Sky Sport Summit 2021: Data and 5G to the fore as the DACH sports broadcasting community meets in Munich By SVG Contributor Thursday, September 30, 2021 - 12:16
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This week's Sky Sport Summit, in cooperation with SVG Europe, was a hotbed of debate and discussion about the latest sports broadcasting trends, from practical uses of 5G and data to vertical mobile viewing and attracting new talent to the industry.
On 27 September, the Sky Sport Summit 2021 took place at the Dolby Cinema in central Munich. Whereas traditionally the event would have taken place at Sky Germany's production facility in Unterf hring, Munich, COVID social distancing measures saw this year's event moved into the large auditorium of the Dolby Cinema, as had been done in 2020.
The theatre is one of Germany's most technologically advanced cinema complexes sporting Ultra HD projectors and immersive 360-degree Dolby Atmos sound.
As it turned out, it was a magnificently fitting location for sports TV production experts from all over Germany, who gathered here to learn about new trends in live sports production and to network in-person.
Alessandro Reitano, senior vice president of sports production at Sky Germany, hosted the event once again. Representatives of production service providers, rental houses, technology manufacturers and solution providers were invited to listen to numerous keynotes and discussions.
We need to encourage storytelling through data integration. The value-added chain must be clearly deduced from a clear visual language, and getting this right is going to be one of the biggest challenges for sports broadcasting in the future.
Around 80 participants took advantage of the full day's event to network and exchange ideas. Individual presentations and panel discussions provided insights into innovative production methods, and a hands-on training booth outside the auditorium had guests testing out broadcasting equipment from the event's main sponsor, Panasonic.
In the first panel discussion What's next Dolby? , Dolby Germany's Stefan Kramper discussed how Atmos immersive sound technology is being increasingly integrated into sports broadcasting events, citing the recent Euro 2020 tournament.
He also pointed out that this technology, which was also integrated into this year's Champions League final, will be added to the Winter Olympics in Beijing 2022. Kramper also highlighted the possibilities outlined by Atmos and the Dolby XP app in enriching the audio experience of a wide array of live sports and esports events.
The next panel discussion, entitled Bundesliga Match facts / Sky Tactical Feed , dealt with the topic of Big Data and Smart Data.
Panelled by the Sky Experte and former FC Schalke coach Manuel Baum (pictured above, left) and Sportec Solutions managing director Hendrik Weber (pictured above, centre), questions were raised as to how data can be effectively used to enhance the viewing experience of live sports. Both agreed that data has been proven to provide added benefit to the viewing experience when successfully integrated, for example, through additional real time statistics for player performance in football matches.
The consensus, however, was that there is a need to stress the qualitative over quantitative integration of data within sports broadcasting.
Data needs to be integrated in a contextually useful manner, commented Weber. We need to encourage the additional element of storytelling through data integration. The value-added chain must be clearly deduced from a clear visual language, and getting this right is going to be one of the biggest challenges for sports broadcasting in the future.
Another event highlight was the Transformation in Broadcasting session (pictured, above) featuring Andreas Heyden, the CEO of Deutsche Fu ball Liga (DFL) Digital Sports and EVP of digital innovation for the DFL Group, Riedel Communications founder Thomas Riedel and Christian Massmann, the managing director of Qvest Media.
Guests discussed several topics such as the oncoming 5G revolution, glass to glass strategies and the difficulties of finding the right talent in the industry.
While Riedel expressed scepticism about the media buzz surrounding 5G, the panel were united in their view that the broadcasting industry requires increasing adaptation in order to stay ahead of the game, especially with respect to how younger generations consume live sports.
In the stadium, one is totally focused on the game at hand. At home, however, the experience is entirely different. Trying to keep the viewer entertained with additional layers of statistics is essential to develop fan engagement.
The panel observed that the increasing prevalence of vertical as opposed to horizontal viewing on smartphones, coupled with the insatiable desire for statistics and live analysis, is shaping the way digital natives consume content.
The next presentation from Lars Quetting, Head of Media Technology Projects, at Axel Springer Liveware-IT gave the audience a glimpse into the new shared TV broadcasting facility of die Welt and BILD Live in the new Axel Springer Verlag Building in Berlin.
Together with Qvest Media, the concept of the studio was implemented in several phases leading up to go-live in 2021. The studio's spatial distribution, which makes use of a closely connected live desk, newsroom and production area, provided an excellent example as to how workflows can be streamlined within the studio environment.
Given the fact that the demand for TV series production will constantly increase, the next talk with Amelie von Kienlin (pictured above), Amusement Park Film called Munich Match / Tech in Fiction Production , provided an interesting detour into the technical challenges presented by the world of fiction and film. In her exchange wit
