Two brand new high definition (HD) outside broadcast (OB) vans supplied to public broadcaster SABC by Sony South Africa (Pty) Ltd were used at the recent FIFA Confederations Cup held in four South African cities. This served as a successful warm-up by SABC and the FIFA-appointed Host Broadcast Services (HBS) for coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.
As part of the Sony SA contract (said to be in excess of R350m), SABC will take delivery of another two vans, with the first one arriving at the end of September and the other early in January 2010.
During the Confederations Cup in June, one of the new vans was stationed in Rustenburg and the other in Bloemfontein. Each van is equipped with 18 cameras, 15 of which are normal motion and three are Supermotion cameras. Each van is wired for a total of 24 cameras.
Says Jess Goedhals, Sony SA’s GM: Broadcast and Professional Division: “Fortuitously, the shipping of the vans from Sony Basingstoke in the UK, which always presents big challenges, went according to plan in April and May. We made early arrangements for customs clearance to ensure that the vans got to the SABC on time. The vans were immediately tested on some Premier Soccer League matches, with one of the vans going live during one match. From there the vans went straight to the Confederations Cup.”
Read more in the July 2009 issue of Screen Africa
