Setting the Standard: The Story Behind ITV Sport's New Virtual Presentation Hub

Setting the standard: The story behind ITV Sport's new virtual presentation hub By Will Strauss

Thursday, February 16, 2023 - 10:29

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Paul McNamara, senior director and executive producer for major events at ITV Sport, talks to SVG Europe about the origin of the broadcaster's new virtual studio set, provides an insight into what it's like to direct in a virtual environment, and reveals that rugby won't be the only sport to make use of it.

The 2023 Six Nations is now well underway with Ireland topping the standings at a tournament that includes a clutch of new additions: a shot clock to reduce delays, revised water carrier rules, and a fresh head coach for England. But these are not the only interesting differentials at this year's Championship.

ITV Sport, one of two UK rights holders (the other being the BBC), has introduced a new virtual studio set to support the coverage of matches where it is not doing the on-site host broadcast.

The set, which made its debut during Italy vs France in week 1 of the competition, is acting as a hub for the public service broadcaster, allowing enhanced pre-match, half-time and full-time presentation and analysis to take place in London while the match action happens in Rome, Paris, Cardiff, Dublin or Glasgow.

I wanted even the smallest shows to look great. And I wanted the big shows to look amazing. I wanted a sense of depth and a sense of scale. In a physical studio, it is very, very hard to get that sense of depth.

Built in Unreal Engine, controlled using Brainstorm, and operated by MOOV, the set features a physical desk and then multiple virtual stand-up and seated presentation positions featuring live VR screens.

AR graphics elements from team line-ups to manager avatars can be added too, created by MOOV, with tracking done using Mo-Sys Star Tracker.

The physical green screen set where the presenters and pundits share their expertise and insight is housed at Timeline's Ealing Broadcast Centre in West London. It features three pedestal cameras and the all-important jib, on which most of the graphics land.

Perhaps most interestingly of all, it's not just a set that will be used for the rugby. It has been designed as a hub for (potentially) any of ITV Sport's output, to be used as and when required, as Paul McNamara, senior director and executive producer for major events at ITV told SVG Europe. And, although it took 10 months from concept to on-air, it's origins go back still further.

You can trace it back to when we moved out of The London Studios [an ITV-owned facility that closed in April 2018], explains McNamara.

All of our sets had been designed for that space. And we had used a mixture of studios ever since. It worked fine but it wasn't perfect. That was one factor. The other factor was that when we were planning for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, we planned to present on site. But as we were getting closer to the tournament we were still coming up against issues regarding vaccinations, and what the infrastructure and the administration would be. We were confident but we were never 100% that we would get there. There was always a sense that the entry process for personnel might change.

Paul McNamara (second from right) speaking at SVG Europe's Football Summit in 2022

So with that in mind, we thought it would be prudent to have a backup studio. But we didn't want to create a vast physical studio if it wasn't going to be used. So then we got on a roll: could we create something that would be useful for Qatar, that could operate as primarily a studio for the World Cup, and be good enough and appropriate enough for that? But also be a studio for us going forward? That's where my thinking was and how I sold the concept into the business.

A pitching process then followed, primarily with companies and designers that ITV has worked with previously. The brief was pretty simple: a versatile space with a sense of depth and a sense of scale. Oh yeah, and it had to look incredible.

I wanted an ITV Sport hub that could cover the range of sports that we have in our portfolio, continues McNamara. Something that is multi-functional so we can put in the smallest of shows and have a two-person stand-up operation at the lower end of our budget. Or have a Six Nations, or a major tournament, at the other end.

I wanted even the smallest shows to look great. And I wanted the big shows to look amazing. I wanted a sense of depth and a sense of scale. In a physical studio, it is very, very hard to get that sense of depth. And I wanted flexibility. For the presenters to walk or sit.

There was also a desire to provide a behind the scenes' narrative for the viewer.

I wanted the viewer to see the presenter in one area, but then be able look into another area as well and be thinking: maybe later on they are setting up for the horse racing or the football.' The feeling that it was a hub with lots of areas and activity.

The designers chosen to realise this concept were Jim Mann of Lightwell and Toby Kalitowski from BK Design Projects.

They really got the brief, says McNamara. They really got that high-end show look, but they also understood that we might need to cover [a low-budget show] for a few days. I feel they have given me an amazing look across the board.

A working committee was then set up that included McNamara, Mann and Kalitowski plus ITV Sport technical director Tony Cahalane, director of photography Chris Hollier, and motion graphics designer and director Kim Teddy.

During the testing phase, we looked to lock down the creative possibilities to give it some structure. On the day [of a match], you have to make a show. You have to editorialise. You can't just float around in an endless way.

Timeline and MOOV were then added and once the conce

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