Live From Paris 2024: CBC Calls Canada House Home, Enhances Connection With Athletes Moving out of the IBC puts the Canadian broadcaster right in the mix for French, English viewers back home By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Monday, August 5, 2024 - 3:39 am
Print This Story
The CBC has taken a different approach to its Olympic operations. It has a technical center at the IBC, but its studio and production operations are located at Canada House, in the Cit des Sciences et de l'industrie. And it's paying dividends.
We are gaining the presence of athletes and families during the evening, says Francois Messier, executive director, production and sports, CBC. We get access to the athletes more quickly, and they stay with us longer because they're not going through a car wash of interviews. Instead of having them for two minutes, we get them for seven or eight minutes.
The CBC presence at Canada House includes a main studio complete with LED walls and comfortable guest and talent seating that doesn't involve a studio desk. A second studio for morning updates back home has seating for a small audience, and various standup positions are located around Canada House and various activation and fan zones. The CBC also has two standup positions at the TV tower at Trocad ro, one each for its French- and English-language networks.
Francois Legrand (left) and Francois Messier in the CBC's main studio in Paris
The IBC is more of a technical hub, where we take the feeds from OBS and ship them back to Canada, Messier says. All the signals go to both Montreal and Toronto to meet the specific needs of both the French- and English-language audiences.
About 150 production staffers are in Paris, he adds, with another 200 working in Montreal and about 50 in Toronto. French-language primetime programming is produced from Canada House; CBC programming is produced in Toronto. The French-language network has an onsite presence at three venues - swimming, athletics, gymnastics - but all other commentary is called from facilities in Canada.
With the Olympics being here in Paris, Messier says, we felt that [the French-language] network needed to be here, and the gymnastics commentary position will be used by the English-language team when basketball is played in the same arena this week. Back home, we have 12 voiceover booths.
The CBC studio set uses LED walls to create a warm look that seems to feature wood slates.
On the technical side, according to Francois Legrand, lead engineer, Olympics, CBC, a router at the IBC allows the CBC team to sub-switch signals that go to Canada. The signals from Canada House pass through the IBC before heading to Canada.
Because we have older equipment here, we still use SDI, he adds, but that's going to change. One challenge for the Milan 2026 Winter Games is that OBS will no longer deliver signals in 1080i, which is the CBC delivery format. Legrand says the broadcaster is determining how that will impact operations, including the potential to send more signals back home as 1080p and converting them there.
We are also using the OBS cloud service as a backup feed, he continues. If our own equipment fails, we can use that service.
A second studio in Canada House is particularly suited to providing morning updates to viewers back home.
Ten ENG teams service both networks, follow Canadian athletes, and get mixed-zone positions for events in which Canadian athletes compete. CBC relies on OBS connectivity from the mixed zones but also has TVU bonded-cellular transmission systems. And 5G was used for the Opening Ceremony, during which CBC had a journalist on the Team Canada boat.
One interesting wrinkle is the need to ensure that both networks are in sync and delivering the same live coverage of the same events at the same time, especially when it comes to the off-tube commentary over the prepackaged OBS feeds. The CBC is using a tried-and-true workflow: the video is sent to Canada for the off-tube teams to call the action, and the audio returns to Paris to be embedded in the video signal, which is sent to Toronto and Montreal as a complete package synchronized for both networks.
The video doesn't travel both ways, just the audio, notes Legrand. Moving forward with ST 2110 and with newer equipment, we can replicate that workflow just by working with the timestamps of the signal and virtually realigning everything at each side.
Canadian fans have been enthusiastically tuning in to Paris 2024: one in three Canadians (more than 13.3 million viewers) tuned in for the Opening Ceremony, and the time that viewers spend on digital platforms is double what it was during Tokyo 2020.
In the first week, the swimming gave Canadian viewers a reason to tune in, Messier says. That was a jumpstart for us. We're above our expectations in the daytime and afternoon in Canada on both linear and digital. We can stream up to 12 feeds, allowing people to look at gymnastics or volleyball or something else they want to watch. We also are requiring authentication this year, so we're getting a lot of data from those who are more engaged with our platforms.
Also helping? Committing to enabling viewers to better understand the athletes and the storylines. We've been creating stories and making sure the audience know the athletes before we show them during the Olympics, he says. We added a series of pregame shows and give people some idea of what to expect.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
20/01/2026
SVG Sit-Down: BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on the Future of Cloud, Remote, Softwar...
20/01/2026
From architecture to reality: What CBC's Milano Cortina 2026 workflows tell ...
20/01/2026
Milano Cortina 2026: Making the Winter Olympics and Paralympics workflow work fo...
20/01/2026
Countdown to Milano Cortina 2026: SVG Launches SportsTechLive Blog in Lead-up to...
20/01/2026
Grand finale: Rally Saudi Arabia pushes WRC to make the most of cameras and dron...
20/01/2026
State of Change: What's Happening in the Remote-Production Business?NEP Group, Game Creek Video, Dome Productions, Mobile TV Group, Program Productions exec...
20/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: A Look Back at SVG's Complete CoverageGo behind the scenes with ESPN, Game Creek Video, Van Wagner, and the champion Indiana...
20/01/2026
The Gotham, Film Independent, and Creators Coalition on AI Join Alliance
by Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director, Sundance Institute's Artist Programs...
20/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
20/01/2026
December, the first month of winter and the holiday season, has traditionally encouraged families to spend time together in front of the television. During this...
20/01/2026
During December, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.3%, an increase of 0.1 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YUMI TV,...
20/01/2026
Christmas Day is Most-Streamed Day Ever with 55 Billion Viewing Minutes, led by...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Disguise and ASB GlassFloor today announced a strategic partnership that turns the arena floor into a fully customizable interactive digital surface. This will ...
20/01/2026
Last summer, ITV celebrated the tenth anniversary of its popular reality dating show, Love Island. To ramp up the excitement of series 12 (launched in the UK on...
20/01/2026
Berklee's Mark Ethier Named One of SPIN's Most Influential People in Mus...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Emergent, a provider of AI-powered media production solutions, today announced its presence at ISE 2026 in Barcelona, taking place February 3 6, where it will u...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery Amend Agreement to All-Cash Transaction
Business
20 January 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
All-C...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Now You Can Play a Role in Our Live Events With Real-Time Voting
Elmar Nubbemeyer
VP, Member Product
Product
20 January 2026
Global
Link...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Indiana Football's Digital Crew Generate Hyp...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Van Wagner Relies on Experience for Indiana-Miam...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Game Creek Video Fields Premiere IP Compound for...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: For a Slew of Studio Shows, ESPN Turns Hard Rock...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: ESPN's Sweeping Live Game Production Leverag...
19/01/2026
The new L3Harris NOVA binocular system is the every-soldier goggle' - and the beginning of a new era for night-vison capability....
19/01/2026
The Majority of Those Surveyed Prefer to Buy Brands Who Advertise in Content Tha...
19/01/2026
Back to All News
Straight to Hell' Sets April 27 Premiere: Teaser Trailer,...
19/01/2026
New Workflow Enhancements for All Broadcast Pix Systems, Plus 4-Channel ISO Recording for Hybrid and Roadie Tyngsboro, Mass. - January 2025 - Broadcast Pix ann...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Announces the Series Nights & Days, Directed by Kamila...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
17/01/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is helping to elevate the Google Meet experience with the introduction of an integration with Taurus UCX. Th...
17/01/2026
Clear-Com announced a strategic partnership with NETGEAR AV to offer four high-performance networking switches as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutio...
17/01/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, today announced a new U.S. distribution partnership wit...
17/01/2026
NUGEN Audio announces the latest evolution of MasterCheck, its industry-trusted optimization plug-in for cross-platform mastering and loudness verification. Des...
Live From Paris 2024: CBC Calls Canada House Home, Enhances Connection With Athletes Moving out of the IBC puts the Canadian broadcaster right in the mix for French, English viewers back home By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
