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Biggest soccer broadcast ever
Fri, 14 Aug 2009
In more expansive coverage than ever before seen at a FIFA World Cup, 32 cameras will cover each of the 64 matches at the 2010 event, which unfolds in 10 venues across South Africa next June/July. There will also be helicopter coverage of the matches.
So said Gary Shaw of Host Broadcast Services (HBS), the FIFA-appointed host broadcaster of the event, at the Screen Africa Talent & Technology Conference in Johannesburg on 23 July. "HBS is in charge of all aspects pertaining to the broadcast of the event, including the necessary infrastructure to provide this service. We will generate between 30 to 40 signals ' a mix of high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) Ð for the event, as well as the multilateral/world feed. Seven production teams from England, France and Germany will be commissioned to cover the World Cup. HBS will ensure a minimum of 110 commentary positions (rising to 160 for the final matches) at the various venues. A new innovation will see stand-up commentary positions around the soccer pitches for presenters," said Shaw.
Electronic news gathering (ENG) teams will follow each of the 32 teams to provide footage that will be ingested into the HBS fully HD media server. A further 10 ENG teams will roam about the country to source additional footage. The HBS multilateral feed planning includes redundancy so that if the IBC has a failure, rights holding broadcasters will still get their feeds. The event will be broadcast in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound.
As the HBS Head of Venue Operations, Shaw has already been in South Africa for two years planning for 2010. "In some areas South Africa is ready for the event, in other areas, not. HBS is ready to cover the 64 matches but we want to do it in the best possible way. Most international broadcasters who will come here to cover the event will bring their own outside broadcast (OB) flyaway kits. This means that we need more space in the broadcast compounds at the venues as the kits have to be housed in temporary buildings.
Read more in the August 2009 issue of Screen Africa
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