The FIFA 2010 World Cup will represent the biggest broadcast in the 23-year history of SuperSport.
Announcing its broadcast plans this week, SuperSport revealed that it will have at least four customised World Cup channels, one of which will be High Definition (HD), with three of them broadcasting 24 hours daily.
In addition, there will be four unique daily magazine shows – Chase the Makarapa; Woza Lunchtime; Supernova and Harambee.
“FIFA has promised that this will be the most extensive, most technologically advanced broadcast in World Cup history,’ said Tex Teixeira, head of production for SuperSport. “This is the closest the television viewer will be to the World Cup. Picture clarity, the number of cameras, replays, graphics and super-slomos will be better than ever before.’
As with all World Cup broadcasters, SuperSport will receive the live feed from HBS, Swiss-based host broadcaster of the tournament.
Whereas matches in the 2006 World Cup used 26 TV cameras, this will be bumped up to 29 per match, with three more to be used for selected matches. These include, for the first time, an aerial camera and an ultra motion camera that produces between 300 and 1000 frames per second in HD, allowing for the capture of 20-40 times more frames compared to a standard camera, and can provide stunning images of action and emotion.
SuperSport will have full rights to FIFA’s content library, which will offer 100+ hours of daily content. FIFA’s unfettered access to all 32 teams means that much behind-the-scenes action, restricted to other media, will be broadcast on SuperSport.
The crews will travel throughout South Africa to shoot and gather footage from every team.
To complement its coverage, SuperSport has also commissioned a multi-purpose High Definition studio set; again, the biggest in its history and in keeping with the World Cup’s status.
SuperSport has a number of big-name hosts lined up, among them England’s John Barnes and Daniel Amokachi of Nigeria, with more stars to be announced.
Regular anchors Robert Marawa, Thomas Mlambo, Neil Andrews, Gary Bailey and Thomas Kwenaite will be joined by Charles Anazodo of Nigeria. The four magazine shows will be hosted by Elana Afrika, Bobby Skinstad, Michelle McLean and Nonhle Thema, among others.
All matches will offer at least three language options, including English, Portuguese and Zulu.
