Oranje football is back: Fox Sports Netherlands on robotic cameras, drones and no remote production By Heather McLean, Editor
Thursday, September 3, 2020 - 14:58
Print This Story
Football returns to TV screens in the Netherlands thanks to Fox Sports
Coronavirus has been a game-changer for the leagues and the sports broadcasting industry as a whole in the Netherlands. At the beginning of lockdown, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, took one of the harshest stances on preventing the spread of COVID-19 in Europe, proclaiming there would be no professional football played before 1 September.
Henk van Meerkerk, head of production at Fox Sports Netherlands, states that was a huge blow to the sports broadcasting industry in the country: That was a big, big hit for the entire industry.
Oranje football returns
However, finally, Dutch football is coming back. Says van Meerkerk: The way we broadcast all the Dutch football is from our philosophy. Our directors [work on] all divisions, so the Premier Division, Eredivisie, the second division, Eerste Divisie, and the third division, Tweede Divisie, and we will even start with the women's first division [Eredivisie Vrouwen] in the Netherlands as well, broadcasting as soon as the season starts. So we're the leading broadcaster in [Dutch] football and not only as a broadcaster, but also as a producer.
The football comeback in the Netherlands began on 31 July. Fox Sports is currently broadcasting exhibition games from all divisions after creating a schedule with the Dutch clubs to enable games to be played almost every day, filling the gap for fans still at home.
We knew this summer would be very busy, but it turned out to be even busier because now we have all the Coronavirus issues to deal with. It's a lot of work.
Notes van Meerkerk: It's a combined schedule, so sometimes we have two Premier Division games playing together and sometimes two Second Division games, or sometimes it's a Second Division game with a first; it's a mix up from all the clubs and the two top tier leagues.
That plan took viewers to the start of the second division season which began on 28 August, followed by the Premier Division on 12 September, and then our regular season kicks off again, says van Meerkerk.
Health and safety
Fox Sports has worked with the Dutch FA and the major leagues to create a health and safety protocol, which was sent to the Dutch government for approval. Once confirmed, matches could begin again.
Van Meerkerk states: We knew this summer would be very busy, but it turned out to be even busier because now we have all the Corona issues as well that we have to deal with. So, we've been talking with the Dutch FA, and started with all the clubs, going to all their locations, and making new [health and safety] protocols for every game. So it's a lot of work.
Fox Sports already uses a lean plan for staff on-site at football matches. This meant when the broadcaster submitted its protocol plan for crewing games in the new normal', it did not need to be cut back much further.
Fox Sports Netherlands' new studios in Amsterdam were ripped out and replaced with help from NEP Netherlands during lockdown
Van Meerkerk explains: We already work in a very efficient way, so we don't really have to cut in our crew because even if we can go to a 16 camera configuration, it still fits in our protocol that is approved by our government.
Once approval for the health and safety protocols had been gained, Fox Sports had to go to every football venue for each division to make up separate rules to enforce the protocols in each. This included configuring camera positions, with regard to the number of fans allowed within each stadium.
Meerkerk comments that the return to football has, taken us a little bit more time than the other leagues, but we got there .
Little remote production
Fox Sports is not keen on remote production for the comeback, for various reasons. Van Meerkerk explains: We've been looking at remote production, but to be honest for the productions we have, you create the same problem [of social distancing] in a remote control room somewhere else; you still have to work with people [wherever you're based] and it's easy to find space, so we made all kinds of [safe] set ups in our OB trucks so everybody's safe to work and that's what happens so far.
It looks like we will be on site in OB trucks for most of the [second division and Premier League] games. Just a couple of games in our first division we will operate remotely, but most of them will be done on site, he adds.
Premier division matches, when carried out as remote productions, will be based at the Fox Studio galleries in its revamped Amsterdam-based studios.
He continues: [Remote production] doesn't really make sense for us in the Netherlands. Our [camera] configuration for the production of a game is different from those in the UK for example. First division UK games start at, I think, 11 or 13 cameras, something like that. We started six or eight, and then we add cameras to it [if needed].
We have been looking at the possibility, if for example there was going to be a big match we would use 18 to 20 cameras, but that [wouldn't be] on a regular basis. But if it's going to happen somewhere during the season, then we've got to look at remote production and then probably we do a part remote production, so for our EVS operators, for example, or for shading. So we can still have a small crew on site and have all the other people somewhere else in the Netherlands.
He adds: Our big trucks are big enough to work [with social distancing]. If we need more space we can look at the space around the stadiums, or we can take extra trucks with us.
Additionally, being based in a fairly small country
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
For three weeks in Lagos, Spotify's Greasy Tunes Caf pop-up brought the cit...
28/10/2025
Once a niche subculture, German rap has evolved into an influential cultural movement. Now, Spotify is giving the genre a new home with OFFCULT, a playlist dedi...
28/10/2025
Shane Delia's Malta serves up the Mediterranean this summer
28 October, 2025
Media releases
Feast on 9,000 years of culinary history Mondays from 24 No...
28/10/2025
SBS's global sporting festival continues with the FIVB Beach Volleyball Worl...
28/10/2025
Bilbao, October 28, 2025 - AgileTV, a leading technology solutions company for t...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
28 Oct 2025
VEON's JazzCash Wins Silver Award for Innovation in Lending at ...
28/10/2025
Guests include Wayne Rooney, Maya Jama, Dame Laura Kenny, Chloe Kelly, Chris McC...
28/10/2025
The two-hour special, recorded live from the iconic Dolby Theatre in LA, will ai...
28/10/2025
Eutelsat upgrades teleports with Rohde & Schwarz satellite uplink amplifiers High efficiency and resilient Ku-band amplifiers for excellent RF performance
...
28/10/2025
These appointments come at a pivotal time for ABC, as the organisation continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of a digital-first media ecosystem. The ne...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
27/10/2025
A tale of two trailers: France's Stop & Go doubles up with its new hybrid tr...
27/10/2025
Pro Padel League Stages City's Cup Finals Inside NYC's Hammerstein Ballr...
27/10/2025
World Series 2025: Sportsnet Delivers Made-in-Canada' Moment for a Nation U...
27/10/2025
ESPN Extends Partnership With Sony's Beyond Sports To Expand Animated Altern...
27/10/2025
Reid Davenport attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Life After at The Ray Theatre on January 27, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Robin Marsha...
27/10/2025
As the days grow shorter and the nights get darker, there's nothing like getting swept up in a story that sends shivers down your spine. In honor of spooky ...
27/10/2025
UPDATE: Both parties have reached a new carriage agreement....
27/10/2025
LONDON As Hollywood jumps into the production of mini-dramas, a new study from Ampere Analysis finds that more than one in 10 internet users have watched drama ...
27/10/2025
LONDON Yealink, a provider of unified communication and collaboration solutions, has joined the NDI ecosystem with the availability of its SmartVision 80 premiu...
27/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Chris Conroy as general manager of its stations in Cleveland, leading WOIO, a CBS affiliate, The CW station WUAB and Telemundo outl...
27/10/2025
ESPOO, Finland European connectivity leaders Nokia and Ericsson, have partnered with Berlin's Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), to shape and drive ...
27/10/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast has expanded NOW TV Latino, its Spanish-language live TV and streaming offering, adding five more channels from Univision, ViX Premium with...
27/10/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, will present its latest products and solutions at InterBEE 2025 (Hall 5, Booth 5218) Makuhari Messe in Chiba, ...
27/10/2025
Back to All News
City of Shadows, the New Netflix Thriller Arrives on December 12
Entertainment
27 October 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Downl...
Oranje football is back: Fox Sports Netherlands on robotic cameras, drones and no remote production By Heather McLean, Editor 
