Football Summit 2019: Looking ahead to the FIFA Women's World Cup in France By Heather McLean, Editor
Monday, March 11, 2019 - 16:32
Print This Story
In an exclusive conversation with FIFA TV and its appointed host broadcaster HBS on preparations for one of this summer's main events, the FIFA Women's World Cup, attendees to SVG Europe's Football Summit 2019 found out more about the technology and production plans for the tournament.
Florin Mitu, head of host broadcast production at FIFA TV, and Stefan Wistuba, host broadcaster project leader at HBS, on stage at SVG Europe's Football Summit 2019 at Stade de France
Florin Mitu, head of host broadcast production at FIFA TV, and Stefan Wistuba, host broadcaster project leader at HBS, spoke with SVG's Ken Kerschbaumer about what they have planned for the FIFA Women's World Cup, which runs from 7 June to 7 July in France.
The tournament has been running every four years since 1991 when the first Women's World Cup was held in China, and subsequently won by the US team.
This one in France will be the eighth, with 52 matches to be played over 31 days within nine host cities and nine stadia in total. The semi-final and final will be played at a new stadium in Lyon that was opened just before the 2016 Men's European Championships. At the time of the Football Summit, 500,000 tickets were already sold, with an expectation of one million to be sold by the time the event kicks off.
Growing in popularity
The 2019 event is larger than ever; the Trophy tour is currently underway, arriving back in Paris on 2 May after visiting all 24 participating countries. Teams from South Africa, Scotland, Jamaica and Chile are playing for the first time ever in this edition of the Women's World Cup.
Mitu commented: In terms of TV coverage we have quite an ambitious objective, as you may have heard. We are trying - hoping, finger crossing - to reach one billion unique viewers for this Women's World Cup. The trend has been going in this direction ever since Germany 2011, while in terms of production, the evolution of the HD era from Germany 2011 to France 2019, we went through 1080i and 4 3 to finally being full 16 9 this year around with UHD, with SDR and 1080p as a second output. Audio-wise we stay on Dolby 5:1. The world feed, same as last time, will be uplinked in HD 1080i. We will be going for 21 cameras for the standard group match, up to 26 for the semis and the final, plus maybe one more.
Florin Mitu, head of host broadcast production at FIFA TV, speaks with SVG's Ken Kerschbaumer about plans for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2019
The IBC is sited at Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles. As to the broadcasters at the IBC, Mitu stated, there will be seven this time around compared to five last time and only two in Frankfurt . He added: The interest in this competition from a media rights point of view is increasing year by year, so we're very happy to see the seven joining us in Paris this summer.
HBS is using around 5,000 square metres of the IBC, which was previously used for the Euros.
Wistuba said the bigger broadcasters are building studios outside of the IBC within Paris during the month of the event; Fox is going to base itself at the Trocad ro, and Telemundo near the Arc de Triomphe de l' toile. Other broadcasters will be based inside the stadiums, including the BBC and new to the Women's World Cup, CCTV. Said Wistuba: Broadcasters will use the IBC as a technical turnaround hub rather than having studios as such there.
Maxing out FIFA Max
In terms of content on the FIFA Media Asset Exchange (MAX) Server, Mitu said FIFA TV is dramatically increasing the footage available to media rights licensees on it for this event. In part this is being generated by the number of FIFA TV film crews, which are going up to 24 from just six for the previous Women's World Cup.
Mitu explained: There will be a team crew following every single team in the competition, actually staying with them, travelling with them, eating with them, doing everything that they do, so there will be hardly any moment of the experience missed and the footage will obviously be made available to the media rights holder licenses. Last time we had six crews, one for every single city, which meant we couldn't follow every team all the time.
Stefan Wistuba, host broadcaster project leader at HBS, covers the technical plans for the Women's World Cup 2019
One big innovation on the FIFA Max server is the content, which, Wistuba said, will be available both onsite at the IBC and offsite completely as well, for, full access everywhere, basically giving broadcasters the full flexibility to create their shows .
He added: I think we have to go with the flow on that side; not everybody has the luxury and chance to be onsite, so this is definitely bringing the content out to all the broadcasters all over the world.
Added Mitu: This is one of the key messages that we kept hearing following the men's World Cup in Russia; broadcasters would like to be more independent and be allowed to receive the footage at their headquarters back home, as if they were in the IBC, so we took that on board and we are launching that this time around with the Women's World Cup.
Wealth of content
FIFA Films is providing a wealth of pre-event content, including an eight episode TV series to be made available to media rights holder licenses between 27 March and 15 April, as well as promotional trailers, trophy tour edits made available at the end of the competition, an on screen design package, the Hero's' programme, and 60-plus classic clips made from FIFA TV's comprehensive archive in Zurich. Also, after the event the official 52 minute film will be made available, and The Nation's Story' film, a behi
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...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
Football Summit 2019: Looking ahead to the FIFA Women's World Cup in France By Heather McLean, Editor 
