live sports coverage special report
With the rise of HDTV, the lack of capacity, and the number of high profile, worldwide events to be held, 2010 is set to be a very busy and very important year for sports broadcasting, with both old and new challenges already presenting themselves. Key events on the agenda include the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Commonwealth Games, FIFA World Cup and Asian Games. Simon Farnsworth, GlobeCast’s head of global contribution, reports.
2010: Covering live sports...worldwide
or the events listed above, as well as the numerous other events going on thoroughout the year, broadcasters and service providers are taking a close look at existing facilities, making the necessary upgrades and taking the necessary precautions to ensure flawless coverage.
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2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games
In February and March 2010, more than 1.5 million sports fans descended upon the Canadian city of Vancouver for the 21st Winter Olympic and 10th Paralympic Winter Games. More importantly to broadcasters, the opening ceremony alone attracted over 3 billion viewers worldwide. The coastal city, voted the best place to live in the world for the last five consecutive years, played host to almost 7000 of the world’s
greatest athletes and officials for 27 days of fierce competition. In reality, very few events were held in Vancouver itself, aside from the ice skating, curling and ice hockey, which were held in the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver
Olympic/Paralympic Centre and Canada Hockey Place respectively. The other 10 disciplines were held at seven sites in the surrounding mountains, with the furthest venue located 130km (80 miles) from downtown Vancouver.
As well as facing the challenge of broadcasting 86 events from 10 widely-spread venues, broadcasters had to work around the wintry conditions and mountain ranges needed to make a successful Winter Olympics. Heavy snow fall and mountainous terrain make satellite broadcasting very difficult. With this in mind, the Winter Olympics was mostly a fibre event. The majority of major broadcasters transmitted their
unilateral signals via fibre from each of the venues which were connected to the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Vancouver.
HD played a much bigger role at the 2010 Winter Olympics than ever before, with bandwidth at a premium and costs following suit.
There was a second broadcast centre at Whistler Village, the highest venue of the Games, where the Alpine skiing was held. This tourist town was also fibred to the IBC in Vancouver. It will serve as the main broadcast centre for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. HD played a much bigger role at the 2010 Winter Olympics than ever before, with bandwidth at a premium and costs following suit.
FIFA World Cup 2010
As the popularity of football continues to soar and world television audiences continue to grow, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, to be held in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July, will be at its largest, with a more widely-spread audience than the Summer Olympics.
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