Live from The Open: European Tour Productions hits its stride at Royal Portrush By Fergal Ringrose, Editorial Director, Europe
Monday, July 22, 2019 - 12:36
Print This Story
Stuart Cook, European Tour Productions, senior technical producer
The 148th Open Championship in 2019 marks the fourth year that European Tour Productions (ETP) has been the television production partner for the Royal & Ancient Golf Club (R&A). ETP is responsible for providing the world feed from the sport's oldest Championship, which is used by Golf Channel, NBC Sports, Sky Sports, TV Asahi and its other international broadcast partners and rights holders.
With The Open returning to Northern Ireland for the first time in nearly 70 years, SVG's Ken Kerschbaumer and Fergal Ringrose took the opportunity to sit down on Saturday morning with ETP's senior technical producer Stuart Cook to discuss golf coverage, the massive logistical challenge behind The Open production, and the experience of working with the local stakeholders in the town of Portrush to deliver a hugely successful sell-out sporting event.
European Tour Productions are getting into our stride now, I would say, said Cook. We can produce good golf; that's bread and butter for us, it's what we do even on this scale, with our Ryder Cup experience.
Not only do we produce the world feed, we also take a coordination role between all the other on-site broadcasters. We're the go-to people. We facilitate all of the other broadcasters on-site, although they're off doing their own productions.
This year has been the best Open for us. I think when the R&A awarded the contract to European Tour Productions to produce the world feed and NBC, Golf Channel and Sky Sports got involved - I don't think that knew what they were unleashing!
The resources that the R&A, European Tour Productions, Sky and NBC are putting into it are off the charts compared to what went on before. So suddenly we've become a massive consumer of real estate, resources and the R&A's time.
But we have also brought to the party is great cooperation. I think the new partnership was a bit of a shock to the R&A because the whole television production just mushroomed.
I see myself as a coordinator of television facilities. I'm the main point of contact between the R&A and all the broadcasters. The R&A folks now know that if someone asks me for something and I ask them, we really need it we're not just asking for fun. That's made this year a lot less stressful, said Cook.
Fergal Ringrose: The Open is back in Royal Portrush for the first time in 68 years. What have been the key challenges in coming over here for the event?
Well they've had big championships here before, like the Irish Open and the Seniors Open. We're on public land here, on council land, so we've had to deal with the council and the residents.
The TV compound is situated on a public car park, where the locals normally park to walk their dogs. Last year at Carnoustie we were completely isolated.
This has been a different experience. But actually everyone at the council has been 1000% behind this.
View of the TV compound at Royal Portrush
I've been coming here for two years now and I've noticed that the town of Portrush has had major improvements to the infrastructure, including the railway station. The road from Belfast has been massively improved. So the whole area has benefited from The Open coming here.
Because we're in the town centre here, we meet the residents every day going to the beach or walking their dogs: I would say they are 99.9% behind us, even though we've inconvenienced them massively by taking over this big car park for four weeks in total. Everyone is so supportive.
With the collaboration we've got with the council, residents, local businesses and the greater understanding of the R&A in relation to just what a massive consumer of resources television is, it's been an absolute dream year this year.
Ken Kerschbaumer: If the compound was not located in this public car park, what would have been the alternative? This is the first time the compound has actually been located on tarmac rather than grass?
The way it works is that the R&A's advanced planning team decides where the TV compound is going to go, said Cook. For our first Open at Troon, we were in the middle of the golf course - which just made life very difficult for us, in relation to truck access and delivery of cabins and trailers, plus supplies like fuel and catering. Again they have learned that we're such a big operation that being here, separate to the main golf course entrances, is a dream for us.
We've got about 80 cabins here. Normally we've had to mark the grass out and lay trackway, and then we'd have to think very carefully about if we could crane a cabin into position from the trackway or do we need to put more trackway in and then take it away?
Whereas here, the trucks can just drive in and park up. So the rate of build of the compound was much faster this year. For many reasons - apart from perhaps the weather! - it has been a dream this year.
Although, having said all that, because the TV compound is so far to the west of the golf course, we have got a remote compound behind the fifth tee, in the public car park there. And again the local council have been fabulous in allowing us to take over a large section of the car park there. For the folks working at that end of the course we've got catering, toilets, buggy-charging and equipment stores.
Fergal Ringrose: Of course ETP's core business here is producing the world feed for broadcast partners. How has that production evolved and have there been any innovations this year?
When we took over the world feed four years ago I think we revo
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
04/03/2026
Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the governing body for Italy's premier basketball...
04/03/2026
Wrexham AFC co-chairmen Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds will host a first-of-its-kind ...
04/03/2026
The countdown is underway and with just 100 days to go until the world's greatest sporting event begins on Thurs., June 11, FOX Sports, America's Englis...
04/03/2026
No matter where they are in the world, service members and veterans can stream N...
04/03/2026
Telemundo officially releases Somos M s, the anthem for the network's cove...
04/03/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) concluded the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, convening more than 800 industry leaders, technologists, creatives, and execut...
04/03/2026
Smith Entertainment Group transformed how local sports are consumed by creating ...
04/03/2026
The production method, which spans a distance of 36.2 miles, was designed and im...
04/03/2026
Haivision, a global provider of mission-critical, real-time video networking and...
04/03/2026
When Hugues Meyrath came out of retirement to take the helm as CEO of Quantum, i...
04/03/2026
Last week's launch of Banana Ball Championship League has spurred a significant upgrade of production facilities
The Savannah Bananas, arguably the hottest...
04/03/2026
sldkfjsdlfkjsldkfjsldkjfslkdjfslkdjfsl
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus...
04/03/2026
For many fans, a song's backstory can be just as compelling as the final pro...
04/03/2026
In 2006, Spotify was founded on the belief that technology could bring artists a...
04/03/2026
Spotify is back on the ground for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and we&#...
04/03/2026
Spotify had an energizing week in Sydney, Australia, filled with powerful conver...
04/03/2026
Earlier this year, we launched Directed By, a documentary-style series that pull...
04/03/2026
100 Days to Go: SBS Unveils World Class Team for The Greatest Show on Earth -The...
04/03/2026
KT and Rohde & Schwarz to showcase AI-enhanced radio transmission performance In a joint 6G AI proof-of-concept demonstration, the CMX500 one-box tester from ...
04/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/03/2026
Luxembourg, 3 March 2026 - SES S.A. has today published its 2025 Annual Report, following the announcement of the company's full year financial results for ...
04/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/03/2026
Luxembourg, March 3, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, along with I...
04/03/2026
04 Mar 2026
VEON Partners with GSMA Innovation Fund to Accelerate Digital Innov...
04/03/2026
04 Mar 2026
VEON's Beeline Uzbekistan and Rakuten Symphony Partner for Open...
04/03/2026
Wednesday 4 March 2026
Sky Sports unveils plans for 2026 Formula 1 coverage
Sky Sports is preparing for one of the most highly anticipated F1 seasons in recen...
04/03/2026
Back to All News
Bloodhounds' Season 2 Gears Up for April 3 Premiere with ...
04/03/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Ads Suite Expands Capabilities
Business
04 March 2026
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to clipboard
After launching the Netflix Ad...
04/03/2026
Scripps Research welcomes healthcare innovator Joe Kiani to the Board of Directors Kiani brings decades of experience in patient safety and public service.
Mar...
04/03/2026
Nanoparticle vaccine approach takes on a new target: Hepatitis C virus Scripps Research scientists reengineer critical proteins on the surface of HCV, paving th...
03/03/2026
Beyond Sports, a Sony group company, and LIV Golf, the world's golf league, ...
03/03/2026
Ilitch Sports + Entertainment announces the launch of Detroit SportsNet (DSN), a year-round broadcast home for two of Detroit's franchises. With flexible op...
03/03/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media ...
03/03/2026
The PGA of America, NBC Sports and USA Sports extend their media rights agreemen...
03/03/2026
AI device ecosystem company HONOR enters into a strategic technical collaboratio...
03/03/2026
Cleveland's Telos Alliance, pioneers in broadcast technology for 30 years, l...
03/03/2026
The MD 9235 microphone head for wireless handhelds has been a firm favorite with many engineers and artists for its ability to cut through high on-stage levels ...
03/03/2026
Haivision Systems Inc. (Haivision), a global provider of mission-critical, real-...
03/03/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) announces the expansion of its 62,000-square-fo...
03/03/2026
Maroon 5's musical tour in 2025 marked a leap forward in live audio as Monitor Engineer Dave Rupsch utilized Sennheiser's all-digital Spectera wireless ...
03/03/2026
Designed specifically for pro basketball, the renovated space at Gainbridge Fiel...
03/03/2026
As part of the move, former CEO Phillipp Lawo joins the broadcast-tech provider's Supervisory Board
Lawo has announced appointment of Jamie Dunn as chief e...
03/03/2026
A team of legendary announcers and analysts and a classic graphics look will bring the past to life
NBC Sports and Peacock will return to yesteryear for tonigh...
Live from The Open: European Tour Productions hits its stride at Royal Portrush By Fergal Ringrose, Editorial Director, Europe 
