Withso
many
platforms
for broad-
casters to
fill, they
want a lot
of content
coming out
of an event
How is technology going to step up
for Rio?
Technology is always a bit of a
double edged sword. New
technologies are constantly
appearing and of course people
want to adopt them. But on these
big events broadcasters and host
broadcasters donʹt want to take
risks. So although a lot of the
technology is out there in the
market, for a broadcaster to adopt
this on a big scale event theyʹd have
to be pretty sure that it is fully
mature, tested, and going to work.
What you are potentially going
to see in Rio is for example more 4K
production, coupled with HEVC
compression enabling us to
distribute high bandwidth signals.
This technology also requires
higher modulation schemes ‐ which
makes squeezing bigger data rates
into smaller bandwidth possible.
We are seeing the beginning of the
shift to UHDTV and 4K but at the
moment the technology is not fully
mature – perhaps by Rio it will be.
There still needs to be a lot of
testing done before we would use it
for a broadcaster. Our quality of
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case Intelsat – and provided the
satellite delivery of the live matches.
On a bigger scale, for example
the Olympics we’ll be doing in
Sochi in 2014, we will also provide
a live distribution feed via satellite.
That entails taking the signal that
will be produced by the host
broadcaster within its on‐site
broadcast centre and distributing it
via satellite across the world, into
Asia, Africa, Europe, North
America, South America. Managing
a complete, complicated world feed
distribution is quite a big operation
– it first of all involves an MCR
operation within the broadcast
centre, a helpdesk within that same
centre that checks that broadcasters
can receive the feeds and checks the
encryption. Then, we turn to
GlobeCast’s fibre network for
connectivity to our teleports in
every corner of the globe to
distribute the signal into all the
world zones.
When we work with a
broadcaster who has the rights to
manage their own content and
requires a unilateral contribution
from an event back to their
broadcast headquarters, then we
opt for a very tailored solution. The
broadcaster is going to be onsite in
the broadcast centre and will want
to produce a number of signals ‐
and that can vary from around four
or five signals through to carrying
many more signals – at the last
Olympics we carried over 40
signals for a broadcaster, all of
them HD! Delivery of those signals
to the broadcasterʹs premises is
mostly via fibre, but also with
satellite as a backup. There are also
different choices in terms of
technology used: itʹs mostly HD
now in sports events, but
sometimes we are looking at
compressed MPEG, sometimes at
J2K. The modulation that we use
changes, and sometimes thereʹs
even a 3D requirement. So there is
no “typical” offer – we are always
as flexible as possible as each
solution must be unique to the
event’s requirements.
What do you offer for NRHs?
For non‐rights holders, GlobeCast
often sets up a broadcast base – we
are looking to do that in Brazil for
the World Cup, for example. First,
we choose a location which has an
iconic view.
One thinks right away of Rio,
maybe of the Sugarloaf or the
Copacabana – once the location is
set we install facilities where
broadcasters can have anything
from a headshot stand‐up to a
small studio. We then aim to
provide another location which is
more related to the event in terms
of the sport, so in Brazil youʹll
probably be looking at the
Maracanã stadium. NRHs can use
those to produce content and we
will manage bookings for them to
get their feeds back to wherever
they need to get them.
Have you started preparing for 2016?
Yes, and having worked in Brazil
on the Confederations Cup is
helping to build our experience for
2016. But more immediately we
have the Winter Olympics in Sochi
happening in February 2014 – that
is the priority at the moment.
What is the timeframe for bookings?
It all depends on the broadcasterʹs
rights. Sometimes their rights deals
can be quite last minute and then
they rely on GlobeCast for an
instant solution. There have been
instances where broadcasters have
come to us with a definitive
requirement three months before
an event – which is a challenging
timeframe for a bespoke solution! I
would say for a broadcaster who is
a rights holder probably the earliest
they come to us is two years ahead
of an event. That said, even if the
broadcaster obtains the rights two
years ahead, they donʹt necessarily
know what their budget is going to
be for that event. So it is difficult for
them to qualify their requirement.
So, being reactive and being
organized – having all our ducks in
a row – is something we pride
ourselves on.
