FutureSPORT 2023: AI and sustainability top the agenda at packed SVG Europe event By George Bevir
Friday, November 24, 2023 - 11:47
Print This Story
Panasonic's Josh Milligan welcomes attendees at FutureSPORT 2023
Artificial intelligence and sustainability topped the agenda at yesterday's FutureSPORT event, with speakers from F1, the Premier League, the BBC, Sky, DAZN and more sharing their insights with the capacity crowd.
Sponsored by Panasonic Connect, some 280 people attended the event at the Oval in south London for a day of panels, presentations, networking and exhibits plus the inaugural Sports Broadcasting Achievements.
We need to be bold and push the boundaries, otherwise we won't engage those younger audiences
After networking and a tour of the famous international cricket ground, Panasonic Connect field marketing manager Josh Milligan delivered some welcome remarks before Caretta Research's Rebecca Jackson spoke about the shift to online viewing and its impact on sports production, and the growing opportunity for the distribution of niche sports.
Left to right: SVG Europe's Will Strauss, Louise Lawler, DAZN, Cliona O'Leary, Sport Ireland, Wendy Hendrickx, F1, Rachael Nightingale, Premier League, Victoria Cotton, BBC Sport.
The first panel of the day featured Wendy Hendrickx, F1, head of live production, Victoria Cotton, BBC Sport, executive producer, live streaming, Louise Lawler, DAZN, VP of production and editorial operations, Cliona O'Leary, Sport Ireland, director of corporate affairs, communications and marketing and Rachael Nightingale, Premier League, head of media operations and innovation who were tasked with identifying - and solving sports broadcasting's future challenges.
Having shared some insights into the Premier League's recent gamification' trials, Nightingale sounded a note of caution: We don't have Game Mode as the main feed, because we know it will alienate traditional viewers. We need to be careful about how we change our products. But, at the same time, we need to be bold and push the boundaries, otherwise we won't engage those younger audiences.
Lawler then spoke about the role of influencers in helping to attract new - and often younger - viewers to boxing.
The reach of social media influencers is insane, she said. And there isn't a sport in the world that wouldn't want to embrace that they are proper fights, and from a commercial perspective I cant's stress how successful this has been. It's been really positive to embrace these fans who might not otherwise be fans. They're now engaging with the sport, and it's bringing entertainment into the ring.
MRMC was technology partner for FutureSPORT 2023, providing robotic cameras and a slider to capture video of the event.
Up next was a case study from Tata on the subject of embracing the future of media, with Carolina Santos, ATP Media, head of broadcast operations and engineering in conversation with Brijesh Yadav, Tata Communications, global head of media business: sales, business development and innovations.
After more networking and lunch, former BT Sport Mobile & Immersive Director Matt Stagg took to the stage to explain the latest developments with generative AI.
He provided delegate with three takeaways: that generative AI will allow production teams to do more for less, particularly in the area of monetisation. Also, that AI tools will help the ongoing democratisation of production, allowing lower tier and grassroots sports to capture and share their content. And finally, that generative AI doesn't moan, so is a perfect tool for completing the kind of tasks that can be considered a burden, thus freeing up time for creatives and those in editorial to be more creative.
Networking at FutureSPORT 2023
The focus on AI continued with a thought leader perspectives panel on the subject of AI for Good', with Ross Munro, WSC Sports, head of commercial UK & Ireland, Alireza Shahrestani, Sponix Tech, marketing director, Imogen Kimberley, Newsbridge, regional sales manager, Alain Polgar, Chyron, SVP of sales, EMEA & APAC discussing why AI will be a positive force for the wider sports broadcasting and production sector.
Kimberley commented: Smart vendors recognise there is an AI bias and will work with you to address that.
Sustainability was a theme that cropped up in most discussions, and was the focus of the next panel: Green Goals: Can we build a more sustainable sports production industry?
Alex Redfern, EVS, CTO, Brian Leonard, IMG Studios, Head of Engineering, Post & Workflows, Rohan Mitchell, EMG Group, ESG Director and Steve Knee, Cloudbass, Managing Director discussed sustainability in live sports production, with a particular focus on the role played by outside broadcast companies.
Following a vigorous discussion that included a debate about the merits of the cloud and the prospects of remote production, Redfern said: As manufacturers, a stumbling block we face as an industry is that we build things for the worst case scenario and over-engineer just in case'. That's understandably driven by production, but at what point will that balance tip, because we need to reduce consumption?
Read more FutureSPORT 2023 picture gallery
There was further debate on the topic of the cloud, with the second thought leader panel of the day, on cloud TX, contribution and distribution, with Greg Burns, Arqiva, interim director of product, Jonathan Smith, NetInsight. solution area expert, Chris Fellows, Zixi, Solutions engineering manager and Sri Hari Thirunavukkarasu, Amagi, SVP sales, EMEA.
Next, attendees heard from key creatives at Sky Sports, BBC Sport and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports on the subject of presentation studios.
The discussion among Ben Wickham, Sky Sports, director of creative o
North America Stories
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
11/06/2026
Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...
11/06/2026
Telemundo will launch its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Thursday, June 11 with...
11/06/2026
FuboTV Inc. has announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal. Fubo customers can now stream Telemundo and Universo, with NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced its in-app features for FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage in Spain...
11/06/2026
Roblox has released the 2026 Roblox Digital Expression Report: Wave 4 - Sports D...
11/06/2026
FIFA has unveiled DNA, the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem, performed by A...
11/06/2026
ESPN will provide English- and Spanish-language news and information coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026 across its U.S. media platforms from June 11 through July 1...
11/06/2026
The latest product of the outstanding RIT Sports Network program, this recent grad from Long Island is carving out a promising path in broadcast engineering
In...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced a multi-year agreement to make DSPORTS channels available to ...
11/06/2026
Laura Dern at the 1986 Sundance Institute Directors Lab (Photo by Eric Edwards)
By Lucy Spicer
It takes a village to bring together the Sundance Institute lab...
11/06/2026
MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit Posted by MTI Film on June 10, 2026
LOS ANGELES, CA - June 2026 - MTI FILM, the multiple Emmy Award winning Hollywood post-p...
11/06/2026
Study underscores the need for authoritative content intelligence to build trust...
FutureSPORT 2023: AI and sustainability top the agenda at packed SVG Europe event By George Bevir 
