Euro 2024: Sky Italia prepares for an unforgettable summer of football By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent
Friday, June 14, 2024 - 08:51
Print This Story
Producer Ferruccio Zanotti will be on site for the matches
Some 24 national football teams are set to battle it out in stadiums across Germany from 14 June to 14 July, with the hope of being crowned European champions at the UEFA European Football Championship.
Sky Italia will be at the forefront of broadcasting the tournament in its entirety, with 20 exclusive matches that will keep fans glued to their screens. Indeed, Sky Italia is the only broadcaster in the European group that will show all of the tournament's matches.
The Euros will take place across ten venues, with a team of 50 professionals, including commentators, reporters, producers and technicians from Sky Sport, travelling to each to ensure the best possible coverage.
They will be joined by around 100 people in Milan and Santa Giulia, where the playout, MCR, editing and ingest will be managed.
All of Italy's matches will be followed by a mobile vehicle from Cinevideo and 4-5 reporters who will accompany the national team throughout the week.
Read more Euro 2024: UEFA's technical broadcast plans
The studio for Italy's matches will be on site and will have four cameras and a mini Jimmy Jib for live coverage.
In addition, a pitch presentation with two reporters will deal with interviews and in-depth analysis; a further Flash station will be dedicated to classic post-match interviews.
Ready to comment
Six matches in the first phase of the tournament will be commented on from the stadiums. The opening match will feature an innovative remote studio set up from the production centre of Milan Santa Giulia, Sky Italia's headquarters.
Sky will use the LiveU LU800 system for the remote production, which will allow four live video signals to be received from the stadiums, with four SRT signals as backup and a zero-latency studio return.
If the Italian team does not reach the final, Sky will evaluate whether to use Cinevideo's mobile unit or remote production for the broadcast of the remaining main matches.
In addition to the six matches where commentators will be in the stadium, there will also be seven others with a reporter who will conduct pre- or post-match interviews and in-depth analysis.
Sky will also have a studio at the Reichstag in Berlin. This studio, equipped with a bonded camera, will be used to produce a full edition of Sport24 and as support for links with VIP guests. Additional matches will be commented on from the Milan Santa Giulia facility.
A typical day
A typical day for Sky Sport will start at 10:00 with Sport24 and end at 12:30 at night with Calciomercato Originale, which this summer will be travelling to seven locations.
The technological heart of the Euro 2024 operation is the IBC (International Broadcast Centre) located in Leipzig.
Here Sky will have a small master control room that will receive all the signals. They will be distributed to Milan on four JPEG 2000 fibres, which will allow the transmission of match signals in both HD and HDR, and six fibres for the transport of MPEG4 accessory feeds; these include the helicopter feed, the fan camera and a daily schedule based on editorial needs.
In the IBC, in addition to the match signals, UEFA also provides 14 accessory signals such as ISO Cam, helicopters, drones, beauty shots of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, beauty shots of the stadiums and more to choose from.
To guarantee maximum security, an additional disaster recovery quality signal transport in a double chain is also planned to Sky headquarters in Rome and then from Rome to Milan.
The team
The director in charge of the integrations on Italy's matches is Roberto Popi Montoli, who will manage the four cameras in the studio and the three cameras on the pitch, including a long lens that captures the various profiles of players and coaches.
The on-site team will also include EVS operators with 12 channels, a video mixer, two camera controls, an audio mixer and a total of about 20 people from the Cinevideo technical team.
Two producers, Ferruccio Zanotti and Giorgio Antoniol, and two editorial coordinators, Alessandro Scipioni and Federica Salpietro, will also be on site.
In addition, Sky will send two staff members, Andrea Picchioni, technical supervisor, and Fabio Griffanti, to the IBC, alongside two technicians from Globecast.
Read more Euro 2024: UEFA's ENG crews at the ready
At the Adidas Village in front of the Brandenburg Gate, there will be an editorial coordinator who will also handle relations with the official global and national team sponsor, two camera operators and a producer.
In the second phase of the tournament, consisting of the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, Sky will comment on all matches and will send five producers for on-site commentary.
Therefore around 20 journalists and 35 technical professionals from Sky will be involved in the production, along withthose from Cinevideo. In practice, the total effort in Germany will amount to around 80 people.
Cutting-edge technology and a year of preparation
Zanotti, an experienced producer with three European Championships under his belt, says: It's been a year of intense work: from the first workshops with UEFA last summer to the final broadcast standards communicated in December in Hamburg.
From there we developed our editorial planning, aligning it with the budget and UEFA specifications, including the costs of the mobile unit with Cinevideo, the Leipzig-Milan-Rome connectivity with Globecast and coordinating everything in a production plan with the editorial side.
Among the biggest challenges are logistics and transport, made complex by the movement of a large number of people.
Triple back
North America Stories
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
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 ...
03/06/2026
The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...
03/06/2026
RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations.
P...
03/06/2026
Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...
03/06/2026
Liverpool FC and Wasabi Technologies have announced a multi-year extension of their partnership, with Wasabi continuing as the club's official cloud storage...
03/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP as part of the relocation of its n...
03/06/2026
The Riedel Group has announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 201...
03/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the deployment of its intercom solutions at Itaka Arena ...
03/06/2026
Scott Coker has announced six senior executive appointments for his new global MMA promotion, which launched earlier this year with $60 million in financing. Ad...
03/06/2026
Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the FIFA World Cup 2026, has announced its digital and social media programming for the tournament, running Ju...
03/06/2026
The Bundesliga has announced the launch of Captain, an AI assistant built into t...
03/06/2026
Anthony James Partners (AJP) is serving as technology consultant for a moderniza...
03/06/2026
Audio-Technica has announced the recipients of its annual sales rep firm awards for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The awards were presented by Jim Schanz, Executive ...
Euro 2024: Sky Italia prepares for an unforgettable summer of football By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent 
