theibcdaily executive summary 43 Monetising multiscreen


schedule of FIFA’s host broadcast partner HBS, most of the chatter inevitably surrounds the production of the final in Ultra HD 4K from Brazil next July. “The whole debate reminds me of that in the ‘90’s when the industry first adopted HD,” says Francis Tellier, HBS’ chief. “Most directors at that time were telling me that we needed two different productions – one 4x3 SD and another 16x9 HD. After 2006 we decided on a single 16x9 HD production since doing two was not economically viable. “What Sony delivered at the Confederations Cup is technically very good but we are still a very long way off in terms of production. One limitation is the amount of cameras available in 4K. You can’t tell the story of the match in the same way [as HD] given this current limitation so you are obliged to find a different way to tell it.


He adds, “FIFA is consulting


broadcasters and seeing what interest there is in 4K broadcasts. It won't be possible, though, to finance all the matches in 4K. That equation won't work.” At the same time in June,


game beautiful A


Keeping the Francis Tellier


CEO, Host Broadcast Services Region: France


Interview by Adrian Pennington


s highlighted by Niclas Ericson, Director FIFA TV at IBC, while a full HD production dominates the


NHK was conducting its latest trial of 8K capture, which Tellier admits is “super-brilliant. But the production limitations are still huge.”


Nonetheless, he thinks that an 8K Ultra HD World Cup for WC2014 is a technical possibility. “Sony is talking with FIFA and


FIFA is talking with NHK. Technically it is possible to send an 8K signal back to Japan [over IP] and then onto satellite so maybe they can do the final in 2014 in 8K.


“I have mixed feelings about this [Ultra HD] innovation. The message from the World Cup 2006 was that Full HD was becoming mainstream. Four years later the message was that 3D was becoming business as usual. But that was


misunderstood. 3D was always a grand experiment and was certainly not ready to go mainstream. We must be careful not to confuse the consumer again with a message that Ultra HD in 4K or 8K is ready. It is still experimental.” Tellier characterises 3D


production as “frozen” and likely to remain so until the “big push” into 4K is over. “It’s a pity that the industry has stopped working to solve how to make a single production deliver a 2D and a 3D output,” he says. Roughly 3000 hours of HD will


be captured, similar to South Africa, and much more of this will be stored longer term rather than erased – a necessity in SA in order to free up server space. There will also be 40 ENG crews located in the vast Brazilian hinterland to deliver training camp action and local colour back to the International Broadcast Centre in Rio. “We were ready for second


screen in 2006 though it was not called that then and by 2010 we were already producing great content in great quantity to service bespoke broadcast requirements,” he says. “We are taking that a stage further by offering turnkey second screen services to our smaller rights holders which they can customise with their own branding and additional content.” With the draw for


World Cup Russia 2018 planned for July next year, Tellier has to deliver a blueprint and budget to FIFA by July 2015.


“Our first stage is


to learn if there’s a need to update the technical specs from 2014 for stadiums and telecommunications but the Russians are very good at organising in advance so it’s more a case of establishing good relationships with the right people there.”


“We must be careful not to confuse the


consumer with a message that Ultra HD is ready”


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