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

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...

24/08/2026

New Book Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN' Preserves Founder Bill Rasmussen's Origin Story and the Lessons That Still Define the Network Today

Co-authors Mike Soltys and Garrett Sutton reflect on Rasmussen's vision, intentional optimism,' and fan-first philosophy following his death last week...

24/08/2026

Dr. Fill from Yurt Rock

Human-played drum fills on demand Sample library developers Yurt Rock have announced the launch of a new plug-in that's dedicated to creating drum fill...

24/08/2026

Black Rooster Audio launch PS-VC1 Vocal Chain Channel

Debut plug-in in new Professional Series Black Rooster Audio's latest plug-in delivers an all-in-one vocal-processing tool, and is the debut release in ...

24/08/2026

SBS WorldWatch embraces digital future with move to SBS On Demand

SBS WorldWatch embraces digital future with move to SBS On Demand 24 August, 2026 Media releases On 18 September, SBS WorldWatch will transition from a lin...

24/08/2026

Rohde & Schwarz addresses operational efficiency and infrastructure resilience at IBC 2026 in Amsterdam

Rohde & Schwarz addresses operational efficiency and infrastructure resilience a...

24/08/2026

Rohde to Focus on Operational Efficiency, Sustainability at IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

24/08/2026

Calrec advances the EBU Dynamic Media Facility vision at...

As the broadcast industry moves toward more flexible production platforms, Calrec will present its evolving audio ecosystem at IBC 2026, on Stand 8.C47. The dem...

24/08/2026

Stop Using Boring Static Highlights - Pro After Effects Workflow

Stop Using Boring Static Highlights - Pro After Effects Workflow Graham Quince August 24, 2026 0 Comments Did you know you can use After Effects expre...

24/08/2026

Paledusk Performance Captured with URSA Cine Immersive

Paledusk Performance Captured with URSA Cine Immersive Brie Clayton August 24, 2026 0 Comments Creative production company THINGS. brings the band'...

24/08/2026

Sky Arts Confirms Double Classical Documentary Showcase Ahead of Edinburgh TV Festival

The Handel Scandal and Dangerous Debussy will both air on Sky Arts this AutumnMo...

24/08/2026

Dalet Accelerates Media Transformation with AI, Automation and Governance at IBC 2026

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

24/08/2026

Arvato Systems becomes a service partner of HANDELSVERBAND.swiss

Arvato Systems Becomes a Service Partner of HANDELSVERBAND.swiss Zurich - Arvato Systems Switzerland has been a service partner of HANDELSVERBAND.swiss since ...

24/08/2026

Up to 30x More Work Per Watt: NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 Sets a New Efficiency Standard for AI Agents

According to OpenRouter data, agentic AI workloads consume 15x more tokens than ...

24/08/2026

With Groq 3 LPX in Full Production, NVIDIA Extends Vera Rubin Inference for Agents

The next era of AI inference won't be defined by a single breakthrough chip,...

24/08/2026

How XPUs Meet a World-Class AI Factory

To generate intelligence at scale, AI factories run continuously, and their economics are defined by delivered output: tokens per second, tokens per watt, cost ...

24/08/2026

Documentary on the life and writings of James Connolly to air on RT

We Only Want the Earth: The Life & Ideas of James Connolly airs Wednesday 26 August on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm RT is to air the compelling documenta...

23/08/2026

Parish Audio introduce Parametric Compressor

Offers up to 10 bands of compression Parish Audio's latest release allows users to place individual compressors anywhere in the frequency range, but tak...

22/08/2026

Macon Blair on Filmmaking and the Long Road to Idiots

O'Shea Jackson Jr., Dave Franco, and Mason Thames appear in Idiots by Macon Blair, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of ...

22/08/2026

Crafting the Contenders: Adam Bricker, ASC on bringing Hacks home

By the time Hacks reached its fifth and final season, Adam Bricker ASC had spent six years shaping one of television's most distinctive visual identities. T...

22/08/2026

World Cup Drives TVP to Retain Top Spot in July as Live Sport Buoys Polish Viewership

Polsat reclaims second place, ByteDance climbs to eighth, and live football miti...

22/08/2026

DirecTV Offers New Customers a Year of Free Netflix with Ads

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/08/2026

Judge Sets Early October Hearing for ABC Lawsuit Against FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/08/2026

ORF Taps Net Insight for Full IP Upgrade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/08/2026

Breezeline Teams Up with DirecTV to Launch New Streaming Bundle

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/08/2026

Avid brings agentic media production to IBC2026

Avid brings agentic media production to IBC2026 Brie Clayton August 21, 2026 0 Comments After launching Avid Content Core at NAB 2026, Avid expands it...

22/08/2026

Making of Lord of the Flies Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro

Making of Lord of the Flies Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro Brie Clayton August 21, 2026 0 Comments Filmmaker Lisa Marie Russo shoots on the bea...

22/08/2026

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Dogs In A Pile

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Dogs in a Pile The rising jam band talks about where it all started on the Berklee campus ahead of their Homecoming performance o...

22/08/2026

Berklee Alumna Lexi Vollero MA '22 Receives Fulbright Award to Brazil

Berklee Alumna Lexi Vollero MA '22 Receives Fulbright Award to Brazil Vollero, a Berklee NYC graduate, has been selected for a Fulbright Open Research Awa...

21/08/2026

FOX Sports Rolls Out Its Most Ambitious Live Motorsports Production' Ever at IndyCar Freedom 250 GP in DC

A massive deployment of specialty cameras, graphics, and AR will showcase the na...

21/08/2026

Creative Studio Zookeeper Embraces Pinball Motif for West Coast Conference PSA

The West Coast Conference unveiled its new 30-second public service announcement, the latest expression of the Conference's We Rise in the West brand iden...

21/08/2026

ESPN Soft-Launches a New NFL Graphics Package, Scorebug During Thursday Night's Raiders-Texans Preseason Game

New look will serve as the foundation for ESPN's upcoming NFL season and Sup...

21/08/2026

ESPN to Debut Little League Alumni Alt-Cast for 2026 MLB Little League Classic

ESPN will air the ninth annual MLB Little League Classic presented by New York Life on Sunday, August 23, at 7 p.m. ET from Historic Bowman Field in Williamspor...

21/08/2026

His Story Becomes Part of Football History': Dean Grossman Honors His Father Sandy With Pete Rozelle Award Speech

In an emotional acceptance speech in Canton, Grossman celebrated the pioneering ...

21/08/2026

Rapid Flow release miniGRID

Hardware-style timing shifts for software instruments Following on from the release of Omniclock, Rapid Flow have launched a new sequencer plug-in that can ...

21/08/2026

Love Synthesizers announce First Love pre-orders

Highly anticipated synthesizer ships in October 2026 Iceland-based Love Synthesizers have announced that their highly anticipated synthesizer is now availab...

21/08/2026

The Forsytes' Adds Gregg Sulkin & Gabriel Antunes As PBS Masterpiece Series Starts Filming Season 3

Masterpiece PBS The Forsytes has expanded its cast as its begins production in ...

21/08/2026

BBC reveals haunting first look and further casting for The Witch Farm

The BBC has unveiled first-look pictures from The Witch Farm, a new ghost story and mystery set in the Welsh countryside, coming soon to BBC iPlayer and BBC One...

21/08/2026

A first look at Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot.

The BBC and BritBox have revealed the first look of Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot in the forthcoming six-part series Hercule from Mammoth Screen and Agatha C...

21/08/2026

Inside Euphoria's Editorial Heart: Aaron I. Butler, ACE on craft, collaboration and controlled madness

Our priority was making the best, most powerful, most meaningful story possible,...

21/08/2026

Clear-Com Appoints Venuetech as its Main Partner for the Middle East

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......

21/08/2026

Techex Names Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Avid Brings Agentic Media Production to IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Avid brings agentic media production to IBC2026

Avid will unveil how it is transforming production to help media organizations unite content, agentic workflows, and business insights at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterda...

21/08/2026

Grass Valley Connects SDI IP and Software as One Unified...

New routing, modular processing, orchestration and monitoring capabilities bridge dedicated hardware and software-based processing as part of the Dynamic Media ...

21/08/2026

Indiana Pacers Selects DAZN As Exclusive Streaming Partner

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Chyron To Showcase Newsroom Advancements At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Broadpeak to Launch Multiview as a Service at IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...