May 2012 www.tvbeurope.com


London Games estimated global audience is 4.8 billion people in more than200 countries and territories


students — that is, the opportunity to be working and training alongside top broadcast professionals from around the world,” reports Mason. Beyond the large number of personnel, the OBS and its suppliers will utilise more than 1,000 cameras, including 40 High Super Slow Motion units, to produce more than 5,600 hours of coverage, all in high definition. Overall, OBS has secured 52 mobile units for the coverage — with 36 coming from providers located outside of the UK. Additionally, six flyover systems and 15 independent audio production units will be used. Furthermore, OBS will deploy a 3D production team consisting of three OB vans and six separate ENG crews. Typically, 11 3D cameras will be utilised at selected venues for this coverage. Additionally, there will be a 3D operations centre in the IBC to receive and distribute the signals to Pool participants and to produce a daily highlights programme as part of the 3D channel transmission. OBS will offer parallel live


coverage in 3D to those RHBs who have signed up to the unilateral pool. In total, more than 230 hours of 3D coverage will be produced.


Meeting the standard OBS has minimum technical requirements for all OB vans — whether 2D or 3D. The first step in defining those requirements was a document sent to potential vendors outlining OBS’ technical expectations and the vendors’ compliance to those requirements. A follow-up technical specification document was then


completed by the van provider prior to that vehicle being assigned to a venue. That assignment was based on the vehicle’s technical capabilities. The OBS production department is ultimately responsible for determining the number of cameras and their locations required for the appropriate coverage of each sport at a particular venue. These camera locations are determined after multiple surveys by the different OBS departments and include not only positions for the multilateral coverage, but also unilateral positions available to RHBs, either on a permanently booked or on a first-come, first-served basis. During the Games themselves, the output of each OB van is centrally monitored for signal quality to make sure that the technical aspects adhere to specifications.


TVBEurope 25 London 2012 Countdown


OBS’ graphic department specifies all characteristics of the graphic elements. It has been decided that all television graphics and text will be presented in English. The Olympic Graphics look has been co-ordinated with the pictograms and colours from the London Organising Committee’s Look of the Games. This has resulted in a graphics package specific to London 2012. Animated elements and dynamic movement will be incorporated, and while all information and essential graphic elements will be contained within the traditional 4:3 safe title area, some new design elements will extend on to 14:9 graphic canvas.


All the design elements will be


fully integrated with technical data to ensure that graphics are both readable and quickly understandable by the


The Contribution, Distribution and Transmission (CDT) Centre used at the 2008 games in Beijing


The OBS’ own Video Archive System will be responsible for recording all live venue feeds, selected other footage, all output broadcast on the Olympic News Channel, as well as selected media conferences.


Overall, OBS has secured 52 mobile units for the coverage — with 36 coming from providers located outside of the UK. Six flyover systems and 15 independent audio production units will be used


Generally, the feeds provided to RHBs are dirty. Specifically, the International Television Signal includes the live camera cut, all replays (including the Olympic Replay Transition to open and close the replay sequence), all Results Graphics, all Timing Graphics (Race Clocks, Crunch Scoreboards with Clocks etc) and all Production Enhancements, such as virtual graphics, World Record lines, best throw/jump lines and GPS Positioning Graphics.


worldwide television audience. Additionally, the design will consider the HD signals being produced across all sports.


Tapeless technology OBS will work in a completely tapeless environment as far as origination and recording of events are concerned. That said, there will be a library containing videotape archives of all live coverage produced during Olympic Games competitions.


Covering the Paralympic Games By Philip Stevens


ALTHOUGH ONa much smaller scale, the Paralympics that follow the main Olympic Games are no less important to participants and an increasing number of viewers. Running between 29 August and 9 September, the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games will be the fourteenth such event to take place. In all, 20 different sports are represented. According to Sebastian Coe, chairman of London 2012, "The eyes of the world will be focused on the Paralympic Games — the world's second biggest multi-sport event — in London in 2012. We will deliver a spectacular sporting showcase for the world's greatest Paralympic athletes,


and will use the power of Paralympic sport to raise awareness, challenge stereotypes, inspire understanding and communicate the Paralympic values of determination, courage, inspiration and equality.”


As a part of that showcase event, the exclusive multi-platform broadcast rights in the United Kingdom (with non- exclusive rights in the Republic of Ireland) were awarded to Channel 4. “In all, we will be broadcasting over 150 hours of coverage — significantly more than has been previously shown in the UK,” says Deborah Poulton, Channel 4’s project leader. “Although we will primarily be utilising our main channel for this coverage, our additional digital broadcast outlets will be used as necessary.”


A dubbing service will be


provided to RHBs requiring copies of any portion of Olympic competition or stock/archival footage leading up to the Games. In addition, OBS will make available access to a Central Video Server at the IBC for Rights Holders who wish to acquire archived content from the multilateral signals. Content in the Central Video Server will be encoded in AVC- Intra 100 with eight audio channels (Stereo ITVS and surround 5.1).


OBS, as the Host Broadcaster,


is responsible for producing and transmitting the live radio and television coverage of the Paralympic Games. More than 700 hours of live coverage in nine competition venues will be provided, with ENG coverage at all the remaining non-live venues. For the benefit of the New Media operations of Rights Holders, or other applications, OBS will provide international signals from all of the venues in four different compression profiles encapsulated in IP (16-20Mbps, 6-10Mbps, 1.5-2.5 Mbps, 2500-500 kbps). This has been provided for RHBs who may wish to carry the Games competitions on internet, mobile phone and other platforms. Manolo Romero, CEO of OBS, concludes: “The fact that more and more countries are able to enjoy watching the Olympic Games and the excitement, drama and good feelings they produce proves not only that the Olympic movement itself continues to grow but also, that OBS is successfully capturing the unique atmosphere of the venues and host city.”


In addition, a special Channel 4 website will be used to provide an extra four streaming outlets. One will be a simulcast of the broadcast channel, while the remaining three will show sports not being covered by a live transmission.


Subtitling and audio description will form part of all the programming, ensuring the widest possible audience can enjoy the Games.


Poulton continues: “We will be taking the host broadcaster output that OBS will be providing and then supplementing it with SNG and ENG coverage of our own depending on the sport and the stories of the day. Our games coverage has been contracted out to a combined operation involving


production companies Sunset+Vine and IMG — both very well experienced in covering major sporting events.” Channel 4 has negotiated space at the International Broadcast Centre and this will include studio and gallery facilities that will be used for the programme presentation. Editing will take place there, too — and Channel 4 is planning a tapeless operation using Avid systems. Channel 4 will use its own server and logging system. Both are EVS based with IPDirectors providing the logging, archiving, and retrieval system.


“Our biggest challenge is simply the scale of the events,” states Poulton. “This level of coverage of Paralympics sport is unprecedented.


There are 15 different venues to cover with all-day live sport. This is a scale with which Channel 4 has not been previously involved. It is a very exciting — and enjoyable — challenge.”


www.paralympics.channel4.com


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