2010 FIFA World Cup
Jun 1, 2010 12:00 PM, By David Austerberry
Broadcasters plan to pull off a logistical feat.
The AMP Car 8 mobile truck provides facilities for 3-D coverage of the World Cup. The truck supports 16 cameras.
Every four years, football teams from 32 nations compete for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup. This major sporting tournament has always attracted comprehensive television coverage, and this year promises to be even better with some matches shot in 3-D, a special feed for mobile devices and the standard HD feeds.
Behind the scenes, the big innovation is the enhanced workflow made possible by a large media server at the International Broadcast Center (IBC), which makes all the feeds and clips available immediately so broadcasters can create their own programming.
The 32 teams competing for the World Cup Finals play from kickoff on Friday, 11 June, to the final on Sunday, 11 July. These teams have reached the finals through a series of qualifying rounds, which 204 nations played in over the last three years, and were selected in a final draw that took place in South Africa last December.
The first round is in groups of four, eliminating teams down to a second round of 16 teams. Eight teams then compete in the quarterfinals, followed by semifinals. The final round decides the winner as well as third and fourth places, and the entire final comprises 64 matches. The games are played in 10 stadiums in nine cities spread across the host nation of South Africa.
Football has always been a huge draw for TV viewers, and the statistics for the 2006 event confirm the huge global following. The estimated audience for the 2006 final was 715 million, and the total cumulative television audience for the tournament was 26.29 billion, making it the world's most popular television event. The rights are expected to generate revenue of at least$1.6 billion for FIFA.
Host Broadcast Services
The organizing body, FIFA, appointed Host Broadcast Services (HBS) to be the host broadcaster for the World Cup tournament. HBS was previously the host broadcaster of the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup tournaments, and has also been appointed as host broadcaster for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. HBS is owned by sports marketing company Infront Sports and Media, based in Switzerland.
ure 1. The World Cup Finals are played at 10 venues across South Africa.
Select figure to enlarge.
As host broadcaster, HBS is responsible for production of each match, for facilities at the venues for other broadcasters and for the IBC in Johannesburg, the nerve center of the operation.
The coverage has to cater to a wide range of media rights licensees (MRLs), which is FIFA's term for media organizations that have licenses to air the matches. MRLs include broadcasters, new media platforms and mobile network operators (MNOs).
MLRs have a choice of using feeds at the venue for a bespoke production, feeds at the IBC or just taking the finished show feed (ESF or EBIF). Many national broadcasters have their own production facilities at the venues. They can take the clean feed from the production switcher to add their own graphics plus ISO feeds of the cameras, so they can feature their home team.
The big advantage of having a host broadcaster is that high-quality coverage is maintained throughout the tournament. Although many national broadcasters want to fully cover the event, any investment must take into account the risk that their national team falls out at the first round and returns home early.
All production is 1080i25, but recognizing that the largest number of viewers will be watching analog 4:3, the production is designed to protect a 4:3 aspect ratio.
This year there will be innovations. After visiting IBC in 2009, HBS decided that it was feasible to cover the World Cup in 3-D. It has not been possible to cover all 64 matches as there is worldwide shortage of 3-D equipment and experienced stereographers, but 25 of the matches will be shot in 3-D. Two broadcasters, ESPN is the USA and Sogecable in Spain, have become MRLs for the 3-D coverage, with TF1 in France making a late announcement of the intention to license coverage. As of press time, ESPN was aiming to debut its 3-D network with the South Africa versus Mexico match 11 June.
Mobile coverage is also getting an upgrade with a dedicated camera and a separate feed featuring tighter shots more suited to the small screen. Mobile coverage is important, as most fans will not be near a TV receiver during working hours but can keep in touch with all the news via their phones.
At the venue
At each of the 10 stadium (see Figure 1), HBS has built a full OB facility using flyaways. Grass Valley is providing facilities through partners such as production companies Alfacam, CTV, Mediapro, Studio Berlin and VCF France. Alfacam alone is providing 170 cameras and 155 technicians to help cover the event for HBS and for MRLs. The technical operations centers (TOC) at the venues are again supplied by Grass Valley through partner Gearhouse Broadcast.
The AMP 3-D truck uses Sony HDC-1500 cameras with Element Technica rigs, which can be set up in side-by-side or beam-splitter configurations.
Expensive equipment, such as cameras and lenses, is shared and moved between the venues as needed. The camera plan has been extended beyond the 2006 event, where 26 cameras were used. (See Figure 2 on page S8.) The primary cameras are Grass Valley LDK 6000/8000 WorldCams. A total of six Grass Valley LDK 8300 Super SloMo 3X cameras and two ultra-motion cameras provide for playback of players and goals.
The main camera platform in the stadium has the cameras for wide, medium close-up and close-up shots, plus the A and B player cameras. An additional camera will be dedicated to the mobile TV coverage.
Behind each goal line is a wide-angle box camera (goalcam), a crane, a super-slow-motion and an ultra-motion camera. In line with the goals are box cameras and super-slow-motion cameras. With eight high-speed cameras available, there should be every opportunity to analyze the play in detail.
For general pitch coverage, there are two steadicams, a close-up camera and a minicrane, which is used before the match for interviews.
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