Paris 2024: Inside WBD's Olympics broadcast operation By George Bevir
Friday, August 30, 2024 - 10:24
Print This Story
Studio 1 at WBD House with a view of the Eiffel Tower
Matt McDonald, group SVP EMEA Broadcast Services for Warner Bros. Discovery, explains how the broadcaster delivered thousands of hours of Paris 2024 content to linear channels and online platforms across Europe.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) enjoyed a stellar Summer Olympic Games, reporting record viewership and engagement across its many platforms and channels.
Shortly after the closing ceremony on Sunday 11 August, WBD said it had achieved a cumulative reach of more than 215 million in Europe viewing Olympics content on WBD's platforms (23% more than Tokyo 2020), including Max and discovery+, as well as its Eurosport TV channels and free-to-air networks in Norway (TVNorge), Sweden (Kanal 5) and Finland (Kutonen, TV5).
In total, WBD aired more than 3,800 hours of live content, providing outputs to 47 rights territories, with 59 linear channels including 46 Eurosport channels across Europe in 19 languages and a digital offering (Max, HBO Max or discovery+, depending on territory) provided viewers with every moment - peaking at 54 parallel events on the busiest day. Plus, specifically for Paris 2024, seven HD pop-up channels and one UHD pop-up channel made available to 34 affiliates and partners across Europe.
Capturing, managing and delivering all that content was a mammoth task, and leading the department responsible for broadcast operations and technology across Europe was Matt McDonald, group SVP EMEA Broadcast Services for Warner Bros. Discovery (pictured above).
Our operations teams executed brilliantly to enable our editorial teams to tell the stories of the Games
Speaking with SVG Europe at the WBD House studio facility at Hotel Raphael during the Games, McDonald says there were two main elements to preparing for Paris 2024: the on-site prep (including the build of WBD House and the other on-site production facilities such as the mixed zones, venues, and the NOC houses), plus the scaling up of WBD's European sports platform.
He says: We have an enormous 2110 capability based upon two tech hubs, one in London and another in Hilversum in the Netherlands. They support our two main operational hubs, in London (Chiswick) and Paris (Issy-les-Moulineaux) that provide core capabilities for all EMEA. These hubs also provide studios and galleries, plus we also have 10 other production hubs across Europe (Munich, Milan, Stockholm, Oslo, Lisbon, Madrid, Hilversum, Warsaw, Copenhagen and Stockley Park) and for Paris 2024, we also had engineering support and some post-production out of Atlanta in the US.
The main thing for us is that the two main operational hubs run everything bookings, MCR, ingest, media management, playout so those are the centres of the operation and Paris has made all the difference for us during the Olympics, he says.
With previous Games taking place in China, Japan, South Korea and Brazil, Paris 2024 was a home fixture' for WBD, which has its EMEA HQ in Issy-les-Moulineaux, in the south of the city. The fact it was a local Games not only provided a boost to viewing figures thanks to the favourable European time zone, but because WBD already had such an established site and ready-made production facility in Paris it also provided the opportunity to reduce its presence at the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC).
WBD's base at the IBC on the other side of the city consisted of a small footprint manned by 28 staff across two shifts to provide the on-pass of host broadcaster Olympic Broadcasting Services' (OBS) feeds of the Games.
Stand up positions: Eurosport presenters prepare to go live
The Paris location also provided a chance for WBD to showcase the city's landmarks, with WBD House overlooking the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. With four studios used by production teams from the UK, Sweden, France, Poland, Italy and Germany as well as three stand-up positions used by WBD's global news network CNN, and live broadcasts for Spain, Finland and Denmark, plus a bar area with three RF cameras and a Technocrane, the studio was a sizable facility. This was in addition to Eurosport France operating a separate studio at Club France in the Parc de la Villette.
And it was the build of the rooftop studio that provided McDonald and his team with arguably their biggest challenge, he says. It's a working restaurant on top of a prestigious hotel, so we had a very, very limited period to take everything off the roof and then get everything up here that we needed, and then assemble it. The build was four days, so that was a challenge of planning and organisation that involved a lot of pre-build, and then there was a plan that literally went in 15-minute blocks over four days to make sure everything happened seamlessly.
From its position on the 7th floor of the Hotel Raphael, WBD House was treated as an extension of WBD's core network with each of the 11 territories producing content in WBD House able to remote produce from their homebase galleries, for example for Germany via Munich, and Poland via Warsaw.
We're fully 2110 for this Olympics for the first time and I think what we're seeing now is a much more mature, reliable, robust state, so that it works in an end-to-end fashion. It's a lot more hardened, a lot more secure, a lot more robust.
Camera racking and vision control for WBD House was managed remotely from Stockley Park, while audio line-up and control was managed remotely from Chiswick Park. AR graphics were remotely managed from Stockley Park apart from the Swedish team which remotely managed a spin-off of WBD's Cube studio technology from their home-base setup in Stockholm, with live tracking data being r
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...
18/05/2026
Despite a bumpy start to the year, the provider of event-production support and ...
18/05/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the University of North Carolina to manufacture and install 11 LED displays totaling more than 10,000 square feet and more than 14...
18/05/2026
CBS LA has announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Rams, covering exclusive local broadcasts of Rams preseason games, weekly year-round programm...
18/05/2026
Skyline Communications has announced an integration between its DataMiner xOps p...
18/05/2026
eCLUTCH, the hybrid esports platform powered by iKOMG, has announced an expansion of its distribution across Europe, MENA, Africa, and Asia, along with new cont...
18/05/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/05/2026
With 22 games this season, the production team looks forward to tweaking and enhancing the coverage
After 8,660 days off the air, the WNBA returned to NBC yest...
18/05/2026
(L-R) Midori Francis and Natalie Erika James attend the Saccharine premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 22, 2026, in ...
18/05/2026
Last night, the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico returned to the country's capital. Now in its second year, the evening honors creators whose voices are hel...
18/05/2026
ZEN-Core synth goes mobile
Roland's powerful ZEN-Core software synthesizer has just been introduced to the iPad, offering a convenient entry point into ...
18/05/2026
Versatile new limiter plug-in announced
Based in Sheffield, UK, fedDSP offer a range of plug-ins that span the music production, live sound and high-end med...
18/05/2026
A new use for convolution?
Viiri Audio's debut plug-in aims to do something a little different with convolution processing, allowing users to adjust all...
18/05/2026
Delta Goodrem shines for SBS as more than 3.27 million Australians tune in for E...
18/05/2026
The Australian Defence Force uses L3Harris T4 and T7 robots for explosive ordnan...
18/05/2026
Continued investment across Europe and Germany is expanding local teams and improving access to stock, regional expertise, and specialist broadcast support.
CV...
18/05/2026
18 May 2026
Dubai and New York, May 18, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a glob...
18/05/2026
Monday 18 May 2026
Sky News offers ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes for just...
18/05/2026
Comscore March 2026 Consumer AI Chatbot Usage Rankings Show Claude Gaining Share OpenAI's ChatGPT maintains lead while Anthropic's Claude continues to c...
17/05/2026
Delta Goodrem's Eurovision Eclipse marks end of a stellar run
17 May, 2026
Media releases
Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026
Relive every spellbinding mome...
17/05/2026
Back to All News
Oasis Premieres on Netflix June 19
Entertainment
17 May 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Summer, sunshine, the beach, parties. T...
16/05/2026
Helps to deliver a clean, balanced midrange
Developed alongside Newfangled Audio, the latest plug-in in Eventide's software collection has been designed...
16/05/2026
Brings onboard stem rendering to RANE System One
Engine DJ have just released Engine DJ 5.0, a free update for their Engine DJ OS embedded hardware and Engi...
16/05/2026
Boris FX Continuum Pairs AI Precision and Advanced Creative Controls
Jessie Electa Petrov May 16, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic de...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC, in partnership with RAVE Foundation an...
15/05/2026
Dan Brumm has served as sound designer on Bluey, the Australian children's t...
15/05/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are accepting applications for the 6th annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Schola...
15/05/2026
Netflix has announced an expanded NFL schedule for 2026 and beyond under a four-year partnership extension with the NFL through the 2029-30 season. Each season,...
15/05/2026
Ateme is supporting TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) with a contribution and d...
15/05/2026
Concacaf has announced the launch of a new website and mobile app built on Deltatre's FORGE platform. Concacaf.com and the mobile app, available on iOS and ...
15/05/2026
Eutelsat has announced the launch of QBC Business Economic Channel by Qatar Media Corporation, broadcasting in 4K/UHD via Eutelsat's 7/8 West video neighbo...
15/05/2026
Major League Soccer has announced four original content series timed to the 2026...
15/05/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced it will exhibit and present at InfoComm 2026, taking place June 13-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Cente...
15/05/2026
InfoComm 2026 will take place June 13-19 (exhibits June 17-19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will include sessions and exhibits covering broadcas...
15/05/2026
Tracy McGrady's Ones Basketball League (OBL) and FuboTV Inc. have announced ...
15/05/2026
Disguise has partnered with Creative Technology (CT) to deliver visual playback ...
15/05/2026
Sony Electronics has announced two new products for professional imaging: the Alpha 7R VI full-frame mirrorless camera and the FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS super-te...
15/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
15/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
15/05/2026
For sports organizations, the most valuable assets are often the most sensitive:...
15/05/2026
The NFL's broadcast partners released their 2026 regular season schedules ye...
15/05/2026
Besides drawing on experience with boxing, the production integrates specialty c...
Paris 2024: Inside WBD's Olympics broadcast operation By George Bevir 
