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The world’s media will descend on the main Olympic stadium (the
OCC) and seventeen different locations across Athens from late July,
getting ready so that viewers will be able to follow a diverse range of
sporting action. Athletics, gymnastics, cycling, boxing, rowing,
swimming, wrestling and much more – the eyes of the world will be
on Greece throughout
August as billions of
viewers tune in to
watch this eagerly
anticipated, truly
global event. This
year’s
XXVIII
Olympiad is special
as it returns to the
birthplace of the
original Olympic
Games. Delivering
such an important
event to so many people, and with so much of the action occurring
simultaneously, is a major challenge. And for many broadcasters
Olympics coverage is a matter of intense pride, so it is critical that
their technology providers are ultra reliable, as high quality round-
the-clock broadcast coverage is of paramount importance.
It is perhaps not surprising that GlobeCast will be very much
part of Athens 2004, as the company is the sports event satellite
transmission partner of choice for a number of leagues,
federations, sports agencies, TV broadcasters and production
companies all over the world. GlobeCast has provided the
broadcast backbone to many of the biggest sports events in
recent years, including the World Athletics Championships 2003,
Americas Cup, Tour de France, PGAGolf Tour, Tennis Masters Series
and Major Baseball League, offering full-service Broadcast
Management, Satellite and Fibre Delivery as well as Production
Services. Graham Smith, Head of Sport, GlobeCast Europe thinks
reliability and special logistics capabilities are key: “Our Olympic
customers chose GlobeCast because we understand the very special
requirements of sports broadcast and can ensure the delivery of video,
audio and IP content fromGreece to any location on earth.” GlobeCast
will be responsible for transmitting 24 hour action from multiple
locations and events across Athens to broadcast platforms on behalf
of rights holders such as TV Globo and ATV Hong Kong, as well as
providing ad-hoc services to non-rights holders and other
broadcasters.
In order to meet the complex and diverse contribution and distribution
needs of its customers, GlobeCast needed to find a technical partner
with significant expertise in handling major events, to ensure that
every second of action is delivered successfully. After an extensive
selection process, TANDBERGTelevision was brought in exclusively
as GlobeCast’s contribution and distribution partner. The company
was chosen on the basis of its reputation as a world leader and pioneer
in developing open solutions for digital broadcasting and broadband,
flexibility and commitment to customer service – its equipment
renowned for reliability and quality.
With action coming in from all over Athens, GlobeCast’s technical
needs were highly complex, as Simon Newman, Engineering
Manager, GlobeCast UK explains: “TANDBERG Television has a
track record for
providing
reliable
compression, TV delivery
systems and technical
support for even the most
demanding of sports events and
as a result was able to manage these complexities and put together a
compelling and highly flexible solution for us.” Quality is obviously
of paramount importance, particularly when you consider the size of
audiences. TV Globo, for example, has a potential audience of 180
million people relying on GlobeCast’s services so it is vital that not
one second of action is missed – there is far too much at stake. “We
had already worked with TANDBERG Television on a number of
projects and were confident in the company’s ability to provide
consistently high standards – both operational and technical,” says
Newman. “TANDBERG Television has been instrumental in all
Olympic games since the birth of digital broadcast so it made absolute
sense for us to choose them as our technical partner for this special
Olympiad.”
TANDBERGTelevision multiplexers, MPEG-2 encoders, modulators
and network adapters are to be located at the heart of GlobeCast’s
satellite/fibre distribution services for the duration of the games. The
majority of this equipment will be housed at the International
Broadcast Centre (IBC), just yards from the OCC. The IBC
will be used as a base by many international rights holders,
including TV Globo and ATV Hong Kong, with feeds from
aroundAthens being distributed to broadcast platforms all over
the world. TANDBERG Television equipment will also be a
key feature of GlobeCast’s broadcast base – Athens Broadcast
Services – which will assemble an all-digital MCR, playout,
connectivity, C and Ku-band satellite transmission, as well as
production edit suites, offices and work space with ancillary services
to serve the requirements of non-rights holders and other broadcasters.
As with most major
sporting
events,
TANDBERG Television
will
be
supporting
GlobeCast and other
customers at the Olympics
with an on-site technical
support team, which will
stay in Athens for the
duration of the games. “It’s
a privilege to be involved
in broadcasting the
Olympics to so many people in so many countries,” says Roger
Bolton, Director of Satellite at TANDBERG Television. “I think that
there are a lot of parallels between what we do and what the athletes
do – we are both looking for small increases in performance that can
help us beat the competition, but at the same time we are also both
looking for radical news ways of staying ahead of our rivals.”
Hundreds ofmillions of viewerswill enjoy the returnof theOlympicGames
to Greece this Summer. Television coverage of this historic event is getting
better all the time, thanks to innovative service and broadcast technology
providers. Pity there isn’t (as yet) a gold medal for the companies which
ensure that the TV viewer gets gold medal quality coverage...
Going for Gold
