18 SPORTS FOCUS The Olympic Games
then the other global broadcasters, around 200 of them, will start taking up residence in studios and technical spaces in June. The Olympics runs on four-year cycles, of course, and everyone looks forward to new innovative coverage in each iteration of the Games. What will we see now – which perspectives, what storytelling, what bells and whistles – that we didn’t see last time? OBS has to walk a tightrope between bringing in the newest and best technology and ensuring there are no tech surprises and that everything works flawlessly the first time round. “The technology has to be mature and reliable and stable. But, of course, there is an expectation for something new, the ‘wow’ factor. The Olympics are always one of these events where we expect to see new things. This is our continuous challenge,” explains Salamouris. 8500 HOURS LIVE This year, OBS is providing coverage of every single event live – not only in UHD 4K, but in HDR as well. The Winter Games in Pyeongchang offered substantial 4K coverage, but delivering wall-to-wall live
THE TECHNOLOGY HAS TO BE MATURE AND RELIABLE AND STABLE. BUT, OF COURSE, THERE IS AN EXPECTATION FOR SOMETHING NEW, THE ‘WOW’ FACTOR
UHD HDR for every event is quite a leap forward. Most broadcasters will just need the HD feed this time around, but the groundwork will have been laid for the next Games. 8K has made an appearance at the Olympic Games since London 2012, but this Olympics, with the help of Japanese public broadcaster NHK, will feature a comprehensive 8K broadcast to Japan’s new 8K-only TV channel, NHK BS8K. Other broadcasters will be doing trials with the 8K feeds – though it might be another Olympics or two before we’re looking at any kind of global 8K distribution. OBS will also be experimenting with high frame rate 8K content.
“The technology we use is driven by the kind of content we want to produce. And this is driven by what our clients – the rights-holding broadcasters – expect. We are essentially a B2B organisation providing services to other professional partners that are often sophisticated media organisations,” says Salamouris. Hunger for that content has grown and grown, and OTT and on-demand technologies now make every single moment of the Olympics action accessible. Twenty years ago, at the Sydney Summer Olympics, OBS produced roughly 850 hours of content. At the Tokyo Games, it is preparing to produce 8500 hours of content – all of it live. It is also post-
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