BBC Sport unveils innovative new VR studio for Beijing Winter Olympics By Heather McLean, Editor
Monday, January 24, 2022 - 18:35
Print This Story
BBC Sport is taking readers to the slopes with a virtual cabin on a mountainside in China for a studio
BBC Sport is unveiling a new virtual reality (VR) studio for its coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics that will take viewers from a mountainside log cabin to a virtual ski resort, and beyond.
Rights holding broadcasters at this year's Games are restricted from being able to roam the local area with camera crews, preventing them from giving people at home a feel of the country. However, the VR studio will take viewers to the edge of a mountain range and the excitement of a Winter Olympics in all its snowy glory.
With every event you kind of learn about how you can use the technology and use your imagination to create something which is unreal
Comments Jonny Bramley, executive producer for major events at BBC Sport, talking to SVG Europe from his hotel in Beijing: We did consider whether we'd be looking at some live shots from some of the venues here in Beijing, but you actually come up with a more impressive environment if you kind of let your imagination run away and come up with something that might be your ideal log cabin in a snowy mountain environment.
We're pretty happy with the way the studio looks. And again, it's clearly virtual and we're not trying to pretend it's actually real, but it does look pretty impressive, so we can have a bit of fun with that.
Even though the footprint of BBC Sport's greenscreen studio being used for Beijing is only 84 metres square, it has managed to create a virtual ski resort an expansive studio
As the Winter Olympics is a smaller event than the Summer Games, this time BBC Sport is not utilising the large Dock 10 studio it made into its virtual Tokyo eyrie. It has scaled the VR set back to its Pres 2 studio, as it would for any other Winter Olympics.
Bramley comments: The Summer Olympic studio was in one of the large studios in Dock10. This time we are using our more compact studio, but it's bespoke. It's probably the biggest virtual footprint we've got. Being able to use it for a major event like this is actually a great use of the space. It's not a huge space but we've been very creative with our VR set design, so it's great.
Not only do we have a number of different positions inside the studio, but we've actually got various places where we can actually shoot - virtually outside. I think [the studio is] probably one of the most exciting things about the coverage, Bramley adds.
Presenters will be able to virtually report from outside' the BBC Sport studio at a ski resort
Pushing VR to the edge
John Murphy, BBC Sport's creative director for motion, tells SVG Europe: The innovative element of the studio is in the virtual design. Although the footprint of our greenscreen studio is only 84 metres square, we have managed to create a virtual ski resort and studio which has more than five different presenting positions both inside and outside. It will also reflect different times of the day and you may even spot some wildlife!
Murphy explains that the technology which drives the virtual studio is a Viz 4 and Unreal Engine integration using the Viz Fusion keyer along with the Mo-Sys camera tracking system. Unreal Engine provides the virtual landscape and rendering and Vizrt's Viz 4 and Viz Arc provide the control of the studio, including any AR.
He adds: Our studio (Pres 2) which is based at Media City, Salford is a four-camera greenscreen studio with a locked-off fifth ceiling camera which we have brought in for the Winter Olympics; it gives us a bigger viewpoint from one of the positions in the studio.
On the studio, he notes: It is a fixed studio which has been active since May [2021] and has hosted various productions. However, the Winter Olympics is our biggest event to be held in there to date and therefore we are expanding the virtual footprint of the studio.
Although the architecture of the studio is the same, we have created an extra presentation area inside, and the biggest change is that we now have three or four presentation areas outside of the studio in our own ski resort - a virtual ski resort. So our presenters will talk about going outside', but they'll actually be inside the VR studio. We'll be in the studio - the VR log cabin - then go to the downhill skiing or whatever, and when we come back our presenters can be outside' in our virtual ski resort. It's pretty cool!
Viewers will be able to see day turn into night in Beijing time, and may even see some wildlife on the slopes
Constantly evolving
As to how the Beijing studio has moved on from that used for Tokyo and how BBC Sport is constantly pushing forwards with its VR set design, Bramley says: It's definitely evolved. Tokyo was a good example of how you're not constrained with virtual reality. When you design a real set you're very much constrained by those four walls and the challenge with that is how creative you can be within those four walls. A VR set design means you've got to literally think outside of the box outside those four walls and so the scenes we had in Tokyo meant the set was the entire city of Tokyo with our little box on top of a skyscraper in the middle. This time the set is in a mountain environment and it's our own little log cabin in the middle of that.
With every event you kind of learn about how you can use the technology and use your imagination to create something which is unreal, concludes Bramley.
The BBC will broadcast more than 300 hours of live coverage across BBC One and BBC Two, with even more coverage available on a second live digital stream o
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
BBC Sport unveils innovative new VR studio for Beijing Winter Olympics By Heather McLean, Editor 
