30 XTREME Olympics
“In 2006, in Turin, the Host Broadcaster provided nearly 1000 hours of live content,” says Salamouris. “Twelve years later, OBS delivered a record 4000 hours of live coverage from Pyeongchang. The delivery of the Games has significantly improved in sophistication and picture quality – with two- and four-point cablecam systems, point-of-view cameras and drones. OBS has also supported new broadcast formats, such as 4K and 8K, and is producing an extensive volume of live competition content in both formats.” NEW INITIATIVES Compared to the Sochi Winter Games in 2014, the variety of content produced at Pyeongchang was much wider, and content was pushed far more quickly and more eiciently in multiple formats to a variety of channels. Native 4K coverage was produced for a large number of sports, including curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing (aerials, moguls and halfpipe), ice hockey, speed skating, and the opening and closing ceremonies, while Japanese broadcaster NHK produced 8K coverage for the opening ceremony, figure skating, short track speed skating, ski jumping and snowboard big air. “At Pyeongchang, there were a series of new initiatives that were taken to facilitate RHB’s (Rights Holding Broadcasters)
TOTAL OUTGOING CAPACITY WAS SEVERAL HUNDRED GIGABITS PER SECOND, EQUIVALENT TO THE TOTAL OUTGOING INTERNET CAPACITY OF A SMALL COUNTRY
hundred gigabits per second, equivalent to the total outgoing Internet capacity of a small country.
operations, especially on the digital front,” says Salamouris. “RHBs could receive the international signal over an IP network or use web-based file transfer solutions to send their footage back to their home countries, enabling them to run part of their operations remotely and with greater flexibility than in the past. “The contribution fibre network connecting all the venues to the IBC was the largest ever, composed of hundreds of dedicated fibre circuits which enabled the transport of an unprecedented number of live HD, 4K and 8K signals, without any compression.” PyeongChang 2018 was the most connected in the history of the Olympic Winter Games. International distribution was carried out through connectivity to five international points of presence around the world. Total outgoing capacity was several
RESHAPING OLYMPIC BROADCASTING
High-speed Winter Olympics events lend themselves to extreme coverage. Aerial and ground-level tracking cameras have become indispensable, allowing audiences to follow speed skaters or accompany cross-country skiers through gruelling miles. Helmet cameras on ski and snowboard cross started appearing in 2010, and in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics the first drones were used. Now the emergence of new technologies such as virtual reality are reshaping sports broadcasting. OBS oered VR and panoramic video production of selected live and recorded
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