It’s a common sight if you’re sitting pitch, track, or courtside – as manned broadcast cameras swivel back and forth to keep up with the action. The broadcast component of a live event is perhaps one of the most important, especially when we know that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people watching from home, in addition to those in attendance.
Often at major sporting events, you will see mobile camera operators on the ground too, chasing after gold medallists at the end of races, or jumping out of harm’s way when athletes spill off the playing surface. What isn’t always apparent is the work going on behind the scenes as the rights holder broadcaster aims to transmit a live production to viewers as seamlessly as possible and often to multiple territories.
Although broadcasters have traditionally run their operations onsite, via an OB truck, or inside a designated studio, cloud video editing technology has allowed production teams to work remotely in recent years and to cover live events via their headquarters. In times of Covid-19, broadcasters have been known to work from home too and presented common challenges for the industry when live sport finally came in out of the cold.
To give an example of how quickly things turned, right holders were forced to call back equipment transporters en route to Japan as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was forced to postpone the Tokyo 2020 event last summer. Ahead of this year’s rearranged spectacle, the Games organisers have sought to reduce the event’s broadcast footprint by almost a third, while its digital broadcast team aim to deliver 30 per cent more content compared to Rio 2016.
While the pandemic has come at a huge cost for rights holders, it has also forced many to rethink the way they produce and distribute content
Christiaan Page, Legacy Sport co-founder
And this provides several benefits to their broadcast partners too. While the event will still cater to media teams at various venues, the increased adoption of remote production tools in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has seen rights holders trial innovative ways to deliver sport to their channel’s subscribers, and means that many will also save on operational costs usually associated with sending teams of technical staff to a major event.
In many ways, this has also provided a new element of entertainment as Eurosport, for example, one of Tokyo 2020‘s many overseas broadcast rights partners, demonstrated during the most recent US Open and French Open tennis grand slams, which saw its virtual player interviews introduce holograms of the tournament’s top talent.
Therefore, while the pandemic has come at a huge cost for sports organisations and rights holders worldwide, it has also forced many to rethink the way they produce and distribute content to the masses, with remote broadcast capabilities proving both more cost-effective and better for the environment by reducing an event’s broadcast emissions.
I’m paying close attention to this space and will be keen to see what influence the industry might have in other areas of society in the years to come. As sport continues to bring innovation to life where other industries might be cautious, we will continue to adapt our communications systems to support remote, transnational relations – just as broadcasters have proven over the past 18 months.
Words by Christiaan Page, with the collaboration of Steven Impey. Image courtesy of Imago.
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