Live from London: Buzz 16 tackles production duties for TNT Sports' EPCR finals host coverage By Fergal Ringrose
Tuesday, May 28, 2024 - 09:45
Print This Story
The Hollywoodbets Sharks celebrate their victory over Gloucester at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium which also guaranteed them a place in next season's Champions Cup [photo: EPCR]
As the European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) Challenge Cup and Champions Cup broadcast rights holder for the UK, it fell to TNT Sports to provide host broadcast coverage for both finals on Friday (24 May) and Saturday (25 May) at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London.
This season TNT Sports has shown every Champions Cup match, as well as a selection of matches from the Gallagher Premiership, EPCR Challenge Cup and Premiership Rugby Cup. TNT Sports and its predecessor BT Sport have shown the Premiership since BT Sport launched in 2013. Buzz 16 took over production of rugby content for TNT Sports this season. Previously, production for BT Sport's rugby output including the two EPCR competitions was provided by Sunset+Vine.
Buzz 16 is led by managing director Duncan East and co-founder and CEO Scott Melvin. On the ground at Spurs last weekend Buzz 16's executive producer for TNT Sports was Gari Jenkins, with Gruff Davies in the hot seat as match director for both games and Dom McGuire working as production manager. In the stadium on Friday morning SVG Europe sat down with McGuire to step through the network of relationships and meticulous planning process required to deliver host coverage for both European finals.
Dom McGuire: There were two host broadcasters in Dublin last year [BT Sport for the Challenge Cup final and RT for the Champions Cup final] but it was very much funneled through NEP and the RT group as they had the Champions Cup.
This time, everything has come through to me! So the workload has gone up massively, and going from the back to the forefront is a steep learning curve - even though we do Premiership rugby every week. When you have two French broadcasters, an Irish broadcaster, World Rugby - we're familiar with ITV and how they work - but having the other broadcasters coming in, the footprint for everything is so much bigger.
We're used to a couple of trucks turning up in the compound; now it's two or three trucks per broadcaster. The camera spec, obviously, is significantly increased for the finals from the 12-camera spec on our regular Premiership three games per weekend. So logistically it has been a challenge, and it does involve a lot of spreadsheets and a lot of email chains!
In the Premiership you approach the club, where the club and the stadium are usually one and the same. For these finals EPCR has taken over the stadium so you have to run everything via EPCR. You also need to go to the stadium people sometimes.
So where there is usually a direct route through to one group of people now you have to factor in a variety of other sources to make sure you're getting agreement and confirmation from everyone, whether it's approval on a different camera position, where you can sit to watch the game, or what you can do around the pitch.
Dom McGuire, production manager, Buzz 16 for TNT Sports
You're the production manager for Buzz 16's TNT Sports coverage, but you're now effectively production manager for the entire broadcast operation this weekend! That's a lot of pressure
Yes, it is a lot of pressure. I've been involved with the rugby team for ten years in various roles, and I became the lead production manager on the Premiership a few seasons ago - that was with Sunset+Vine for BT Sport. It's a step up.
You start generally on a Premiership cup game for example, with a smaller footprint, smaller camera spec, much easier to go through. Then you go through to the Premiership, eventually leading that Premiership effort, overseeing every single game to some extent, building up to the final at Twickenham - giving you a chance to work with the RFU and see how they operate.
It's not in the job title, but I became the lead production manager on Europe, which I did for the first time last season. Last year's finals were a great experience as I was not the centre point for everyone but I could see how it worked. This year, it was almost like a tsunami of work came and hit me!
How has the approach changed from BT Sport to TNT Sports, in terms of how rugby is produced?
I think from my side of things there's not a big change, because logistically we follow the same processes to get to the end game. But from an editorial point of view changes have been made. We have tried to innovate with certain aspects of our pre- and post-match coverage, doing more inside dressing rooms for instance when we get permission to do that. We always like to be on the pitch and in and around the players, but we have become more involved during warm-ups and talking to coaches and so on.
We've been lucky enough to bring in the Cine Cam on quite a few games, which adds a whole new element to the visuals. That will be here for the Champions Cup Final tomorrow, along with Hi Mo cameras behind the posts. The camera spec for the finals this year is significantly increased - we have tried to push it a bit for a total of 32 cameras.
We have Steadicam in for both games, which is quite normal, but we've got a Super Slow on that to add an extra dimension. We have two cameras on the reverse where normally we only have one. We also have a four-point WireCam from Luna Remote Systems above the pitch. And then we've got a Hi Mo camera position just above the tunnel where the players come in.
This is a wonderful stadium as we can see, but it is quite tight along the sidelines to accommodate camera positions?
It's because there are two pitches here: you've got the f
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Liberty University on why broadcast technology isn't just a technical invest...
08/05/2026
COW Jobs: UGC, On-Camera Video Content
Brie Clayton May 7, 2026
0 Comments
UGC, On-Camera Video Content
April 17, 2026Documentary Editor - US,......
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
Live from London: Buzz 16 tackles production duties for TNT Sports' EPCR finals host coverage By Fergal Ringrose 
