreement with Microsoft to significantly enhance the integration and optimisation of both companies’ products, platforms and cloud capabilities. This partnership helped them redefine the direct-toconsumer (D2C) experience for a prominent US sports league, representing a significant milestone in sports production.

Jean-Christophe Pineault, sales manager, broadcasters & sports, MediaKind, explains: “Supported by millions of fans, the sports league was rebuilding its D2C application to include functionality not typically found in OTT sports streaming apps, such as multiple feeds synchronised to the game clock and wall clock, high-scale targeted ad insertion, lower latency than cable, and support for a wide array of complex and dynamic entitlements to facilitate monetisation and enforcement of linear rights globally. Previously, the sports league operated separate platforms for domestic and international audiences, but this did not scale and was insufficient to deliver a high-quality and engaging viewing experience.

“MediaKind and Microsoft were able to utilise a new architecture in the cloud to scale up and down according to production requirements and achieve greater control of feature rollout velocity while delivering improved video quality.”

The workflow made use of MediaKind’s RX1, a multi-codec multi-service professional decoder specifically designed to meet the needs of the contribution market, to receive feeds from arena cameras while filtering data through existing associating systems which maintain game schedules. Then, it deployed MediaFirst, an endto-end, cloud video platform for the creation, SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

management and delivery of next generation pay-TV, to create and link events with channels and tap into RX1 receivers to send feeds directly to the encoders using SRT. “After that, the orchestrator creates channels in encoding platform Aquila, and packaging begins before MediaFirst creates offers and authorises subscribers so they can view the games in question,” he adds.

These new features and capabilities resulted in increased subscribers, a record-high number of simultaneous games with more viewers, and greater advertising monetisation.

MOOV LAURIE BEAMONT

HEAD OF GRAPHICS DELIVERY

“T h e p a s t ye ar ha s b e e n exceptionally busy for MOOV, marked by the establishment of new partnerships with highprofile clients,” says Laurie Beamont, head of graphics delivery, MOOV. “Notably, the launch of ITV’s Sport Hub stands out as a major achievement. Our involvement in this project encompassed the Six Nations, La Liga, the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Rugby World Cup. Each event iteration brought new challenges, including the incorporation of data services and Media Links the enhancement of virtual set design, revealing AL NUÑEZ PRESIDENT stylised exteriors. This project demanded “This year we launched Xscend, collaboration across various departments to our newest IP media platform,” ensure not only a visually stunning product but says Al Nuñez, president, Media also seamless operational functionality.”

Links. “We’ve designed Xscend with an adaptable architecture, meaning it supports current and future evolving industry standards and formats. Configuration and feature upgrades are through software and licences supported by modular hardware.

Xscend is capable of transporting up to 128 contribution quality services across both fully managed and unmanaged IP networks, “We played a pivotal role in the transition including 4K video and 25Gbps hitless video and from BT Sport to TNT Sports, operating in both data. It addresses the migration from SDI-to-IP Chiswick and Stockley Park facilities, providing as well as IP-to-IP environments and is an ideal services to live programming, data and edits,” transport solution for high-density, low-latency he adds. “Our contributions involved defining remote/distributed production applications, workflows in a new environment across two including ground-to-cloud connectivity.” sites, as well as a complete graphics rebrand.

The graphics, initially designed by DixonBaxi, were implemented by our team and tailored for broadcast by leveraging the Chyron Prime To address the growing demand in the platform, to craft sophisticated templates that European region, Media Links appointed Cesare streamlined the operational workflow.

Camparada as head of market development for “In addition to these significant projects, EMEA. we continued our usual work with BBC Sport “In his new role, Cesare’s focus will be to work during the summer, including coverage of grass with existing clients, expand the company’s court tennis events such as Wimbledon. We partner network and build the Media Links also engaged in multiple collaborations with business across the region,” says Nuñez. “Along Wimbledon Broadcast Services, including the with Cesare’s new role, the company has signed creation of a Virtual Interview Room. Notably, two new channel partners in the region. Video alongside our work on ITV’s FIFA Women’s Progetti will provide sales and support for Media World Cup coverage, we also provided Links’ media over IP transport technology on-screen graphics for BBC Sport’s coverage of throughout the Italian market. OmniWave will the same event. serve as a reseller for Media Links in Greece and “Most recently, we proudly launched a new Cyprus, providing a full range of product sales, suite of graphics and a virtual studio for the installation and professional support services to British Basketball League, which centralised broadcasters and network providers.” its productions at Timeline’s Studios in 189

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Ealing. Simultaneously, we collaborated with NorthOne, contributing graphics and a virtual studio to their NFL coverage.”

“We’ve worked hard at MOOV to grow and expand our client and product portfolios which has allowed us to become more nimble when tackling projects with either aggressive deadlines or complex requirements,” he adds.

“The knowledge base within the company has exponentially grown because of this, and we’re finding that we’re able to deploy more complicated and sophisticated projects quickly.

Furthermore, we are committed to leveraging virtual technology and expanding our expertise to drive ongoing innovation and improvement in the virtual production process for broadcasting.

An example of this would be the bespoke control solutions that we’ve developed across the work with ITV Sport on their virtual studio hub in relation to AR graphics, which allows the operational team to have extensive control of the virtual environment, allowing them to react quickly to the requests of the production team.”

NativeWaves CHRISTOF HASLAUER CEO

“There have been many developments over the past year, but I would like to focus on three key products,” says Christof Haslauer, CEO, NativeWaves. “Our unique combination of HTTP- and WebRTCbased low-latency streaming in NativeWaves EXP completely solves the low-latency streaming challenge for in-venue, mobile and at-home usage with a single workflow. We have been able to create a hybrid solution that allows us to deliver near real-time streams using WebRTC where required while using lowlatency HTTP-based streaming to serve very large audiences and deliver features such as instant replays, all from one platform.”

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Haslauer also highlights three main events that have utilised NativeWaves.

“In December 2022, we worked with Synamedia and Cellnex as a technology partner to deliver a multiview experience of a live football game, in-venue, at the Real Betis stadium in Valencia,” he says. “As part of a PoC to test how a single capture of a live event could be used both for delivering in-venue experiences and for broadcast, a small set of fans were given access to the NativeWaves showcase app on which they had access to feeds from multiple cameras that were being used for the broadcast. The fans used the mobile network from Cellnex, and the streaming was managed by Synamedia. These fans also had access to data and analytics, and they could also access instant replays of the key moments, on demand. We used ULL streaming to deliver all the camera feeds in near real time, and content was DRM protected.

“We partnered with Polsat to deliver the finals of the Volleyball Nations League 2023 in multiview. A select set of viewers were given access to the NativeWaves showcase app, which provided them with access to 11 of the 23 broadcast cameras. We delivered the signal faster than linear TV to the viewers’ mobile device and used the patented NativeWaves audio sync engine to sync the mobile device to the linear TV. Viewers could watch the main broadcast on TV while selecting a camera perspective of their choice on their mobile device, as well as access data and analytics and instant replays of the action.

“We also worked with B1SmartTv and European League of Football to deliver the 2023 season of the tournament (100+ matches) on the Sportworld app. The entire end-to-end streaming was handled by NativeWaves. This was also the first time we used cloud production to deliver the experience.”

NEP Group/NEP Connect MIKE WERTEEN

GLOBAL PRESIDENT, NEP BROADCAST SERVICES

“In the past year we have further improved our UI system for the EXP framework and made it even more modular, which now allows us to set up new event types in a matter of days,” he adds.

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“We were thrilled to have our board appoint Martin Stewart as our new CEO in June. With a career spanning over 30 years in leadership roles in the media telecommunications and sports sectors, Martin had most recently served as our CFO,” says Mike Werteen, global president, NEP Broadcast Services. “The past year has seen us grow and expand our connected Global

Production Ecosystem greatly, and today this extensive network includes: 15 NEP Production Hubs and 11 Client Hubs connected around the globe — seven are new this year; six NEP data centres in APAC, Europe and North America; a continually growing global fleet of over 200 OB trucks — four new and 30 upgraded this year — and over 100 flypack facilities, four new this year; over 30 connected POPs and data centres for connectivity, allowing us to manage content from acquisition through distribution; specialty capture and RF solutions; freight forwarding and logistics; multiple teleports and extensive satellite coverage; and a growing backbone network tying it all together.

“Sports highlights include the UCI World Cycling Championships, with teams from across the UK and Europe teaming up for support, including OB trucks covering the road races with a remote production team working from an NEP OB at BBC headquarters, plus RF, connectivity services and more. At the World Athletics Championships, NEP UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland, joined by Fletcher and CT UK, provided a full end-to-end host broadcast solution, including facilities, RF, crew, specialty capture, edit/ingest, EVS replay and more. The World Rally Championship saw NEP Finland continue its end-to-end support of WRC with a new remote production facility in Helsinki covering events around the world. In addition, NEP Germany is providing extensive remote production support to Dyn Media, including facilities, engineering and featuring use of both TFC Link, to manage networks in venues, and TFC Flow, to manage networks between facilities. NEP Sweden has built out remote production facilities across two hubs in Sweden for Swedish Ice Hockey Premiere and Second League. A third hub is being finalised as well. The remote production workflow handles 13 simultaneous matches for TV4. NEP UK was proud to once again support Wimbledon Broadcast Services with its coverage of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships. In addition to facilities and engineering support, NEP teams provided specialty capture solutions, media management with NEP’s Mediabank, and SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Timeline is leading the way with it's sustainable OB Fleet, Studios and Remote Production offering.

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record and replay services. NEP Europe was also com, the CBS Sports app for connected TV proud to be in Germany supporting the Special devices, the CBS Sports mobile app, Pluto TV Olympics providing technical and production and Paramount+,” says Mets. services for these inspiring games.”

This year also saw solutions based on Nimbra high-end processing for Tier 1 events, including The FISU (Federation Internationale du Sport Net Insight Universitaire) in Chengdu, China.

KRISTIAN METS HEAD OF SALES BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT “This is a pivotal implementation of a “In 2023, Net Insight announced complete multisport event, covering 45 venues a pioneering enhancement in for 18 sports,” says Mets. “JPEG XS was used for IP media reliability for ST2110 remote production and about 20 venues were facilities,” says Kristian Mets, produced in 4K. The JPEG XS processing for head of sales business development, Net over 160 live UHD feeds, gave a not noticeable Insight. “This breakthrough promises to latency between the nine venue areas with up revolutionise media interconnect, enhancing to 100km distances. The event was delivered both performance and adaptability through an with Nimbra gateways that are all capable of innovative combination of the robust Nimbra encoding, converting, protecting, IP managing IP Media Trust Boundary (IMTB) and steadfast and monitoring all camera feeds with the highest adherence to industry standards such as SMPTE quality.”

RP2129. This trust boundary feature makes it “[Looking forward], we are extending the possible to introduce ultra-high bandwidth capacity of managed above 10,000 streams 100GbE workflows with precision, with an simultaneously over multi-cloud and multiassurance of integrity maintained through region cloud implementations for large-scale comprehensive end-to-end validations.” contribution; we are planning to integrate Nimbra ground network control with cloud for end-to-end provisioning; we will see the first JPEG XS to cloud implementations using RIST for resilience, ingesting low-latency feeds to cloud production processing; and we will see the first implementations based on the new SMPTE RP2129 inter-entity trust boundary standard,” he reveals. “This will enable a standards-based interworking model between broadcasters, production facilities and service providers.”

“MediaKind and Net Insight partnered to create an end-to-end distribution solution,” he adds. “The partnership further strengthens MediaKind’s video processing, packaging and delivery products by integrating Net Insight’s Nimbra Edge, offering users an end-to-end distribution capability to ingest efficiently, route, process and distribute live content in high quality with low latency and in various formats.

“Net Insight also launched the Trust Boundary Appliance to secure IP media investments, an easy-to-integrate appliance to solve common challenges within IP media networking.”

This year Net Insight’s Nimbra Edge solution provided all stream orchestration, quality control, and routing management of all European match feeds over cloud for the CBS Sports Golazo Network. “The broadcasts exit the ecosystem and are distributed to CBSSports.

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Newsbridge YVAN LATASTE HEAD OF SPORTS

“Helping the French Federation of Basketball (FFBB) preserve the legacy of basketball in France is a highlight and a real honour for us,” says Yvan Lataste, head of sports, Newsbridge. “Newsbridge’s solutions for live and archive media asset management, including our AI-powered Cloud Media Hub and Mobile App, are ensuring that the FFBB’s treasure trove, 8TB of video archive, 2.4TB of photos and all future new media, is secure and accessible for decades to come.

“From one central source, the FFBB now manages its legacy archive. And the direct-tocloud aspect of the media hub enables the fast upload of new content — including live uploads from photographers at games — as well as the

ability to instantly share specific shots with team staff and players. We’re proud to say that more than 100 years of archived content was moved from FFBB’s legacy system to a custom-built Newsbridge media hub within just four weeks.

“As a result of its move to Newsbridge, FFBB has enabled automatic media sorting, remote distribution, and achieved increased reactivity — it’s now six times faster for them to find and export the right content.”

Another sports production highlight for Newsbridge is its work with LNR — France’s National Rugby League. Lataste adds: “With its existing MAM discontinued, LNR found itself in the difficult position of needing to find a new solution in the middle of the busy season.

LNR chose Newsbridge, and its multimodal AI-powered Cloud Media Hub, with 400TB of pre-indexed video archive deployed in just one month. We’re proud to be helping LNR to both preserve and monetise its rich video heritage, including enabling the clipping of match highlights to turn into video NFTs. “Other major deals include our signings of Bayer Leverkusen and Olympique de Marseille, while the FFR (French Federation of Rugby), a client of Newsbridge since 2020, has considerably augmented its use of our product.

FFR is now using Newsbridge for live video recordings to enhance its Rugby World Cup workflow.

“On the product side, we launched MXT1, a multimodal and generative AI indexing technology that combines AI modalities to help understand what’s in your media.

It automatically detects faces, transcribes speech, identifies logos, landmarks, context and more. Combined with sports data feeds from games, MXT-1 is the most thorough indexing technology in the market for sports organisations.

“Finally, on the people side, the Newsbridge team has grown significantly across multiple departments. We now have local sports and media executives based in DACH, the UK, Southern Europe and North America.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Open Broadcast Systems KIERAN KUNHYA FOUNDER AND CEO

“Open Broadcast Systems has had a busy year of innovation,” says Kieran Kunhya, founder and CEO at Open Broadcast Systems. “We continued to roll out low-latency encoders and decoders into more ST2110 facilities. We also continued to push forward with our leadership in commercial-of-the-shelf (COTS)-based video transport technology, supporting even more form factors than ever before.”

“We also led the way in new methods of broadcast video transport with our world-first delivery of a UEFA Champions League Match from the Faroe Islands working with OneWeb and Network Innovations,” he continues.

“OneWeb low Earth orbit satellites provide high-speed, business-grade global connectivity that will allow high-quality sports transmissions from more places around the world.”

Panasonic Connect Europe GUILHEM KRIER

HEAD OF NEW BUSINESS & MARKET DEVELOPMENT

“We have recently released two interesting PTZ models, the AW-UR100 for outdoor use and the AW-UE160, our new flagship model which offers, among lots of new features, the capability to do slow motion, a first on an integrated PTZ,” says Guilhem Krier, head of new business & market development, Panasonic Connect Europe.

“The AW-UR100 is ideal for outdoor fixed installations, such as stadiums or race tracks.

It’s a compact, affordable and very competent camera, providing signals up to 4K 50p through a variety of outputs such as 12G-SDI, fibre, full bandwidth NDI and SRT. It’s IP65 certified and comes with wiper, heater, defroster and so on.”

“The AW-UE160 offers basically every feature SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

expected from a PTZ camera and more, as it’s also the first ST2110 capable PTZ on the market,” adds Krier. “It offers 4K 50p through its 1in sensor, offers lightning-fast face detection auto focus, full NDI, 12G-SDI and is super silent and smooth. The AW-UE160 is also capable of doing slow motion as a standard feature, able to shoot at up to 100p and thus to output 2x HD 1080p @50p or up to 4x HD 1080p @25p through the SDI or HDMI outputs of the camera. It’s a very interesting camera for Tier 2 or Tier 3 sports where true slow-mo is a plus but budgets are limited.”

Photo credit: Thierry Graff/Long Distance

“We also released our first large sensor studio camera, the AK-PLV100, offering a S35 sensor and PL mount, the same type of sensor and lenses that are needed for production but with rugged, no-hassle, easy-to-setup studio camera design,” he continues. “The AK-PLV100 shares the same accessories with our AK-UC4000, 2/3in studio camera, meaning that you just have to swap the head to get a traditional B4 camera head or a PL camera head. It outputs SMPTE ST2110 video directly from its camera head and merely requires an optical-fibre connection for return input, intercom input/output, PTP synchronisation, trunk out and tally input.

“We have also announced the second generation of Kairos servers, bringing even more features, I/O and processing power than ever. Kairos offers non-compressed video processing with super-low latency and can be used for various applications, such as a broadcast switcher or a presentation switcher.

And, as it’s software-based, it’s permanently updated, giving our customers more features along the way. This second generation of servers focuses on silence, thanks to a new 4RU superquiet chassis, as well as on extended I/Os, multiviewers, storage capacities and processing power, allowing super intricate compositions thanks to a very user-friendly layer approach similar to Photoshop.”

Looking forward to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Krier says Panasonic equipment will be showcased “including some exclusive B2B proposals such as large professional display systems, professional projectors, broadcast cameras and a live video processing IT platform”.

Pixotope MARCUS BRODERSEN CEO

“Having been launched just last year, software-based TTL tracking technology Pixotope Fly has already been put to the test on major national live broadcast coverage of American stock car racing by Silver Spoon Animation,” says Marcus Brodersen, CEO, Pixotope. “In one instance, as the Pixotope Fly-calibrated drone pulled away into a wide shot, an animated graphic of the winning driver next to their car surrounded by stunning realtime particle effects was shown to viewers to celebrate the victory. In addition, Silver Spoon delivered a gravity-defying RV stunt jump over the track as an AR advertisement. Silver Spoon also utilised Pixotope technology for seamless real-time rendering and compositing during the Nickelodeon Simulcast of the CBS Christmas Day football game, which saw the broadcast incorporate live AR graphics and mixed reality elements to bring generations of football fans together.”

“Pixotope XR Edition enabled media company Myreze to create an incredible immersive viewing experience for fans of the Dota 2 International Esports Championship,” adds Brodersen. “XR Edition includes a range of tools to simplify setup and operation by reducing the technical complexities and associated resource costs of XR workflows and environments. As a result, Myreze was able to create a seamless blend between the LED wall with built-in tracking patterns and the AR set extension.”

Brodersen says the recent addition of Phil Ventre to the team is an important company development for Pixotope with relation to 193

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sports production. “He joins with considerable industry experience spanning sales, marketing and business development, having held highlevel positions at Avid, Ross Video, Disguise and, most recently, Silver Spoon,” he explains. “As VP of strategy and global business development, Phil will lead the Pixotope business development and strategy function for the sports, esports and broadcast sectors.”

“In terms of product, our launch of Live Controller is particularly important for the future of broadcast,” he adds. “Underpinned by Unreal Engine, Live Controller is an all-in-one graphics control solution for broadcast virtual production workflows designed to allow studios of all sizes to easily and cost-effectively implement virtual production into their programming, without the need for bespoke engineering teams. This firstof-its-kind tool effectively democratises virtual production in broadcast environments thanks to its template-based workflow. This means a single operator can control virtual studio, AR and XR graphics side by side with CG, for an unparalleled visual experience with fewer resources. “[Looking ahead] you can expect to see continued development and support within broadcast graphics: the launch of Pixotope Live Controller and updates to Pixotope Fly will be paving the way for this.”

Program Productions AMY SCHELLER

EVP STRATEGY & DEVELOPMENT

Program Productions (PPI) is North America’s leader in event crew management and, alongside sister companies XLT Management and ProCrewz, provides a complete suite of end-to-end labour solutions.

Program Productions will crew 30,000 event days in 2023 utilising a nationwide database of 18,000 skilled broadcast technicians.

“Managing that scale of volume takes a uniquely qualified crewing staff and an organisational infrastructure that ensures the operations team has the tools to efficiently do their job,” says Amy Scheller, EVP strategy & development, PPI. 194

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“With 55 staff crewing managers strategically placed in all major markets in North America, PPI’s local expertise and national reach provides clients with the benefit of cost-effective crew placement and scheduling.”

“We use the ProCrewz software and mobile app system for managing event crews. It allows our team to efficiently hire and place technicians, communicate with crew, share job updates, collect work hours and manage expense reimbursement,” she adds.

Events that PPI provides crewing support for include US Open Golf, The Masters, Major League Soccer, 2022 and 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup, NWSL, NFL Super Bowl, regional university and college sports, NBA, NHL and MLB. “PPI, XLT Management Services and ProCrewz together offer an unrivalled, fully integrated solution for labour, employment and payroll management,” she continues. “While PPI provides event labour, ProCrewz and XLT together offer seamless, end-to-end labour and payroll management. Powered by ProCrewz, XLT equips customers with a custom-built platform for event labour management backed by a dedicated team of experts. This all-in-one solution enables our clients to communicate with crews in real time, tap into HR and legal support, and access customised labour and financial data reports. In 2023, as event days reached record highs and crewing logistics became significantly more challenging, these features were nothing less than essential.”

In 2022, PPI launched a training and recruitment programme and focused on strategic partnerships to rebuild the post-COVID deficit of skilled technicians and usher in a new generation of broadcast professionals. “PPI partners with groups to support DIE initiatives such as SVG Spirit, HBCU Bridge, Get In The Game, Gals N’ Gear and others, to promote sports broadcast career opportunities,” says Scheller.

Highlights for Qvest Europe this year included the world’s first situational and programmatic ad booking in sports with Qvest partner Trade4Sports, during the Second Bundesliga football match between Fortuna Düsseldorf and 1. FC Kaiserslautern; delivering a FAST channel playout for European League of Football with cloud playout product Makalu; project management for new German sports broadcaster Dyn Media, from live recording at the sports venues to distribution; and a scalable OTT solution for live sports broadcasting for Television New Zealand.

“OTT specialist TeraVolt is now part of Qvest Group, becoming TeraVolt — a Qvest Company since September 2023,” adds Knauf. “These leading OTT developers and consultants from Hamburg have established themselves internationally in the field of live sports and using data as an engagement tool for younger audiences and beyond. The software-as-aservice solution TVXRAY assures that the viewers’ attention remains on the content they follow by adding features on the first screen like data storytelling, AI-based interactive timelines, auto-highlight technology, video notifications, or on-screen widgets, creating a personalised viewing experience with high value content.”

“2024 will be a big year for sports, including the EHF 2024 Handball European Championship in Germany, the UEFA Euro 2024 football championship in Germany, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris,” continues Knauf.

“Qvest is looking forward to playing a major role in these events like in the years before — with dedicated media tech equipment support Qvest for international broadcasting companies to KONSTANTIN KNAUF MANAGING DIRECTOR share the sports action from the venues with “Qvest’s expertise fields are now audiences on various platforms and devices.” clustered in 15 practices to cover the full digital value chain from RaceTech innovation to consulting for JOHN BOZZA agile organisational structures, development of CEO digital products, technology consulting in areas “ We have playe d a more such as cloud and artificial intelligence, and consistent part in ITV Racing systems integration,” says Konstantin Knauf, productions, especially for the managing director, Qvest Europe.

Racing League and Sunday SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Series fixtures this year,” says John Bozza, CEO, RaceTech. “These hybrid remote productions are configured with RaceTech OB facilities on course, feeding into an ITV production hub elsewhere, allowing ITV to broadcast from racecourses not typically on their annual schedule. We delivered our most technically elaborate and resourced OB at the 2023 Epsom Derby with four OB units delivering live content to several customers. This included the supply of a dual output OB to Progress Productions for the on-course sports presentation. We continued delivering multifaceted, multicustomer OBs throughout the summer at large horseracing events.”

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“[Looking forward], our central production facilities at Raynes Park are experiencing rapid growth and we expect to be making some exciting announcements early in 2024. We have more than doubled the number of remote productions we have completed in the past 12 months, and we expect this trend to continue.

Remote camera technology also continues to advance, and we expect this to begin to supplement our existing broadcast workflows, offering new and as before unseen coverage of our live events.”

Ross Video JAMES RANSOME

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, SPORTS & LIVE EVENTS EMEA

“We have built and brought to market our latest two OB units — OB5 and OB6 — which are highly flexible, remote production capable units able to unilaterally support work for rightsholders or work alongside our larger OB units,” Bozza continues. “We have also begun our transition to HVO fuel, reducing our carbon footprint significantly with tanks being installed at bases around the country.

“In the last year we started to include remote camera operation as part of our camera plan.

Using remote camera technology, we have been able to capture footage from locations previously impossible to position a broadcast camera. We have also demonstrated the benefits of remote camera operation from both on-site operators and remote operators controlling race cameras from a central hub.”

“FanCam has been introduced by us, typically for racecourse TV productions. Think kiss cam, but utilising fans’ smartphones!” he adds.

“This is one of the new fan engagement and interaction tools we have developed for our racecourse stakeholders.

“Our continued commitment to innovation has seen a number of trials and new service delivery options. This has included covering racing using cloud production for the first time, and a huge increase in the number of remote production days, where some crew are located off site.

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“Over the past 12 months, Ross has played a pivotal role in producing some of the most high-profile sports events globally, including the UEFA Champions League, major cricket fixtures, the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup,” says James Ransome, business development manager, sports & live events EMEA, Ross Video. “Specifically, our cable-based camera system, Spidercam, has become a prominent feature in football coverage over the past year, enhancing the viewer experience across Premier League and UEFA Champions League matches.

Additionally, cricket enthusiasts have also enjoyed the stunning camera views provided by Spidercam, as the system has been extensively used at major events such as the Pakistan Super League, IPL and The Ashes. By the end of this year, Spidercam is projected to have covered over 320 match days across the cricket calendar alone.

once again helped create an unforgettable experience for fans in attendance.”

“Our Ultrix Hyperconverged platform was a crucial component of the broadcast facilities provided by Timeline TV for ITV Sport and BBC Sport during the World Cup in Qatar,” Ransome continues. “Each venue had its dedicated CAR centred around Ultrix, showcasing its importance in delivering a seamless broadcasting experience. In addition to Ultrix being used for connectivity, our Piero sports graphics analysis tool was used by several Europe-based broadcasters during the World Cup to enhance their coverage of football’s biggest tournament.”

“Our new production switcher, Carbonite Ultra 60, is now shipping and will benefit many customers who favour the Carbonite platform and seek increased I/O capabilities,” he adds. “Additionally, we recently launched new TouchDrive control panels, the TD3 and TD4. Development continues for our Ultrix Hyperconverged platform.”

“Sports broadcasters continue to explore cloud production, and Ross Video is at the forefront with the Ross Production Cloud,” he concludes. “By taking proven technology to the cloud, we ensure that sports broadcasters can leverage familiar user interfaces and control systems. Ross Video remains committed to developing its technology across hyperconverged, IP, SDI and cloud domains, providing customers with a range of options to deliver productions in a way that makes the most sense for them.”

RT Software MIKE FREDRIKSEN COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

“In the US, our team and technology played a pivotal role in enhancing the in-venue experience for the Super Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona. Working closely with Van Wagner for the seventh consecutive year, our unified venue control solution, which merges the workflow between production control room technology and LED display control technology,

Over the past 12 months, RT Sof t ware has invested significant efforts in two areas of its broadcast graphics product range,” says Mike Fredriksen, commercial director, RT Software. “AI is a major element of our Tactic telestration system and we’ve continued to build on the success of our timesaving AI features with additional AI-based features. What we’ve created allows our broadcast customers to achieve high-quality results in a fraction of the time. In turn, this allows their operators to invest more of their time in creating more insightful analysis sequences.

“The other major area of focus has been SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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continued migration of the comprehensive Swift range to web-based user interfaces. Swift Live started the transition to web-based for RT Software’s live control system and has been well received by customers needing manual interaction, which is a great advantage for live gallery operations.”

“We’ve now built on the success of Swift Live and at IBC2023 we previewed the new Swift Edit,” he adds. “This is an evolution of our existing Swift CG editing system but allows the creative department to work from anywhere using an easy-to-use web interface. We look forward to moving from previewing this to a fullblown product release soon. If any customers are interested in trialling this, they should get in contact.”

“Anyone following us for some time will have known about our participation in GV’s AMPP platform,” adds Fredriksen “But we were very pleased to also participate in Matrox’s Origin platform at IBC2023. Matrox’s platform is another way to build out a cloud production platform and visitors to IBC were able to see how broadcast graphics can be integrated as part of that solution. We look forward to supporting Matrox as its new platform matures.”

“A final note on another amazing sports customer of ours,” concludes Fredriksen.

“They are a major international sports brand that constantly challenge what is technically possible. They bring together several strands of the RT Software product range, by running remote production from London, linked to amazing international harbour locations where helicopters capture live video of catamaran racing. Our piece of this complex production workflow provides augmented reality graphics that are superimposed on water to create start and finish lines for their catamaran racing to help the audience at home understand better what is happening. We also provide traditional CG scoreboard graphics to keep track of teams on the leader board. We are looking forward to continuing our work with this boundarypushing sports broadcaster.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Salsa Sound ROB OLDFIELD CEO

“2 0 2 2 /2 0 2 3 h a s b e e n a n amazing year for Salsa Sound,” says Rob Oldfield, CEO, Salsa Sound. “Off the back of our launch of MIXaiR 2.0 we have been involved in several Tier 1 international sporting events which showcased that our AI-driven audio mixing software is reliable and produces top quality sound mixes. Furthermore, being able to enhance football mixes with real-time triggering of ball-kick sounds at the appropriate times was proven to add significant value, especially to immersive mixes. This year we have further developed our immersive mixing capabilities across multiple sports and have been involved in XR/volumetric audio projects for live MMA sports which has been fun. We’ve also enjoyed seeing MIXaiR’s usage by broadcasters in Scandinavia for ice hockey and trotting/horse racing.”

“We have now launched MIXaiR 3.0 which offers a raft of new features, enabling easy deployment of MIXaiR in the cloud, and offers comprehensive simultaneous SRT, NDI, SDI support for interconnectivity and format conversion,” Oldfield continues. “Also new is our Dolby Atmos, encoding and decoding support for Dolby E, ED2 and DD+JOC straight out of the software, saving money and making life easier for content creators.

“2024 is set to be a bumper year for Salsa Sound with some big announcements on the way. Additionally, we’re excited to be further developing our holistic and flexible mixing software engine and expanding our support for other sports and automated sub-mixers.

This coming year we will also be developing our new AI-driven automated highlights generating software which will be able to automatically decide the most engaging moments of a sports fixture based on a sentiment analysis of crowd and commentary speech-to-text processing,

enabling broadcasters to serve their viewers with bespoke highlights composed for them based on their individual preferences on-the-fly.”

“As we have seen throughout the world and across every industry, the rise of AI cannot be ignored. We have been bringing AI-driven audio software to the broadcast industry since 2017 and we will continue to push the possibilities of this further,” he says. “With more and more content required and the rise in personalised and immersive experiences, AI is essential for the required scalability. So, we will continue to develop tools that leverage AI and make it easier for broadcasters to do more for less and do it better than ever before, offering their audiences new and more engaging experiences.”

Seagate Solutions MELYSSA BANDA VICE PRESIDENT

“Seagate, as a storage company, has for over 45 years been at the heart of any video production, sports included,” says Melyssa Banda, vice president, Seagate Solutions.

“Recently we have built cost-effective platforms that bring seamless efficiency to creative workloads. Whether you need to archive content, move it to a new location, deliver it to a client, or transfer it to the cloud, our camerato-cloud storage solutions help you get the job done quickly and reliably, no matter how big or small your project is. With the development of Seagate Lyve storage-as-a-service solutions, it is now possible to rent high-capacity and highperformance storage and deploy it in the field capturing data at the source while simple and secure transfers will help moving your data to the cloud or on-prem so you can start putting it to work with no delay.”

“The Lyve Mobile ecosystem allows the extensive usage of mobile SAAS for offsite shootings, remote location, high performance and much more,” Banda continues. “Seagate is constantly working on adapting our storage 197

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offering to the market’s needs and trends. With the addition of Lyve Mobile Cloud Import to the standard Lyve Mobile storage-as-a-service offer, users now have the option to move any data to any edge, data centre, or cloud workflow.”

“Recently released, Exos Corvault is a highperforming, efficient, durable multi-petabyte capacity block storage system that is self-healing and brings five-nines availability to scale out storage for data centre deployments,” she adds.

“Corvault breakthrough technologies provide hyperscale efficiencies, rapid deployment and automatic hard drive renewal for less e-waste and operational costs. These storage solutions now offer more than 2.5PB in a compact form factor. Conscious of the ever-growing need for high performance, high capacity and compacity, Seagate has conducted research and development for decades on mass-capacity storage. High-capacity drives of more than 30TB will be available early 2024 bringing more energy efficiency and TCO savings. And this is just the beginning; we should rapidly be able to ship 50TB drives in the coming years. These technology advances will allow post-production, streaming and broadcasting companies to store more content without the need to expand their data centres infrastructures.”

SES Astra

Live sports events in the past 12 months were a major factor in driving uptake on SES’s dedicated sports and events satellite distribution platform — Astra 1 Sports. Covering Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, the Astra 1 Sports satellite distribution platform was leveraged for more than 1,500 events delivered to hundreds of feed takers, with sports and events customers enjoying its powerful wide beam coverage with high throughput, boosted network efficiency, flexibility and security.

A leader in distributing sports and events, SES broadcasts over 700 hours of premium sports each day and works with more than 500 sports and events customers. SES broadcasts a wide range of sports, from men’s and women’s professional football, American football, 198

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tennis, golf and cricket to cycling. These include on-going games and matches for high-profile leagues such as the NFL, Premier League and Women’s Serie A to sports with specialised interest, such as motor sports.

From rightsholders, leagues and federations to TV networks and service providers, SES distributed thousands of hours of sports content on Astra 1 Sports, including the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, the World Judo Championships, the World Padel Tour and FIA World Rallycross events.

In August, the company announced a partnership with Quanta to offer global content distribution and post-production capabilities for sporting and news events in Latin America.

As part of the agreement, Quanta’s newly inaugurated teleport in São Paolo has been interconnected with SES’s hybrid distribution network and media centres to allow for simplified content delivery services to global and Latin American takers via satellite, IP and fibre networks. Sports and events customers will also be able to leverage post-production capabilities at Quanta’s facilities, including commentary recording, graphics and advertisement.

Signiant JON FINEGOLD

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

“The biggest sports broadcasters in the world put their faith in the Signiant Plat form to achieve their enormous and mission-critical content flow needs at premier global events, such as the Men’s World Cup in Qatar, Super Bowl LVII, and the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand,” says Jon Finegold, chief marketing officer, Signiant. “For massive global events like those, Signiant software is moving petabytes of content before, during and after the game.

Wherever content needs to flow, whether it’s remote edit teams, automated content flow between systems, or content exchange between rightsholder and broadcast partners to and from the cloud, the Signiant Platform has it covered.”

“At IBC, Signiant rolled out new features to our platform service, Media Engine,” says Finegold. “The on-demand play feature allows you to play a variety of professional media formats without having to pre-generate and store proxies. This enables more rigorous review of the video and audio before downloading a

heavy asset. Additionally, users can mark in and out points to select a specific portion of a media asset. Once the clip has been created, it can be sent or downloaded. This ability to download only the portion of interest, commonly known as partial file retrieval or partial restore, can save time and egress costs.”

The Signiant Platform now supports the accelerated movement of growing files over any IP network, a mission-critical capability for live events where speed is everything. “A common use case we’ve seen is enabling remote editors to begin creating highlight clips from various camera feeds immediately after the action takes place. Moving content into storage as it is being created also dramatically reduces the time to shut down production trucks after the event — saving time and money,” he continues.

“With more remote and hybrid productions, growing files support has become a widely used capability. As with many media operations, especially in live sports, speed is vital. The ability to work on files while they are being written helps our customers deliver more, faster.

With the introduction of Media Engine on the Signiant Platform, customers can find, preview and interact with media right where it lives, without having to move or ingest it into an asset management system. This is also playing a key role in speeding up operations in sports.”

Silver Spoon DAN PACK

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Real-time virtual production content provider Silver Spoon has been contributing immersive technology to multiple sports events in the past year, such as working with CBS Sports and Nickelodeon on multiple NFL alternative broadcasts, as well as Big City Greens NHL Simulcast, ESPN NBA Finals, FIBA World Basketball Championships, ESPN Monday Night Football, CBS SEC Football and ESPN Toy Story NFL Funcast.

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On the Horizon UEFA EURO 2024

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Singular.live MIKE WARD

HEAD OF MARKETING

“With a diverse portfolio of projects, Silver Spoon has become an industry leader due to its unrivalled commitment to constantly innovating and expanding the boundaries of real-time production, which has seen it highly soughtafter for real-time content for all screens,” says Dan Pack, MD, Silver Spoon.

In July this year, the company was acquired by AE Live, a global provider of data and broadcast solutions.

“I feel that, together with AE Live and [its creative team] Ignite, and our shared vision for high-end immersive graphics and animation, our common focus on engaging and informing viewers, and the global reach and experience across the group, we have something really special and unique,” says Pack. “I am ecstatic about what this means for our business, our clients and our people — we will be stronger, better, faster.”

“For me, it’s always about growth: growing our work and client base in the US and internationally, growing our understanding of the industry, growing our capabilities and, most importantly, growing and expanding our talent’s skills and professional experience,” Pack continues. “As a part of AE Live, we have the opportunity to do all of that faster with more efficiency and support than we would have on our own. We’re in a time of fervent innovation and adoption of new techniques, especially virtual and real-time, and it’s direly important to me that we are on the front lines. With their experience running graphics on thousands of live broadcasts with sports ranging from basketball and football to kabaddi and cricket, we instantly gain a wealth of knowledge and resources that we can apply to our own R&D and innovation efforts.

“We’ve already started collaborating with AE and Ignite on several projects. It has been unbelievably exciting to see what happens when you combine AE’s experience, their knowledge of data acquisition and visualisation, and Ignite’s branding and visual prowess with our team’s penchant for innovation in AR and XR and capability in Unreal.”

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“Singular worked with partners Reality Check Solutions and QTV to provide a full matchday graphics solution for several SPFL clubs and Championship side Ipswich,” says Mike Ward, head of marketing, Singular. live. “The solution includes live data integration from StatsPerform (Opta) enabling a highquality, bespoke matchday production for each of the clubs by the team at QTV. Following the success of the first season, this is a continuation of the service that we provided for the previous season with new enhanced data visualisations and upgraded designs.”

Ward says expanding Singular’s partner network to support more enterprise customers has been fundamental to its ability to “fit into any live production workflow”.

“That has allowed us to work with a wider range of clients,” Ward adds. “At the same time, we’ve been able to showcase the fact that Singular is much more than ‘just’ a graphics platform. As a vertically integrated technology stack for graphic overlays, partners and clients can integrate Singular into their own technology stacks to take much greater advantage of the many additional features and functionality of Singular, including localisation, personalisation and interactivity.”

Ward says Singular is currently engaged in projects under NDA, with some major launches scheduled in early 2024. “Our industry is moving now towards a point of actively engaging with cloud production technologies after a period of trial and testing,” he says. “We’re seeing this in the growth in uptake through both sign-ups and platform activity in our analytics. It’s also evident through our wide partner network who are increasingly expanding their knowledge of Singular and their use of our platform.”

“We’re seeing traction in FAST channels

where the scalability of our cloud platform makes localisation a highly attractive use case,” he continues, adding that flexibility and increased sustainability are also seen as key drivers.

“Over the past few years, we’ve seen a real drive towards collaboration, driven in part by new entrants to our industry being extremely focused on their core offering. Singular, for example, is 100% focused on graphics — it’s only one part of any production, so our partner network is so important.”

“The other key aspect of platforms like Singular is that they have APIs which, in theory, makes it easier to integrate with other platforms,” he continues. “Obviously not all APIs are built the same, but this growing integration of partners providing best-of-breed services will continue to erode the traditional scenario of single vendors trying to create a walled garden providing all services to a varying level of quality.”

“A s economic pressures mount for broadcasters and live producers all over the globe, the cost savings delivered through Singular will add further weight to the accelerating transition to our platform from traditional systems,” Ward adds.

slomo.tv IGOR VITIORETS CTO

“Our company is confidently expanding its presence in football with VAR,” says Igor V itio re t s , C TO at slo m o. tv. “Together with the Tajikistan Football Federation we are implementing VAR in the national championship. In addition to supplying the VAR equipment, slomo.tv specialists carried out intensive training on how to work with the system for VARs/AVARs/ROs.”

“After the official implementation of FIFA Quality-certified videoReferee VAR equipment, SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sponsor Update

the Georgian Football Federation has expanded its VAR van fleet by two more vehicles, equipping them with a full VAR set produced by slomo. tv,” continues Vitiorets. “Since spectators and TV viewers want to follow the VAR reviews, all videoReferee systems provide broadcasters with the video output of the referee’s interface.

Last year, we added RRA-MIDO — a venue information graphics function — to our VAR servers. The videoReferee outputs VAR graphics to broadcasters and to the arena screens to keep the spectators informed of the VAR team’s actions.”

For basketball competitions, slomo.tv has developed and started production of a specialised mobile Instant Replay System (IRS).

A total of 14 kits have already been sold.

“The IRS hardware in the mobile rack is installed next to the OB van or in a technical room, and the compact videoReferee box is placed in the arena creating a complete workplace for a replay operator,” says Vitiorets.

“Both units are connected via fibre cable, which allows the system modules to be installed up to 20km from each other. This provides the customer with a flexible solution that works with any OB truck and allows the IRS to be installed in any arena. The referee review can be easily set up in compliance with IRS technical regulations and is also convenient for referees.”

“We also launched the Simple R 4K — a compact and affordable entry-level 4K replay and recording server,” adds Vitiorets “This server is a great fit for sports broadcasters and video production companies of any level that work with UHD signals. By NAB 2024, we plan to launch another entry-level server for 4K, but with even greater functionality. Affordable VAR solutions for football and video-refereeing systems for other sports are also high on our priority list.”

“This year we launched a timing and events control system for team sports, the matchcontroller Control-MC,” he adds. “It’s designed to integrate not only with display systems and data consumers in the arena, but also with various consumers of match-controller data working via internet or LAN. These include various record-keeping and statistics systems of the sports leagues and federations themselves, as well as third-party consumers. ControlMC is compatible with most common timing and events data transfer protocols for videorefereeing systems, scoreboards, information graphics systems and others.”

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Solid State Logic

Sony

BERNY CARPENTER

NORBERT PAQUET

“At IBC this year we launched Te m p e s t C o n t r o l A p p, a software package which can be used to directly control our Tempest Engines,” says Berny Carpenter, broadcast product manager, Solid State Logic.

“This exciting addition to the System T range provides even greater flexibility, allowing us to scale systems up or down to meet the unique requirements of any broadcast audio production. Our flypack offering for remote production has become more compact, without losing any of the power harnessed in the Tempest Engine. With the IP-native distributed infrastructure of System T, and processing designed to natively handle audio, from mono through to the latest immersive formats, we are uniquely placed to be able to meet the audio production needs of broadcasters exploring and deploying all forms of production — whether on-site, remote or cloud based.”

“Over the past 12 months we’ve seen some exciting examples of the possibilities for remote and distributed/decentralised production, underlining the roles played by IP and cloud in enabling flexible, resilient and cost-efficient new workflows,” says Norbert Paquet, Sony Europe’s head of live production solutions. “In particular we are continuing to successfully harness the IP expertise of Sony Group company Nevion, and the network technology’s implications for dramatically rethinking sports production. Working with Nevion, for example, we’ve helped to create an all-IP remote/distributed production ecosystem in Norway for TV 2 and Telenor that allows the exchange of SDI and SMPTE ST2110 signals between the broadcaster, participating production companies and over 60 sporting venues.

BROADCAST PRODUCT MANAGER

“It’s been an exciting year for Solid State Logic with our cloud-based audio processing engine being used on a number of proof-of-concept events, both in Europe and the United States,” Carpenter continues. “Developed within the Audiotonix group in partnership with our sister company Calrec, we are pushing the boundaries of what has previously been considered possible in terms of audio processing scale when it comes to cloud production.

“Working so closely with key clients on these proof-of-concept events has been invaluable to guiding our development. Together, we are defining the future of what is possible with cloudbased live audio production, augmenting our existing range of System T control surfaces and hardware processing engines. We are looking forward to continuing these close collaborations in the upcoming year.”

HEAD OF LIVE PRODUCTION SOLUTIONS

“Another illustration of our work with Nevion is a highly robust IP contribution solution deployed by Viacom18 for live coverage of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket season. As digital rights owner for the IPL, Viacom18 connected 12 stadiums with three of their studio locations to produce regional feeds that have been enjoyed have by more than 24 million concurrent consumers on Viacom18’s JioCinema OTT streaming platform. Nevion’s Virtuoso software defined media node handled the transport of up to 16 HD and four UHD/4K signals from the stadiums — as well as return feeds — via a redundant wide-area network over distances up to 2,000km.”

Recent product introductions include the MLS-X1 modular switcher/processor. “A core element of Sony’s Networked Live environment, the MLS-X1 allows event producers to take full advantage of scalable production resources 201

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hosted on-premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid of the two,” he explains. “The inherent flexibility of the MLS-X1 has been enthusiastically embraced by customers such as NEP, which will be using the cloud-connected switcher at facilities across the Nordic region for coverage of events including major league ice hockey and motor racing.

“A trend over the past couple of years has been the increasing use of large-format sensors at high-profile sports events. For example, our HDC-F5500 system camera filled the prime Camera 1 position at the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa final between Lega Serie A’s Fiorentina and Inter Milan, broadcast live from Rome in May. Here the quality of the F5500’s Super 35mm imager was perfectly complemented by a large Fujinon 40x box lens for wide establishing shots of the pitch as well as emotion-filled close-ups. At the same event we also had a pair of remotely controlled FR7 Cinema Line PTZ cameras located in the players’ tunnel of the Stadio Olimpico.”

SOS Global Express STEVE GRUNNING

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SALES & ALLIANCES

“This past year has been another great year for our team,” says Steve Grunning, senior vice president, global sales & alliances at SOS Global Express. “We’re very proud to support some of the largest sports leagues around the world with some really creative logistics solutions.

Sponsor Update

the World Baseball Classic, where our teams provided complete door-to-door transportation solutions. Our teams supported LIV Golf from Spain to Saudi Arabia, and the WBC in Japan, with a number of other stops around the world, managing an array of solutions including collections, airfreight, custom clearances and liaising with local government authorities on import permits.”

He continues: “Our reputation is built on our ability to deliver custom logistics solutions that are cost-effective, reliable and on time.

Successful international events like these reinforce the confidence our clients have in us and show that our team can turn any challenge into an opportunity.”

Significant investments have been made to expand the SOS Global portfolio of services and solutions by adding additional experts to the team and continuing to invest in innovation.

“Ultimately, these investments expand our ability to provide highly customisable solutions to our clients, supporting them as they bring their amazing events to life on a global stage.

These efforts include the announcement of new freight forwarding offices in the Middle East and key personnel hires across our UK, European and Asia-Pacific operations,” Grunning continues.

“We’re excited to announce these additions as expanding our global network in these very important and rapidly growing markets will ultimately enhance our clients’ experience by providing a seamless and comprehensive endto-end multimodal solution with regionalised support combined with local expertise.

“Our teams are already working with clients on plans for the Olympic Games in Paris. We expect the next few months to be busy, but it’s something we’re prepared for, as our teams are ready to help our clients navigate these major global events.”

Spiideo “Most recently, our teams worked with the NHL as they brought an outdoor hockey rink to Melbourne, Australia, for their 2023 Global Series. Customs clearances, with their documentation and compliance requirements, can pose hurdles for international events of this size; but our team’s expertise in international regulations helped ensure that all their shipments arrived at the venue’s loading dock without any issues or delays.

“We’ve also partnered with LIV Golf and 202

FREDRIK GLANS

DIRECTOR OF MEDIA SALES — EUROPE

According to Fredrik Glans, director of media sales — Europe at Spiideo, sports highlights for the company this year included the Gothia Cup, the world’s largest youth football tournament. “Spiideo captured every game across every pitch,” says Glans, “a total of 43 AI automated cameras for live streaming, with more than 2,000 games in a week.”

There was also a successful season with Ringier for soccer and ice hockey, “producing around 4,000 hours of football and 1,450 hours of ice hockey over the past 12 months, all with a fully integrated data solution powering our Storyboard for 100% hi-fidelity automatic (event-driven) productions”, says Glans. “[There was also] the YSP/Minnesota (MN) Hockey TV season for ice hockey with more than 20,000 games (40,000 hours) produced during 2022; automated capture of multiple sports for ESPN World Wide of Sports, including soccer, field hockey and basketball; automated capture of multiple sports for IMG Academy, including soccer, lacrosse, American football and basketball; and the Dana Cup — live streaming games for a youth football tournament in Denmark.”

A particular highlight was the Icelandic Handball League. “[This was] the first top league worldwide to stream all games using automated cameras from Spiideo,” says Glans. “It’s an example of a major technology leap with a toptier league taking the step into automation.”

In terms of products, the company rolled out Spiideo CloudLink: a super-low latency video feed. “A world’s first cloud-based automated sports video feed in low latency,” explains Glans. “[We also] rolled out AutoData for a wide range of sports, automated game event data and individual player tracking data with sequence tagging, visuals and video plus data connections.

Most noteworthy is that Spiideo is the first provider of automated professional breakdowns for field hockey.”

Spiideo Replay Pro was also released. “[This offers] instant replay with AI-captured panoramic and multi-angle video,” says Glans.

“It’s a cost-effective solution for every level of sport, leveraging the same camera systems as used for analysis and live streaming.

“New AI camera launches include the S-Line mark III, with double the frame rate (50/60fps), double the image sensor size, double the low light performance and industry-leading optics for clarity in every moment; and the S-Line Point Zoom, a game-changer in long-distance SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Scan to learn more!

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capture. The 32x optical zoom makes it ideal for capturing plays at home plate in baseball or key areas of the goal in field hockey. The camera can zoom in on details up to 400ft away from the action, providing a unique view of the action.

Spiideo’s zoom features are complemented by ultra-fast fps at 50/60fps to ensure no play is missed and fluid motion is captured.”

Sponix Tech ALIREZA SHAHRESTANI MARKETING DIRECTOR

Sponsor Update

ensures that advertising follows suit. By offering advertising solutions that are location-specific, it makes sports advertising a global endeavour.”

“Sponix Tech’s SPboard has ushered in a new era of sports advertising, making it accessible, profitable and sustainable for federations, clubs and broadcasters of all sizes,” he concludes. “It promises increased revenue, global advertising reach and a brighter future for the sports industry.”

Stats Perform

In the dynamic world of sports, ALEX LANEGGER advertising has always played VP DATA STRATEGY a pivotal role. Traditional “ We’ve seen increasing advertising methods are often demands from our partners to costly, static and limited in reach. This is where help them get more data into Sponix Tech’s SPboard is making waves in the their programming, in a more sports industry. consumable way,” says Alex Lanegger, VP data strategy, Stats Perform. “Our focus has been on meeting this demand — meaning our partners don’t just tell fans what is exciting about the game, but they can show them as well. While PressBox Live, our comprehensive live data dashboard for producers and commentators, continues to be a key focus area for our team, we have been expanding our product development efforts to take our data to a whole “SPboard is an AI-powered virtual advertising new level. We’re doing this through expanding solution that seamlessly integrates digital our seamless data integration with our sportsoverlay advertisements into live sports data graphics creator PressBox Graphics.” events, eliminating the need for expensive hardware installations. It offers tailor-made advertisements for different regions, maximising commercial potential and increasing revenue streams,” says Alireza Shahrestani, marketing director, Sponix Tech.

“This commercial versatility means that even smaller clubs and emerging federations can attract global sponsors, increasing their “Our team has truly gone above and beyond exposure and forging lucrative sponsorship to make our powerful data easier to leverage deals.” during live events — and you can see it pay off SPboard is also environmentally responsible. with the incredible work that we have done “By eliminating physical billboards and reducing with FIBA and LFP recently,” he continues. the carbon footprint associated with their “FIBA integrated visuals created with PressBox production and maintenance, it aligns with Graphics and powered with regular event sustainability objectives, a key consideration for data and our advanced tracking data into their modern sports,” he adds. live broadcast and social strategy. Through “What makes SPboard unique is its ability AutoStats, Stats Perform’s computer vision to enhance the viewer experience. Through tracking tool, we knew at every second of every dynamic digital overlay advertisements, fans are game where each player and the ball was located engaged with relevant content that resonates and what event happened. with their interests, whether they are watching a “The big challenge was how to visualise the local match or a global sporting event. In a world most interesting stories; we had to be very where sports are transcending borders, SPboard creative in our approach and I think especially 204

the various types of heatmaps turned out to be a success. Fans loved it, commentators talked about it and, best of all, it was easy to understand and helped FIBA to tell new stories about player performance. It’s also worth noting that to generate the AutoStats data, we only needed a broadcast feed from FIBA — no expensive in-venue installation was needed.

“We’re doing similar work with other partners. LFP and World Rugby are great examples. With our dedicated editorial team’s expertise, LFP have been able to instantly deliver relevant data and graphics to the international LFP feed, making it possible for them to boost scalability and respond lightning-fast to pivotal moments in each game — all while keeping the visuals top-notch. Our recent efforts with Cap Gemini and AE Live brought data-driven graphics to life during the Rugby World Cup, and our commitment to enhancing the WTA’s broadcast outputs continues to captivate and inform fans. It’s a really exciting space to be operating in right now, and we’re ready to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the world of live broadcast graphics.”

Studio Automated PAUL VALK

FOUNDER & DIRECTOR

“2023 was a year of sustained growth at Studio Automated.

We have seen our footprint increase to more than 1,500 locations across 30 countries globally. Part of this expansion can be attributed to our team’s ability to quickly and efficiently create new AI models for automated sports production on behalf of our partners,” says Paul Valk, founder & director of Studio Automated. “We finished 2022 with automated solutions for 10 different sports and now offer 15 sports options and counting.”

“Studio Automated continues to focus on a software-first approach to AI sports production solutions, which enables partners to have more control over how they can automate their sports matches,” Valk continues. “Improving accessibility and scalability has been a key focus in this respect. In addition to the traditional server-based production we now offer a variety of cloud-based solutions, including the ability to integrate our software into a partner’s existing cloud infrastructure.

“We also announced a strategic collaboration with Riedel Communications. By combining SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sponsor Update

their leading production hardware with our Fotbollförbundet (Sweden). We continue to best-in-class AI models, we are excited by the scale our solutions to support any sport, any surface, anywhere, anytime.”

“We were very happy to open a new R&D facility based in France this past February, to continue constantly improving our AI overlay technology,” continues Magrí. “We’ve also had great new additions to our team, such as the appointments of Simon Green, as our new COO, and Rusty Lawrence as business development executive.”

Supponor has also extended its co-operation prospect of serving a higher tier of producers in with sports marketing agencies and partners the sports broadcasting landscape. We look Sportfive, Infront, Mediapro and TGI Sport. forward to sharing more on that partnership in “Thanks to those partnerships we have grown the near future.” our work with several elite football clubs in leagues such as Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1 and Spain’s La Liga, Supponor where Supponor recently renewed long-term MASSIMO MAGRÍ MANAGING DIRECTOR contracts with Mediapro and FC Barcelona,” he “ W e h a v e s u r p a s s e d adds. expectations by delivering over “After a very successful 2022/2023 sports 3,000 live sports events across season, with triple the number of live sports every continent during the broadcasts delivered throughout the globe, 2022/23 season, thanks to the success of our Supponor is excited to continue growing award-winning AI-based virtual advertising and exceeding expectations, moving further technology Supponor Air,” says Massimo into other sports besides football and Magrí, managing director, Supponor EMEA. hockey, including basketball, cricket, rugby, “One of our highlights is our work with the motorsports, baseball, and handball.”

NHL. We successfully delivered its Emmynominated DED virtual advertisement solution Synamedia underpinned by our end-to-end platform that JULIEN SIGNES has helped the league, all 32 clubs and their GENERAL MANAGER, VIDEO NETWORK partners, to technically and commercially “Monetising fans’ eyeballs deliver over 3,500 live broadcast integrations while delivering the best quality across more than 1,400 games in our first of experience at the lowest season, which has seen NHL sponsorships surge possible latency is driving our 21% year-on-year.

R&D team to new creative heights,” says Julien Signes, general manager, video network, Synamedia. “We’re committed to bringing new ways to deliver and consume sports content while maximising monetisation possibilities, optimising workflows and keeping a tight lid on TCO.

“We also continue to grow our suite of supported applications across several sports, including innovation in football. In June, for instance, we delivered three powerful virtual applications combined — First Row LED overlay + Second Row LED overlay + Physical Cam Carpets overlay — for three new European football federations in a matter of four days: DFB (Germany), ÖFB (Austria) and Svenska SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

segments: B2B distribution, D2C streaming and IP network optimisation. Customers no longer need to choose between multi-tenant SaaS or single-tenant cloud-based products — instead they can simply buy a service that dynamically switches to the best model for their needs at that time.”

“Earlier this year, we launched Quortex Link, the industry’s first pay-as-you-use self-service SaaS distribution platform which creates, manages and schedules live video distribution for sports channels in less time than it takes to break the world 100m sprint record,” he explains. “Its cloud-based distribution runningmate, PowerVu, is tailor-made for secure primary distribution of content over satellite or IP networks. Earlier this year, SportsMax deployed PowerVu to move its sports distribution to the cloud. They were in a tough spot with no system support and some big events coming up, but we were able to launch them in the cloud within 48 hours and they’ve been thrilled with how stable their offering has been since.

“Our compression and hybrid CDN solutions maximise picture quality and drive down latency, while our Quortex Play multi-tenant SaaS just-in-time solution is up and running slicker than a referee’s whistle. It consumes cloud resources only when required, cutting costs and energy, and is ideally suited to live streaming and disaster recovery.”

“Our flexible EdgeCDN technologies offer secure and scalable streaming using AI for perfectly orchestrated peak traffic management with a wealth of monetisation possibilities such as digital ad insertion for low-latency streaming,” he adds.

“Another breakthrough this year was an in-stadium experience for sports fans at home or using their 5G devices on the move and in the stadium, in partnership with NativeWaves.

This application lets fans replay key sporting moments — such as injury, overtake, score — from different camera angles and offers enriched live streaming with a choice of viewpoints and real-time stats. In a broadcast TV world first, we worked with our long-term customer beIN so their subscribers can watch two live matches simultaneously on a single screen alongside delivering other new immersive capabilities for its services in MENA. “As always, our anti-piracy initiatives continue to help the sports ecosystem protect rights “To do so, our cloud and SaaS portfolio has with our focus on ContentArmor forensic evolved to support sports customers in three watermarking and intelligence and consultancy 205

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services. We also continue to shine a spotlight on our CSFEye solution, which provides critical insights to turn password sharers and borrowers into paying subscribers.”

Telestream GREG DOGGETT

DIRECTOR OF SALES, SPORTS

“ S i n c e l a s t y e a r, w e ’ v e recognised the emergence of new technologies that have shifted traditional broadcast audiences online, as well as the power that sports teams and leagues have in producing, owning and distributing their intellectual assets,” says Greg Doggett, director of sales, sports, Telestream. “We also know that a rich in-stadium experience draws fans in and keeps them returning for more. This is why venues are consistently challenged to expand and enhance fan experiences while finding new immersive opportunities to keep attendees on the edge of their seats.

Sponsor Update

programming and digitise a vast historical tape library representing the history of baseball.

Through our content management solution, we’ve helped MLB Network to manage, store and migrate live video content from a growing video archive and tape library, which includes 545,000 hours’ worth of baseball games and programme content, growing at a rate of around 500 hours daily.”

“We’re also proud of our work with NBC in providing them with a range of tools and solutions to help capture media, automate media processing, provide captions, test and measure content for the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing,” he continues. “This included Vantage Media Processing Platform to deliver the pristine quality frame rate conversions required. NBC also deployed Lightspeed Live Capture, with Vantage to provide a unique, mixed HDR/SDR conversion workflow for all content produced in HDR.”

KEVIN O’MEARA

VP MARKETING, THE SWITCH

“The new Axia Altus softwarebased audio mixing console from Telos Alliance is like no other virtual mixing solution on the market,” according to Martin Dyster, VP business development, Telos Alliance.

“Altus equips broadcasters for the new mobile era by enabling audio mixing in a virtualised environment where literally any place can be a creative space.

Altus virtualises the functions of conventional consoles with an intuitive graphical interface via the modern web browsers on today’s desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones, enabling a shift from physical to virtual production that helps broadcasters break free from the confines of a physical studio.”

He continues: “Altus is perfectly matched to the immediacy of sports broadcasting. It is ideal for play-by-play or commentary booths,

“One of the highlights of our summer was working on the SlamBall Summer Series, held at the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Cox Pavilion in July and August 2023,” O’Meara continues. “We were entrusted with the entire live coverage of the sports’ season, creating a unique configuration and workflow for the tournament which included curating, producing and delivering live coverage across 17 days of broadcast and live streamed games.

Telos Alliance VP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

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The Switch/ Tata Communications “In May 2023, we celebrated a significant milestone: The Switch became part of the Tata Communications family,” says Kevin O’Meara, VP marketing, The Switch.

“The combination of Tata Communications and The Switch brings an exciting and completely unique offering to the global media ecosystem — creating a formidable powerhouse in the world of end-to-end video production and delivery. Together, we’re now equipped with a global media edge platform and a wide range of services dedicated to the media and entertainment industry. This partnership opens a world of possibilities for video production — from esports to live tournaments and concerts.”

MARTIN DYSTER

“In the past 12 months, we’ve focused on several product developments that cater to this market, including: Lightspeed Live Capture, a scalable, multichannel, on-premises capture solution for directly ingesting live, live linear and tape-based media into production, postproduction and broadcast workflows; Vantage, a software-enabled media processing platform designed to manage and handle large volumes of media from the camera to the distribution point; Content Conductor, an intelligent content management solution that integrates with various storage types, including on-premises, hybrid, or multiple cloud platforms; and a family of UHD/HDR/WCG waveform monitoring devices — Prism — that are designed to support SDI, IP and hybrid environments, addressing high-quality production and post-production needs.”

“Telestream’s recent partnership with MLB Network showcases our capabilities in enabling customers to manage and produce first-rate content for sports fans,” he continues.

“MLB Network needed to establish a scalable IT infrastructure capable of capturing and preserving live HD baseball-related video content for use in producing television

call-in talk shows from home studios, temporary portable studios, and remote broadcasts on-demand; on-site show producers find Altus an invaluable collaborative tool. Altus can also be deployed in existing AoIP facilities to deliver full-featured mixing capabilities in spaces where physical consoles are not practical.

“Delivery by Docker container ensures a flexible and streamlined deployment process for Altus, accommodating on-premises installation using COTS hardware or on cloud-hosted platforms including AWS, while purchase options include one-time buyouts and subscription models.”

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“SlamBall is a thrilling four-on-four contact sports league. To capture all the action, we set up a tailored production and delivery system that counted 14 cameras — including two on courtside telescopic camera cranes — bringing viewers even closer to the thrilling live action.

We also assembled an experienced production team for coverage of each game, including the executive producer, producer, technical director, associate director, camera operators, replay operators, audio engineers and assistants, and other personnel. The production set-up included a 50ft expandable production trailer, two 27ft stabilised head TechnoJib mounted cameras to capture the rapid flow of the game, two long lens cameras providing high and wide shots, two handheld cameras courtside, two robotic pantilt-zoom cameras behind the backboards, as well as mini-cameras under the court to provide unique angles of all the action near the hoop.”

O’Meara notes that all the major streaming platforms now have live content elements “to both engage customers and help reduce churn”.

“The streaming giants — from Apple to Amazon to Netflix — have further extended live event rights well beyond 2023,” he explains.

“Despite pitching for live content including top tier sports rights, most don’t have their own broadcast capabilities so they’re securing their live production and live streaming capabilities from specialist third parties. This is a trend we expect to grow over the next few years and fits neatly into our overall strengths and go-tomarket strategy.”

Timeline DAN MCDONNELL CEO

“We at Timeline have made significant progress in the past year, particularly in expanding the capacity of our Ealing Broadcast Centre (EBC),” says Dan McDonnell, CEO, Timeline. “This expansion has enabled us to host more in-studio and virtual events. ITV has also made use of our hub. Our EBC now encompasses seven floors, providing space for multiple hard-set and virtual productions, edit suites, production galleries and other facilities.”

“Over the past year, Timeline has been fortunate to participate in several significant projects, including three major World Cup events: the Men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the Women’s Football World Cup and the Rugby World Cup,” he continues. “In women’s 208

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football, we used one of our virtual studios as the UK hub, with all presentations coming from the UK. The success of the Lionesses, who made history by reaching the final, helped increase viewership for our coverage. Additionally, we covered the Rugby World Cup with on-site trucks and a virtual studio and tech hub in the UK for coverage during the group stages. All coverage was done and edited on-site. We are also working with the British Basketball League to provide on-site remote production OBs that are fed back to the virtual studio at EBC.”

Timeline has exciting plans for the next year that aim to enhance its offerings. “Our current studios will be enhanced to make them more flexible for a wider audience, such as more entertainment and magazine shows,” McDonnell reveals. “We are collaborating with MOOV to develop Studio 2 further, which provides all the creative, technical and operational elements for graphics and virtual productions at EBC. MOOV’s partnership ensures Timeline can offer the best solution to clients, as the virtual arena is constantly evolving.

All our studios at EBC are easily adaptable, able to switch to the green screen quickly, fully profiled for camera tracking, and have the highest specification render engine capability for as many camera channels as required. Later this year, we will add an LED XR stage to our virtual production capability, enhancing our clients’ productions in 2024. Furthermore, we are building another floor in our EBC expansion, including another customisable virtual studio, production studios and four edit suites.”

McDonnell says witnessing the growth of remote production has been “an excellent experience”. “We have been using it for a long time and have noticed increased enquiries for remote production this year,” he adds. “It is good to see that more than 70% of the enquiries have been for remote production, which shows the efficiency and sustainability of the product.

Additionally, we have observed a rise in cloud workflows for media asset management systems.”

TinkerList AARON NUYTEMANS

HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

“TinkerList is a cloud-based script and rundown platform created with ever yday broadcasting struggles in mind.

It supports production teams in daily tasks to create live content and is especially useful when producing sports events,” says Aaron Nuytemans, head of business development, TinkerList. “One such event was covered by production company Whisper TV, namely, UEFA Women’s Euro 2022. Over 20 million viewers witnessed England winning their first major football trophy since 1966, watching it on BBC One. The production was truly remarkable, with over 100 hours of coverage and an astonishing 31 live matches streamed to audiences all across England and the world.

To make this happen, Whisper TV used the TinkerList platform for script and rundown during production. TinkerList helped Whisper TV organise and control the workflow, making the preparation and coverage easier and more structured. The benefit of using TinkerList was that it reduced unnecessary technicalities such as printing and made changes in the script and rundown easy to implement and communicate.”

“Another prominent broadcaster that uses TinkerList is VRT, the national Belgian publicservice broadcaster,” continues Nuytemans.

“VRT has used the platform to deliver live broadcasts of football, such as the World Cup and Euros, and shows around them, such as Villa Sporza, and cycling shows, such as Tour de France. For the latter, TinkerList made live reporting more efficient by reducing the number of people that need to be present on set and simplifying the communication between the team members on set and in the studio. The presenters and the camera crew travelled from chateau to chateau while the main crew and director stayed in Zaventem, Belgium. Since TinkerList is cloud-based, the camera crew could upload highlights from that day’s race into the rundown, and the presenters could follow along, SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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ie, they knew exactly what highlights to discuss in the after-show.

“We also work with companies like IMG, where we power their Amazon Tennis productions, as well as companies like FilmNova, where TinkerList is used for athletics, triathlons, boat races and such. In addition, TinkerList is also used by several Premier League clubs, where we help them stream their matches and organise their TV channels, including post-match interviews and studio shows.”

“Also, based on tests conducted with companies like IMG, Riot and EFG, we have worked hard to improve the Timings feature in TinkerList and Cuez, our new fully cloudbased rundown and script platform,” adds Nuytemans.

TSL Products ROB ADAMS SALES DIRECTOR

“This year TSL is focused on promoting 14 live production control solution applications ideally suited to live sports productions,” says Rob Adams, sales director, TSL Products. These include quick and easy migration to IP, dynamic ad/commercial or clip insertion, protocol translation, anything-toanything, physical and virtual control panels, device control, tally, router-control, SNMP monitoring, scheduled and secondary events, and more.

companies and broadcasters manage and reduce energy consumption of their control rooms and data centres while increasing productivity.

Adams explains: “InSite is a universal intelligent infrastructure management application (UIIM) designed to remotely control, monitor and dynamically report connected devices over SNMP or Modbus to display status and trigger alarms, while monitoring power usage and other key metrics of individual racked devices, such as power consumption, temperature, humidity, CPU usage, memory, voltage and current, down to a billable accuracy.”

He adds: “During 2023 Gravity Media opened a new remote production facility in White City, London with Formula E as one of its key clients.

Needing to kit the studios out with the best quality, most cost-effective technology Paul Sykes, head of SI, Gravity, purchased multiple TSL audio monitors, including MPA1-MIX SDI-Vs and PAM2-IPs. We’ve spent hours in OBs, trucks and facilities — just like Paul’s — watching how people work and the pressure they’re under during a live sports broadcast. We build our technology to make it as reliable and easy to use as possible.”

TVN Live Production MARKUS OSTHAUS CEO

“With TVN crews, OB vans, SNG vehicles, live drones and much more broadc a sting equipment we covered more than 370 high-end soccer productions this year, including matches in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and international matches,” says Markus Osthaus, CEO, TVN. Finals include the UEFA Nations League Final in Rotterdam, UEFA Europa Conference League Final in Prague, DFB Women’s Cup Final in Cologne, and UEFA Champions League Final in Istanbul.

kinds of sports events as live broadcast and/or recording, including equestrian sports such as the eventing tournament and five-star test at the Luhmühlen Horse Trials; for athletics, The Finals 2023 Rhine-Ruhr German Championships in Düsseldorf (ARD/ZDF); for golf, the Long Drive Open Burgwedel, with high-speed cameras (Sky Sport); and for water polo, the LEN Champions League Qualifying Tournament in Hanover.”

The company was also media partner of Fanblast’s Battle of the Socials a new, largescale event format focused on social media stars. “More than 1,000 content creators met at the Bundesliga stadium in Mainz for a daylong programme of events centred around the Creators Cup — a mini soccer tournament with four high-scoring online influencers from YouTube, TikTok, Twitch and Instagram competing against each other with their teams.

The production volume for TVN was ambitious.

The eight-hour programme could be seen on the screens in the stadium and via four parallel live streams on social media channels. For Instagram and TikTok, the images were produced vertically in 9:16 format. Thousands of followers were present in the stands and over 200,000 were following continuously online.”

“We have also been building up more permanent staff, as well as establishing more flexible working time models with the aim of achieving a better work-life balance for employees,” continues Osthaus. “[We’ve introduced] measures for more sustainability wherever possible: green electricity at all sites, LED lighting, recycled materials in OB van construction, reusable instead of disposable packaging, sustainable workwear where possible, vegan-vegetarian catering offers, and participation in pilot productions to analyse and define green production factors.”

The company is also rolling out two new OB vans TVN-Ü7 — for up to 12 cameras, with satellite dish on the roof, and TVN-Ü8 with 34 permanently installed cameras.

“At IBC2023, TSL joined Grass Valley’s Alliance programme and demonstrated fully virtualised solution options for both Control or Tally running on GV AMPP in the cloud. We also launched GVO-Tally for GV Orbit on-prem.

GVO-Tally includes protocols necessary to seamlessly communicate with GV switches, cameras and multiviewers without having to add any additional hardware into the live broadcast TVU Networks workflow. It’s easy to set up, and you won’t need JEAN-CHRISTOPHE ALBOU to invest in extra rack space or cabling. The GVOSALES DIRECTOR EUROPE Protocol allows you to add additional protocols “O ve r the pa st ye ar, our to enhance your production capabilities, organisation has embarked on and these can be tailored to your needs in a transformative journey in the consultation with the expert team at TSL.” “Since the end of 2022, NFL Football has realm of sports broadcasting,” Also new, and reflecting an industry focus taken place in Europe and TVN produces it says Jean-Christophe Albou, sales director on sustainability, TSL’s vendor-agnostic InSite on a large scale, with five games in 2023 on Europe, TVU Networks. “Guided by feedback application is designed to help production behalf of RTL,” says Osthaus. “TVN realises all from our customers and the sports community SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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at large, we’ve expanded our offerings to meet the diverse and evolving needs of this dynamic industry. Our latest technological advancements have enabled our ecosystem to suppor t 4K native with HDR 4:2:2 capabilities. We’ve ensured perfect frameaccurate synchronisation across our range of solutions, combined with an impressively low transmission latency of just 0.3 seconds. Our cloud platform is now equipped with realtime remote commentaries, intricate replay functionalities, reviews for referees, intercom for team collaboration, remote camera control and many fan engagement features, including one empowering fans to control camera angles for replays right from their mobile devices. We now offer tools to set up and manage dedicated OTT sports channels in the cloud. Catering to both indoor and outdoor sporting events, our widened suite of transmitters and routers ensures smooth operations even in challenging environments.”

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Bundesliga games,” says Albou. “This commentator watches the game remotely and adds commentary, with the signal going back and forth seamlessly. The setup has worked flawlessly, allowing the commentator to provide effective commentary while watching the game from home. Also, Barcelona public broadcaster betevé used TVU One mobile transmitters with live streaming encoders for the Barcelona Triathlon to capture dynamic live coverage from various vantage points, including drones, boats and motorbikes.

“In the coming months, our primary focus will pivot towards democratising sports broadcasting. We acknowledge that a vast majority of sports events, almost 99%, don’t get the live coverage they deserve. Our commitment is to transform this narrative.

“TVU solutions are primed to change the way sports are broadcast. Our cloud-based approach means our tools are not only easily implementable but also on-demand, costeffective and remote-friendly. By doing so, we aim to assist sports broadcasters in producing more sports content in a broadcast-quality manner, while also ensuring it’s cost-effective.”

uniqFEED ROGER SMALL CEO

“[This year] Ostsport.TV, the exclusive licensee for Regionalliga Nordost and a producer of football content, has integrated TVU Networks’ technology into its live streaming workflow,” continues Albou. “TVU Networks also employed a comprehensive setup for the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, utilising 10 TVU One units, 24 TVU Anywhere apps on mobile phones, and synchronising four signals with TVU RPS (Remote Production System) to enable real-time coverage from challenging mountain trails. Rush Media Co is also revolutionising WNBA game broadcasts in the United States by using TVU RPS.” “VIDI is using TVU Networks to bring in a live remote commentator for broadcasting 210

“In April 2023 , uniqFEED announced the release of its full virtual advertising (VA) solution for football, which supports dynamic LED perimeter virtual overlay and virtual inserts onto spaces such as the pitch surface,” says Roger Small, CEO, uniqFEED. “uniqFEED’s solution is completely softwarebased, meaning absolutely no additional hardware is required to be installed within the stadium. The solution is designed to be easily integrated into any broadcast workflow. uniqFEED can operate our technology on-site at the sports venue, or entirely remotely if required.”

“We are actively advancing VA solutions for commercial deployment in football, baseball, tennis, golf, rugby, indoor and beach volleyball, motorsport and winter sports,” Small continues.

“Some of these, skiing for example, have already been deployed commercially in 2023, with the others scheduled for launch throughout 2024, achieving full commercial scale in 2025.”

In January 2023, uniqFEED appointed Tom Huston as its chief commercial officer (CCO).

“Huston is a leading consultant within the sports and entertainment sector, bringing more than 20 years’ experience in international sports business, sports marketing and media rights to the company,” says Small. As CCO, he is responsible for the execution of uniqFEED’s long- and shortterm commercial strategies and objectives, as well as expansion into new target sports markets, developing revenue streams and aligning product development with market needs.

Also in January, Swiss-Ski partnered with uniqFEED to deploy virtual advertising overlay technology at the 93rd International Lauberhorn Races. Small recalls: “The downhill course is the longest in the world at over 4.4km, offering considerable sponsorship real estate to Swiss-Ski and its commercial partners. uniqFEED overlaid existing sponsorship signage with virtual content from sponsors Sunrise and Brack. “uniqFEED was also selected by ATP Media to deliver its virtual advertising solution at the Madrid Open ATP Masters 1000 event. It took place at the Caja Magica Stadium in Madrid, with uniqFEED deploying its virtual advertising solution for 56 ATP and W TA matches throughout the event, creating an additional, non-domestic feed with virtual advertising content replacing the physical signage on part of the baseline wall of the Manolo Santana Court.

“In September, uniqFEED was selected by Athens-based TafMedia to deliver its virtual advertising solution at the 2023 Davis Cup tie between Greece and Slovakia in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. Because of its historic significance, there are strict regulations around corporate advertising within the stadium itself. uniqFEED operated on-site at the venue, creating a virtualised duplication of the world feed with sponsorship content inserted digitally, to be broadcast to all markets. We provided our virtual insert solution for all matches throughout the two-day event, with virtual branding from the Davis Cup sponsors placed onto 360° LED boards around the venue and onto the court surface.”

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Empowering sports production teams to deliver live events on budget and on schedule by managing their personnel, production schedules and media assets in a single view.

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Veritone DAVID CANDLER

SENIOR DIRECTOR, CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS

Veritone regularly supports several Tier 1 sports productions across the world, including two tennis grand slams and two golf majors, plus a wide range of other live sports events.

“One of our proudest achievements recently was our involvement in the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 where the world’s top athletes competed at the first championships held in Hungary,” says David Candler, senior director, customer solutions, Veritone. “At this globally distributed event, Veritone’s Digital Media Hub (DMH) was used as the central access point for all of World Athletics’ captured media.”

World Athletics Productions fed the media into DMH during the event, including prechampionship content, host broadcaster coverage, highlights and news, interviews, press conferences, promo footage and Budapest scenics. Pre-registered rightsholders were then provided with secure access to ensure they could immediately find and download key moments from the event. “Once the championship started, all content produced by World Athletics Productions was quickly uploaded and DMH was provided to global broadcast partners as a real value-add enabling them to maximise their rights. Previous event footage was also made available to those with rights,” says Candler.

“Upon ingest, DMH automatically applied AI cognition. AI engines such as OCR were activated to scan all on-screen text from athlete’s shirts, graphic overlays, captions and so on. All cognitive and structured data was fed into the DMH search index to enable rightsholders not only to find assets, but also key moments within assets, along the video’s timeline.”

Veritone has also signed a multi-year extension with US Soccer, continuing its role as the archive of record and licensing partner for the federation’s content. The deal includes all levels of US Soccer’s national teams from the 212

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men’s and women’s first teams to the youth and extended national teams.

“Within our DMH, we are bringing multiple new features into production,” says Candler.

“These include a new Analytics Centre to provide deeper content insights, UI upgrades, as well as synthetic data enhancement using generative AI to create and apply new metadata to improve cataloguing and accessibility of assets. For example, we can now automatically create speech-to-text transcriptions of a commentary track upon ingest and use this as one of the data sources to drive the creation of a descriptive summary through third-party large language models like ChatGPT.” The company has also continued to build on the launch last year of its short-form video marketplace, as well as the strategic partnership with Stats Perform to bring localised, AI voice capabilities to sports fans worldwide.

Verso Live JEFF CLARK

MANAGING DIRECTOR

“After an extensive period of testing and use internally, we released the first public build of Verso Live in May,” says Jeff Clark, managing director, Verso Live. “We are already at the point where the solution has been used on almost 400 sports broadcasts, including across top-tier basketball games and golf events. It’s perhaps best to think of Verso Live as a tool that takes Unreal Engine 5 and reshapes it for broadcast graphics use. In a real-time broadcast environment, channels, outputs, data integration and operation among many other things all need to work together seamlessly — this is what Verso Live adds.”

on-screen graphics and leveraged the power of Unreal Engine 5 to inform and engage viewers like never before,” says Clark. “MST has already used Verso Live on DP World Tour events, but this was its first appearance at the Ryder Cup, where it served as the graphics platform across the entire tournament.”

“New for 2023 was the constant leaderboard.

While this has been used previously on strokeplay tournaments, the unique team matchplay format for the Ryder Cup works very differently,” continues Clark. “This graphic was always on-screen, providing information on the state of all matches. It could also transform to show additional information such as individual pairings information, match headshot graphics, or shrink to show only concise match information. The team also worked closely with Capgemini to ingest its Outcome IQ probability data model. This provided real-time updates on the probabilities of winning each hole, match, session and the Cup itself.”

Clark notes that sustainability is an increasingly important driver, with more productions wanting to be carbon neutral and making the drive towards net zero.

“One of the key planks of our long-term plan is to ship less physical equipment and be more agile,” he says. “That ends up requiring less of everything: less space, less power, less cabling, fewer lighter kits, fewer machines, and so on.

And this also helps customers with cost and footprint. An example of that is how Verso Live now gives us much greater flexibility over how graphics channels are setup. Graphics channels can now be thought of as virtualised channels that can be combined into a single output Key/ Fill, or split over multiple Key/Fills, depending on requirements. As a consequence, what were previously separate graphics channels for the Ryder Cup were rationalised into fewer physical servers.”

Videe PAOLA MONTANARI CEO & FOUNDER

Verso Live broadcast graphics software was used to produce all the graphics for the 44th Ryder Cup, held in Italy in September/October.

“Verso Live received numerous software updates ahead of the tournament, and its parent company MST Systems redesigned the

This year Videe strengthened its collaborations with a number of sport federations and organising committees. “We worked closely with Fiteq as the host broadcaster for the European Teqball Tour in Naples, Podgorica, Esztergom and Pula,” says Paola Montanari, CEO & founder, Videe. “Together with the local organising committee we produced SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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the Barcolana regatta in Trieste, relying on Videon a system which combined RF technology with IP infrastructures. Also, Lega Serie A has launched a new standard of production for the 2023/24 championship, and we were by their side at the kick-off in Udine providing a Netcam and a Tunnel Cam whose quality was highly appreciated. At the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, our 4K HDR OBX was the ideal choice for major sports events with underfloor and ceiling heating and cooling, a 30-minute Videon aims to make live video processing and air circulation system and an indirect RGB LED distribution faster and more efficient, giving lighting system.” users the freedom to process video at source by combining built-in functions running on its local video compute platform with additional features from the cloud.

LiveEdge, its container-based edge compute ecosystem with sub-second glass-to-glass latency, aims to simplify first-mile workflows by normalising and synchronising live video, audio, graphics and data feeds in real-time, “We’ve been technical partner to the enabling complex workflows and use cases Maratona Dles Dolomites Organizing including remote production kits, live betting, Committee since 2021,” Montanari continues. multi-camera time sync, video assistant referee, “This year we were responsible for live terrestrial, localised graphics and remote camera control. mobile and aerial TV broadcast from start The LiveEdge Ecosystem has streamed to finish with RF equipment, helicopter and thousands of hours of live video. Its benefits motorbikes. include up to 78% reduction in cloud costs, ultra“We faced a great challenge in that we didn’t low latency down to 200ms, and capabilities use relay aircraft or helicopter relay and opted for such as real-time sports data integration IP, after testing that it would produce extensive for monetisation, multiple camera feed coverage of the 138km spectacular mountain synchronisation and fan multiviewers enabled course. Thanks to its flexible and responsive by WebRTC. configuration, our 4K HDR OBX offered director In the past 12 months, the LiveEdge Ecosystem and creative crew a wide range of opportunities has grown by over 100%, supporting Techex, to catch any action and emotion and to enrich M2A Media, Bitmovin, Corrivium, Zixi, live content, thus expanding the perspectives TorkHub, Dolby.io, Red5, IMG Arena, Universal and the potential of the very complex six-hour Tennis and Phenix Real Time Solutions, along live TV broadcast.” with over 30 proof-of-concept labs worldwide.

“We were also chosen as host broadcaster In August, Videon natively integrated Zixi of the Fencing World Championship,” she into LiveEdge. The integration enables LiveEdge adds. “Our expert and skilled team worked to be managed by Zixi’s Zen Master control closely with the LOC showing great flexibility in plane, enabling users to manage large-scale providing solutions which perfectly responded configurations and orchestrate, analyse, monitor to their expectations. Videe also collaborated in and report on live video streams and devices the co-ordination and management of the event. across the Zixi Enabled Network of customers, Special technical equipment and super-slomo integrated hardware and software applications, and hyper-motion cameras, perfectly integrated platforms and service providers standardised on in our 4K HDR OBX, were key in catching each Zixi. dynamic and harmonious movement and in In September, Videon announced the catching the art of fencing. An unprecedented introduction of LiveEdge Max, a device to national and international TV coverage and an make live video hybrid:cloud work at scale. exceptional number of live clips, details and LiveEdge Max, powered by the Snapdragon highlights made the World Championship a 865 5G mobile platform, is designed to make worldwide paradigm in sport production.”

24/7 and event-based workflows smarter, more SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

automated, easily monitored and remotely controllable via LiveEdge Cloud Control.‍ Built on Videon’s hybrid:cloud, containerbased architecture, LiveEdge Max offers higherdensity computing options. This empowers more advanced applications, such as local AI and ML processing, dynamic HTML5 graphics, and robust security features such as DRM and watermarking. It also allows for more LiveEdge Containers to operate on-premises, optimising the balance between cloud expenses and latency needs.

VIDI ROBERT OSZVALD

DIRECTOR EVENT SERVICES

“For the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, VIDI provided a worldwide fibre optic network between the IBC in Doha and data centre hubs in London, Frankfurt and Singapore, serving all media rights licensees with this temporary network,” says Robert Oszvald, director event services, VIDI. “It operated with eight VIDI engineers onside in Doha.”

All 64 World Cup matches in HD and UHD quality, match reports, interviews, reporter footage and other material were distributed via the fully redundant network, which had a total bandwidth of 1TB. In total, hundreds of petabytes of data were transferred to the recipients during the tournament.”

“For the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest, VIDI serviced various broadcasters with fibre optic connections between the National Athletics Centre and broadcaster hubs in Europe,” says Oszvald.

For customer WDR, VIDI transmitted a total of 40 live TV signals from 11 production sites for the 2023 finals during a production week in July.

All TV signals were completely sent to WDR’s central production location in Cologne, and VIDI was on site with three OB trucks and two additional air-conditioned production trailers.

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ecological standards for audiovisual production, so it formed car pools and took into account rail travel for this event as far as this was possible within the framework of the event and the locations.

“The most important product development is the advancement of the VIDI-owned and software-based VIDI Network Management System (VIDI NMS),” says Oszvald. “VIDI NMS is used for the operation, switching, monitoring etc of permanent and temporary fibre optic networks in Germany as well as in the US, Japan, Denmark and various other countries.”

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110,000 hours per month of video transmission for major international broadcasters. It has commercial and interconnection agreements with 120 operators located across Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia. It also has an active and growing community esports industry that exceeds 500,000 followers and 100,000 hours of views of its content. Vívaro is certified by international organisations that guarantee the quality of its services, including MEF 3.0.

Additionally, it has certifications related to environmental care, offsetting its carbon footprint and the ESR label.

platform puts users in control of their live transmissions and brings a user-centric approach to the broadcast and media industry. All Vívaro customers will have access to Flow and can procure live content from across the globe 24/7.

During the FIFA World Cup, Vívaro Media provided video transport services to rightsholders globally, the fifth consecutive time it did so for the tournament. Vívaro Media transmitted live signals of the event to 18 different media companies, reaching around 600 million viewers in 10 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, Canada, Belgium, The Netherlands and South Africa.

In September, the company launched its on-demand procurement platform Flow to simplify and accelerate how content providers and broadcasters connect and deliver live video content. Flow is said to transform the booking of live sporting events with an automated online ‘click-to-content’ experience. This enables content providers to rapidly monetise content to a global customer base of broadcasters, while enabling broadcasters to move with greater agility when procuring and managing their live video transmissions.

Content providers now have a new way to distribute their content globally to multiple rightsholder broadcasters at the same time.

Content consumers can use a drag-and-drop interface that allows them to configure and control the technical aspects of live video distribution. The platform enables broadcasters to schedule live events in a simple workflow and select the technical preferences in which they would like to receive the signals. The automated

“Its goal was to connect with Gen Z and millennial viewers, so Sky Sport Germany organised virtual watch parties, bringing in fans to stream the 2023 Super Cup via the app,” says Pino Barile, head of sports AMECS, Vizrt.

“During the broadcast, viewers had the unique opportunity to watch various content sources and graphics simultaneously, including exclusive camera angles, historical performance data and in-depth match analytics.”

Sky Sport Germany used Vizrt’s Viz Vectar Plus (now TriCaster Vectar) for the live 9:16 production, as well as Viz Engine 5, with its classic render pipeline, for the core broadcast studio production to drive the LED walls and AR graphics. Viz Libero was used for advanced sports analysis and Viz Arena for in-stadium AR graphics. “It’s a bold step towards adapting content to appeal to younger viewers’ consuming habits,” adds Barile.

To provide the best possible viewing experience of the Women’s World Cup for millions of people around the world, Vizrt collaborated with BBC Sport. “The coverage, managed by IMG and filmed in BBC Sport’s Media City Salford studio, leveraged Viz Engine and Viz Virtual Studio to create an engaging virtual environment,” says Barile. “The virtual studio transports viewers to the heart of the action with realistic graphics, interactive elements and mesmerising storytelling. Using VR, BBC Sport was able to create a vibrant,

Vislink

Vizrt PINO BARILE

HEAD OF SPORTS AMECS

This year Sky Sport Germany collaborated with Vizrt to produce its first multi-screen vertical football match, streamed fully on TikTok.

CHARLOTTE VAN HERTUM GLOBAL MARKETING LEAD

“One of Vislink’s most exciting new product offerings is the C li q O F D M m in i c a m e r a transmitter,” says Charlotte van Hertum, global marketing lead for Vislink.

“The company’s smallest mobile transmitter yet, Cliq supports full 4K or transmission of two HD video services. With its ultra-compact and highly adaptable form factor, and exceptional transmission robustness, the Cliq sets a new standard for capturing and transmitting high frame rates in live sports productions.”

According to van Hertum, the Cliq “consistently delivers high- clarit y HD resolution images with minimal latency from any location — essential capabilities for Tier 1 live event broadcasts”.

She adds: “Cliq leverages the power of high frame rate cameras to capture rapidly unfolding action. Unburdened by cables, these high frame rate cameras can now follow the game wherever it happens, allowing production teams to display footage from a range of perspectives and angles to enhance the viewer experience. Cliq is ideal for use with all live broadcast applications, including POV and bodyworn cameras, drones and onboard vehicles.”

Vívaro Media Vívaro Media (formerly Aldea) has more than five decades of experience in the telecommunications industry, with a global network of 247,000km of fibre optic and 110 POPs worldwide, delivering more than 214

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colourful and fun way of capturing the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.”

“The broadcast of the European League of Football (ELF) games counted on novel.media, AWS and Vizrt for a full end-to-end cloud production,” he adds. “Taking the operation into its studio, it became possible to produce up to four games in parallel. The ELF games used Viz Vectar Plus (now TriCaster Vectar), Viz Trio, Viz Engine, 3Play 3PV and Viz Arena.”

“With the recent launch of Viz Libero 8.2 and Viz Arena 5.2, Vizrt is taking sports fan experience to the next level,” adds Barile. “Viz Libero 8.2 is faster and easier to use than ever before — focusing on data with the introduction of Datacenter and unique data visualisation tools, it also expands AI Cutout — previously available for basketball and football — to any sport, including swimming and ice hockey, which are notoriously difficult to key. With the latest edition, Viz Arena can be deployed in the cloud, as well as on-premises, and includes the addition of the Advanced Keyer powered by Viz AI, and the full integration of Viz Arc, which combines Viz Arc’s control flexibility out of one GUI.”

broadcast-ready cloud workflow. Powered by a cloud-based version of Waves’ double-precision, 32-bit-floating-point eMotion LV1 mix engine and augmented by Waves’ audio plug-ins, Cloud MX makes it easy to scale productions with any number of audio mixers, without the operational costs involved in shipping, maintaining or scheduling on-premise gear and personnel.

“Waves has provided essential guidance on the architectural design and best practices, ensuring a robust workflow,” says Raz. “The audio contribution, starting on-premises, is converted from ST2110 to SRT feeds or direct via Dante, feeding into the primary and backup Google Cloud GV AMPP instances. The audio leaves GV AMPP and goes through processing and audio monitoring by Waves Cloud MX and returns to GV AMPP for alignment and embedding. This entails the use of the Dante Virtual Soundcard as Cloud MX’s playback engine which is being relayed and clocked by the Dante Gateway instances that live in each location.”

Raz adds: “We remain committed to strengthening our relationships with current clients, closely assisting them with proposed architectural designs and forging new partnerships. To cater to the evolving industry, Waves Audio we’re expanding our support, moving beyond NOAM RAZ GENERAL MANAGER OF THE LIVE just AWS to also embrace the Google Cloud DIVISION Platform. Being attuned to client requirements, “Our Waves Cloud MX mixer our roadmap is continuously updated based on has received the attention of top- their needs.” tier media and entertainment companies and broadcasters,” says Noam Raz, White Light general manager of the live division, Waves NEIL COLES Audio. “One such globally leading company BROADCAST BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER is finalising several remote production setups dedicated for sporting events. These systems, “One of the biggest highlights powered by the Google Cloud Platform, Grass for us over the past year has Valley AMPP and Dante Connect, position been working with Sky Sports Cloud MX at the core of audio processing.” to convert two of its existing studio spaces into a single flexible-use mixed-reality presentation studio,” says Neil Coles, broadcast business development manager, White Light. “The studio will be used for its flagship Monday Night Football show along with future sport output, including coverage of the US Open Tennis.

Sky Sports wanted to create a truly immersive studio space, with which their presenters, pundits and guests could fully interact. We were Cloud MX is a 100% cloud-based audio asked to provide the consultancy, technology, mixer, delivering pristine audio, high-precision integration and continued technical support for mix control and creative processing capabilities this project. This included supplying a mixture with Waves plug-in integration — in a scalable, of Roe Ruby 1.9V2 along with Roe Ruby 2.3 216

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curved LED panels for the main backdrop, with over 200 used in total. We also supplied over 100 Roe Black Marble BM4 LED floor panels in order for high-quality video content to be simultaneously displayed across the studio floor; this plays a pivotal role in creating the overall immersive feeling of the studio.

“To deliver such a busy workflow, we drew on Megapixel VR’s Helios LED processing platform, which has been specifically created to support large-format LED displays for use in demanding pro-AV, broadcast and installation applications — making it the ideal solution for the new studio.”

“Our continued work within the broadcast industry has seen us now cement our place as the leading integrator for sport studios,” says Coles. “We are known as being completely agnostic and having the ability to work across all technology suppliers to build a bespoke workflow and TV integration solutions that have previously never been seen.

“The next few months will see us continue to work globally for various sports broadcasters, federations and rightsholders as we look to implement permanent presentation studios or event-based productions, such as temporary presentations around the upcoming Olympics and Euros.”

“We are also about to embark on a consultancy period for Viacom18, who have just secured the rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket,” he continues. “This will require multiple presentation studios due to the different dialects within the region and will also have to be a completely versatile space. It will also be used at the same time for Olympic coverage, hence it requires the ability to be immediately transformed into an Olympicthemed studio before then immediately transforming back for the IPL.”

WSC Sports WSC Sports has enjoyed a year of signing longterm agreements with major broadcasters and streaming partners, kicking off with Deutsche Telekom integrating a new solution from the SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sponsor Update

company to broaden the reach and engagement OTT platform, and its associated social media of its sports content. channels.

A strategic partnership with United Media (UM) was also signed. UM utilises the AI-driven platform to maximise its content production and monetisation capabilities across five of the group’s core markets: Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. UM can localise video for each country, servicing sports fans with real-time coverage of premium sports content — including the English Premier League, Bundesliga, EuroLeague basketball and The cloud-based AI-powered solution which UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers — across a range of is being utilised by Deutsche Telekom’s TV and UM digital platforms including OTT services, OTT services — MagentaTV and MagentaSport websites and social media channels.

— analyses games in real-time and automatically creates highlight snippets of the match. The XD motion clips are then automatically packaged with BENOIT DENTAN customised branding and instantly distributed CEO to various internal and external digital platforms.

“From September 2022 until The AI platform, headquartered in Israel and now, several significant events New York, also signed a multi-year partnership have taken place,” says Benoit with the European League of Football (ELF). The Dentan, CEO, XD motion. “One strategic collaboration sees WSC Sports provide of the highlights was the live coverage of the Europe’s premier American football league with 2023 World Championship BTT for Warner a comprehensive suite of AI-powered solutions, Bros. Discovery Sports. The coverage was including the automated creation of video enhanced with three cablecam Xfly 1D mini content for all formats and dynamic graphics. and the new Xfly 1D micro, which was directly In addition, WSC Sports’ technology is being attached to trees for a simple and efficient applied to the ELF’s entire video library, ensuring setup. This provided a low-angle camera all archive content is available instantly at the view with an incredible 45-degree inclination click of a button, creating endless storytelling installation.” opportunities.

ATP Media, the global broadcast production and distribution arm of the ATP Tour, also partnered with WSC Sports to support its scalable content creation and digital strategy this year, while French TV media group TF1 selected the AI-driven technology to power its automated and real-time sports content requirements by launching the Top Chrono feature on its MYTF1 streaming platform.

MYTF1 uses WSC Sports technology to offer on-demand content around the main sporting competitions broadcast on its channels, such as the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2023.

In addition, TF1 will utilise the technology across its archive rights for French football and rugby, enabling thousands of iconic sporting moments to be brought to life at the touch of a “Another great event was the opening button. ceremony and coverage of the Rugby World WSC Sports also partnered with German Cup,” Dentan continues. “The opening streaming challenger brand Dyn Media to ceremony sequence was captured from a automatically create and distribute real-time helicopter, shooting eight planes flying at 350 video content and highlights directly to its new knots with our GSS gyrostabilised head as well SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

as the Xfly 3D. The stunning images from the helicopter, along with those captured by our RF Hexacam and Xfly 3D from outside the stadium, beautifully showcased the creativity of the opening ceremonies. The Xfly 3D provided amazing game coverage throughout the playoffs, showing off the best moments of the games.”

Dentan continues: “We are consistently pushing the envelope of innovation, and one of our prime directives is ensuring our equipment is future ready. Recognising the worldwide shift in viewer expectations from a content perspective, we’re fully committed to enhancing all our technology solutions with AR capabilities to further increase the viewing experience of the audience.

“Audiences today are not just content with traditional camera angles; they want to be part of the action, to feel the energy of the game and understand the nuances of every movement.

This is precisely where our expertise at XD motion comes into play. With our cutting-edge technology offerings like FPV drones, tethered drones, and cable cameras, we are equipped to deliver this immersive experience. Our equipment doesn’t just capture the event; it submerges viewers directly into it. Imagine feeling the rush of a downhill ski race, the intricate footwork of a soccer player, or the breath-taking view from a drone following a marathon runner. Our technology makes these unique visual perspectives possible, allowing viewers to appreciate the athleticism and environment like never before.

“This trend has had a profound impact on our business. We’ve seen increased interest and demand for our products and solutions, as broadcasters and sports organisers recognise the value of providing such an unparalleled viewing experience. It’s a thrilling time to be in the sports production space, and at XD motion, we’re excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and redefine how audiences connect with sports.”

Xytech KEITH BUCKLEY CEO

“In response to the growing industry need for support of both remote productions and remote workforces, Xytech will release the industry’s first mobile-native UX for the scheduling and managing of calendars, contacts 217

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and timecards as part of its winter release later this year,” says Xytech CEO Keith Buckley.

“Releasing a mobile UX has been a continuous request from our customers. Allowing producers the ability to manage critical components of their operations from the literal sidelines will not only drive efficiencies but aids in the progression towards sustainability, a priority that should be front and centre for us all.”

The mobile UX is built on top of an opensource framework that taps into the latest event-driven JavaScript Runtime environment to split the app into three distinct sections: Contacts, where users can search for any contact by name or job function and sort their profiles alphabetically, as well as add any notes to provide comprehensive data to their workflows; Schedule, enabling the creation of activities among teams, with specific time frame highlights that allow for more efficient planning and better resource management; and Time cards, where for any request submitted, users can review and approve work order start times in seconds, regardless of location or time. The app also implements mobile-friendly features such as face ID login for quick launch into the dashboard, reminders for key events, support for dynamic changes in platforms to accommodate and fill any screen width while maintaining usability, and real-time notifications alerting users to the latest changes in their workflows.

Xytech has a longstanding history of supporting EMEA sports broadcasters including the BBC, professional football teams and Sky Italia, among others.

Yuzzit FRÉDÉRIC BRUEL FOUNDER & CEO

“The mission we share within Yuzzit is to simplify the lives of sports event organisers and media professionals by providing a fast and intuitive tool for producing and publishing video and audio content from their live events. More than 650,000 videos 218

Sponsor Update

were produced using Yuzzit in 2022, including 9,000 live streams,” says Frédéric Bruel, founder & CEO at Yuzzit. “This past year, our most prominent sports project involved working with beIN Sports MENA for both the men’s and women’s FIFA World Cups. Yuzzit enables them to produce video clips directly from the live stream, and publish them quickly, so fans can interact instantly. For the men’s event alone, our solution allowed them to produce more than 10,000 videos of the event, generating more than 1.2 billion views.”

“One of our most significant developments this year was to provide live multi-audio coverage and broadcast of press conferences for a major [upcoming] international sporting event in Paris,” says Bruel. “The event organisers rolled out the red carpet for 200 delegations in July, a year before the competition began, to prepare for the arrival of the athletes taking part in next year’s games and to reassure the delegations by answering any practical questions they might have. At Yuzzit, we were proud to be a part of this adventure and to contribute to the smooth running of the conferences and their broadcasts by developing the multi-audio live broadcast feature and allowing every nationality to follow the conference live and with the right translation for each.

“Another feature we have been working on is Dynamic Cropping. This is a must-have for the FFF (Fédération Française de Football), for example. They can create videos in the ideal format for social media, such as 9:16, while preserving the entirety of the sports action. This innovative technology automates the cropping process and the framing of the action.”

Bruel notes how AI is shaping sports production workflows. “Presently AI algorithms used by Yuzzit allow it to instantly recognise key moments in live sports broadcasts, such as goals, touchdowns, or exciting plays,” he says.

“This real-time clipping capability enables us to provide sports organisations with the tools to create highlight reels and share them with their audience while the event is still ongoing. This level of immediacy boosts fan engagement,

drives more traffic to their platform and strengthens their brand presence. As technology continues to evolve, we anticipate even more opportunities to innovate and support the dynamic world of sports production and we are determined to go further in integrating AI in the coming months.”

Zeiss ABEL THORNTON-MCDONALD CAMERA TRACKING SPECIALIST

“We have recently been a part of some huge golf productions alongside par tner/system integrator MST Systems,” says Abel Thornton-McDonald, camera tracking specialist, Zeiss. “We accompanied them to the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, The Scottish Open & The Open Championship in 2023. We provided the camera tracking for two ENG cameras at each event which overlooked specific sections of the golf courses. With our camera tracking, MST Systems was then able to overlay AR graphics on top of the course to present graphics showing wind direction, grass gradient levels and golf ball positions in real-time as the golfers moved around. The event in Abu Dhabi was a proof of concept to understand the scope of the job and test workflows, with that being a success it was also deployed at the Scottish Open and Open Championships. It was a great milestone for us as a company to work on such high-profile events and to see our unique camera tracking technology deployed to such effect.”

“The recent acquisition of Ncam by Zeiss has obviously been a landmark moment for us as a company,” says Thornton-McDonald. “The collaboration has allowed us to announce a new product called CinCraft Scenario. A huge factor with the new product is bringing down the technical burden of setting up a camera tracking system. This is something we feel will be massively beneficial to users trying to deploy AR and virtual studio solutions at live events and OBs.” SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

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Sponsor Update

“We are currently laser-focused on bringing our new product to market alongside continuing our new journey as part of Zeiss,” he continues.

“As with any new product we have an exciting roadmap planned out ahead of us and we will be working hard into the new year to bring new features to our users. Our short-term roadmap is aiming to continue bringing down the technical difficulty of camera tracking, with a big focus on providing easy-to-edit templates for commonly used lenses.”

Thornton-McDonald notes that the use of virtual studio content and AR graphics alongside guests and hosts by studio and OB productions has continued to grow. “The desire by the industry to continue using this type of content has meant that the enabling technologies, such as camera tracking and real-time rendering, have had to improve their ease of use and robustness to be able to manage this increased scale of deployment. There is obviously a great synergy here for us as we are offering a product designed to be deployed in nearly any environment, indoor or outdoor, that requires a minimal setup time and technical skill level.”

Zero Density OFIR BENOVICI

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

“In the fast-evolving landscape of sports production, Zero D e n s it y h a s b e e n a t t h e forefront, offering real-time virtual production tools that empower broadcasters to bring the content to their audience, creating visual impact and enhancing their stories,” says Ofir Benovici, CEO, Zero Density. “In Belgium, RTBF took its World Cup coverage to the next level. Leveraging the capabilities of our Reality virtual production platform, it introduced viewers to the vibrant ambiance of Doha. From portal window LED screens to green screens, the technology facilitated immersive experiences, including live augmented interviews and post-game segments.”

“Meanwhile, in France, TF1 transformed its World Cup storytelling. With Reality, it seamlessly integrated virtual elements into the actual football field, enhancing the coverage and bringing stories right from the stadium grounds,” adds Benovici. “Over in Slovenia, RTV SLO embraced the world of virtual production.

With the support of Reality and RealityHub, RTV set up a comprehensive virtual production SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

studio for the World Cup. Impressively, the entire operation, from setup to training, was up and running in just three weeks, showcasing the efficiency and adaptability of our platforms.”

“At the heart of these success stories is Zero Density’s commitment to innovation,” he continues. “Our platforms are designed to help broadcasters push boundaries, ensuring their stories resonate with audiences worldwide.

As the world of sports production continues to evolve, we’re here to provide the tools that enable us to imagine the next big thing.”

Benovici notes that the Zero Density leadership team has been strengthened with the addition of industry veterans: Ralf Van Vegten as CMO, Amir Hochfeld as CPO, and himself (formerly at Avid and Orad). “Our joined expertise is steering us towards new horizons,” he says. “Our presentation at IBC2023 marked another milestone. Amid a significant rebranding, we unveiled our latest cutting-edge solutions: Reality5, Lino Real Time Motion Graphics, Reality Hub and the Traxis Talent Tracking Platform.”

“We’re happy to announce our collaboration with Euro Media Group (EMG) and DMC Production to deliver a virtual production platform for Ziggo Sport in The Netherlands,” Benovici adds. “One of the world’s largest sports clubs, Benfica’s adoption of our Reality virtual production platform and Ampere realtime optimised render engine hardware has enhanced their storytelling, offering fans an unparalleled viewing experience.”

“Viaplay has harnessed our solutions to redefine sports production,” he adds.

“Centralising virtual content production in Denmark and Sweden, they’ve achieved brand consistency, reduced costs and set new industry standards. From animated audiences to dynamic AR elements, they’ve showcased the potential of virtual production, emphasising its value in the future of sports broadcasting.”

Zest Technologies LORNA GARRETT MANAGING DIRECTOR

“In the UK, we’re proud to have started 2023 with a strong base of major sports broadcasters u sing Ze st Te chnologie s’ solutions for contribution encoding and decoding. Over the course of the year, we’ve seen the trust and commitment to these solutions become more firmly entrenched in the industry through broadcasters coming back to us to expand on their use of these devices, as well as placing orders for the latest multichannel solution,” says Lorna Garrett, managing director, Zest Technologies. “We’ve also noticed an increased call for Zest’s rental equipment to meet broadcasters’ needs for special events, remote production and expanded coverage. Sports broadcasters have been making use of our stock of multichannel SRT encoders and decoders, mainly from our partners Haivision, VITEC and Intinor. For example, we supplied Haivision Makito X4s for use at the PTO European Open Triathlon in Ibiza and at World Aquatics (FINA) swimming events. Our NTT stock has also been the choice for large events, such as coverage of the World Cup in Qatar.”

“We’re extremely proud of how much we’ve achieved since our company’s inception in 2021, and 2023 has been particularly exciting,” says Garrett. “For example, we’re seeing Media Excel’s Hero encoder/transcoder being the choice of Premiership football clubs for video distribution to their own linear TV channels, YouTube and Facebook. One club is using eight channels per Hero for distribution to multiple endpoints in HLS, RTMP/RTMPS, MPEGDASH, TS and SRT. “Over the coming months we are going to continue to build on what we consider to be at our core — contribution point-to-point 219

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hardware encoder/decoder solutions. But with this focus on our strength also comes a focus on our customers. To that end, we are looking at lower-cost SRT solutions in single channel (as well as the usual quad channel) along with Media Excel’s Hero distribution encoder/transcoder; focusing on monitoring solutions for both baseband and compressed inputs; introducing playout integrated server solutions for both live- and file-based inputs; providing new solutions for JPEG XS (ultra-low latency), especially in openGear format (Artel) and encoders/decoders with 2110 interfaces (Haivision, VITEC, Intinor, BBright); and continuing to support the WISI DVB headend solutions for delivery of channels in IP. “As an organisation, we feel strongly about giving back, particularly as it involves increasing the involvement of women in our industry. To that end, we will continue to support the RISE Mentor scheme and look to visit schools to encourage girls to choose STEM subjects.”

Zixi JOHN WASTCOAT

SVP, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING

“We have been involved in the IP video delivery of thousands of live events, the Australian Open, Champions League, NHL, World Cup, and a broad set of productions around the

Sponsor Update

world,” says John Wastcoat, SVP, business development and marketing, Zixi. “From a revenue standpoint it is important, while we used to focus on 24/7 live linear, the volume of OU events has made it a critical part of our business.”

“There have been a couple of inflexion points in the industry that are foundationally changing the way business is done and the technology required,” he adds. “There has been a shift in sports media rights being acquired by IP infrastructure-based platforms, companies that are digital first and don’t have legacy systems in place. At the same time broadcasters are moving away from satellite to IP and the cloud, so we are being asked to deliver new features and functionality to cover the spectrum.

“For example, Zen Master Live Events Manager has been requested by broadcasters and engineered to deliver advanced event schedule management, enabling operations

te ams to def ine the eve nt sche dule programmatically or manually. Event stages unlock automated stream switching and alerting rules tailored to pre/live/post event stage workflows. New alerting templates and sophisticated live event monitoring ensure that events are running smoothly, and operational dashboards provide ‘at a glance’ confidence monitoring across all scheduled events.

With these innovations, sports broadcasters can now easily distribute thousands of live sporting events over IP and with the cloud, with automated end-to-end control and visibility.

With the high value and criticality of the content, several escalation enhancements have been added, including the ability to define objects as VIP for elevated alerting and a notifications tray for designated ‘High Priority’ alerts ensuring immediate attention.”

Looking ahead, Zixi is rolling out a new version of its software that will “dramatically cut costs for broadcasters”, says Wastcoat.

“Complementing the transport management are dramatic improvements in the throughput and ultra-low latency of the Zixi protocol up to 1Gbps per core, compute efficiency that reduces costs by 95% against other industry options, and egress costs by 50%. We are making it easy for media companies to reallocate infrastructure costs to other areas of the business to allow for new content acquisition, new business models and opportunities to generate revenue.”

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808 Talent 121 AE Live 27 AETA Audio AJA Video Systems 29 Alibaba 29 Amagi 31 Appear 31 AMP VISUAL TV 122 Arista 123 Arkona Technologies 33 Arqiva 35 ARRI 35 Ateme 37 Audio Technica 41 AWS Elemental Backlight 43 Base 125 BATCAM 127 BCE 43 Belden 47 Blackbird 127 Blackmagic Design 47 Brightcove 129 Broadcast Rental 131 Broadcast Solutions 131 BT Media & Broadcast 49 Calrec 133 Camera Corps 137 Canon Back Cover Christy Media 49 Chyron 51 Cingularity Clearcom 139 Cloudbass Cobalt 51 CTM CVP 139 CyanView 141 Deltacast 141 Deltatre 53 Digigram 143 Diversified 53 Dizplai 55 Dolby 2 Domo Broadcast Systems 55 Dreamwall Edgio 57 EditShare 57 ES Broadcast 59 EMG 3 EMG UK Eurovision Services 59 Evertz 61 EVS 61 Farmers Wife Fujinon 63 Genelec 63 Globecast 65 Grabyo Grass Valley 9 Gravity Media Greenfly 145 Hitomi 145 Hyper Studios 147 Imagen 65 Imagine Communications 67 InSync 147 Intel 67 IPV 69 JW Player LAMA (Lean and Mean Audio) 155 Lawo 71 Leader 71 LiveU 73 Luna Remote Systems LTN 75 M2AMedia 155

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Ben Swanton +44 7917 772731 Gavin Bunker +44 1442 234531 Thomas Fengel +33 1 41 36 12 64 Gina Georgallis +44 7984 143056 Yinan Qian +33 (0) 6 09 58 29 99 Meghna Vidyasagar +91 97390 87670 Matthew Williams-Neale +44 7736 481 258 Elise Riffuad +33 771372591 Sam Watkins +44 7769908968 Rainer Sturm +49 1728640605 Joe Bolger Chiara Ciattaglia +39 3466766035 Dorota Bouskela +33 684633212 Alexandra Bischof +49 151 544 59 289 Tracy Geist +1 415 298 2190 Catherine Cywinska Emily Pryor +44 7979497606 Jonathan Hurndall +44 7799884839 Laurent Seve +352 2480 7111 Christine Williamson Caroline Steiner Alessandro Lima +44 (0) 7392 870 756 Antony Chang +44 207 148 6477 G P Slee +31 653934877 Andreas Hoeflich +49 6721 40080 Felicity Webster +44 1977 598694 Alexia El Merhebi +44 1422 842159 Barry Parker +44 1932 336052 Jack Adair Amy Vascher +44 7702735493 Carol Bettencourt Dan Pope +44 7788 977 904 Richard Palmer +447803 018158 James Wilson +44 7790900967 Berend Blokzijl +31 613117886 Vincent Tessier +33 (0)6 61 90 06 17 Alun Milton David Bourgeois +32 470 65 07 06 Gerald Olivier +32 4 2397887 Claire Bell +39 011 384 18344 Khadija Kamoun +33 783490883 Jens Fischer +49 15162403069 Ed Abis Andreas Stumpter Sam Butchers +44 1489 884 495 Thibault Baras +32 477 40 85 81 Samantha Tarin Katharine Guy Terry Murphy +44 1923 650 074 Patrick Brand +31 6 22230797 Angela Gibbons +44 7917460917 Fabien Robineau +41 227172020 Mo Goyal +1 905 335 3700 Sebastien Verlaine +32 4 97434244 Carla Molina +34 971 730 777 Moriya Chikatsu +49 1739496900 Solja Nieminen +358(0) 40 623 7100 Jodi Morelli +1 203 2492839 Clare Butler Benedicte Fauveau Tia Maletta +44 1923 589425 Tom Kuhr Russell Johnson +44 797 0716261 Stuart Paterson-Browne +44 73401548881 Anna Cotton +44 7779 270558 Kathy Bunting +1 416.722.1872 James Taylor Courtney Willock +1 917 861-2634 Mark Hudson +44 161 73787935 Richard Carreon +1 559-387-0420 Ewan Cameron +31 628601274 Andreas Hilmer +49 72221002 Kevin Salvidge +44 7286 178 752 Ronen Artman +972 9 763 2414 Jo Adams +44 07787110189 Connie Petrides +1 201 280-9875 Lizzie Lawrence 44 7949 904 168

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EMAIL ben@808talent.com gavin.bunker@ae.live TFengel@aeta-audio.com gina@phosphor.pro yinan.qyn@alibaba-inc.com meghna@amagi.com matthew.williams-neale@appear.net elise.riffuad@ampvisualtv.tv Sam@arista.com r.sturm@arkona-technologies.de Joe.Bolger@arqiva.com cciattaglia@arri.de d.bouskela@ateme.com abischof@audio-technica.eu tgeist@amazon.com catherine.cywinska@backlight.co emily@base-mc.com jon@batcam.tv Laurent_Seve@bce.lu christine.williamson@belden.com c.steiner@blackbird.video alessandro@blackmagicdesign.com achang@brightcove.com gpslee@broadcastrental.com a.hoeflich@broadcast-solutions.de felicity.webster@bt.com alexia.elmerhebi@calrec.com barryparker@cameracorps.co.uk jack.adair@canon-europe.com amy@christy-media.com carol.bettencourt@chyron.com dp@cingularity.tv richard.palmer@clearcom.com james.wilson@cloudbass.com berend.blokzijl@cobaltdigital.com vincent.tessier@ctmgroup.fr alun.milton@cvp.com david.bourgeois@cyanview.com g.olivier@deltacast.tv Claire.bell@deltatre.com kamoun@digigram.com jfischer@onediversified.com ed.abis@dizplai.com andreas.stumptner@dolby.com sam.butchers@domotactical.com baras@dreamwall.be starin@edg.io katherine.guy@editshare.com terry@esbroadcast.com patrick.brand@emglive.com angela.gibbons@emguklive.com robineau@eurovision.net Mo@evertz.com s.verlaine@evs.com carla.molina@farmerswife.com cmoriya@fujifilm.com solja.nieminen@genelec.com jodi.morelli.ext@globecast.com clare@grabyo.com Benedicte.Fauveau@grassvalley.com tia.maletta@gravitymedia.com tom@greenfly.com russell@hitomi-broadcast.tv Stuart@hyperstudios.co.uk Anna.cotton@imagen.io Kathy.Bunting@imaginecommunications.com james.taylor@insync.tv courtney.willock@intel.com mark.hudson@ipv.com richard.carreon@videonlabs.com ewan@lamamix.com andreas.hilmer@lawo.de salvidge@leadereurope.com ronen@liveu.tv jo@lunaremote.co.uk connie.petrides@ltnglobal.com lizzie.lawrence@m2amedia.tv

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SponsorIndex SVG EUROPE SPONSOR

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Magnifi 159 Matrox Video 75 Mavis Broadcast 159 MediaKind Media Links 163 MOOV 77 MRMC/Nikon 79 NativeWaves 79 NEP 13 Net Insight 81 Newsbridge 81 NTT Electronics 83 ODIHO Open Broadcast Group 163 Panasonic Connect 89 Pixotope 89 Pro Audio Group Program Productions 90 Quidich 91 Qvest 93 RaceTech 167 Reality Check Systems 167 Riedel 93 Ross Video 15 RT Software 95 Salsa Sound 171 Seagate 17 Sennheiser 95 SES Astra 97 Shure 97 Signiant 99 Skyline Communications 175 slomo.tv 175 SMT 101 Solid State Logic 179 Sony 102 SOS Global 103 Spiideo 103 SponixTech 105 Stats Perform 106 Studio Automated 179 Supponor 107 Synamedia 183 Tagboard 183 Tata Communications 19 TEAM Telestream 187 Telos Alliance 187 Telstra 107 TeraVolt 191 The Switch 19 Timeline Television 191 Tinkerlist 195 TRACAB 195 TSL Products 109 TVN Live Production 199 TVU Networks 111 uniqFEED 111 Veritone 113 Verso Live 113 Videon 199 Videe 115 Vidi 115 Vislink 25 Vivaro Media 203 Vizrt 117 Waves 203 White Light 207 WSC Sports 117 XD Motion 207 Xytech Systems 211 YuzzitPro 211 Zeiss 119 Zero Density 215 Zest Technologies 215 Zixi 119

LEVEL

CONTACT

Bronze Gold Bronze Gold Bronze Gold Gold Gold Platinum Gold Gold Gold Bronze Bronze Gold Gold Bronze Gold Gold Gold Bronze Bronze Gold Platinum Gold Bronze Platinum Gold Gold Gold Gold Bronze Bronze Gold Bronze Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Bronze Gold Bronze Bronze Platinum Bronze Bronze Bronze Gold Bronze Platinum Bronze Bronze Bronze Gold Bronze Gold Gold Gold Gold Bronze Gold Gold Platinum Bronze Gold Bronze Bronze Gold Bronze Bronze Bronze Gold Bronze Bronze Gold

Geetanjali Dogra Mehta +65 8134080 Donald Sievewright +44 07721 862556 Moe Hamdhaidari Ken Murray Al Nunez +1 6787703584 Mike Phillipson +44 7860 522185 Marius Merten +49 151 426 385 42 Venkat Venkateshwar +43 6607740782 Susan Matis Mari Fogelberg +46 735148503 Laura Petitpont +33 (0) 6 35 13 73 43 Marco Fabi +39 3442263247 Gauthier Dalle Kieran Kunhya Sivashanka Kuppusamy +49 1736282693 Ben Davenport Francesca Bianco +39 3337020564 Amy Scheller +1 617 480 3541 Jaskaran Singh Bakshi +91 9575 846 846 Matthias Reintgen +49 174 9481 983 Kate Hills + 44 781 3947201 Mike Ward +44 7799 660792 Christian Bockskopf +49 (202) 292 9516 Charlie Fox +44(0)7493306826 Mike Fredriksen +44 207 1688820 Rob Oldfield +44 7765 686883 Stephane Jarmin +33 6 84 33 87 75 Juergen Kockmann Merav Cunningham +1 9723 9280843 Alonso Perich, Chris Fournelle +1 781 791 4618 Thomas Gunkel +32 51313569 Kate Krivitskaya Patricia Hopkins +1919 6024392 Ross Gilbert +44 1865 842300 Anne Churchill +34 671756875 Steve Gruning +1 800 628 6363 Todd Patton +46 70 294 6148 Alireza Shahrestani Michael Morrison +1 8475 832100 Arjan Schoenmaker +31 6 1167 6949 David Patton +44 20 8992 1550 Silvia Botella Josh MacCracken Megh Amin Hannah Aitchison + 41 413681818 Melanie Tassone +1530 205 6416 Martin Dyster +44 (0)7900 584066 Tanya Rai +61 455 784 141 Wolfgang Jauer +49 151 15 22 48 63 Kevin O’Meara +44 787 564 5506 Kerri Scott +44 203 9460617 Aaron Nuytemans +32 474 13 73 06 James Kick +44 7810 563154 Vicky White +44 1628 564610 Markus Osthaus +49 (511) 12123705 Yoni Tayar + 34 660 139 495 Katy Walsh +41 792197492 David Candler +44 (0)7785 301587 Ben Gunkel +44 7776 310920 Richard Carreon +1 559 387 0420 Erica Grillo +39 3355215101 Robert Oszvald +49 6151 9385 25 Charlotte Van Hertum Janine Scott Rebecca Hannan +44 790 301 4195 Noam Raz Fanny Saint-Pasteur +44 (0)20 8254 4800 Ranit Etzion Weiss +972-54-2446851 Benoit Dentan +33 130660534 Shyna Zhang +1 818 356 9183 Frederic Bruel +33‪6 88 69 80 59 Benjamin Hagen Birim Yamanlar +902 323351700 Lorna Garrett +44 7836795667 John Wastcoat +1 617 319 0928

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

PHONE

EMAIL geetanjali@magnifi.ai donald.sievewright@matrox.com moe@mavisbroadcast.com ken.murray@MediaKind.com anunez@medialinks.com mike.phillipson@moov.tv marius.merten@nikon.com vv@nativewaves.com smatis@nepgroup.com mari.fogelberg@netinsight.net laura.petitpont@newsbridge.io marco-fabi@ntt-el-eu.com gauthier.dalle@odiho.com kierank@obe.tv sivashankar.kuppusamy@panasonic.com ben.davenport@pixotope.com francesca.bianco@proaudio-group.com ascheller@programproductions.com jaskaran@quidich.com matthias.reintgen@qvest.com khills@racetech.co.uk mike@rcs.live christian.bockskopf@riedel.net charlie.fox@rossvideo.com mike.fredriksen@rtsw.co.uk rob@salsasound.com stephane.jamin@seagate.com juergen.kockmann@sennheiser.com merav.cunningham@ses.com pericha@shure.com CFournelle@signiant.com thomas.gunkel@skyline.be kate@slomo.tv p.hopkins@smt.com rossg@solidstatelogic.com anne.churchill@sony.com sgruning@sosglobal.com todd.patton@spiideo.com a.shahrestani@sponixtech.com michael.morrison@statsperform.com arjanschoenmaker@studioautomated.com david.patton@supponor.com sbotella@synamedia.com joshmaccracken@tagboard.com megh.amin@tatacommunications.com haa@team.ch melaniet@telestream.net martin.dyster@telosalliance.com tanya.rai@team.telstra.com w.jauer@teravolt.tv Kevin.omeara@theswitch.tv kerri.scott@timeline.tv aaron.nuytemans@tinkerlist.tv james.kick@tracab.com vicky.white@tslproducts.com markus.osthaus@tvn.de ytayar@tvunetworks.com katy.walsh@uniqfeed.com dcandler@veritone.com ben.gunkel@versolive.com richard.carreon@videonlabs.com erica.grillo@videe.it roszvald@vidi.eu charlotte.vanhertum@vislink.com Janine.scott@vivaro.com Rhannan@vizrt.com noamr@waves.com fanny.saint-pasteur@whitelight.ltd.uk ranit.etzionweiss@wsc-sports.com bdentan@xd-motion.com szhang@xytechsystems.com frederic.bruel@yuzzitpro.com benjamin.hagen@zeiss.com birim.yamanlar@zerodensity.tv Lorna@zest-technologies.co.uk john.wastcoat@zixi.com

223

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svgeuropeupdate A PUBLICATION OF

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2024 EVENT

DATE

LOCATION

Sky Sport Austria Summit 2024 in cooperation with SVG Europe (Regional Summit)

25 January

In-Person Salzburg, Austria

SVG Europe Audio: IP Audio Forum – Discipline and culture

15 February

Football Summit

29 February

Ken Kerschbaumer, Executive Director, Editorial kenkersch@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +1 212.481.8140 George Bevir, Editorial Director george@sportsvideo.org | Tel +44 7909 528886 Heather McLean, SVG Europe Editor heather@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +44 7986 473520

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Will Strauss, SVG Europe Editor will@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +44 7789 711611

Online

Jo Ruddock, SVG Europe Content Editor jo.ruddock@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +44 7980 264491

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In-Person Brussels All Sponsors

March (TBC)

In-Person Glasgow

SVG Europe Audio @ NAB 2024

April (TBC)

In-Person Las Vegas

Create, Share, Engage

23 May

SVG Europe Women

PUBLISHED BY SPORTS VIDEO GROUP

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In-Person London All Sponsors

Clare Sturzaker, Sales Director clare@sporstvideo.org | Tel: +44 7710 991595 Nicky Lane, European Sponsorship Consultant nicky@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +44 7956 107882 Rob Payne, Managing Director, Worldwide Sponsor Development rob@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +1 212.481.8131 Andrew Gabel, Manager, Sponsor Development agabel@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +1 646.998.4554 Dawn Boultwood, Content Production dawn@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +44 7967 197803 Livvy Maule Ffinch, Audience Development livvy@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +44 7867 800191

Sky Sport Italy Summit 2024 in cooperation with SVG Europe (Regional Summit)

June (TBC)

SVG Europe Audio

June (TBC)

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Joe Hosken, General Manager, Europe joe@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +44 7429 090134

Sport Production Summit, Amsterdam

12 September

In-Person, Amsterdam

Martin Porter, Executive Director marty@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +1 516.767.6720

SVG Europe Women Networking @ IBC 2024

14 September

In-Person, Amsterdam

SVG Europe Networking @ IBC 2024

14 September

In-Person, Amsterdam

SVG Europe Audio Summit

31 October

In-Person, London

Sky Sport DACH Summit 2024 in cooperation with SVG Europe (Regional Summit)

October TBC

In-Person, Munich

FutureSPORT

November TBC

In-Person, London

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November TBC

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226

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Paul Gallo, Executive Director paul@sportsvideo.org | Tel: +1 212.696.1799 Magazine Production Dean Cook, The Magazine Production Company www.magazineproduction.com | Tel: +44 1273 911730 ABOUT SVG EUROPE Sports Video Group Europe supports the professional community in Europe that uses video, audio, and broadband technologies to produce and distribute sports content. Through SVG Europe, leagues, owners, teams, broadcasters, webcasters, OB companies, and technology providers learn from each other, turn vision into reality, and implement innovations. Sharing these experiences leads to advances both in the sports-production/distribution process and in the overall consumer sports experience.

MISSION To advance the creation, production, and distribution of sports content.

To provide a knowledge resource for the growing community of sports video professionals working for broadcast/broadband organizations, professional teams and leagues, collegiate and secondary schools, and facilities.

To facilitate a dialogue with manufacturers, suppliers, and technology developers that will improve the quality and profitability of sports programming.

SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023

Because Sport TV Leads the Way Leading sports television executives from across Europe are at the vanguard of Sports Video Group Europe. An independent affiliate organisation formed by the successful Sports Video Group in the USA, its mission is to advance the creation, production and distribution of sport content — on all screens — via information, events and industry initiatives.

Make sure your company and your industry are represented in this vital collaborative initiative.

Join SVGE today www.svgeurope.org

CLOSE THE DISTANCE WITH UNRIVALLED CLARITY

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SportTechJOURNAL AUTUMN 2023