Fox Sports' FIFA Women's World Cup Operation Takes Technical Step Forward, Leverages L.A. Facilities Improvements are based on lessons from two previous World Cups By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Friday, June 7, 2019 - 9:32 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup is under way in Paris today, and its beginning marks the end of a long period of planning in which Fox Sports made use of skills the team developed in Canada, home to the previous Women's World Cup in 2015, and in Russia during the Men's World Cup last summer.
The Fox Sports ROC at the IBC for the FIFA Women's World Cup consolidates operations to shrink the equipment footprint.
Our spirits are good, and we are ready to kick off the tournament and show everyone back in the States what we've been working on, says Kevin Callahan, director, technical operations, Fox Sports. We'll have all the things covered, and we're ready.
One of the first things viewers will notice is the studio-show set, which is located at the Caf de l'Homme. Paris has plenty of iconic views, but it is the sight of the Eiffel Tower that resonates with people around the world, and the view from the Caf , part of the Musee de l'Homme, will not disappoint.
[EVP, Graphics,] Gary Hartley and his team designed a magnificent set, says Callahan. There was only one rule: don't mess up the view. The set blends into the museum as much as it can, and the back house of the restaurant has been turned into our operations and production office.
Callahan notes that the studio has 10 cameras, including a 50-ft. SuperTechno50 crane with a Stype kit for augmented-reality graphics that can show sweeping shots of the Palais de Chaillot and the Trocad ro. There is also a beauty camera that uses LiveU's Matrix IP cloud video-management platform to make it available to Fox TV stations that want to integrate live shots into their newscasts.
LiveU is the backbone for ENG shoots that are not at a stadium, says Callahan. Their new LE600 gear is very reliable, particularly here in France, as it helps us get content to multiple locations simultaneously.
There are three shooting locations: the main set, a caf set, and a shooting position for the digital team, which is located on the second terrace. From there, the digital and social-media team will produce FIFA Women's World Cup Now for Twitter every night of the tournament.
A combined team from Fox Sports, IBM Aspera, Levels Beyond, and Telestream is working together at the IBC for the FIFA Women's World Cup.
We've taken over every square centimeter of space there to maximize efficiency, says Callahan. Down the hill is where our technical compound is located. NEP's Aurora OB truck is there as our control room, and we have 40 Gbps of data leaving that compound: 20 Gbps to Los Angeles and 20 Gbps to the IBC in Paris.
One interesting note is that the EVS XT-VIA operations, graphics, and playout are done in Los Angeles and the technical director in Paris is cutting to tape machines located in Los Angeles, not in a B unit.
We basically moved the B unit 6,000 miles away, notes Callahan.
Similarly, the graphics team in Los Angeles controls three Viz engines in Aurora, and the prompter crew is also working remotely. Bexel helped outfit two trailers located in Fox Sports' Pico studio lot, and a Century Link trailer helps pull in 120 Gbps of data from Paris.
We experimented in Russia with our night-time prompter being in Los Angeles, adds Callahan, and now we are doing it over IP for all of our shows from Paris.
The Fox facility in Los Angeles also built two rooms for off-tube needs because all audio and video passes through a control room in Los Angeles. The commentary, whether off-tube or onsite, will be matched with a UHD feed that will ultimately be downconverted to 720p for distribution to viewers.
Last year, we couldn't do that because Camera 1 of the UHD feed was a different camera and had a different view, Callahan explains. So we needed two separate workflows.
Fox at the IBC
This is the first time that a Women's World Cup has had a proper building for its International Broadcast Center (in 2015, the IBC was housed in office trailers). Although Fox has a relatively small footprint of only 300 sq. meters, it will pack a lot of technical punch. NEP UK, as it did in Russia last year, is providing the equipment and technical support.
It's our technical hub for interfacing with the venues and HBS for match coverage, says Callahan. It is also the hub for ingest and our archive system that is required for features and is the source for all of the feeds that those in the remote tape room in Los Angeles need.
There are 60 staffers onsite at the IBC, and Callahan says that FIFA stepped up with a proper IBC. He adds that having all the matches produced in UHD is another improvement over 2015.
The number of feeds has also increased, and the availability of those feeds has made it significantly easier for us to have a consistent product from all of the matches, he says. The host services are much more aligned with the men's tournament, like having fully equipped presentation platforms. FIFA has gone out of its way to make TV as important as everything else around the tournament.
At the core of the IBC facilities is what Fox is calling the Remote Operations Center (ROC).
We've merged all of the technical rooms - like transmission, venue engineering, ingest, and media management - and the assignment desk so that they have the same set of monitors and can talk to each other directly, explains Callahan. There is a space saving, but they are also all looking at the same thing on one monitor wall.
Another key improvement from FIFA is that access to the content on the F
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...
Fox Sports' FIFA Women's World Cup Operation Takes Technical Step Forward, Leverages L.A. Facilities Improvements are based on lessons from two previous World Cups By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
