Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Carving Powder: Austrian Broadcaster ORF on the Challenges of Bringing the Alpine Ski World Cup on the Rettenbach Glacier to Viewers

14/10/2024

Carving powder: Austrian broadcaster ORF on the challenges of bringing the Alpine Ski World Cup on the Rettenbach Glacier to viewers By Heather McLean

Friday, October 11, 2024 - 09:31

Print This Story

ORF is the host broadcaster for the Alpine Ski World Cup 2024, S lden, Austria

The winter season is starting once again at S lden in Austria, where the F d ration Internationale de Ski et de Snowboard (FIS) Alpine Ski World Cup is set to take place for the 30th time on the Rettenbach Glacier for the Alpine Ski Championship Season Opener.

With the women's giant slalom set to take off down the glacier on Saturday 26 October and the men's competition on Sunday 27, the athletes will compete against the mountain, the clock and themselves.

Rettenbach Glacier with one of the steepest pitches on the tour is one of the select few on the World Cup circuit to hold both the ladies' and men's events. Austrian national public broadcaster, ORF, is the host broadcaster for FIS at the Alpine Ski World Cup.

The camera plan for S lden in Austria, where the F d ration Internationale de Ski et de Snowboard (FIS) Alpine Ski World Cup is set to take place for the 30th time on Rettenbach glacier for the Alpine Ski Championship Season Opener CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION

Moving targets

Unlike any other championship that ORF is the host broadcaster for, the glacier causes issues for the broadcast setup, as it is literally always on the move.

Says Michael K gler, ORF head of directors: It's a really demanding scene as it's a glacier and the glacier is always moving each year, so we have to adapt our set up there. We have to adapt the positions every year according to the new circumstances. I'm always going there in between to try and gauge what the situation is.

K gler comments on other challenges the glacier creates for the broadcast during set up: For us, the glacier is a real demanding situation for everybody because for the technical crew to build the setup, it can be foggy, it can be really bad circumstances. So it's always a challenge to be ready in time with all the setup and all the things, because it's a lot of stuff to bring up to the mountain, a lot of cabling.

K gler notes that unlike other mountainous ski events, because of Rettenbach and its annual movement, this is the only one ORF carries out where there is no cabling infrastructure ready to plug into.

He states: Compared to some other great races like Kitzb hel [the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup race, Hahnenkamm World Cup Races, Austria] where we have a lot of fibre lines already in the mountain, you cannot do that on the glacier.

Every single cable has to be brought to its position, and this is a lot of work to do, continues K gler. And it's also challenging because the racecourse is really slippery and icy, and so if the people are not able to walk and to work, especially under this circumstance, it's difficult. It's not like the soccer field. Soccer fields, you go in, it's a plain stadium. You have your outlet there, you have the pre-cabling. So skiing itself, like a biathlon or cross country, is one of those events which are really demanding for the technical staff, especially for the crew to set up. I give them a really big round of applause for what they're doing, because whatever the wish is, they try to make it possible. So this is the challenge we have there.

Rettenbach glacier causes issues for the broadcast setup for ORF, as the glacier moves every year so no permanent cabling can be put in place. Everything must be taken up the mountain in the two days prior to the Alpine Ski Championship Season Opener

Austrian enthusiasm

The technical crew will arrive on site for the setup on the Tuesday prior to the event, then they have Wednesday and Thursday to get everything up the mountain and set up on the glacier, with test day on Friday.

K gler adds: The positive thing there is that people are enthusiastic especially in Austria about these winter sports and alpine races. We have a complete arena in the finish area for the people to watch, which is integrated into the lift station. There are stands, there is a complete setup there; this is really packed and crowded with between 15,000 and 20,000 people in the finish area. And this finish area is on a parking lot, so there is concrete there which makes the situation easier for us to work in, and for fans to congregate in.

Although this season we have a complete change of the setup from the side where we put the cameras in the finish; we were previously on race's right side but this year we go back to the race's left side, which we were doing about 10 years ago, but then for the flow of the audience they had a different concept. But now we are back on the left side, which for us is a big advantage because using a crane camera, we can get a shot like in a soccer stadium with a big crowd in the back.

This is great for us because now we have the celebrating audience in the back and the athletes in the front, so this is giving another dynamic shot for the audience.

On site production

Solden is produced entirely on site, with OB 1, ORF's own truck. Says K gler. This has to be an OB event; it doesn't make sense in this case to say no, I would go with this or with that remote production, we can save money or whatever, because you always have to move and adapt on ski. The handheld positions, for example, I go down on each racecourse before the race and according to the setup of the racecourse, I decide where to put the handheld cameras. You always have to renew the plan and you always have to adapt, and actually the second challenge for cameras is also the safety challenge. You are not allowed to go in certain positions due to safety issues, even though you would have a better angle
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/carving-powder-austrian-broad...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

31/03/2026

PSSI Taps Appear X for Live Coverage of FIFA World Cup

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/03/2026

OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business...

OpenDrives, a leader in software-defined video and rich media storage management solutions, will demonstrate several new innovations at the 2026 NAB Show in Apr...

31/03/2026

SDVI to Showcase Platform Enhancements New Technology Int...

At the 2026 NAB Show, SDVI will demonstrate how its Rally media supply chain management platform continues to give media operations teams the tools they need to...

31/03/2026

Boland Communications Introduces QD4K315HDR10 QD-OLED Ser...

Boland Communications today announced that at the 2026 NAB Show, it will introduce its new QD4K315HDR10, a 31.5-inch QD-OLED monitor delivering exceptional colo...

31/03/2026

NUGEN Audio CEO Dr Paul Tapper to Lead Presentation About...

Dr. Paul Tapper, CEO of NUGEN Audio, will lead an essential industry discussion at the 2026 NAB Show, examining whether dialog intelligibility is poised to beco...

31/03/2026

BCNEXXT at NAB 2026 - Turning Industry Pressure into Oppo...

BCNEXXT will use NAB 2026 to focus on how broadcasters can turn today's operational and market pressures into opportunity. Meeting with customers in the IAB...

31/03/2026

Mediagenix Showcases Semantic Intelligence Powered Title...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase its latest innovations at th...

31/03/2026

DHD Introduces AI-Based Audio Noise Reduction to XD3 IP C...

DHD announces that AI-based audio noise reduction is now available as a powerful new option for its XD3 IP Core. Developed in cooperation with ai-coustics, audi...

31/03/2026

PTZOptics to showcase intelligent video and camera contro...

PTZOptics will showcase its vision for intelligent video and advanced camera automation at NAB Show 2026 (#N1902). Through immersive demonstrations and technolo...

31/03/2026

Experience Commerce Wins Social Media Mandate for ICONIQA...

Experience Commerce, a leading full-service digital marketing agency and part of the Cheil SWA Group, has secured the social media mandate for ICONIQA Hotels & ...

31/03/2026

Fabric to Showcase Cloud-Native Origin Platform and Next-...

Fabric, the entertainment industry's leader in data and operations solutions, will showcase a major expansion of its media technology platform at NAB 2026, ...

31/03/2026

Boland Communications Introduces New QD-OLED Series Monitors

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/03/2026

Carr Warns NFL Over Streaming Rights, Consumer Costs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/03/2026

Farhan Khan Appointed FCC Chief Information Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/03/2026

Federal Judge Pauses Nexstar/Tegna Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/03/2026

Boris FX Acquires Vegas Pro, Sound Forge, and Acid Pro

Boris FX Acquires Vegas Pro, Sound Forge, and Acid Pro Jessie Electa Petrov March 30, 2026 0 Comments The acclaimed VFX developer bolsters its award-w...

31/03/2026

Berklee India Exchange Presents Anirudh Varma Collective

Berklee India Exchange Presents Anirudh Varma Collective The collective will present a workshop on Hindustani classical music and a concert in collaboration w...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Manifold to Demonstrate 400GbE COTS FPGA Support

Manifold Technologies, a Germany-based provider of cloud infrastructure for live broadcast production, will demonstrate support for 400GbE COTS FPGA accelerator...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Boland Communications Introduces QD-OLED Series Monitors

Boland Communications will introduce its QD4K315HDR10, a 31.5-inch QD-OLED monitor, at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C3519, April 18-22). The company is also introducing...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: PTZOptics to Showcase Move 4K and Horizon Platform

PTZOptics will demonstrate its Move 4K PTZ cameras and Horizon web-based control platform at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N1902). Move 4K with Horizon is now available...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Net Insight to Showcase Updated Nimbra Edge

Net Insight will demonstrate the next version of Nimbra Edge, its orchestration and control layer for live media services across multi-domain environments, at N...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Appear to Showcase Live Production Processing

Appear ASA will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W1531, April 19-22, Las Vegas). The company completed an IPO in November 2025. Our customer-first approach is ...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Harmonic Announces New Live Sports Streaming Capabilities

Harmonic has announced new capabilities for its sports streaming platform, covering multiview, programmatic advertising, in-stream advertising, and content wate...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Ateme to Showcase GenAI, Agentic AI, and Streaming

Ateme (Booth W1723) will demonstrate broadcast, streaming, and AI-driven media workflow solutions at NAB Show 2026. GenAI and Agentic AI Ateme will demonstrat...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Bitmovin's Player Web X Adds Advertising Support, Vertical Video, and Proprietary ABR Algorithm

Bitmovin has announced new capabilities for Player Web X, its web video player, ...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Brazil's Minister of Communications and FCC Commissioner To Speak

The 2026 NAB Show (April 18-22, exhibits April 19-22, Las Vegas Convention Center) will host Brazil's Minister of Communications, Frederico de Siqueira Filh...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: EVS To Showcase Expanded Live Production Ecosystem

EVS will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N1841), highlighting new products and updates across its live production portfolio, including the debut of T-Motion med...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Solid State Logic To Demonstrate Expanded Virtual System T Platform

Solid State Logic will demonstrate its virtualized System T platform at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C6907). Demonstrations will include the VTE1 virtual DSP engine, ne...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: Globecast To Showcase Managed Media Services Approach

Globecast will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W3335), highlighting its hybrid service model spanning satellite, IP, fiber, and cloud. The company will demonst...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: IP Showcase Returns as IPMX Moves to Deployment

The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), and the Video Services Forum (VSF) have announced that the IP Showcase w...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: BBright To Demonstrate Single-Stream ST 2110 Playout

At NAB Show 2026 BBright will present a demonstration of its One Stream for the World concept, showing how a single ST 2110 playout stream can simultaneously ...

30/03/2026

NAB 2026: OpenDrives To Demonstrate New Storage and Edge Products

OpenDrives will demonstrate new products at NAB Show 2026, with two locations in the West Hall: a pod (W3443-E) in the Sports Business Hub and a cabana at W1158...

30/03/2026

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Hosts 90th Master Tournament With Host Terry Gannon

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and repo...

30/03/2026

Op-Ed: Preparing for Agentic AI in Live Sports

The economics of live sports streaming have changed. New rights models, cloud production tools, and lower-cost distribution have made it possible for high schoo...

30/03/2026

Movimento Strings from Sonora Cinematic

MPE-capable chamber strings library announced Alongside their collection of Kontakt instruments, Sonora Cinematic have been steadily introducing a series of...

30/03/2026

UJAM release Groovemate Latigo

Latin-inspired percussion instrument announced Built on a newly developed engine and interface, UJAM's latest instrument has been designed to create Lat...

30/03/2026

Best Service launch Desert Winds

Latest Eduardo Tarilonte collaboration announced The latest library to join Best Service's ever-growing range includes four solo wind instruments that c...

30/03/2026

SOS Music Creators Survey 2026

We want to hear from you! Complete our SOS Quick Survey and enter the prize draw for a chance to win one of three $50 Amazon vouchers! Sound On Sound carri...

30/03/2026

Government of Canada Selects MAS for Strategic Tanker Fleet Sustainment

CC-330 Husky. 2024 Eric Desbiens Photography. Used with permission for the announcement and related communications. No residual rights....

30/03/2026

L3Harris Included in MDA Space Solution for RCN ISTAR Program

L3Harris Technologies will provide WESCAM CMX -8 sensor systems for integration on new Uncrewed Aircraft Systems from MDA Space, enhancing the Royal Canadian Na...

30/03/2026

EVS to Debut T-Motion Robotics at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/03/2026

SDVI To Feature New Rally Media Supply Chain Management Enhancements

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/03/2026

Boland Communications Introduces QD4K315HDR10 QD-OLED Series Monitors

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/03/2026

Mileto Tecnologia accelerates streaming growth with Synam...

Synamedia today announced that Mileto Tecnologia, one of Brazil's largest pay-TV operators, has chosen the Synamedia Go platform to support its rapid OTT ex...

30/03/2026

FOR-A's Software-Defined, AI-Powered Development Advances with Nippon TV and NVIDIA Technology

FOR-A's Software-Defined, AI-Powered Development Advances with Nippon TV and...