On the piste: ORF on bringing new innovations in sound and interactivity to ski coverage By Heather McLean
Friday, October 11, 2024 - 09:30
Print This Story
Planning for the Alpine Ski World Cup in S lden takes time each year as the Rettenbach glacier moves annually
With the Alpine Ski Championship Season Opener taking place on the slopes of the Rettenbach Glacier in Solden, Austria later this month, local broadcaster, ORF is aiming to bring a number of technical innovations to the coverage.
As host broadcaster for F d ration Internationale de Ski et de Snowboard (FIS), the Alpine Ski World Cup may see - pending trials taking place now - innovations on sound and interactivity.
One exciting innovation from ORF that may be trialled live at Solden if it is ready, then at Kitzb hel for the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup race, Hahnenkamm World Cup Races, and elsewhere, will be an audio innovation.
Working as a joint venture between ORF, Red Bull Mediahouse and FIS, the team is trying to get the sound of the athletes as they compete into the broadcast by creating a mic that can be worn on the slopes without impeding competitors' movement
Red Bull mic
Working as a joint venture between ORF, Red Bull Mediahouse and FIS, the team is trying to get the sound of the athletes as they compete into the broadcast by creating a mic that can be worn on the slopes without impeding competitors' movement.
Michael K gler, ORF head of directors, explains why this project is important: The new thing we are testing here is another push on the sound side. We have a project which we are really working hard on. We have really a lot of cameras on all these sites, but to my mind, the thing that is missing to give the broadcast an extra push is the real sound of the athletes.
There is a new technology now which we are working together with Red Bull Lab, which they used at the surfing. They had to integrate a mic into some tools for the surfers. Normally in surfing you have no sound from the athletes if it's in the tube in the water. But they were able to deliver this thing for some special occasions and so we came into contact with Red Bull to try to do this for snow sports. It's a lot of technology, a lot of involvement, a lot of stuff also from the FIA's side to get the athletes to wear it.
Now we are using the mic technology, but integrating this into the athlete's helmet and try to really get the original sound, the breathing of the racer, of the athlete. If this works I think this will be a really big step to make all these broadcasts even more impressive than they are right now.
The mic is currently being tested by Red Bull athletes. As soon as trials are successful, ORF will bring it to the slopes and its broadcasts for further testing, hopefully at Solden.
Team radio
Another project ORF is working on with FIS is to integrate more of the ski team radio communications into the broadcast. K gler explains: The other thing is also a project with FIS. We are trying to integrate more of the team radio into our broadcasts. Now we are doing a lot of team radio, which we record, but also want to go a little bit further into the action to make it more understandable, because if a Norwegian talks, nobody knows what the Norwegian is talking about, so we want to have a popup in English so that everybody should be able to understand what the guy is talking about. This is also under development, which we will try and if it works, it will pop up in time for Kitzb hel.
One more innovation that ORF is working on the development of is a 360 degree virtual reality (VR) tool so that people at home can go into certain areas of the course to have a real look around and get a feel for the venue. This involves the integration of permanent 360 degree cameras at various points around the course.
The Alpine Ski Championship Season Opener takes place on the weekend of 26 to 27 October on the Rettenbach Glacier in Solden, Austria
North America Stories
05/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering many of the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced the launch of In-Scene Advertising, a new monetiza...
05/06/2026
Berklee Study Reveals Video Has Become Essential to Music Careers Survey findings show social platforms have become the primary source of music for video cont...
04/06/2026
Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p-compatible PTZ auto-frami...
04/06/2026
This recent grad from Spring, TX, led creative-video output for the Aggies' men's basketball team last season and has been producing video and creating ...
04/06/2026
For the first time at a women's golf major, every player in the field will r...
04/06/2026
Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin and Akamai have announced a collaboration with NRJ Group, a French mult...
04/06/2026
Telestream will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7952), demonstrating media work...
04/06/2026
Sony has announced the development of RIALTO 65, a 65mm format image sensor block for the VENICE 2 digital cinema camera, targeting release in the first half of...
04/06/2026
KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N8025, June ...
04/06/2026
Bell Media's TSN and RDS are the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of FIFA Wor...
04/06/2026
The Challenge: Receiving Heavy Media Files From Road Games Quickly and ReliablyT...
04/06/2026
MASV, a managed file transfer platform used in broadcast and live sports product...
04/06/2026
NESN has announced the appointment of Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Haider returns to NESN, where he previously served as Vice P...
04/06/2026
David J. Halberstam, who spent almost 50 years in sports as a broadcaster and an executive, died June 2 after a years-long battle with brain cancer.
Over his l...
04/06/2026
Although collegiate production programs are tasked with delivering high-quality ...
04/06/2026
California studio, two production trucks, global distribution system are combine...
04/06/2026
New global program empowers and supports storytellers through scriptwriting course and access to industry experts
TikTok and Sundance Institute today announce...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...
04/06/2026
American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...
04/06/2026
Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...
04/06/2026
Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...
04/06/2026
St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume Berklee alumni St. Vincent and Ruby Plume will appear on the same bill across seven d...
04/06/2026
Home to cutting-edge sovereign AI infrastructure and robotics innovators, as well as one of the world's most passionate gaming communities, South Korea is o...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
All the Truth in My Lies Coming to Netflix on August 28
Entertainment
04 June 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Download the imag...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Larry Tanz, VP of Content, EMEA, Delivers a Keynote Speech at ...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Turn Your Living Room into a Stadium With the New FIFA World ...
04/06/2026
Keeping conversations real on LinkedIn Published on Jun 4, 2026 Categories: Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Share
LinkedIn
Facebook ...
04/06/2026
June's forecast with GeForce NOW: 100% chance of gaming.
GeForce NOW is lining up new adventures for the month, from big-name blockbusters to quirky indies...
03/06/2026
SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...
On the piste: ORF on bringing new innovations in sound and interactivity to ski coverage By Heather McLean 
