“Last year saw major changes to the broadcast,” opens Phil Sibson, managing director of FilmNova. “One of the most significant was being able to introduce drones onto the Thames Tideway for the first time. This year saw a big change in how the race was delivered.”
the one created by EMG, provides reliable and secure optical infrastructure to self-manage critical elements of your network. “Previously, what we were essentially doing was mobile coverage,” explains director Matthew Coliandris. “That was a big part of the motivation
For the first time ever, as a result of months of planning and the incorporation of new technology, coverage of the full race was delivered from just one OB near the race’s start in Putney. Previously, coverage was delivered through two OBs working together – due to the length of the course. “That was done because it used to be connected via public street access points and lease lines. With the number of cameras needing to be carried, you can’t transport all those back to the start. “This year, EMG moved to dark
to change, it was just too clunky. But also from a flow perspective, it makes sense to have it all in one OB now the technology exists.” The OB at Mortlake (the race’s end) was retained for resilience purposes – as a backup in case something went down. “If hypothetically there was a total power failure at Putney, they could have directed the race remotely with a reduced number of cameras,” contributes Sibson.
THE HELICOPTER WILL CONSTANTLY BE MOVING TO MAKE IT MORE DYNAMIC
SKY-HIGH BROADCAST Coverage of the race required
fibre and created an IP mesh, meaning that all the cameras could come back to the start. Matthew, our director, was in turn able to control the entire race from there, where in previous years he would have to hand over to a director over at the finish.” Euro Media Group (EMG) was the technical supplier for the event. A dark fibre network, like
extensive use of RF and months of planning, what with the new technical innovations being deployed. “What we had in terms of redundancy were fixed cameras all the way along the course that could see each other from start to finish,” describes Coliandris. “Therefore, if the entire RF operation went down, and in our efforts to meet the mobile cameras on
PULLING AHEAD Cambridge are becoming a dominant force, winning both women’s and men’s races
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