The two-day event (11th – 12th November) is free-to-attend and will take place on virtual conferencing platform Hopin.
Broadcast Sport is launching its third annual Sport Tech Innovation Forum, bringing together industry leaders to talk about the ever-evolving world of sport production and broadcast.
Registration for the free-to-attend two-day Broadcast Sport Tech Innovation Forum is open now. Click here to register your place.
This year’s event will be held on virtual conferencing platform Hopin and will run over two days – Wednesday 11 November and Thursday 12 November.
For the third year in succession, the event will be free-to-attend, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, which this year include Ross Video, Jigsaw24, Base Media Cloud, Veritone and Panasonic.
In previous years, the event has been held at BT Sport studio in front of an audience of 250-300 people. With Covid restrictions making this impossible, the event has transitioned to Hopin, which allows attendees to watch live sessions, join in live polls, submit questions to panelists and network in 1:1 video sessions with other attendees between sessions.
Over the two days of Broadcast Sport Tech Innovation Forum we will take a deep dive into the innovations being used across the many verticals of sports media, hearing from broadcasters, producers and rights holders.
The speaker sessions include a broadcasting ‘State of the Nation’; a debate on virtual fans and how tech has enabled enhanced fan engagement during lockdown; the value of free-to-air in the sports media mix; the growth and future of D2C and OTT sports services; the future of outside broadcasting in the age of 5G connectivity and remote production; esports on TV; the advancement of sports graphics; and much more.
The initial schedule and speaker list for both days is as follows. More speakers will be added over the coming weeks.
DAY 1: Wednesday 11 November
Session #1 – Broadcaster Panel
The leading sports broadcasters discuss the many challenges of 2020 and how they adapted to provide new ways of working during Covid-19, including the tech that has enabled smarter working during lockdown.
- Jamie Hindhaugh, COO, BT Sport
- Philip Bernie, BBC Sport Head of TV, BBC
Session #2 – How to Launch a D2C platform
Motorsport Network President James Allen on the successful growth of Motorsport.tv
Session #3 – Fan Engagement During Lockdown And Beyond.
With sports competitions taking place behind-closed-doors, what are broadcasters and producers doing to pump in some artificial atmosphere? From fake crowd noises, virtual CG fans, live video feeds of fans shown of huge screens into stadiums, to fans watching live sports together in virtual environments. What’s working and what isn’t, and what’s the future of the virtual fan?
- Mike Norrish, BT Sport
- Duncan East, head of directors and creative, Sky Sports
Session #4 – Innovation in Lockdown
In this session we take a deep dive into various production projects undertaken during lockdown.
- Emili Planas Quintana, CTO & Operations Manager, MediaPro
- Sid Lobb, head of vision and integrated networks, Creative Technology
Session #5 – Free-to-air
Sport on free-to-air has had a rocky ride over the last decade, with most of the big sporting events heading to pay-TV or OTT platforms. However, there has been a steady move to bring sports back to free-to-air platforms, not only through traditional linear broadcasters but, most recently, through sports-specific OTT and apps. This panel talks about the value of free-to-air sports TV and why it remains important as part of the sports broadcast mix.
- Barbara Slater, BBC Sport
- Giles Goodwin, Sport Channel Network
- Rob Brown, Head of LiveScore TV
Session #6 – Producer Panel
The last eight months have been tough on sports producers, who have had to survive months on end with no live sports on the schedule. This panel discusses these challenges as well as how tech has enabled new workflows that add efficiencies and make it possible to continue safe and cost-effective sports production in the current environment.
- Nick Moody, exec producer, Sunset + Vine
- Jemma Archer, senior producer, Whisper
- Matt Beal, exec producer, Aurora
Session #7 – The Future of OB
There’s been a steady move to remote production of live sports over recent years, with Covid-19 rapidly accelerating this move across the board. What does this transition to remote production working mean for outside broadcast companies?
- Daniel McDonnell, owner and director, Timeline TV
- Daragh Bass, head of sales, NEP Media Solutions
- Hamish Grieg, CEO, CTV
DAY 2: Thursday 12 November
Session #1 – OTT/D2C
Direct-to-consumer platforms, typically focused on a specific sport or sporting event, are becoming more and more established in the crowded sports broadcast market. This panel discusses all things D2C, including the extent to which these platforms and broader multi-sports OTT platforms are eating away at the subscription base of Pay-TV and traditional sports TV operators.
- Keegan Pierce, La Liga TV
- Matt Brown, Broadcast Product Manager, The FA
Session #2 – Extreme E case study
- Dave Adey, head of broadcast and technology, Extreme E
- Ben Foakes, managing director, BASE Media Cloud
- David Candler, senior director, customer solutions, Veritone
Session #3 – Case Study – BT’s “Edge-XR” project
Among the work to be developed are virtual and augmented reality experiences to complement BT Sport’s services. 5G Edge-XR will for example demonstrate how 5G networks, coupled with cloud graphics processing units, could enable people to view immersive sporting events from all angles across a broader range of devices including smartphones, tablets, AR and VR headsets and TVs.
- Matt Stagg, director of mobile strategy, BT Sport
Session #4 – Case study – How to put an OB truck in the cloud
- Rupert Watson, M&E sales, Jigsaw24
Session #5 – Esports Panel
One of the beneficiaries of the wholesale cancellation of traditional live sports during lockdown has been esports. This panel debates the rise of esports, what lockdown has meant for this growth, and what traditional sports broadcasters can offer esports fans.
- Julian Tan, Head of Digital Business Initiatives & Esports, F1
- Cameron Reed, Ross Video
- Jose Garnes, head of content, SailGP