Complex remote production set up has seen 300 live hours tennis produced
Eurosport wraps its coverage of the Australian Open after the finals this weekend, having broadcast every match either on Eurosport live or on-demand – over 300 live hours in total.
Eurosport Germany, France, Spain, Russia, Norway and UK production teams have all been on-site in Melbourne.
In total, 120 staff have worked in Melbourne, from production, experts, engineering and administration.
Eurosport sends 46 video feeds back to Europe via fibre optic which carry the court feeds and a number of other isolated camera feeds from Tennis Australia.
There are also a number of exclusive Eurosport cameras from fixed studio locations and roving radio cameras that operate across Melbourne Park.
All of these feeds are then made available to 54 Eurosport markets using the Discovery internal distribution network. This enables individual markets to tailor their coverage to their local audience whilst sharing costs and facilities.
All of the cameras can be either directed by the gallery on site in Melbourne or by production galleries back in Europe.
There is also a complex audio network set up between the onsite location and the production hubs back home to enable efficient communication between all of the locations both on site and in Europe.
Jonas Berg, executive producer of tennis at Eurosport, said: “To localise production as much as possible is a key priority for us and we are investing heavily in technical solutions as well as changing our editorial mindset to serve all fans the most relevant coverage. This also allows us to reduce our footprint on site.
“Remote production of local matches and content – as well as getting the greatest names to meet our unparalleled line-up of talent – to me is the ultimate combination for Eurosport’s tennis coverage.”
Meanwhile, the main studio with views across Garden Square to the Rod Laver Arena uses augmented reality graphics to enhance the coverage.
There is also a studio in the media centre which is more intimate and features a large touch screen, enabling players to analyse their matches again with Eurosport’s experts – both locations can be directed from galleries back in Paris for regional markets.
Barbara Schett anchors Eurosport’s flagship tennis show Game, Schett & Mats during the tournament, with analysis from Grand Slam winner Mats Wilander
Local and international experts have included John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Patrick Mouratoglou, Justine Henin and Roberta Vinci.