Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Crowds and Crew Return to the Crucible for the World Snooker Championship

03/05/2022

Crowds and crew return to the Crucible for the World Snooker Championship By George Bevir

Wednesday, April 27, 2022 - 10:28

Print This Story

For the past two years, an important element of the World Snooker Championship has been largely absent: fans. Spectators were almost completely shut out in 2020, with just 300 allowed to watch the last two days of action and in 2021, the return of spectators was staggered as the tournament progressed.

This year, there has been a full return of snooker fans to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield for the duration of the event. Alongside fans, production teams have also returned, with IMG opting to move away from remote production for this year's tournament, which concludes on 2 May.

IMG executive producer Alison Witkover says viewers are likely to appreciate the return to normality. She says: It now feels like we are able to get backstage and behind the scenes more than we have been able to do for the past two years, which will make a difference for viewers - and we hope that the TV audience will feel the tension and atmosphere as we build-up to the Crucible Final.

We did some investigation and analysis into whether remote production was the best route forward, having done it in 2020, when our studio was remote and we had very minimal presence on site. That isn't really the way we wanted to continue.

Snooker fans around the world will be able to tune into the IMG Productions Scotland-produced feed, with the production firm responsible for the UK Championships, the Masters and the World Championships. IMG provides the two-table match coverage which is sent out around the world plus all the BBC's produced coverage, including its presentation, which is fronted by Hazel Irvine.

Across Europe, the tournament is streaming via discovery+ and available via Eurosport, which manages its own presentation. This year, Radzi Chinyanganya is presenting World Championships coverage for the first time after he was named as the broadcaster's host for all three of snooker's triple crown events. Discovery says it has also introduced more touch screen analysis than before, with Ronnie O'Sullivan set to join pundit Jimmy White, subject to his playing schedule (O'Sullivan was leading his quarter-final match at the time of publication).

Meanwhile, DAZN (Canada, US, Brazil), Rigour (China), Now TV (Hong Kong) and Sky Sports (New Zealand) are among those airing the tournament, with tournament promoter Matchroom also showing the action via its matchroom.live online player.

For Witkover and the IMG team, planning began before the season started, with feature content for the whole season filmed from October onwards. Additional content was produced before and throughout the World Championship, but rigging for the tournament only started about a week before the first match took place. And this year, that has meant a shift away from remote production.

We're more or less back to how we produced the coverage in 2019, says Witkover, who has worked on the World Snooker Championships since 1998.

We did some investigation and analysis into whether remote production was the best route forward, having done it in 2020, when our studio was remote and we had very minimal presence on site. That isn't really the way we wanted to continue - we wanted our main presentation on site so that we have access to the players and can bring the unique Crucible atmosphere to life.

The decision to base staff on-site was made after careful consideration by IMG's production executive.

We did a lot of Albert (Bafta-led sustainability initiative) calculations and because it's a long event and everyone comes and stays put for the 17 days, the sustainability side of it didn't come into play so much because everyone is able to walk into work rather than driving in [to a remote production centre]. We also choose hotels that use certified green energy providers to minimise our carbon footprint. Because we are on site and we stay fairly locally, we have more flexibility with crew scheduling, which is more efficient than when we produced the coverage remotely.

IMG is working with production services and outside broadcast firm NEP, which is providing the facilities for the host coverage as well as the BBC presentation, producing 168 hours of TV coverage for the BBC and even more for the world feed coverage.

NEP has five OB units on site for the event, with Venus used for table 1 match coverage, Mercury for table 2 match coverage, executive producers and loggers, Albiorix for BBC presentation, Voyager 1 providing four edit stations and X-Stream used for one edit position plus a production management office.

The main BBC Studio is located in the Winter Gardens, which is approximately 500 metres from the Crucible Theatre. To connect the two sites, NEP has installed permanent fibres through the ducts that run through Tudor Square which separates the two locations. NEP Connect is providing distribution for IMG, BBC and the world feed.

Some 21 cameras are being used for coverage of the two tables, including minicams for the table pockets and PTZs for comm cams, overhead and beauty shot. After 12 days, when the tournament enters the latter stages and the second table has finished, some cameras will be relocated to provide shots of dressing rooms or backstage action.

Traditionally, during the match, snooker has presented GFX on just camera 1, but we were able to take that brave step to have GFX available on every camera shot which has enabled us to put stats in at any time in the match.

Last week, former world number one Neil Robertson bemoaned the very cramped conditions at the Crucible, and the lack of space is an issue for the production team as well as the players.

We are always looking at new technology, but it is difficult - anyone who has b
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/crowds-and-crew-return-to-the...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

04/09/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Dalet Win Prestigious 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year Award

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...

29/08/2025

Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight against Modern Slavery

Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...

29/08/2025

Call for entries is now open for the 19th Annual South African Film & Television Awards (SAFTAs19)

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...

29/08/2025

L3Harris Launches Counter-Unmanned Systems Initiative

L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...

29/08/2025

The CW Network Extends Pac-12 Deal Through 2030-31 Season

BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...

29/08/2025

Global FAST Channel Count Continues to Spike

NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...

29/08/2025

Harmonic Unveils New Capabilities for Its Live Sports Streaming Solution

SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...

29/08/2025

Youtube TV, Fox Settle Differences, Renew Carriage Agreement

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...

29/08/2025

Lightware MTR integration brings advanced flexibility and...

Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...

29/08/2025

Frequency Launches Studio Live - a Unified Platform to Br...

Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...

29/08/2025

Scality Day 2025 Celebrating 10 years of global innovatio...

In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...

29/08/2025

Disguise Drives New Immersive Racing Experience - F1 Box

Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+ Technology solu...

29/08/2025

Disguise Supports Fellow Entertainment Tech Leaders at IB...

Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show Disguise, the industry-leading tech...

29/08/2025

Accedo to Highlight Compose AI-Agent Enhanced Orchestration Layer

STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...

29/08/2025

Cineverse Launches Streaming Apps for In-Vehicle Video Streaming

LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...

29/08/2025

Gray Media to Simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL Games

DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...

29/08/2025

Comcast NBCU and Amazon Ink New Distribution Agreements

NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...

29/08/2025

RED Digital Cinema To Highlight Cine-Broadcast Module At IBC2025

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...

29/08/2025

Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and Highlighting Ukraine's Investment Case

29 Aug 2025 Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...

29/08/2025

Sky Sports to show more NFL games than ever as part of new rights agreement

More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025 Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...

29/08/2025

'RIV4LRIES': The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino Only on Netflix October 1

Back to All News RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...

29/08/2025

Steps ahead: RT to air inspiring documentary on 12-year-old Irish dance star

Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...

29/08/2025

TODAY WITH DAVID MCCULLAGH TO AIR ON RT RADIO 1 WEEKDAYS AT 10AM

RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...

28/08/2025

Meet the 2025 Sundance Institute Documentary Edit Residency Artists

By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...

28/08/2025

Watch These 9 Sundance Institute-Supported Documentaries That Spotlight Workers' Rights

Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...

28/08/2025

Motivational Corridos: The New Sound of Resilience in Msica Mexicana

Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...

28/08/2025

Corridos Motivadores: El Nuevo Sonido de la Resiliencia en Mxico

Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...

28/08/2025

Verano Forever Brings Myke Towers, Bele, Elena Rose, and More to Miami for an Unforgettable Latin Summer Celebration

Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...

28/08/2025

Poland Selects L3Harris Electronic Warfare System for F-16 Fleet

L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....

28/08/2025

AgileTV consolidates its technological leadership with the development of Lowi TV in Spain

Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...

28/08/2025

Craft Interview: Ken Wilkinson, Audio Engineer

Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...

28/08/2025

Fubo to Launch Fubo Sports Skinny Bundle for $56 Per Month

NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....

28/08/2025

Telestream to Launch 'Global Ingest Workflow at IBC2025

NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...

28/08/2025

Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Education

Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...

28/08/2025

TAG Strengthens Regional Presence with Appointment of Oli...

TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...

28/08/2025

DHD to Demonstrate AI-Based Voice Enhancement at IBC 2025

AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...

28/08/2025

Telefonica Servicios Audiovisuales Hit the Back of the Ne...

Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...

28/08/2025

Optical Media Anchors LiveU IQ into its On site Productio...

To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...

28/08/2025

WNED Adopts Calrec Type R console to weather any storm an...

Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...

28/08/2025

Cleeng unveils first ever free D2C subscription platform...

Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...

28/08/2025

Zixi and OKAST Partner to Power Scalable Global FAST Chan...

Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...

28/08/2025

Nixer to unveil CV1 AoIP monitoring tool to address evolv...

Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering Nixer Pro Au...

28/08/2025

Cinegy Announces Strategic Partnership with One Touch Pro...

Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...

28/08/2025

Telestream Global Ingest Workflow Powered by Vantage Open...

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...

28/08/2025

Telenor partners with Broadpeak for multi-country content...

Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...

28/08/2025

24 Frames Digital goes live with Synamedia Quortex Play f...

Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...

28/08/2025

VisualOn at IBC 2025 - Whats Next in AI Powered Video Str...

Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...

28/08/2025

Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at I...

IBC stand 5.F81 Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025 Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...