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
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...
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 
