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TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS


s odd-numbered years in the sporting calendar go, 2021 has been one like no other as the traditionally relative fallow period has been rudely gatecrashed by major events held over from 2020. As such the rhythms that tend to


dominate the live production sector have all been somewhat upended


and with tight turnarounds on major events — the six months from Summer Games to Winter Games seems particularly brutal — tradeshow absences meaning the reliable tick tick tick of new kit is disrupted, ongoing crew shortages, and Covid still disrupting both events and the way they are produced, it has been an unusual year to say the least. “Fucking challenging,” is in fact how one OB head puts


it, with the year marred by both a flurry of cancellations and a return to a last-minute booking culture. That said, there is a general relief to be out on the road again. That though is increasingly accompanied by the realisation that being out on the road now means as much turning on the lights in a remote production centre as anything. Indeed, the drive towards remote production has not stuttered with the return of something resembling a full calendar; if anything it has only accelerated further.


REMOTE AS STANDARD Sky’s involvement with remote provides a useful potted history of the technology in microcosm. In 2017 its remote workflow for its Formula One coverage, which sees it wrap its own presentation around the Formula One Management host feed and bring over 20 feeds back to Osterley and present them in a gallery, served as an effective proof of concept. In 2019 it moved its Tier 2 English Football League coverage to a remote model, proving to stakeholders that it could also add value as part of the process by upgrading it from 50i HD to UHD Dolby Atmos. “Then Covid hit and we took the option of retrofitting


additional capability on top of the remote production gallery to allow it to produce a lot more football centred around the Premier League,” says Kevin McCue, Director Production Platforms at Sky. “We hadn’t intended to do it for a few years yet, but when sport started up again we did 100 Premier League football matches remotely in 40 days and that proved to us that the EPL was a goer and that remote could scale.” With the addition of cricket and golf to the remote set-up


this year, the majority of Sky’s Tier 1 sports are now produced remotely. “The good thing about this is that when Sky introduce new


products and innovation to the market like HDR or Atmos, this is much more simple for us to achieve, because we own our own remote facilities we can augment them to do that,” says McCue. “So, at the start of this season we added HLG HDR to the Premier League coverage and then we applied that to the EFL as well. “From a customer perspective it’s good, there is no difference,” he concludes. “Our Operations teams are a lot


30 televisual.com Winter 2021


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