Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Well-oiled machine in the Formula 1 circus

16/09/2021

Well-oiled machine in the Formula 1 circus

Broadcast Rental feels at home on Circuit Zandvoort From 2016 Broadcast Rental company has had strong ties with the Formula 1 circus, where, behind the scenes - or when it comes to Zandvoort: behind the dunes - it functions like a well-oiled machine, to use an appropriate term. Frank Steenbeek describes a pretty complex operation.

As Chief Operating Officer (COO), he calls himself a bit of a jack-of-all-trades , especially when it comes to the global car racing spectacle where Broadcast Rental has such a strong presence. I make sure everyone is able to do their job with the right tools, says Steenbeek, who has been with the company since 2017. I needed a little time to master the expertise we have - there is a huge technological development and it can be tricky, especially when it comes to wireless - but at some point our Formula 1 operation was pretty transparent, so I could get focus on the frequency issue.

That part of Steenbeek's job is as crucial as it is, perhaps, underestimated. At the beginning of the year, I create a framework with agreements that we made about who goes where and what frequencies we use where. Our tower of strength, Laura de Leeuw, then organises all the flights, hotels and local car rental. After that we just need to stay on top of new developments. The operation then basically runs itself. It may sound a bit arrogant, but we rarely have any issues with our systems, because we are deeply embedded in the FOM organisation (Formula One Management, the Formula One Group's operational organisation that manages broadcasting rights, red.) and are able to switch gears very quickly. It also helps that Jeroen Klaver and Bastiaan Woering, our dedicated Formula 1 crew, are present at each race and are able to manage or solve everything by themselves.

We are essentially the biggest supplier of unilateral facilities at the circuit, even though we are only a small operation.

Seven-strong team

That strong dedicated crew and the fact that we can upscale the local infrastructure with a relatively small amount of people is our unique selling point, Steenbeek realises. So, for Broadcast Rental The Dutch GP at Zandvoort is really business as usual, except on a much larger scale, since for Ziggo Sport this is a home race.

That is why we have a seven-strong team present. Bastiaan is the regular technician for commentator Olav Mol and reporter Jack Plooij, and there are two people to man the four extra wireless cameras that are used during the studio programme on location. On top of that, through Faber, the organisation requested two systems that have to cover the entire circuit, we supply Radio 538 with a fan zone system, and we are also active for MTV 3 Finland, BBC Radio and de NENT Group. I perform a kind of twin role, in which I offer production support to Ziggo/Southfields and act as a point of contact for all parties involved.

Complex triangle

The frequency allocation was also a bit more complicated this time, states Steenbeek, All requests were collected via the Formula 1 organisation, with Audio Electronics Mattijsen coordinating everything and the Agentschap Telecom then allocating the systems. It is a complex triangle, but it does mean everything runs smoothly on the day. The AT checks the equipment before we can actually use it. This takes time, so we try and get our turn as early in the week as possible. Of course, everyone else wants the same thing, so it will be a bit of a struggle to arrange this with mutual respect

Normally, production companies or TV stations have to put in their own request for these frequencies with the Formula 1 organisation, but for half the races we do this on their behalf, because we have knowledge of the equipment that often leads to specific questions. The rest of the time, you put your requests directly to the local telecom agencies'. In Italy you get in touch with the ministry, and in Brazil it is a commercial party.

We are essentially the biggest supplier of unilateral facilities at the circuit, even though we are only a small operation. Formula 1 has its own system and of course there are lots more other foreign parties that all have their own wireless equipment. That all has to fit into the spectrum and it can lead to strange situations. In Bahrein, military installations can suddenly be switched on, and in Brazil we need a mile-long cable, because of the huge distances. We know most circuits like the back of our hand, but we don't have those kinds of details about Zandvoort yet. But I'm not at all worried that we'll go off track there

No-brainer

NENT Group has acquired the rights to Formula 1 for the next three years. You are already doing business with them, so is Broadcast Rental still assured of this amazing job?

First of all, it is still unclear how NENT will be approaching this. The fact is that the GP races will be shown on their Viaplay platform and that six of them will probably be shown on an open channel. I can't predict how NENT will be rolling out the studio and connectivity in The Netherlands, but they have indicated that they are very satisfied with the services that we have delivered over the years. I don't want to call it a no-brainer, but we hope to reach an agreement about delivering systems for multiple countries and in multiple languages. We can easily draw on our current activities.

We get in touch every week to discuss the coming race: how are we doing, what are the plans? Apart from unilateral issues that can be dealt with on the spot, we can also take care of connectivity from the circuit to the different countries. That happens through our own MCR in Hilversum. Whether it is Australia or Belgium, the signals arrive with us through a fibre-optic connection and we do all the checks, both with the
LINK: https://www.broadcastrental.com/well-oiled-machine-in-the-formula-1-ci...
See more stories from broadcastrental

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 ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

28/08/2026

Joseph Bell Announces VFX & Animation World Atlas 2026

Joseph Bell Announces VFX & Animation World Atlas 2026 Joseph Bell August 28, 2026 0 Comments Joseph Bell's Visual Effects & Animation World Atlas...

28/08/2026

Paris-Troyes en Champagne Goes Live on France.tv with AVEO

Paris-Troyes en Champagne Goes Live on France.tv with AVEO Brie Clayton August 28, 2026 0 Comments Regional audiovisual company builds broadcastgrade ...

28/08/2026

DHD to Introduce its Third-Generation Audio Mixing Console at IBC 2026

DHD to Introduce its Third-Generation Audio Mixing Console at IBC 2026 Brie Clayton August 28, 2026 0 Comments DHD.audio has chosen IBC 2026 as the la...

28/08/2026

Grass Valley AMPP Provides an All-Encompassing Approach t...

Encompass Digital Media and Grass Valley are expanding their collaboration with the launch of Altitude Playout Plus, a software-defined channel origination plat...

28/08/2026

Yospace releases new Ad Presentation solution

Yospace, the trusted leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), has announced the release of its Ad Presentation solution, which enables broadcasters to apply non-li...

28/08/2026

TSL Showcases Reduced Complexity for Control and Monitori...

TSL Showcases Reduced Complexity for Control & Monitoring Across IP Workflows at IBC2026 New TSL Hummingbird capabilities including Dante control routing, toge...

28/08/2026

Lutz Rathmann to Become CEO of Riedel Communications

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/08/2026

Spectrum Offers Lower-Income Internet Customers Free Amazon Prime

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/08/2026

FCC Exempts Public Access Channels from Closed Captioning

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/08/2026

Elon Musk's X Launches NFL Gametime on X

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/08/2026

GlobalM and Lamhas Partner to Expand Managed IP Broadcast...

GlobalM and Lamhas Satellite Services today announced a new agreement that will see GlobalMs GMX technology deployed as part of Lamhas expanding managed IP broa...

28/08/2026

Boland Communications Introduces SMPTE ST 2110 Option for...

Integrated 25GbE Connectivity Delivers UHD Video Directly to Up to Two Monitors, Eliminates External Gateways, and Supports SMPTE ST 2022-7 Network-Path Protect...

28/08/2026

JT-DMF Invites IBC2026 Attendees to Help Shape the Future...

Interactive Ask Me Anything sessions will connect broadcasters and technology providers with the experts developing a practical, interoperable roadmap for sof...

28/08/2026

TAG Video Systems Cuts Live Production Latency Below Two...

At IBC2026, TAG will show sub-2-frame latency and 800 Gbps of aggregate scale for uncompressed ST 2110 monitoring in software, live MXL interoperability with pa...

28/08/2026

SportsBox BHVs Ultra-Compact 4K Remote Switcher Moves fro...

SportsBox, BHV's Ultra-Compact 4K Remote Switcher, Moves from Development to Production at IBC 2026 SportsBox brings flexibility without compromise to high...

28/08/2026

Riedel Evolves Leadership and Global Go-to-Market Organiz...

Lutz Rathmann named CEO of Riedel Communications Anthony Zuyderhoff to lead unified customer-facing organization as CCO Riedel Communications is strengthenin...

28/08/2026

Scripps Research establishes endowed fund honoring institute president and CEO Pete Schultz

LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research has established the Pete Schultz Fund for Innovati...

28/08/2026

Chemists develop simpler method to make molecular building block for drug development

LA JOLLA, CA-Chemical structures called cyclopropanols are among the most useful...

27/08/2026

ESPN Adds College Football Saturdays to Disney+ This Fall

ESPN and Disney are launching College Football Saturdays, adding two college football games per week to Disney for U.S. subscribers as part of their existing ...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: Zixi to Showcase Live Video Platform and Broadcaster v19

Zixi will exhibit at IBC2026 (Hall 5, Stand 5.A76, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating the Zixi Platform and the latest release of Zixi Broadcaster, ...

27/08/2026

NDI Surpasses 1.2 Million Hardware Nodes as IBC2026 Showcase Expands

NDI has announced that its ecosystem has surpassed 1.2 million NDI-enabled hardware nodes worldwide, spanning products from more than 200 hardware brands across...

27/08/2026

Clear-Com FreeSpeak Cell Trialed During Rio Carnival Before Commercial Launch

Clear-Com conducted a pre-launch field trial of FreeSpeak Cell during Carnival 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, in partnership with Brazilian systems integrator Savana C...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: BVH SportsBox Remote Mixer Becomes Reality

BHV returns to IBC 2026 with an important milestone for its own SportsBox: the broadcast industry's smallest remote vision mixer and format processor has mo...

27/08/2026

TOGETHXR and Snapchat Announce Second Snap the Gap Athlete Cohort

TOGETHXR and Snapchat have announced the second cohort of their Snap the Gap content creator program, welcoming nine athletes as Snap Stars. The program provide...

27/08/2026

CNBC UK Selects MediaKind Beam for Live News Infrastructure

MediaKind has announced that CNBC UK has selected Beam to modernize its contribution and distribution infrastructure for live broadcast operations. The deployme...

27/08/2026

Monitor Engineer Chris Dwight Deploys Sennheiser Spectera on Puscifer and A Perfect Circle Tours

Monitor engineer Chris Dwight has deployed Sennheiser's Spectera wideband bi...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: Telestream Expands UP Platform

Telestream has announced an expansion of its UP cloud-native platform, adding capabilities for orchestrating Telestream services, third-party technologies, and ...

27/08/2026

Swerve TV Signs Multi-Year Partnership with GLORY Kickboxing

Swerve TV has signed a multi-year partnership with GLORY Kickboxing, bringing live GLORY events and library programming to Swerve Combat, Swerve TV's free a...

27/08/2026

AFP and Dalet Integrate AFP Content Into Dalet Flex Newsroom Workflow

Dalet has announced a new integrated content experience with Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Dalet Flex, designed to bring AFP's editorial metadata into the p...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: Grass Valley to Demonstrate Integrated Live Production Environment

Grass Valley will demonstrate an integrated live production environment at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), combining K-Frame, Maverik X, ...

27/08/2026

NWSL and Roku Expand Partnership with Sunday Night Streaming Package

The National Women's Soccer League and Roku have announced an expanded partnership, with the Roku Sports Channel becoming the exclusive streaming home of ei...

27/08/2026

Fubo Adds ACC Network Extra and SEC Network+ to Streaming Service

FuboTV has announced the launch of ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) and SEC Network (SECN ) on the Fubo streaming service at no additional cost to subscribers with En...

27/08/2026

Moment Branding: Using Sound to Create More Powerful Fan Experiences

Sports marketers have entered the experiential age. Today, sports teams, leagues, and venues are increasingly using immersive interactions and real world events...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: MultiDyne to Debut MDoG-8800 12G Fiber Transport Module

MultiDyne will introduce the MDoG-8800 at IBC2026 (Stand 11.C12, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), extending its openGear portfolio with a high-density fiber tra...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: JT-DMF To Host Ask Me Anything' Sessions

The Joint Task Force on the Dynamic Media Facility (JT-DMF), an initiative of AMWA and the EBU, will host a series of informal Ask Me Anything sessions during...

27/08/2026

Homestream Syncs Duke, Auburn and Georgia Tech Football, Basketball Radio Calls to Live TV Broadcasts

Homestream, a mobile app that automatically syncs a team's local radio broad...

27/08/2026

Spikes Under the Lights Brings Collegiate Volleyball to AT&T Stadium in a Made-for-TV Event Built for Scale

A packager for TNT Sports, Kwokman Productions is on hand for the unique event w...

27/08/2026

25 Seasons of New York Yankees on YES Network: The Day 1 Crew Looks Back on a Quarter Century in the Bronx - and Stamford

After more than 3,000 games, five members of YES Network's original staff re...

27/08/2026

Dreamtonics unveil Instrument X orchestral alternative

Physical modelling orchestral instrument announced Following their recent cryptic hints, Dreamtonics have officially revealed the latest addition to their s...

27/08/2026

Apple update the Mac mini & Mac Studio

M5 Ultra-equipped Studio most powerful Mac to date Apple have just announced a design refresh which they say makes the Mac mini fiercer and more versatil...

27/08/2026

Bitwig Studio 6.1 now available

Sampler receivers major upgrades Bitwig's latest DAW update brings some major changes to the Sampler device, kitting it out with new slicing options, tw...

27/08/2026

Arturia release Pure Sub

Designed specifically for hard-hitting modern bass Designed specifically for bass-heavy electronic music, the latest plug-in from Arturia aims to offer an a...

27/08/2026

Gracenote's first DSP integration brings show-level content intelligence to The Trade Desk

Advertisers gain granular CTV targeting and turnkey reporting across eligible in...

27/08/2026

Boland Debuts ST 2110 Option for its 4K HDR Monitors

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/08/2026

Adele Hixon-Day Joins C-SPAN as Chief Development Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/08/2026

Profuz Digital presents intelligent AI workflow orchestra...

Profuz Digital makes a mark by launching a powerful upgrade to its Profuz LAPIS digital media management platform this IBC in Amsterdam at Stand 8.A88. The late...

27/08/2026

DHD to Introduce its Third-Generation Audio Mixing Consol...

DHD.audio has chosen IBC 2026 as the launch venue for what it defines as one of the most radical advances in the companys 30 year history. Every broadcast trad...