When the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating opened its 2025/26 Senior Grand Prix season in Angers, the host broadcast contract for the Grand Prix de France went to French facilities provider IPA-Prod. The three-day competition at IceParc required a 1080i50 world feed for around 20 territories.
IPA-Prod chose to run the production in 4K 50p, building on a truck centred on URSA Broadcast G2 cameras on SMPTE fibre, an ATEM Constellation 8K live production switcher and a fully integrated Blackmagic Design signal chain.
SVG Europe spoke with IPA-Prod founder and broadcast engineer Séraphin Mauvoisin about the Grand Prix project, the evolution of his OB workflow, and why capturing in 4K has become standard practice for the company.
What was the brief for the Grand Prix de France host broadcast and how tight were the timelines?
Séraphin Mauvoisin: The event was the Grand Prix de France, the first stop in the ISU Senior Grand Prix series for 2025/26, at IceParc in Angers from 17 to 19 October 2025. The tender went out in June, and we were awarded the contract in September, so the schedule was quite compressed. The requirement was simple: provide a 1080i50 world feed for the International Skating Union and international broadcasters. From there we could define the production format and technical approach ourselves.
You opted to produce in 4K 50p. Why go beyond the specification?
SM: Given what our OB van can do, we felt it made sense to use the full capabilities rather than stay at the minimum. We produced the show in 2160p50. Our experience in video game projects was a big factor. Those clients are extremely demanding about frame rate, so working in 50p or 60p is normal for us now. For the Grand Prix, 4K 50p wasn’t a luxury, it was simply the format we’re most comfortable with.
What did the camera plan look like in Angers?
SM: We used six URSA Broadcast G2 cameras with 6K Super 35 sensors. That’s different from the usual 2/3 inch cameras you see for sports. We paired them with Canon 4K broadcast zooms – UJ111x8.2 and UJ90x9 DIGISUPER lenses for the long-lens positions, and CJ-series lenses such as the CJ45x9.7 and CJ15ex4.3 for main coverage, beauty angles, entrances, exits and the kiss-and-cry area. Three cameras were fixed around the rink, including a low position on the ice, and one handheld followed skaters in and out. We added two Panasonic PTZ cameras for wide shots and extra kiss-and-cry coverage.
We’ve standardised on URSA Broadcast G2 for our main OB work because the sensors are very sensitive to light, which is a clear advantage in 4K. The B4 mount lets us use standard broadcast zooms with built-in ND filters, and the overall depth of field is close to a conventional 2/3-inch setup, but with very strong 4K rendering. Another practical benefit is the wide availability of URSA Broadcast G2 rental units in Paris, so we can easily add cameras when a job needs more.
Figure skating sits between sport and fashion in terms of coverage. We need clean wides for the sport, but also close-ups that show costume detail, facial expression and the blades on the ice. The B4 lenses are a good compromise between depth of field, flexibility and keeping sponsors and crowd in view.
How did you manage fibre transport and camera control between rink and truck?
SM: Every camera ran over SMPTE fibre. On the cameras we had Blackmagic Camera Fibre Converters, feeding Blackmagic Studio Fibre Converters in a stagebox in the venue. Those units convert to SDI. From the stagebox, Mini Converter Optical Fibre 12G units sent the signals over multi-core fibre to the truck, around 200 to 250 metres. In the truck, another Mini Converter Optical Fibre 12G converted everything back to SDI for the gallery.
Because our SmartScope Duo monitors are limited to 6G-SDI, we downconvert 4K 50p to 25p for monitoring using Blackmagic 2110 IP UpDownCross 12G converters, which handle picture, audio and the director’s feeds. For shading, we ran an ATEM Camera Control Panel on the main cameras and CyanView RCPs on secondary and speciality units, so the vision engineer could control everything from one position.
What was the crew layout and how did you set up comms?
SM: In the truck we had a director, script supervisor, sound engineer, digital imaging technician, motion graphics operator, EVS LSM operator, transmission and equipment manager for the IBC, and a PTZ operator. Around the rink there were five camera operators plus an assistant director, project manager and production manager.
For comms we used an RTS Odin intercom system, and we took advantage of the ATEM Constellation 8K’s built-in RTS support. We feed the intercom into the rear talkback input on the ATEM and it is automatically redistributed to all cameras, which keeps things simple and reliable.
How did the URSA Broadcast G2 perform across different types of work?
SM: In bright indoor arenas with 800 to 1500 lux, like the skating venue, we don’t need gain. The same is true outdoors for beach tennis or athletics. In darker venues, such as concerts where we can’t add light, the URSA Broadcast G2 gives a noticeably cleaner image and avoids the noise we saw when pushing gain on other cameras.
The Canon 4K lenses are also important. Choosing the right lens is essential; you don’t want to be at the limit of the optics.
How did you handle replay and distribution, and where does 4K fit into your future plans?
SM: For this event, a Blackmagic Media Player 12G handled intro and outro graphics and basic music cues, and we used two slow-motion operators on vMix and an LSM server. We’re now looking seriously at DaVinci Resolve Replay Editor with HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR recorders and a Blackmagic Cloud Store Max, to bring replays and highlights into the same environment as the rest of our tools.
The host production was captured in 2160p50, and the world feed was distributed via rights holder Infront. An SNG truck at IceParc handled the KU-band satellite uplink in 1080i50 to about 20 countries, while we kept the 4K 50p recordings.
The decision to work in 4K went beyond the brief but quickly proved its value. Netflix was producing a documentary following specific skaters and needed behind-the-scenes and 4K slow-motion footage from the competition, so we were able to supply material that went far beyond the 1080i broadcast feed.
More broadly, 4K has become normal for us. Clients use our 4K signal to create live portrait outputs for brands, civic Q&A sessions or LED walls at events, and we’re looking at ST 2110 distribution and ATEM remote production features so that, over time, some roles can move into our remote centre and we can reduce travel, costs and our carbon footprint.
