12 September 2011

'The traditional broadcaster is coming out of the loop in some cases'

Live sports producers are feeling increased pressure to deliver more coverage, faster, and to a growing number of platforms - from mobile to web to tablets - as appetites for immediate access to live games and other sporting events grow, according to the panel at Live Sports Production: From Tape to Tablet yesterday.

"The key is to create content that can be delivered to multiple platforms that you never need to reversion or modify because every time you put another step in the workflow of your content you are increasing the cost," said Peter Angell, director of production and programming HBS Group, the FIFA host facility company.

The desire to keep younger people attracted to live sports and (hopefully) to watching TV is also driving how live sports production works: some 70 per cent of people under 25 years old consume TV with a second screen, said Luc Doneux, head of EMEA for EVS. "Each production is becoming a digital media centre, so we are managing the content and working out better ways to work with other rights organisations (like mobile operators) to distribute to more outlets that can monetise it. The traditional broadcaster is coming out of the loop in some cases."

Sergi Sendra, director of TV production for Dorna Sports said that the next step for live sport is to add another layer of entertainment and interactivity. "We have all added cameras to live sports and then there is also 3D but that is also an advance in the nature of the picture," said Sendra. "I think the next big step is into virtuality, so for instance in motorsport you would need extra tools to track the riders' bodies on their motorcycles or track the ball in football."

Jason Suess, senior technical evangelist Microsoft, agreed: "We are expanding in a number of different directions including bringing digital experiences to Xbox into the living room. Right now we're bringing these experiences to the mobile devices but there are interesting things we can do with interactivity, and especially with Kinect, where we can get people to interact with content using motions."