Cheltenham Festival 2021: ITV Sport adds a Robycam to its UK coverage amid tight COVID restrictions Wired camera system is being used to add a new dimension to the broadcaster's AR graphics By Will Strauss, Editor
Friday, March 19, 2021 - 10:00
Print This Story
ITV Sport is making the most of a COVID-secure behind-closed-doors Cheltenham Festival by introducing a new Robycam wired camera to its unilateral coverage of the popular horse racing meeting.
The Cheltenham Festival is part of the National Hunt racing calendar and includes the Gold Cup (Friday 19 March), a Grade 1 chase race, run over 3 miles 2.5 furlongs with 22 fences, that is considered the most prestigious race of the Jumps season.
With no spectators allowed at the racecourse this year because of COVID-19 restrictions, and all the racing, course and media personnel on-site confined to different health and safety zones, the ITV production team have utilised the additionally available space around the parade ring to install three towers to run the Robycam system.
The Movicom-developed wired camera, supplied and piloted by Birds Camera Solutions and managed and operated by Luna Remote Systems, is being used in conjunction with augmented reality (AR) graphics, provided by AE Live, to show on-screen data, such as the runners and riders, in a more dynamic way but also to partly mask the lack of crowd.
The parade ring is usually full of cheering punters and has a great atmosphere. I can't replicate that but what I can do is try to fill that space with an incredible camera and show some great graphics on it
Speaking to SVG Europe, ITV Sport senior director and major events executive producer Paul McNamara explained that the new camera would serve several purposes.
We previously had a long wire-cam that went all the way from the Guinness Village over the parade ring, he said. But this one is like the sort of camera that you might see on the rugby or on the Superbowl. It's a new camera that, as far as I know, has never been used on horse racing before.
It will be able to link some of our presentation positions up. I can go from where [presenters] Ed Chamberlin and Francesca Cumani are, out to the Social Stable. I can do AR graphics on it showing the standings in the Prestbury Cup, for example, or the runners and riders, and put VT into it as well.
The parade ring is usually full of cheering punters and has a great atmosphere. I can't replicate that but what I can do is try to fill that space with an incredible camera and show some great graphics on it.
ITV Racing's Social Stable is a social media hub that links all the channel's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels ensuring viewers can get involved in the festival from afar and feel part of the event.
Rob Oldham, ITV technical manager for sport, added that the Robycam would help to improve the presentation of the AR graphics, which were first introduced last year, by opening up the third dimension to the designers and pilots .
The lack of crowd is what has enabled the use of the Robycam system, continued Oldham. We have one point on top of a stand but have had to find locations for three 31m towers provided by West End Rigging. These have small footprints and are relatively subtle, but are located in positions we would not normally have access to, including the Guinness Village.
We have also made one of the jibs mobile having it mounted on the back of an off-road buggy. Having no crowds to navigate, we can get better value by utilising multiple positions.
Luna Remote Systems were asked by ITV Sport to provide the inaugural Robycam set up at the Cheltenham Festival.
Commercial director Jo Adams, discussing the project, said: I've worked on the racing before and I understand what a huge and important event Cheltenham is in the racing calendar. Because of our experience, we also realise what a big deal it is to work safely with the course and how important horse welfare is, especially when introducing new systems into the mix.
Horse racing has very specific needs and requirements. It's been a very involved project for us, there is a lot of engineering planning that goes into building the towers from scratch, it's not as easy as turning up at a stadium with existing infrastructure already in place.
That's why we hired West End Rigging to work with us as they are highly experienced in this area. We've been really pleased with how it has all gone and the AR looks fantastic on screen. It's been a brilliant addition to the coverage.
Lack of fans, but no lack of excitement
McNamara has made some subtle adjustments to the way he is directing the action this year, to compensate for the lack of spectators.
I do cover the racing slightly differently, he said. Normally on the first circuit, you come to the inside cameras to show the vast array of people in the stands. This time, I won't. I'll cover it from the stand side so you don't see the empty grandstands.
This won't be that unusual to him, though, as he's well versed in the new normal, behind-closed-doors, way of working.
The end of the last Cheltenham Festival was pretty much when we locked down [for the first time], he said. And we've been producing shows behind closed doors with no crowds, from empty racetracks, for the best part of a year.
A successful festival for us is one where everyone at home really enjoys the coverage, that all the jockeys and all the horses stay safe and well and that we provide a great broad gamut of entertainment
I myself have directed programmes at empty race tracks. I've directed programmes from my bedroom at home. We had remote kits put in at home. Remote kits for the presenters at home. We've been on-site where there have been no crowds. So it's been pretty much ou
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...
Cheltenham Festival 2021: ITV Sport adds a Robycam to its UK coverage amid tight COVID restrictions Wired camera system is being used to add a new dimension to the broadcaster's AR graphics By Will Strauss, Editor 
