Global Production meets the Tour de Ski and Nordic Combined World Championship head on By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent
Monday, January 25, 2021 - 14:56
Print This Story
Athletic crew are a must for Alpine and Nordic ski events
The 15th edition of the Tour de Ski took place from 1 to 10 January across three locations in Switzerland and Italy. The event culminated in Val di Fiemme on Alpe Cermis, where athletes challenged themselves over a 10km course in the Final Climb as part of three days of events running from 8 to 10 January.
This was followed by the Nordic Combined World Championship on 15 to 16 January, with both proving interesting from a sporting and a technical perspective.
Euro Media Group (EMG) subsidiary, Global Production, which has a long heritage in the skiing world having been involved in the production of the Ski World Cup, alpine skiing and Nordic skiing in Italy and France, was called in to manage the production across all the slopes in the Dolomites.
Alpine versus Nordic
Alpine skiing includes races with fast slopes, slalom and all its variants. Nordic skiing, on the other hand, combines winter sports disciplines on non-downhill skis and includes biathlon, cross-country skiing, telemark, Nordic combined, ski touring, orientation skiing, ski archery and ski jumping.
Global Production, a super-specialised mobile production vehicles company, uses its powerful technology on the tracks of both disciplines, mainly utilising large OB vans that also manage remote control galleries. It has been following Tour de Ski events, on behalf of the rights holder and producer Swiss Infront, since 2013 (previously RAI took care of it).
This year saw Global Production deploy around 60 technicians and a helicopter equipped with Cineflex and two track quads that follow the athletes on the move and shoots images thanks to a light steadycam and radio links. A total of 38 cameras, including specialty devices, followed the action.
Taking in the alpine scenery
Athletic crew
Indeed, the crews taking care of filming must have technical and athletic characteristics as well as artistic ones to carry out such difficult television production. The team must move on the same slopes that the athletes face and contend with adverse weather conditions, which were particularly severe this year.
For the Val di Fiemme production, a control room was established in Tesero in the Alpe del Cermis area and was completely remote operated by one of Global's largest mobile vehicles, the OB6.
OB6, hired as the main gallery to produce the host broadcaster feed, guarantees the required distance between the operators on board, given the large internal square footage for each of the different control areas.
Moreno Roncon, technical co-ordinator at Global Production, explained: In practice only the operators are on site. All remaining technicians, including the director and the satellite link broadcast equipment are almost 30km downstream.
The typical problems related to the COVID pandemic led to the use of a very large vehicle, the OB6, to be able to guarantee the necessary distances between the various personnel on board. Then external spaces were prepared, where necessary, with special containers.
OB6's super gallery also remotely controlled a second smaller control room, located near the ski jump trampoline in Predazzo, over 22km away.
For the Val di Fiemme production, a control room was established in Tesero in the Alpe del Cermis area and was completely remote operated by one of Global's largest mobile vehicles, the OB6
Remotely operated kit
The set up was made possible thanks to 48 full fibre connections between the super galley, the MCR and the cameras, connected to special hub intermediate stations, multiplexed Riedel MediorNet and fibre-to-fibre conversion systems for system cameras.
Roncon adds: Thanks to fixed connections, made with dark optical fibres and laid by Trentino Network that wired the valley, we could completely remote operate cameras, microphones, monitors, interviews and all the equipment in the trampoline jump area.
In total three locations were involved, the Predazzo Ski Jump Stadium, the cross-country ski circuit of Lago di Tesero, where a mass start was performed, and the Piazza dei Campioni of Cavalese where the opening and awards ceremonies were held.
Complexity was also added by the fact that each race on each of the three days forced a change in the configuration of the technical set up that made live TV coverage on Eurosport HD and RAI HD possible.
Difficulties arose from the high number of cabled camera points used to satisfy the different disciplines on different days: the change of race from one day to the other required important set-ups inside the OB van to ensure the correct vision of the sources and the routing of signals towards replays, MUX and more.
Solving problems
Davide Furlan, co-CEO of Global Production, said: Even though we have been super-specialised for years, the very high degree of complexity of these productions on the snow added this year to the unpredictable COVID-19 variable, making everything much more complicated and expensive.
Unfortunately, each Local Organising Committee acted according to its own directives, each establishing which was the best health protocol to use and with obvious differences. The television service, by nature, must solve all problems related to the logistics of the crews and vehicles involved in production and we hire hundreds of people arriving from different parts of Italy for these events. Some come from home, others move directly from one venue to another, making the management of health protection very complex, given that we all have to and want to work safely.
Thus, we had to solve emergency situations due to sudden positive swabs, operator replacements, provide backups, mana
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
Global Production meets the Tour de Ski and Nordic Combined World Championship head on By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent 
