Moving on up: Timeline joins the big league with significant studio and OB fleet expansion By Will Strauss, Editor
Friday, April 22, 2022 - 10:27
Print This Story
The UK-based technical services provider Timeline has added a raft of new studios, galleries and trucks to its facilities arsenal as part of a multi-million-pound expansion that brings the company in line with some of Europe's biggest sports broadcasting suppliers.
New presentation studios and galleries have been added to the firm's Ealing Broadcast Centre (EBC), doubling its capacity, while a new remote production hub has been installed at Timeline North, in MediaCityUK, Salford.
At the same time, the liquidation of rival OB firm Arena Television has allowed Timeline the chance to buy three additional large UHD units and a sizeable VT truck, bringing the number of 4K units in its fleet to five.
We have a very comprehensive fleet now, that enables us to quote for larger, more complex jobs. We are [operating] in the top end of the OB market now.
Talking to SVG Europe, head of operations Dave Harnett said of the expansion: It doubles the size of the company. We now have seven galleries here at Ealing and just under 20 edit suites. And three studios of different sizes. We have the capacity to take on more and the customer interest has been huge. It's quite rare in the current market to have an ultimately connected broadcast facility with high-end spec, including backup facilities, in west London with large studio spaces.
You can go to places with large studio spaces and they can do a sports show, he continued, but if you want to do an integrated remote production or really complex shows, they are not geared up to it as they don't control both ends: they don't have trucks and fly away facilities. That is what we have found is our niche.
The new studios in Ealing - which are 2,000 sq ft, 2,400 sq ft and 430 sq ft respectively are shiny floor' TV spaces with resin floors and lighting rigs. New galleries have been added to support the studios complete with Calrec audio desks, Grass Valley vision mixers and Riedel Communications talkback.
The smaller studio, Studio 3, is set up for fast turnaround virtual set jobs.
The Timeline North hub (pictured, right) includes a gallery, sound room and EVS room and makes use of remote surface control panels, linked to, and driving equipment installed in, OB trucks on site.
It was conceived for BBC Sport's FA Cup contract and used for the first time during live coverage of the semi-finals of that competition last weekend (16-17 April 2022).
The hub, which is connected by a diverse 10GBps fibre to the EBC, is now being made available to other broadcasters and producers to use, including those who want, or need, to have crews or execs split between London and the North West during a production.
The FA Cup contract was previously held by Arena Television. Arena ceased trading in November 2021 with asset debts of £282m.
In addition to the OB and VT units, Timeline has also picked up significant amounts of kit, including cameras, EVS' and ancillary gear, that was previously operated by Arena and recruited a number of staff previously employed by the company, including unit managers.
The EBC phased expansion project took approximately nine months to complete, starting in May 2021, and culminating last month with Six Nations rugby. It puts the company firmly into the big league when it comes to sports facilities provision, as CEO Daniel McDonnell was happy to point out.
We have a very comprehensive fleet now, with seven trucks being large-scale IP 4K HDR units, that enables us to quote for larger, more complex jobs. We are [operating] in the top end of the OB market now.
Timeline clients include BT Sport, Sunset+Vine, BBC Sport, ITV Sport and Whisper.
More from Sports Video Group
08/07/2025
Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control...
08/07/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN&#...
08/07/2025
Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an ...
08/07/2025
SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast NESN is following up the retrocast with a week-long celebration of the Green Monster By...
07/07/2025
1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distributi...
07/07/2025
Tests and decisions: Formula E host broadcaster Aurora on launching new AR graph...
07/07/2025
Building tension: Using new AR graphics for storytelling at the Formula E penult...
07/07/2025
Altitude Sports' Matt Krol on the Success of the RSN's In-Arena Postgame...
07/07/2025
SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots An in-depth conversation with 49ers Laura Johnson, Ravens Jay O'Brien, Las Vegas R...
07/07/2025
Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's ...
02/07/2025
Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...
02/07/2025
Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...
02/07/2025
Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...
02/07/2025
Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...
02/07/2025
CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...
01/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...
01/07/2025
The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...
01/07/2025
Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...
01/07/2025
NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...
01/07/2025
TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...
27/06/2025
How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns
Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13
Print This Story
Live sport is especially vulnerab...
27/06/2025
Behind the Mic: FOX Sports Ratchets Up UEFA Women's EURO 2025 With Top-Class...
27/06/2025
RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe
Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
27/06/2025
Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...
27/06/2025
Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...
27/06/2025
NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...
26/06/2025
10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...
26/06/2025
The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...
26/06/2025
Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...
25/06/2025
SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...
25/06/2025
ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...
24/06/2025
2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...
24/06/2025
Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on ...
24/06/2025
Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation ...
24/06/2025
Lions live: Dublin opener sees Sky Sports take remote route By Fergal Ringrose ...
24/06/2025
Pumas maul Lions as S4C and TG4 deliver first-ever joint host in Dublin By Ferg...
24/06/2025
ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By Mark ...
23/06/2025
Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NB...
23/06/2025
Finding the edge: How Badger & Combes produces live-streamed coverage of county ...
23/06/2025
Masters of Madness: New football format shakes up the rules of sportainment By Adrian Pennington
Monday, June 16, 2025 - 11:38
Print This Story
The ball i...
23/06/2025
New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Build...
23/06/2025
ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production F...
20/06/2025
Feeling Unlimited, Part 1: Athletes Unlimited Softball League Deploys Remote Pro...
20/06/2025
A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can...
20/06/2025
Sky Sports goes large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR graphics, UHD a...
20/06/2025
ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, L...
Moving on up: Timeline joins the big league with significant studio and OB fleet expansion By Will Strauss, Editor 
