Page 44 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013

44 | ISSUE 1 2013 | THE CHANNEL
This award rewards the most innovative, engaging
coverage of live sports. Our judges are looking not just for
live action, but building the viewer’s understanding of the
competition, the players or participants and delivering an
encompassing experience that mimics being there.
In 2012 the winner was Eurosport for its coverage of
Roland Garros 2012, the French tennis open
championship. Throughout the tournament Eurosport
and Eurosport2 were dedicated to the French Open.
Eurosport adapted its coverage around the biggest
matches to capture interest across different local
markets using four "windows" for British, French,
German and Eastern European fans.
Expert analysis was provided by a team of unrivalled
commentators alongside former player Barbara Schett
who was on-site to go behind the scenes to meet
players and report on the latest news from the
tournament.
Every evening a magazine show hosted by former
player and broadcaster Annabel Croft featured former
Grand Slam Champion Mats Wilander who provided the
inspiration for the title of the show "Game, Set &
Mats".
Judges said that this was innovative coverage, with
outstanding presentation that’s fast, informative and
original.
Highly commended
Nine Network
State of Origin Game 3
Nine Network’s coverage of the annual “grudge”
rugby league football match between Queensland
and New South Wales caught the attention of our
judges who remarked on the way the action was
captured during the game, accompanied by great
commentary. They were also impressed by the way
Nine Network told stories around key players -
imaginative and engaging, they said.
Best live sports
coverage
Eurosport
In 2012 the world’s largest sporting event came to
London - the XXX Olympiad and the Paralympic
Games that followed it. We invited broadcasters - both
rights and non-rights holders - to showcase their
coverage and to demonstrate how they brought the
action into people’s homes.
Clearly non-rights holders had considerable
hurdles to clear as they could not film inside the
Olympic and Paralympic venues. So, how can you feed
the audience’s appetite when the entire planet’s
population seems to be interested in an event in
London? We saw examples from all over the world
and our shortlist was narrowed down to five.
The judges agreed that the BBC’s domestic
coverage across all its local, regional and national TV
and radio services, as well as online platforms, was
outstanding and should be specially commended.
Our winner, however, is Sunset+Vine for its
innovative and ground-breaking Paralympic
programming produced in association with IMG for
the UK’s Channel 4.
Sunset+Vine recruited and trained disabled
presenters for its Paralympic coverage and developed
great on-screen graphics, delivered great context and
explanations about the complexities of the Paralympic
classification system.
It also produced a daily comedy programme, The
Last Leg, an alternative review of each day’s
competition that showcased the best action and
tackled issues around disabled sport head-on.
Our judges thought the work by the independent
producer merited the award for the best coverage of
London 2012.
Best coverage of
London 2012
Sunset+Vine for
Channel Four
The AIBs 2012