Live from Tokyo Olympics: CBC Efforts Brings Production Teams Closer Together By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Friday, July 30, 2021 - 8:20 am
Print This Story
Events like the Olympics always given the CBC a chance to bring together its Montreal team, which serves the French-speaking Canadians, with the Toronto team which serves English-speaking Canadians. And while the pandemic may have lessened the number of personnel in Tokyo to 140 it isn't dampening the spirit.
(l-to-r) Sanjay Rana, Francois Messier, Sylvain Archambault, and Sylvain Taillefer of CBC.
We have crews coming from Montreal, Toronto, and all across Canada when an Olympics come, and we become one family and that is what we're seeing, says Francois Messier, CBC/Radio-Canada Team Leader. There is a feeling of collaboration between the teams and it's amazing. It's really a feeling of family.
Messier says the team in Tokyo consists primarily of reporters who are in the mixed zones as well as personnel to support commentary from the aquatics and athletics venues. CBC News is also being supported.
Sanjay Rana, CBC, systems technologist, says that two 10Gbps circuits are used to send a multi-viewer of all the available OBS feeds to Montreal and Toronto. The team there then selects the 20 feeds they want sent over the Zayo network in JPEG-2000 at 120 Mbps.
Two main broadcast control rooms in Montreal and Toronto are involved and the broadcast alternates from one control to the other between the different programs as part of a COVID protocol.
Then we have one or two pre-control rooms, and two main broadcast control rooms and one for the morning show, he adds. There is also a sub mix for aquatics and athletics which are both mixed remotely.
Viewers back home are getting 23 hours a day of Olympic content on the main networks and then there are sub channels as well featuring long-form events like tennis, soccer, and golf. Bell and Rogers are also getting content out to viewers via TSN 1 and 2 and Sportsnet and a distribution deal with Amazon hits the OTT market.
We were supposed to have two studios here, but it was decided to keep those back in Canada, says Messier. Our main hosts are back home but we have a green screen studio here for athlete interviews that is a cheaper way than Discovery but it's our version of the Cube.
Also, in Tokyo are 16 LiveU units, 12 for the ENG crews, three for news, and one that is installed with Team Canada in the athlete's village. CBC Technical Producer Sylvain Archambault says a camera, LiveU, and a robocam with a mic stand gives athletes a chance to step up and take part in interviews.
One interesting aspect of CBC's operations is that the French-language team in Montreal moved into a new building in early 2020 that uses ST-2110 IP for signal transport. But the English-language broadcast center in Toronto is still HD-SDI. Sylvain Taillefer, CBC, technical engineer, says ST-2110 is used for audio in the voice over booths but the rest of the facility is in SDI.
As long as we stay 1080i HD SDI is fine, he says.
With the Beijing Olympics only six months away much of the CBC's future advancements will be seen at the 2024 Games in Paris. For now, the focus is on getting through the Tokyo Games safely while also serving sports fans in Canada.
This is my fourth Olympics and we've had some changes in the team, but we are always working towards same goal and it's fun to do that every two years, says Rana.
Or as is the case this year, every six months.
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...
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...
12/01/2026
Sports and Music Unite: A Look Back at the Operationally Ambitious FIFA Club Wor...
12/01/2026
Nielsen Panel Discussion Highlights World Cup Impact for FOX, Telemundo, MetLife...
12/01/2026
FIFA President Infantino Highlights How AI Will Impact 2026 FIFA World Cup and B...
12/01/2026
Baltimore Ravens' Jack Dana on Telling a Better Story With Media Management ...
12/01/2026
FOX Sports' Brad Cheney on Spectrum Debate's Impact on the Sports-Produc...
12/01/2026
Spotify's new co-CEOs, Alex Norstr m and Gustav S derstr m, start off the new year with a message of renewed leadership, creative responsibility, and what&#...
12/01/2026
At Spotify, we listen to a lot of music. And every year, our global editors and artist partnerships teams come together to spotlight the emerging voices we beli...
12/01/2026
Spotify's global editors and Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships team spend their days immersed in new music, tracking the writers behind the songs breaking...
12/01/2026
Nominations open for the fifth Australia for UNHCR - SBS Les Murray Award for Re...
12/01/2026
Australia and New Zealand VP Alan Clements shares L3Harris' leadership insig...
12/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
12/01/2026
Berklee International Folk Festival Celebrates 40 Years Featuring Grammy-winning alumna Arooj Aftab, the milestone concert and weeklong festival marks four de...
12/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
12/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
12/01/2026
X-Rite and Rhopoint Launch Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix to Streamline Creation of...
12/01/2026
12 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Launches 5G Pilot in Lviv Lviv, January 12, 2026 - VEON, a global digital operator (Nasdaq: VEON), today announces that Kyivsta...
12/01/2026
Monday 12 January 2026
The ultimate betrayal: Harry and Jamie Redknapp, Paul Me...
12/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz opens larger office in Japan to increase its support for the Jap...
12/01/2026
Back to All News
WWE By the Numbers: Celebrating One Year on Netflix
From left to right: Rey Mysterio, Intercontinental Champion John Cena and Sheamus celebr...
12/01/2026
Welcome to the AVECO team: introducing new members of management
At AVECO, we are continuing to implement our #newAVECO strategy, which aims to build an even s...
12/01/2026
For the first time in the nine-year history of Dancing with the Stars, the first...
10/01/2026
By Bailey Pennick
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festi...
10/01/2026
This year, podcasts are making their Golden Globes debut with a new category honoring the medium's leading shows and creators. To mark the occasion, Spotify...
10/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
10/01/2026
Back to All News
Connection and Youth Defined: The Ramparts of Ice Brings a Hea...
09/01/2026
Rock-It Sports' Deron Brown & Laura Rowlands on Launching a New Brand, Suppl...
09/01/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery's Chris Brown on the Broadcaster's First French O...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: CBS Sports Travels to Jacksonville With Packed Arsenal of Pro...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: NBC Sports Is Set To Roll Out New Scorebar, Insert Graphics T...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: Prime Video Production Team Caps Historic Season With Iconic ...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: FOX Sports Kicks Off Postseason Slate With Two-Game Wild Card...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: ESPN's Run Brings Monday Night Football' Flagship Op...
09/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
09/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
09/01/2026
SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, today introduced the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning...
09/01/2026
Globecast, the leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, today announced the appointment of Chris Pulis as Group Chief Technology...
09/01/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today announced several updates to its board of directors. As part of HPA s annual governance cycle, new leadership...
09/01/2026
SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that Simon Eldridge has been appointed chief operating officer. In thi...
09/01/2026
Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning ST 2110 and SDI signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initi...
09/01/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, announces that its market-proven ATSC 3.0 software stack is powering the broadcast functionality of ...
09/01/2026
Amino, a global leader in enterprise video and digital signage technology, today announced a strategic partnership with Xibo, a leading global digital signage s...
09/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
09/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
09/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
09/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
Live from Tokyo Olympics: CBC Efforts Brings Production Teams Closer Together By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
