Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Serie A Takes a Technical Leap Forward With New Production Center in Lissone to Centralize Broadcast Activities

14/09/2021

Serie A takes a technical leap forward with new production centre in Lissone to centralise broadcast activities By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent

Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - 08:00

Print This Story

Luisella Fusco, head of media operations and broadcast, Lega Serie A

The new Serie A football season began in Italy in late August accompanied by major changes to the way the TV coverage of matches is produced, including the radical step of cutting out the middlemen in the production chain, a new centralised management of signal transport from the stadiums, improvements in signal quality, and much more.

To find out more, SVG Europe caught up with Luisella Fusco, head of media operations and broadcast, Lega Serie A, for a two-part interview.

What is the latest news on a technical level? There is talk of a great leap forward on several levels.

The process undertaken by the Lega Serie A this year at a technical level is significantly new in the sense that, first of all, it was decided to carry out all the matches in UHD, for the 380-match Championship, more for the Italian Cup, 42 matches, including the Italian Super Cup. The overall total amounts to 422 matches all produced in UHD. The signal is also made available in 1080p, so all productions are made with a progressive signal that is centrally transported from the Serie A League to the new production centre built at the Lissone headquarters, with technical partner EI Towers.

Can we therefore say that the new Lissone production centre will allow Lega Serie A to centralise a whole series of production activities that were previously outsourced?

Yes, absolutely. This season, the League has decided to internalise a whole series of services that were previously based on intermediaries or in any case outsourced with third parties, directly producing, on delegation from the clubs, the stadium matches of 14 teams (six are self-produced).

For the distribution of the signals, both the transport from the stadium and those up to the rightsholders at national, local and international level, are centralised by the League for all matches regardless of the producer.

From April to August we worked day and night to complete the centre, which is expected to officially inaugurate at the beginning of October

In addition to this, the other big news is that all the signals are processed centrally in the Lissone production centre, so they are ingested and, from there, almost all the activities that were previously carried out in situ at the stadium, are carried out remotely.

At the stadium remain the goal line technology (GLT), rendered through Hawk Eye, while the VAR, which was previously managed in the stadium, has now been centralised in Lissone; referees go to the production centre in Lissone and are able to operate the VAR service remotely, without having to physically attend all the stadiums. This makes it possible to avoid sending a special vehicle to each stage that deals with VAR and, by managing everything remotely in a centralised mode, an evident efficiency is obtained above all in the travel costs of the referees.

At the new Serie A MCR in Lissone

How did you organise the new media operations and broadcast spaces in the production centre with technical partner EI Towers, and how long did it take to create it?

First of all we had to structure ourselves internally at Lega Serie A level to complete this new great adventure that serves to manage services and content.

From April to August we worked day and night to complete the centre, which is expected to officially inaugurate at the beginning of October.

We have concentrated the process of placing the referees and their activities and operations in a new building that has two floors: on the ground floor is an area entirely dedicated to the Serie A League, the FIGC/AIA (the area that hosts the referees) with the various VAR rooms.

The VARs of Serie B are on the same floor, ready to pass remotely too. Currently Serie B still operates locally due to the lack of fibre links from around 50% of the stadiums, links which are, of course, indispensable for the centralised and remotely controlled VAR.

The second floor houses all the centralised services previously managed at the stadiums, starting with the graphics, which are partly packaged in the stadium and partly remotely from here.

Graphics are partly packaged in the stadium and partly remotely from Lissone

The same applies to virtualisation graphics for national and international customisation and for the differentiated distribution of signals, including betting streaming, as well as for all post production and centralised distribution of content; there really is a lot of news!

At the time of writing, you have faced the first days of operations from the new centre: how have you found it?

We are overall satisfied with the outcome of the first two days. There have been some flaws that we have already corrected, but overall nothing so impactful, we are really in the bubble with services.

Speaking about COVID, despite some easing, are there still limitations in television production and for the public?

We have not returned to complete normality in the sense that both from a sporting point of view and from that of the activities that usually took place on site at the stadiums, there are still limitations. In fact, from the point of view of the opening of facilities, the public still has limited access and there is a presence of no more than 50% only with a Green Pass.

With regards to the access of spectators to stadiums, typical distances are used.

From a production point of view, there is a precise protocol issued by the CTS [scientific technical committee] and the FIGC [Italian Football Federation] implemented by the Serie A League, so not all editorial activities can be exercised.

In addition, we have n
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/luisella-fusco-interview-part...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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 Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

02/04/2026

HBO and NFL Films Announce Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks, Debuting August 11

HBO and NFL Films have announced Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Sea...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: Haivision Unveils Makito ONE Video Transport Platform

Haivision has announced the Makito ONE, a single-blade video encoding and decoding platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform combines dual-channel video encoding...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: Telestream Introduces UP.Lens Cloud-Based Multiviewer and Monitoring Service

Telestream has introduced UP.Lens, a cloud-based multiviewer and monitoring serv...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: MRMC to Showcase Robotic Camera Technology and Mark 60th Anniversary

Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C5220, April 19-22, Las Vegas Convention Center), marking the company's 60th anniver...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: Net Insight Introduces Programmable Trust Boundaries for Live Media Interconnection

Net Insight has introduced programmable Trust Boundaries, a feature integrated i...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: Bitmovin Adds SGAI Support to Playback Products

Bitmovin has announced support for SGAI (Server-Guided Ad Insertion) in its playback products, using HLS interstitials. SGAI combines elements of client-side an...

02/04/2026

Binghamton University Athletics Adds Riedel SimplyLive RiMotion R12 for Student-Run Productions

Riedel Communications' SimplyLive RiMotion R12 replay system is supporting B...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: LTN and Ateme Announce Integration of Video Processing with IP Transport

LTN, a managed IP video transport company, and Ateme, a video compression and de...

02/04/2026

TDF Expands Channel Capacity on Terrestrial Broadcast Network with Harmonic

Harmonic has announced that TDF, a broadcast infrastructure operator in France, has deployed Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor and ProStream X Video S...

02/04/2026

United Rugby Championship Reports First-Year Results with Eluvio Streaming Platform

Eluvio and the United Rugby Championship (URC) have announced first-year results...

02/04/2026

Kansas City Current and Scripps Sports Announce ION as Broadcast Home of 2026 Teal Rising Cup

The Kansas City Current and Scripps Sports have announced that ION will broadcas...

02/04/2026

ESPN Announces Courtside Alt-Cast for Women's Final Four

ESPN will debut Courtside at the Women's Final Four Presented by AT&T, an alt-cast airing Friday, April 3 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, and Sunday, A...

02/04/2026

PAMA and Shure Accept Applications for 6th Annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Scholarship

The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are ...

02/04/2026

ESPN's MegaCast Coverage of 2026 NCAA Women's Final Four Begins Friday, April 3 in Phoenix

ESPN's MegaCast Coverage of 2026 NCAA Women's Final Four Begins Friday, ...

02/04/2026

DAZN Launches Playmakers Creator Program

DAZN has announced the launch of DAZN Playmakers, a global influencer program designed to build a network of sports content creators. The programme will give cr...

02/04/2026

NFL Network Unveils New Production Ops Leadership Structure as ESPN Takes Over

Tony Cole, Jessica Lee shift into new roles reporting to ESPN SVP/Content Operations Chris Calcinari....

02/04/2026

TNT Sports and CBS Sports to Reunite Michigan's Iconic Fab Five for Special NCAA Men's Final Four Altcast on truTV & HBO Max

Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...

02/04/2026

Coming of Age: ESPN and NHL's Inside Out Classic Marks Another Step Forward for the Animated Alternative Broadcast

Real-time tracking, virtual production, and Pixar storytelling converge for Apri...

02/04/2026

Streaming Around the Moon: NASA+ Goes Live From Historic Artemis II Mission

NASA's long-awaited Artemis II mission has launched four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon, marking the first manned launch toward the moon sin...

02/04/2026

Release Rundown: What to Watch in April, From Bunnylovr to Omaha

(L-R) Molly Belle Wright, Wyatt Solis, and John Magaro appear in Omaha by Cole Webley, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo courte...

02/04/2026

VEMIA Auction incoming

4 - 11 April 2026 VEMIA's latest gear auction is just around the corner, and there's already a wealth of sought-after instruments and studio gear li...

02/04/2026

Universal Audio's Voice Of God now native

Little Labs emulation now available to all The latest Universal Audio plug-in to become available outside of the company's DSP-powered UAD2 platform has...

02/04/2026

SBS Welcomes Back Cup Fever! For The Biggest FIFA World Cup Ever

SBS Welcomes Back Cup Fever! For The Biggest FIFA World Cup Ever 2 April, 2026 Media releases Santo Cilauro, Ed Kavalee and a host of special guests retur...

02/04/2026

Truth. Power. Perspective: NITV's Flagship Current Affairs Programs Return to Lead the National Conversation

Truth. Power. Perspective: NITV's Flagship Current Affairs Programs Return t...

02/04/2026

L3Harris Powers First Crewed Mission Around the Moon in 50 Years

L3Harris has successfully powered the historic launch of the Artemis II mission, providing propulsion and avionics....

02/04/2026

Scripps Completes Sale of WRTV to Circle City Broadcasting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/04/2026

GoVertical! AiDi Powers Real-Time 9:16 Autocropping for I...

Already deployed extensively by NBC Sports, FOR-A Corporation will demonstrate GoVertical! AiDi, the real-time 9:16 autocropping feature of viztrick AiDi, durin...

02/04/2026

Elite Media Technologies Selects Interra Systems BATON Fi...

Interra Systems, a provider of end-to-end quality assurance solutions for the digital media industry, announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its B...

02/04/2026

TDF Expands Broadcast Channel Lineup with Harmonic

Harmonic's Media Processing Solutions Maximize Bandwidth Efficiency for Terrestrial Broadcast Delivery Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that TDF, a...

02/04/2026

FOR-A's Software-Defined, AI-Powered Development Advances...

NBC Sports Deploys viztrick AiDi to Stream Live Events in 9:16 Mobile-First Formats with Auto Tracking, Development Signals Strategic Shift for FOR-A Long reco...

02/04/2026

Evergent showcases innovations in sports streaming and mo...

Evergent will showcase new innovations in subscriber lifecycle management and monetization at NAB Show 2026 (Las Vegas, April 18 22), including: New advances i...

02/04/2026

Binghamton University Strengthens Student Run Productions...

Riedel Communications is proud to be part of Binghamton University, State University of New York, Athletics' milestone year, celebrating the university'...

02/04/2026

Techex and Encompass Launch Industry-Leading Cloud-Based...

Encompass Digital Media and Techex have today announced new, fully managed, cloud-native Master Control services designed to meet the growing operational demand...

02/04/2026

Winning in the new media economy - Avid debuts fully avai...

Avid today announced it will showcase new innovations designed to help media companies win in the new media economy at NAB Show 2026 (April 18 22, Las Vegas Co...

02/04/2026

PlayBox Neo reinforces MIMO Tech with new Playout capabil...

PlayBox Neo helps AIS PLAY kick-off premier football content direct to fans PlayBox Neo has provided MIMO Tech with a brand-new major installation to extend it...

02/04/2026

Globo transitions primary distribution to SRT over IP wit...

Globo has transitioned its primary content distribution to Secure Reliable Transport over a fully IP-based managed backbone using Synamedia's Quortex PowerV...

02/04/2026

Nexstar Says Pausing Tegna Merger Creates 'Impossible' Challenges

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/04/2026

FCC Launches Efforts to Strengthen U.S. Drone Ecosystem

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/04/2026

WAPA+ to Launch on Dish, DishLatino, Sling TV and Sling Freestream

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/04/2026

Student Spotlight: Al-Fadl Salem

Student Spotlight: Al-Fadl Salem The Danish singer recently performed for the queen of Denmark. April 1, 2026 By Editorial Staff Image by Junia Morrow Wh...

02/04/2026

Taku Hirano's Career Is Defined by Identity

Taku Hirano's Career Is Defined by Identity Whether he's performing, composing, teaching, or developing instruments, the do-it-all percussionist sees ...

02/04/2026

Netflix Unveils Official Trailer for 'The Trials of Winnie Mandela'

Back to All News Netflix Unveils Official Trailer for The Trials of Winnie Mandela Entertainment 02 April 2026 GlobalSouth Africa Link copied to clipboard ...

02/04/2026

Netflix Announces Start of Production and New Cast for Second Season of 'Football Parents'

Back to All News Netflix Announces Start of Production and New Cast for Second ...

02/04/2026

The Trailer for 'Ronaldinho: The One and Only' Features Never-Before-Seen Interviews and Defining Moments From the Star's Career

Back to All News The Trailer for Ronaldinho: The One and Only Features Never-Be...

02/04/2026

Red Seat Ventures Launches Speakeasy, a New Hosting, Distribution and Monetization Platform Built for the Next Generation of Creator Media

Red Seat Ventures Launches Speakeasy, a New Hosting, Distribution and Monetizati...

02/04/2026

GoVertical! AiDi Powers Real-Time 9:16 Autocropping for Immediate Streaming to Mobile Devices

GoVertical! AiDi Powers Real-Time 9:16 Autocropping for Immediate Streaming to M...