Arqiva will be at the heart of many broadcasters' plans for this summer's major sports events. TVB Europes Jenny Priestley met the company's commercial director, Chris Alner, to discuss how it will be supporting the industry over the coming months.
With fans still not fully back in stadiums and some sports unable to welcome them back at all the broadcast experience is even more important than ever this summer. Key to ensuring fans can watch every goal, rally, and gold medal win is Arqiva, which has a substantial transmission role to play for the UK's public service broadcasters. The company is working with both the BBC and ITV on Euro 2020, and will also be involved in the BBC's coverage of Wimbledon and Tokyo 2020.
It's a role that the company takes very seriously, explains Chris Alner, commercial director, broadcast and radio at Arqiva. We're working very closely with our broadcast partners because this year the experiences are broadly going to be broadcast-driven, he explains. We also work with other international broadcast partners for some of those flagship events, particularly on the Olympics, doing broadly similar things to what we'd be doing with the BBC for their broadcast viewing audiences, just in other territories. We're at that point where there's a bit of tingle around us as a business. It's our own sense of making sure that we're ready no matter what happens, because there could be changes quite late.
We always have a big intake of breath as we come into every summer, and right now we're even more aware that we need to be prepared because things might need to change. It's always important, but this year it's even more so as everyone's watching at home.
Arqiva's role includes the transmission and distribution of TV and radio channels across the UK network. It's also responsible for aggregating content as it arrives in the UK from overseas, and delivering feeds into other countries around the world for broadcasters who have rights to show those events. That is the key part of what we will be doing, stresses Alner. I would expect that as time gets closer to the events, there will be additional late or last minute requests to pick up' some of the video feeds from overseas, and bring them back to the UK, and we'll be able to do that using our fibre networks, the internet or a number of different methods to get them back into Arqiva.
We want to be able to say to our customers, you wish to achieve an outcome of bringing the content back to the UK, we have a number of different ways we can do this, which have different costs attached to them'.
Arqiva prides itself on being flexible and able to adapt to its client's needs. The scenario could easily arise where a broadcaster hasn't thought there might be another way of using a feed that they initially weren't planning on using, says Alner. We'll be offering a number of different ways of achieving the same outcome. We want to be able to say to our customers, you wish to achieve an outcome of bringing the content back to the UK, we have a number of different ways we can do this, which have different costs attached to them'. That enables them to work more flexibly with us, and can be provisioned a little bit later if they decide they want to make changes maybe a year out from the event. We speak with them to find the right way of doing what they want at the right time and at the right cost, and that's because broadcasters can't predict with as much certainty what it is that they're going to need to be doing.
One of the big advances in technology that maybe wasn't in broadcasters' initial planning for covering this summer's smorgasbord of sport, is remote production. In a way, it's been the industry's saviour over the past 18 months. I think we'll see remote production used quite substantially and in a number of different ways, states Alner. I think we'll see remote production, remote galleries, studios, graphics and overlays, all of those different parts that really enrich the viewing experience.
Therefore there'll be huge amounts of additional connectivity between venues, stadiums and productions and we need to knit it all together. I also think that there'll be more enhanced viewing experiences around sport as well, things like Watch Together where the fans can watch together when they're not in the same location. I think that those remote digital techniques are only going to increase in usage throughout the rest of this summer.
I think people's lives will be busy and packed and they'll want to have as much fun as possible, including watching live sport on TV.
Of course, with countries slowly opening up across Europe, and it being summer, broadcasters might find it tough to keep viewers inside and glued to their screens. Alner believes after the sport-less summer last year, fans will be more than ready to tune in. I think there's pentup desire to watch it. There will be the pull for people to go out and have a drink, but I wouldn't overlook the fact that it remains a communal experience to watch sports on a big screen. I actually don't think the broadcasters are going to struggle for viewers. I think people's lives will be busy and packed and they'll want to have as much fun as possible, including watching live sport on TV.
One thing that will be different at least in terms of the Olympics is that there won't be as many fans in the stadiums. Sometimes, it's the fans that help create an unexpected narrative around one of the events. Remember swimmer Chad Le Clos and his dad Bert at London 2012? How can broadcasters maintain the level of excitement that real life fans bring to the broadcast if they're
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
19/11/2025
Sphere Sound Kicks Up Its Heels at Radio City Music HallUltra-immersive system from the singular Las Vegas venue is also ready for sportsBy Dan Daley, Audio Edi...
19/11/2025
The Future of Stadium and Arena Video Control Rooms: Tech Leaders Talk 4K, IP, a...
19/11/2025
One Year at Intuit Dome: Walking Through the Stunning Arena's Advanced Video...
19/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: IMG's Francois Westcombe Goes Inside IMG's Annual Digital ...
19/11/2025
Inside Brighton & Hove Albion's fan-first media machine By George Bevir
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 - 10:10
Print This Story
Brighton & Hove Albion'...
19/11/2025
Rock Chalk Rebuild, Part 1: Kansas Athletics Brings New Production Power to Rebu...
19/11/2025
Rock Chalk Rebuild, Part 2: A Pro's Guide to Kansas Athletics' New Video...
19/11/2025
MLB Media Rights Shakeup: NBC Inks Three-Year Deal for Sunday Night Baseball, Pe...
19/11/2025
Rohan Parashuram Kanawade attends the premiere of Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival at Egyptian Theatre on January 26, 2025, in Pa...
19/11/2025
Awards season is heating up, and the International Documentary Association just ...
19/11/2025
Aerojet Rocketdyne President Ken Bedingfield and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders were joined by state and local officials to celebrate the groundbreaking o...
19/11/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
19/11/2025
Calrec gives Phoenix Broadcast Solutions its full support in strategic multi-year enterprise partnership New Singapore OB company invests in Calrec technology f...
19/11/2025
October brings a larger audience in front of TV screens. The cooler autumn weather and the continuation of new programming schedules brought increases in both t...
19/11/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group and Tegna filed applications on Nov. 18 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking its consent to transfer broad...
19/11/2025
Vitec has acquired Datapath, a developer of real-time video processing for large-scale video walls, AVoIP content distribution and KVM control in mission-critic...
19/11/2025
NEVADA CITY, Calif. Telestream has introduced ARGUS Version 2.3, which introduces Live Look, a feature that lets operators inspect live and on-demand streams vi...
19/11/2025
STAMFORD, Conn. and NEW YORK Charter Communications, Inc. has announced a major deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that establishes AWS as one of Charters stra...
19/11/2025
TOKYO Atomos has announced a major firmware update that brings integrated camera control to the Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX its new CFexpress-based monitor-recor...
19/11/2025
Berklee's Signature Series Reimagines the Musical and Visual Artistry of Col...
19/11/2025
PlayBox Neo departed the NAB Show New York 2025 on a high note. The company's all-new PlayBox Neo Suite made a splash on the show floor, drawing strong inte...
19/11/2025
AAVBR (American Audio Visual Baton Rouge), a leading full-service event production company serving Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region, has enhanced its product...
19/11/2025
In its mission to deliver live event services combining advanced engineering with a creative approach to captivating live sports and entertainment experiences, ...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK Short-form vertical video has exploded across platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, but a new survey commissioned by Media.net, a provider of c...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK YES Network, the regional sports network home of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets, and CAMB.AI have struck a partnership they said will leverage ...
19/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has issued detailed guidance on filings that were disrupted by the government shutdown. While many of those fil...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK The popularity of NFL games is largely responsible for continued seasonal momentum in TV viewership into October (measured Sept. 29-Oct. 26), according...
19/11/2025
DirecTV has announced that its MyFree DirecTV streaming service has added seven new channels. Those include four sports services, NBA FAST, Red Bull TV, DAZN Ri...
19/11/2025
SURREY, U.K. Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has launched Flair Bridge, a compact device that transforms how operators control the company's motion-contr...
19/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission, which is continuing to rapidly ramp up its operations after the end of the federal government shutdown, has se...
19/11/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group and Tegna filed applications on Nov. 18 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking its consent to transfer broad...
19/11/2025
Martin Freeman, Jessie Buckley, Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon, Eddie the Eagle and ...
19/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz collaborates with Broadcom to enable testing and validation of n...
19/11/2025
Back to All News
Innato, starring Imanol Arias and Elena Anaya, arrives on Netf...
19/11/2025
Back to All News
Guillermo del Toro Sits Down With Troll 2 Director Roar Uthaug...
19/11/2025
Some projects feel monumental from the moment the first phone call comes in. When BCE, the host broadcaster appointed to coordinate the national coverage, asked...
19/11/2025
November 19 2025, 08:00 (PST) BAY AREA HOST COMMITTEE AND DOLBY PARTNER TO DELIVER IMMERSIVE FAN EXPERIENCES
During the Week of Football's Biggest Game...
19/11/2025
Michael D. Higgins: Ireland's Ninth President features RT Archives footage and interviews across seven decades
Watch Wednesday 19 November at 9:35pm on RT...
19/11/2025
Scripps Research scientists receive $1.1 million to advance AI modeling for HIV vaccine development New AI system helps scientists rapidly pinpoint the most pro...
18/11/2025
Independent media across Central America are operating under intensifying financial pressure, yet there is a clear appetite for models that can sustain both ind...
18/11/2025
NBA Debuts New Comms Infrastructure and Systems for RefereesTwo-phase rollout is intended to improve game flow, enhance officiating accuracyBy Dan Daley, Audio ...
18/11/2025
Platinum White Paper: How Aggreko Delivers Certainty For Broadcasters On The Wor...
18/11/2025
Kiswe Extends DTC Products With Kiswe Core Cloud-Based Tool for Distributing Con...
18/11/2025
Spanish Basketball Federation partners with ScorePlay to power digital transform...
18/11/2025
HBS selects BBright encoders and decoders to connect ST 2110 live production wor...
18/11/2025
Ashes to Ashes: Inside TNT Sports' hybrid and maverick' production plan...
18/11/2025
SVG All-Stars: Mimi Fotopoulos, Director, Talent and Production Operations, Tenn...
18/11/2025
SVG LIVE! Conference Explores the Tech Side of Sports and Entertainment ConvergenceLive sports and music productions increasingly share gear and infrastructureB...
Arqiva will be at the heart of many broadcasters' plans for this summer's major sports events. TVB Europes Jenny Priestley met the company's commercial director, Chris Alner, to discuss how it will be supporting the industry over the coming months.
