Je ne sais quoi: F d ration Fran aise de Tennis and HBS bring game, set and match to Roland Garros in first year of partnership By Heather McLean, Editor
Friday, June 11, 2021 - 09:00
Print This Story
Rafael Nadal faces off against Richard Gasquet on the Philippe Chatrier court at Roland Garros 2021
The French Open is taking place once again at Roland Garros in Paris, yet it is all change for this Grand Slam. 2021 sees the F d ration Fran aise de Tennis (FFT) and its new host broadcaster, HBS, taking the production over from France T l visions for the first time, as well as bringing in a plethora of enhancements for the production and to support rights holding broadcasters.
This year HBS has taken over the host broadcast of Roland Garros, stepping into the shoes of France T l visions, which had covered the event for the last 30 years. France T l visions had most recently been in charge of the production for the seven main courts, while FFT produced the outer courts remotely.
The FFT, with HBS, is producing a phenomenal amount of coverage in this first year of their partnership, despite the pandemic, with coverage of all courts including UHD HDR on the Philippe Chatrier court, with HDR SDR on Suzanne Lenglen, Simonne Mathieu and court 14.
Speaking to SVG Europe, Emilie Montan , director of media and production at the FFT, says: Normally 841 matches are produced. This year because we don't have the Legends [Trophy Tournament] we will only produce 832 matches. But this is like two football seasons in France; it's more than 5,000 hours of programming. It's really huge.
Taking control of the Grand Slam
Montan explains why FFT decided to take the production of this Grand Slam inhouse: Back in 2019 when we launched the domestic tender, we decided that the national broadcaster would not be host; the packages in the tender we [meant] it would be weird to have, let's say, a broadcaster producing matches for another incumbent. So we decided to inhouse it.
We are the first tennis event to have a media server. It's big news for this year. We know there is one for the Olympics and the World Cup, but as far as tennis is concerned I think it is the first time the broadcaster can use a media server
She adds: On top of that we wanted to be more in control of the production and to control the investment we wanted to make, which at some points was very difficult with France T l visions, because they have a different financial agenda. They were more or less [interested in] saving than investing, and asking over time for them to, let's say, put a spider cam in or to put another camera or whatever in, they would say, no, we want to make some cost savings , which was not compatible with the way we wanted to handle the production for a grand slam tournament.
On top of these considerations, France T l visions was also producing a more unilateral feed style, rather than a multilateral feed, which, says Montan , the feed that they were producing was very France T l visions-like, and not too much international, which had led us [also to want to] inhouse the production .
After that the FFT launched a tender and selected HBS as the producer for the tournament on their behalf for the next three years to the 2023 French Open. The FFT has created a steering committee including HBS to focus on the production for the tournament, because we want to be in control of it, notes Montan .
Enhancing coverage for viewers
For all media - broadcasters, HBS staff and others - there are over 2,000 people on site during the tournament. Over 600 of that figure are HBS crew. The reason for the high number of HBS crew is due to an increase in new cameras at this year's French Open. Montan explains: This year we have really enhanced the coverage of Roland Garros. Not only have we added extra cameras on the Philippe Chatrier, Suzanne Lenglen, Simonne Mathieu [courts], cameras like the baseline camera, the tower camera, the tactical camera, but we have also improved and enhanced the service to broadcasters and the access to content [for them].
As of 2021, all the courts at Roland Garros are produced within the new TV compound, with HDR SDR on Suzanne Lenglen, Simonne Mathieu and court 14, and Philippe Chatrier produced in a UHD HDR truck in the same area
There are a number of new enhancements for this year's coverage of Roland Garros, not least of which is the fact that the FFT has beaten the rest of the Grand Slam venues to a media server, a first for 2021. We are the first tennis event to have a media server, says Montan . It's big news for this year.
We know there is one for the Olympics and the World Cup, but as far as tennis is concerned I think it is the first time the broadcaster can use a media server. We have access either onsite or outside and the quality is incredible, they have all live and non-live content on the platform and the level of satisfaction from all the broadcasters is really good; everybody is very happy. So we have lots of people managing and monitoring that, and being available for the broadcasters to make sure they find the right content at the right place, at the right moment.
Adding to that sense of je ne sais quoi is a huge addition for viewers oversees; beauty cameras that show off not only the layout of Roland Garros, but of Paris as well.
Montan explains: We have enhanced the beauty cameras that we have on site. I think when you watch Roland Garros from abroad it's very important you realise what the stadium looks like. It's been very difficult for us to [set up] a cablecam from [the top end of the venue] to the very bottom of the stadium, so [instead] we've covered the whole site with very different types of set ups [to create that type of aerial shot].
We have a cablecam from the Suzanne Lenglen [court] up to afte
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...
08/09/2026
J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026
Search
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers
Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...
08/09/2026
Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026
Trailer releas...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Jamie Demetriou and Amelia Dimoldenberg to host next t...
08/09/2026
Wuppertal September 8, 2026
Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...
Je ne sais quoi: F d ration Fran aise de Tennis and HBS bring game, set and match to Roland Garros in first year of partnership By Heather McLean, Editor 
