Number of cameras used in the broadcast 660+
Number of microphones 1624
Remote coverage really hit its stride at these Games. For last summer ’s extravaganza in Tokyo, broadcasters around the world scrambled to produce coverage fully from their home bases, with very few actually sending teams to Tokyo. A remote trend already underway was forced into the mainstream – and has become cemented for some broadcasters as a preferred mode of coverage. Why transfer your own staff to sit rink- side, when you can comment directly on the content produced by the OBS International Broadcast Centre (IBC) from your own studio, or from another location your expert commentator might be in?
A predictable result of this increase in remote coverage was the boom in virtual sets and graphics, with broadcasters like the BBC continuing to evolve the elaborate virtual experience it has been employing for other sporting events, such as Uefa Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics. The Beijing virtual studio was driven by Vizrt technology, and took the form of a CG ski lodge. DUAL OLYMPICS One part of the Winter Games set-up that distinguishes it from the Summer is its two hubs, with a split between the enclosed ‘ice venues,’ and outdoor ‘ski venues.’ The broadcast infrastructure for the Summer Olympics is a hub-and- spoke model, with the IBC at its centre – but for the Winter Games, the IBC was in Beijing, covering the ice venues. The snow venues, featuring most of the skiing, were in the mountains quite far from the IBC in Zhangjiakou, more than 200km from the city. This snow venue had its own premises, called the ZBC – for Zhangjiakou Broadcast Centre – which was connected to the IBC by multi-redundant fibre connections, provided by China Unicom. “We were blessed to be able to implement our initial vision, but of course it didn’t happen without sophisticated planning,” says Salamouris. “The Olympics is all highly orchestrated. We had the tools and knowledge, and managed to do it without too many sacrifices.”
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