Leading the way: Sunset Vine gives Crufts the major sports event treatment Paws' for thought about the production team that brings the world's biggest dog show to our screens By Michael Burns
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 - 17:30
Print This Story
Even those with only a peripheral interest in dog shows know Crufts. The annual event, run by The Kennel Club since 1891, draws entrants from across the world. Returning after two years due to pandemic lockdowns, Crufts 2022, which took place from 10 to 13 March, saw over 20,000 hounds competing. The live broadcast came from Birmingham's NEC to an international audience on Channel 4 and the event's YouTube channel, and enjoyed the same production values and attention to detail as any major sporting event.
The latter is not surprising as the OB is produced for The Kennel Club by Sunset Vine, better known on these pages for its coverage of rugby, cricket, sailing, riding, football and other sports events.
According to Jeff Foulser, chairman at Sunset Vine Productions, the relationship between Sunset Vine and The Kennel Club goes back 12 years, when the production company streamed coverage of the main arena and the judging live on YouTube. A year later Channel 4 took some of the content, including the culmination event, Best in Show, for its main channel.
It's just grown from there, says Foulser, speaking to SVG Europe at the end of day one of the show. The channel has been incredibly supportive of Crufts and The Kennel Club, and The Kennel Club is a very loyal client [to Sunset Vine]. It's a fantastic relationship, and the contract has just been extended until 2024.
This is the 11th year that Crufts has been on Channel 4, he continues. It's become a big part of their schedule and it rates really well. In terms of production, this year is the biggest one we've ever done. We've got more than 16 hours of coverage across Channel 4 and More4.
This compares to a major OB sports event in terms of production; the approach has some familiar points too.
We tackled it initially in a similar way to sports, in that we have what we call the match truck, the event truck, which covers all the happenings in the main arena, says Foulser. We've got three trucks from EMG UK via CTV OB; the event truck for the arena, one with all the gear to do the presentation areas for Channel 4 and we've got a separate truck with four edit suites. We've got a good timing system in place, with graphics provided by AE Live and Odata from Germany providing all the timings for the arena.
We cover Crufts all day separately for The Kennel Club YouTube channel and then events like the flyball, agility and all the group judging that happens go on to the Channel 4 programme, he continues. We've also got a digital team, separately engaged by The Kennel Club, and they go around shooting content for social media such as TikTok.
All in all there are 135 crew no small amount on any event and this year it includes 10 students from various universities and colleges in the West Midlands.
Events such as agility are treated almost like a live sports event
The main studio is at the back of the arena, out of the way of the crowds, says Foulser.
When you're on the air late in the evening all the halls are empty. So, this year for the first time we've got a separate [additional] studio in hall three, which is right in the middle of all the action, he explains. During the afternoon show, when it's all going on, we do a lot from there. It's got a real buzz about it.
There are eight cameras in the main arena, including a jib. This year for the first time we've got a two-point wirecam system from Batcam, and that's really raised the level of coverage, Foulser says. We have three cameras in the second studio and then we have three crews running around shooting features and additional concepts. It's a big operation.
Running to time
The old TV adage is never work with children and animals', but Foulser feels Sunset Vine has refined the process for Crufts. I think we work incredibly well with the event team at The Kennel Club. In terms of the timings, of us joining in the arena, that's really well thought through and co-ordinated. Flyball is a live event, for example. While for Best in Show, we must get the timings right because it's on the main channel and we've got to be off the air by nine o'clock. So, it's crucial that the event runs to Channel 4 timings. We can put breaks in when we want to and all that, so it's a very much a co-ordinated effort between our team and The Kennel Club.
Clare Balding, returning to the show for her thirteenth year, hosted daily highlights live from the NEC and was joined by a team of reporters including Radzi Chinyanganya and Crufts newcomer Sophie Morgan, along with canine experts.
We have top talent covering the show, says Foulser. Claire Balding is the main presenter, she's supreme, she really loves the dogs. For the commentary we brought in sports TV legend Jim Rosenthal a few years ago - he's given that a whole new lift. He's doing the commentary along with Graham Partridge and they're a terrific double act.
Jim Rosenthal and Graham Partridge a terrific double act'
Because of our sporting background, people do ask, why are you doing Crufts? It's so different from covering rugby or cricket or football', says Foulser. But in a way, there are lots of similarities. It's a big event, with things going on in an arena. Our director who covers the main arena is Daniel Hudson, who's one of our rugby directors; he directed the Rugby World Cup finals in 2019.
We've got some absolutely top people. Our executive producer is Gary Francis who was behind all the Channel 4 cricket
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Leading the way: Sunset Vine gives Crufts the major sports event treatment Paws' for thought about the production team that brings the world's biggest dog show to our screens By Michael Burns 
