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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
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...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...
01/07/2026
Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...
01/07/2026
Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...
01/07/2026
Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
Euro 2024: Sky Italia prepares for an unforgettable summer of football By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent 
