Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

FutureSPORT 2019: Remote Production in the Real World

04/12/2019

FutureSPORT 2019: Remote production in the real world By David Fox

Monday, December 2, 2019 - 17:21

Print This Story

The remote production panel: Robin Broomfield, Jo Finon, Warren Jones and Narinder Ball

Last week's FutureSPORT 2019 Summit was another record-breaking event for SVG Europe, with over 350 delegates in attendance at Chelsea Football Club in London. A highlight session in a packed day of content was More than just Technology: Remote Production in the Real World', which was sponsored by Eurovision Services.

Remote production is becoming almost routine for many broadcasters, as the production of some major events or seasonal leagues moves from the outside broadcast compound at the venue to a comfortable gallery back at base. At the FutureSPORT session, speakers from the BBC, Sky and SailGP revealed how at home' workflows can improve work/life balance, affect carbon footprints and offer creative benefits.

For conference host, presenter Natalie Quirk, who works on remote productions with the FA Women's Super League, and other football coverage, BT Sport: the biggest complement that I can give it as a reporter or presenter is my job doesn't really change. My communication with the gallery back at Stratford is exactly the same as it would be if we were in an OB truck in the compound, she said.

It's not just a tick box exercise in the contract. We're also making sure that responsible business targets are included in the contract, keeping sustainability on the agenda at annual reviews.

We can also be more creative with camera work, because cameras aren't tied to cables. We can be at more games. On the National League we can turn around a highlights programme (from all of the games that afternoon) an hour-and-a-half after the final whistle.

Obvious benefits of remote production can be lower costs (due to sending fewer crew to an event) and increased sustainability, but the greatest advantage [ ] is enhancing the value of your content, said Michele Gosetti, head of sales and marketing at Eurovision Services, who introduced the session.

Once you've extracted yourself from the boundaries of an OB van at the venue, there's no limit in your ability to customise, repurpose and reformat your content and making the most out of it.

A remote decade

The BBC did remote production for the Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games and European Championships in 2018. Indeed, it has done the Winter Olympics as some form of remote production for ten years.

If you've got a small budget, you can get more for your money. You're not paying for hotels or flights. However, some people feel that the editorial offer may be impacted, said Narinder Ball, BBC Sport, outside broadcast operations executive. All three events it did in 2018 followed a similar model, with presentation and commentary on site, coming back to its galleries in Salford.

She believes that good communication links are the key to good remote production, although it can be complicated by time differences.

SailGP has just completed its first year, all as remote productions from venues across the world. It helped greatly that there were no legacy contracts or systems to deal with. Trying to future proof ourselves for the next three, four, five years, we thought remote production was the way forward, said Warren Jones, SailGP's technical director.

Its first venue was Sydney, with its gallery in London, so we made it as hard as possible for ourselves, he said, with latency of about 160 milliseconds. It also held races in San Francisco, New York, Cowes (Isle of Wight) and Marseille, all sending 35 streams or more back to London.

Panel chair Robin Broomfield with Sky Sports' Jo Finon

For Sky Sports it's all about sustainability. Sky has introduced a lot of environmentally-friendly changes recently, including introducing cleaner-burning GTL (gas to liquid) fuel for generators and removing single-use plastics and coffee cups from its host productions. Remote production is the natural next step, reducing the amount of travel. So, whenever we have new rights or an opportunity to look at whether remote production is possible - if the connectivity is there and we have the right facilities back at Sky - then it's a no brainer to not make that move, said Jo Finon, Sky Sports, contracts manager and albert ambassador.

Whether remote production is right for an event has to be judged for each particular case, added Ball. One of the considerations for us and, I guess, one of the stumbling blocks, is connectivity at venues. It's also our back-end infrastructure. You can remote things back, but we only have a certain amount of galleries and control rooms. If you have a busy summer you may not have the space, which is where she believes the availability of centralised production facilities, such as from NEP, could come in.

SailGP has no production on site - everything goes back to London. It did start its season with on-screen presentation at the venue, but later decided to do that in London too. For the upcoming season, starting in February, we want to cut about 20-30% of people that are on site, back to London, and we think that is achievable, said Jones.

He doesn't think remote production necessarily saves costs. At the start I think it is on par with a traditional broadcast, but he anticipates that when they return to Sydney, and use the same infrastructure, it will be cheaper.

Sky has found that connectivity is giving us the option to be on site at events we might not have been at before, added Finon. It is also more sustainable. On Formula One we reduced our crew travel by 20% and freight by 25%, so that side is massive. Flying all that around the world, next year for 22 races, has a huge impact on reducing our carbon footprint, she said.
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/futuresport-2019-remote-produ...
See more stories from svg

North America Stories

01/09/2026

IBC 2026: Bridge Technologies Adds Blackmagic IP10 Support to VB440 Production Probe

Bridge Technologies will announce at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71) that its VB440 produc...

01/09/2026

DAZN to Acquire EverPass Media to Expand U.S. Commercial Venue Distribution

DAZN has announced an agreement to acquire EverPass Media, a commercial sports distribution platform serving bars, restaurants, hotels, and other venues in the ...

01/09/2026

Kalshi Named Official Prediction Market Partner of the US Open

The USTA and Kalshi have announced a multi-year partnership making Kalshi the Official Prediction Market Partner of the US Open, beginning with the 2026 US Open...

01/09/2026

IBC 2026: MASV to Showcase Sports Video Transfer Workflows

MASV will exhibit at IBC2026 (Booth 5.B40, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14). CTO Majed Alhajry will appear on a panel session, A Tale of Two Feeds: Automation o...

01/09/2026

IBC 2026: FingerWorks Telestrators Partners with Broadcast Rental for European Distribution

FingerWorks Telestrators has announced a partnership with Broadcast Rental to ex...

01/09/2026

IBC 2026: FOR-A Expands viztrick AiDi into Two Dedicated Products

FOR-A has announced the expansion of viztrick AiDi into two dedicated products: Go Vertical! AiDi and AiDi Sports Hub. Developed by Nippon TV and delivered glob...

01/09/2026

Sony Launches Live TV on PS5 with Free Ad-Supported Streaming in the U.S.

Sony Pictures Television has launched Live TV on PS5, a free ad-supported streaming experience available to PS5 players in the United States. The service is acc...

01/09/2026

Friedrichstadt-Palast Installs Riedel Production Infrastructure

Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin has installed a Riedel production infrastructure spanning video, intercom, control, and I/O across the venue, implemented in col...

01/09/2026

IBC 2026: Arkona Partners with BFE for Arkona-Branded Control Panels

Arkona technologies GmbH has announced an OEM partnership with BFE Studio und Medien Systeme GmbH to offer arkona-branded control panels for its SDI-IP routing ...

01/09/2026

Cricket Australia Launches Cricket TV Streaming Service on Eluvio Platform

Cricket Australia has launched Cricket TV, a direct-to-consumer streaming service built on Eluvio's Content Fabric platform. The service is currently in ear...

01/09/2026

Eluvio Selected to Power Pasifika+ Streaming Service for Pacific Island Communities

Eluvio has announced it was selected to power Pasifika , a new direct-to-consume...

01/09/2026

Layercake Names Jon Marquard as Director/Chairperson

Layercake, the company behind the intelligent media workflow platform Streamcake, has appointed Jon Marquard as Director and Chairperson. The appointment marks ...

01/09/2026

Gravity Media Extends Powercor Stawell Gift Broadcast Agreement Through 2031

Gravity Media has announced a multi-year renewal of its agreement with Stawell Gift Event Management to produce the complete broadcast of the Powercor Stawell G...

01/09/2026

IBC 2026: Beam Dynamics Makes Debut with License Intelligence Module

Beam Dynamics will exhibit at IBC2026 for the first time (Stand 14.FT29, Hall 14), introducing License Intelligence, a new module for managing software licenses...

01/09/2026

ZOO Digital Selects Interra Systems BATON for File-Based Quality Control

Interra Systems has announced that ZOO Digital has selected BATON for file-based quality control across its media workflows. ZOO Digital delivers localized ente...

01/09/2026

IBC 2026: Bridge Technologies Deploys VB330 Monitoring at Sunrise

Bridge Technologies has announced the deployment of its VB330 monitoring probe at Sunrise, supporting the Swiss telecommunications provider's IP-based telev...

01/09/2026

Riedel Expands Coach Communications Partnership with Scottish Rugby Union

Riedel Communications has announced the continued expansion of its managed coach communications partnership with Scottish Rugby Union, now entering its third se...

01/09/2026

Behind The Mic: Football Season Approaches, as Networks Name On Air Talent for NFL, College Broadcasts

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...

01/09/2026

IBC 2026: SMPTE Brings Full-Day Software-Defined Infrastructure Roadshow

SMPTE today detailed the centerpiece of its IBC2026 program: the SMPTE Roadshow: Future of Media Infrastructure, a full-day workshop on Monday, 14 September, th...

01/09/2026

Nielsen Announces New Local Methodology Enhancements

New York August 31, 2026 Nielsen is announcing four new local methodology enhancements that will be activated into Local TV currency data starting today, Au...

01/09/2026

Broadcasters Gain Flexibility in Pursuit of 5G Multicasting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

Winning the Fight Against Churn

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

How Multiviewers Are Evolving Into Information Hubs'

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

IBC2026: New Audio Tools on Tap from Telos Alliance

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

SMPTE Roadshow to Examine Media Infrastructure at IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

Roku Debuts Its First 4K OLED TVs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

Mark Vinten Joins ASG's Audio and Postproduction Team

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

Pronology Introduces New StreamFile Core Capabilities at...

Pronology, a developer of cutting-edge broadcast workflow solutions, showcases the newest capabilities for its StreamFile Core platform at the 2026 IBC Show (S...

01/09/2026

PROTON Unveils Next-Generation FLEXY Camera at IBC 2026

PROTON Unveils Next-Generation FLEXY Camera at IBC 2026 Brie Clayton September 1, 2026 0 Comments 10-metre serialised coax unlocks new perspectives an...

01/09/2026

Hulu Drama The Season Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Hulu Drama The Season Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton September 1, 2026 0 Comments Senior Colorist Mark Kueper of Picture Shop crafts ...

01/09/2026

Pluxbox Launches CoreOC to Transform Mission-Critical Media Operations

Pluxbox Launches CoreOC to Transform Mission-Critical Media Operations Brie Clayton September 1, 2026 0 Comments A vendor-agnostic operational control l...

01/09/2026

Layercake Appoints Former FOX SPORTS and Network Ten COO...

Layercake, the company behind the intelligent media workflow platform Streamcake, today announced the appointment of Jon Marquard as Director and Chairperson. T...

01/09/2026

Actus Digital Unveils the Future of Broadcast Monitoring...

Actus Digital, a LiveU company, will unveil the next generation of its Actus X platform at IBC2026 on LiveUs Stand 7.C24, demonstrating how broadcasters can sim...

01/09/2026

Studio Automated and Egripment Power the Tactical Feed fo...

Broadcast Solutions, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, delivered transformational technology a...

01/09/2026

OTV turns to Quortex to replace legacy video hardware

Quortex, the intelligent video technology company carved out from Synamedia by Lumine Group, today announced that Odisha Television Network (OTV), the leading r...

01/09/2026

Zixi and Ateme Deepen Strategic Alliance to Accelerate Hy...

Zixi and Ateme today announced an expanded strategic partnership to help broadcasters and content owners accelerate the transition from satellite to resilient I...

01/09/2026

CBS Boston Debuts New AR/VR Technology-Driven Studio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

FCC Raises Regulatory Fees for TV Stations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

For-A Introduces Go Vertical! AiDi and AiDi Sports Hub

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

T-Mobile Continues to Dominate Ooklas Fixed Wireless Speed Tests

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

Carr Announces New FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

New Products, New Workflows: Telos Alliance Heads to IBC 2026

New Products, New Workflows: Telos Alliance Heads to IBC 2026 Search CLEVELAND, Ohio, September 1, 2026 Telos Alliance , trusted global leader in broadca...

01/09/2026

FOR-A Introduces Go Vertical! AiDi and AiDi Sports Hub Under Expanded viztrick AiDi AI Technology Brand

On-device AI platform gives broadcasters and content creators purpose-built tool...

31/08/2026

Pixotope Consolidates Virtual Production Tools into Unified Platform

Pixotope Technologies has announced a unified platform offering all Pixotope capabilities across three editions, available with the Pixotope 26.3 release in Q3 ...

31/08/2026

FingerWorks Telestrators Expands European Presence Throug...

FingerWorks Telestrators, the industry leader in software-based telestration and live sports analysis solutions, announces its new partnership with Broadcast R...

31/08/2026

ARISDA Bridge Launches: DaVinci Resolve Timecode, Studio Clock, and Work-Time Tracking in One Windows App

ARISDA Bridge Launches: DaVinci Resolve Timecode, Studio Clock, and Work-Time Tr...

31/08/2026

Short Film All That's Left Shot with URSA Cine 12K LF

Short Film All That's Left Shot with URSA Cine 12K LF Brie Clayton August 31, 2026 0 Comments Intimate drama edited and graded in DaVinci Resolve ...

31/08/2026

Bridge Technologies Announces Support for Blackmagic IP10 Codec

Bridge Technologies Announces Support for Blackmagic IP10 Codec Brie Clayton August 31, 2026 0 Comments Both booths will showcase each other's tec...

31/08/2026

Creative COW Roundtable, August 23, 2026- AEAI

Creative COW Roundtable, August 23, 2026- AEAI Brie Clayton August 31, 2026 0 Comments COWs from around the world assemble to discuss Using AI to Beat...

31/08/2026

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Susan Tedeschi

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Susan Tedeschi The Grammy-winning singer and guitarist talks about finding her voice at Berklee ahead of her Homecoming performan...