NEP battles weather to keep the going good for Grand National coverage By Adrian Pennington
Monday, April 15, 2024 - 11:48
Print This Story
The 2024 Grand National is NEP's eighth with ITV Racing
The 177th running of the Grand National is NEP's eighth with ITV Racing and this year they've had considerable weather challenges during the build, with high winds, wet weather and soft ground to contend with.
Regardless, the NEP technical teams got to work, with three days to build the multiple commentary and camera positions across the four-mile, 514-yard race course.
During these builds there are always logistical challenges to deal with as well, as the race courses are preparing their course for their flagship event, explains Jon Harris, technical projects manager at NEP. For example, moving technical kit to remote places such as the famous Canal Turn' can be challenging and time consuming, as it's the furthest distance from the OB trucks.
Coverage of the racing action is pulled together from more than 50 camera sources plus 19 radio links including shared camera feeds from RaceTech (horse racing's integrity coverage supplier), in addition to the multicamera presentation studio, on-course interviews and reports which take place during the show.
Every year, we continue to refine our setup and rig, Harris says. Our years of experience in delivering this complex event, combined with our continuity in our crewing, means we have the top specialists when it comes to horse racing broadcast.
NEP crew hard at work on the Grand National 2024
Throughout the calendar, NEP provide NEP Equinox as the main HD baseband broadcast truck for ITV Racing and many of the specific racing requirements can remain setup within the truck, meaning more efficient build and rigging times.
For events such as the Grand National we are able to scale the operation to meet specific technical requirements, meaning we retain the same work space for the production team and still have the benefit of having the core setup installed in the truck, Harris says.
By and large the camera set up and presentation is the same as 2023. This includes a pair of depth of field cameras (used extensively on earlier Six Nations coverage) for, lovely emotion shots of winning jockeys and crowd, says ITV Sport programme director Paul McNamara.
The experiment putting augmented reality (AR) graphics onto drone footage last year did not prove as successful. It took such a long time for us to get it into the pre-record so we're not doing that this time, explains Tony Cahalane, technical director, ITV Sport.
However, ITV Sport is deploying AR graphics more extensively from a feed captured by the main wire-cam that runs 730 metres across the course. This Camcat Colibri wire-cam is supplied by specialist camera partner ACS with broadcast graphics partner AE Live producing the graphics as it does across the show's whole output.
Two tracking vehicles, also supplied by ACS, keep pace with the riders travelling at 40mph with a Cineflex on a jib and a Sony F55 for 3 x high motion. Another super-slo is positioned on the finish line.
Four minicams are built into fences. At Fence One, for example, a minicam in the middle of the fence takes shots towards the grandstand of the runners.
It's a really impressive shot with the runners all coming towards the fence and jumping it, says Harris.
With all the current industry excitement about whether the promise of 5G network slicing might finally be about to be fulfilled, it is something that has been on ITV's radar for some time but still might not be appropriate for a large race meet like the Grand National.
Explains Cahalane: Effectively there are two reasons why it doesn't help us. At Aintree we really need a guaranteed 5G network and that doesn't happen without cost and the cost is quite extreme. Added to which at this moment there isn't enough 5G infrastructure in the immediate area. We would need more Towers.
But it's also a question of control. Radio frequencies are in our control completely whereas that's not necessarily the case with a 5G network where you are beholden to a telecom provider. The Grand National is one of those situations where we know what we need to do in order to get the best pictures and so we want to maintain RF spectrum to be absolutely in control.
News coverage is a different matter however. I do understand 5G's advantage for pop-up news stories especially in places which aren't necessarily populated with a hundred thousand fans who are all on their mobile phones, Cahalane says.
5G definitely has uses but not yet in large-scale events like the Grand National. It's not only cost prohibitive, it's easier for us to do it with digital radio camera technology.
The average viewing figure for last year's Grand National programme, aired on ITV's main channel, was 4.4 million, which was up from 4.1 million in 2022. The team are hoping to have matched or exceeded that this time around.
The Grand National was won this year by I Am Maximus', the 7/1 joint favourite.
North America Stories
27/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
The Boyfriend' Season 2 Unveils Heartwarming Trailer, Key...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
NEP battles weather to keep the going good for Grand National coverage By Adrian Pennington 
