It was always on the cards that SIS LIVE, incumbent of BBC Sport contracts since 2008, would shed some work as a result of the broadcasters recent tender renewal, but few anticipated it would be sidelined entirely, least of all SIS LIVE itself which seemed not to have contemplated an outcome in which it was not even placed on the list of companies awarded framework agreements to pitch for future BBC work.
Since BBC Sport contributed the majority of business for SIS OB division, and with all other major contracts sewn up, the firm had little choice, it seems, but to fold the unit from March, affecting 240 jobs.
In a letter to customers explaining the decision commercial director Phil Aspden (pictured), said, More and more, it has become a commodity marketplace, driven by spot' contracts, where price is the dominant factor.
While rival suppliers recognise this situation, they say it is hardly new and that SIS failed to adapt. Cost has always been a factor, says Brian Clark, commercial and technical projects director at NEP Visions. Clients are keen to get the best value for money and will pay a premium for expertise, scale and reputation.
All OB companies at some point have wanted to buy the odd contract by pricing at close to break even, suggests Arena chief, Richard Yeowart. This also applies to SIS though, as they also tried to build market share by being aggressive at times. The most polite way of dumping your OB date is to tell them they were beaten on price, but perhaps things are not always that clear-cut.
Less competition, less quality?
The sudden withdrawal of SIS LIVE leaves the market with even fewer main players, although those left standing deny that this will result in less competition, or lesser quality.
It will provide greater job security for the remaining operators as the market balances and it will allow one or two of the smaller companies to find their feet and grow organically, says Yeowart. The market always finds its own balance and this will happen quite quickly with the OB sector.
From a numbers point of view, having an added slice of turnover will allow the remaining players to offer better economies of scale across their business, he adds. The negative aspect is that 200+ staff will be made redundant, but many will resurface as freelancers or as staff elsewhere.
Arena was so concentrated on signing with Sunset and Vine to cover all BT Sports football played in England and Wales until 2017, that it didnt in fact have capacity to land any BBC strands.
That bonanza is being meted out to NEP Visions which takes on athletics, tennis and Wimbledon coverage; CTV, which will support the Boat Race, football and the London Marathon; Presteigne Charter which will work on the broadcaster's Formula 1 output and Telegenic, which will supply the BBC's rugby league and rugby union coverage.
The tenders for The Open Golf Championship, the FA Cup, BBC Sports Personality of the Year and the BBCs Winter Olympics presentation have yet to be awarded.
BT Sports dramatic late scoop of Champions League soccer from ITV and Sky from 2015 will see new OB supply bids courted in the new year, with existing Champions League soccer suppliers Visions and Arena seemingly in pole position.
Trucks for sale
SIS LIVEs fleet of 14 HD OB trucks will be put up for sale. Yeowart says Arenas preference is to build trucks that meet our methodology rather than try and adapt another solution to our needs , while Visions has earmarked a multi-million pound investment in six flypacks (added to its existing four) specifically to cater for BBC work.
We took a strategic view and concluded that we have a substantial fleet of trucks and that flypacks will give us greater flexibilty, says Clark. Its Wimbledon 2013 support for ESPN and the BBC, for example, was a mix of flypack and truck, although it is driving and ferrying trucks to aid NBCs Sochi coverage this Winter.
The difference between truck and flypack, according to Clark? Wheels, he says. You can outfit a flypack for 35 cameras or events requiring three to four cameras. That takes longer to build than a truck [on site] and you need a physical location to put a pack into but there are occasions where you cant park a truck and of course you cant put one on a plane.
Yeowart reveals Arena is planning an unprecedented growth of four OB trucks in the next 12-18 months to meet demand which will see it send facilities to the Commonwealth Games, Brazil 2014 and the Rugby World Cup. Since OB11 entered service in December 2012 the company has focussed on investments in Sony cameras, Canon lenses, bespoke radio cameras and EVS XT[3]s.
Telegenic, which landed BT Sports Aviva Premiership Rugby matchday coverage and continues to produce Sky Premiership soccer in 3D, already has a 4K-ready truck outfitted with Sony F55 cameras which will be one of, perhaps the only, truck recording 4K for FIFA at the World Cup come June.
CTV, part of the giant Euromedia group, has also pledged to launch a 4K-ready vehicle timed for around May after discussions with BSkyB about its roadmap for Ultra-HD which would seem to be a question of when not whether.
4K decisions
All OB suppliers are testing 4K signals and circuits, with most trucks requiring relatively minimal investment in routing and switchers to be labelled 4K-ready. The camera channels though are arguably the biggest missing piece.
The issue we are considering carefully is what camera technology will future proof all of our content, says Clark. If we take the plunge on one type of camera, will it suffice for 1080p 60p as well as Ultra-HD? I know other companies have got 4K trucks, but where I struggle is having an integrated 4K system in which you can be confident of the future.
At heart is nailing the frame rate, which by most accounts would require at least 120fp
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
It was always on the cards that SIS LIVE, incumbent of BBC Sport contracts since 2008, would shed some work as a result of the broadcasters recent tender renewal, but few anticipated it would be sidelined entirely, least of all SIS LIVE itself which seemed not to have contemplated an outcome in which it was not even placed on the list of companies awarded framework agreements to pitch for future BBC work.
