Despite being somewhat scaled back compared to previous editions, this year’s Commonwealth Games are capturing the attention of viewers across the globe, as 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories compete in 10 sports across the city of Glasgow.
While preparations have been somewhat condensed thanks to a change in host city announced in late 2024, this hasn’t stopped host broadcaster Actua Sport from introducing new concepts aimed at enhancing the coverage and attracting more viewers.
Key among these is the first use of an FPV drone during an athletics event.
“We’ve got GV drones for the beauty shots, but we’ve also got FPV drones for the first time ever on athletics. They’re following the athletes, following the javelin, flying really low and capturing amazing shots. It’s a great addition and it’s never been done before,” says Franck Choquard, director at Actua Sport.
While this will no doubt catch the attention of viewers, it’s a behind-the-scenes innovation that’s perhaps having the biggest impact for rightsholders, with a new content hub being utilised for the first time, marking the start of a new partnership with ScorePlay.
“In addition to the live feed transported through Eurovision Services network complement by Actua SRT solutions and LiveU Matrix distribution, everything is also delivered on a content hub,” he continues. “Here both the live feeds, clean and dirty, the highlights, all the additional content, the live mixed zones, any pre-event content such as the sport explainers, it’s all accessible anytime through this online platform to any of the rightsholders.”
All the content is designed to be easily accessible, organised by sport, day or category, adding value for rightsholders, particularly those that don’t have crews on site. Content can be available in a matter of minutes.
Alongside the live content, the mixed zone interviews are proving particularly popular as fans increasingly want to hear the stories of the athletes as well as see their performances.
“Mixed zone interviews are new for us and they’re not something a host broadcaster would usually provide, but because there are broadcasters who don’t have crews here, we decided to offer them for the four main sports: athletics, gymnastics, swimming and track cycling,” says Choquard. “Content is shot live, clipped by a team of loggers, uploaded and made available to any takers. It’s an outstanding tool and it really serves the broadcasters, which is what we’re here to do.”
Actua is working with a number of technical providers to deliver all of this content. AMP Visual is on site at the SEC for netball, bowls, boxing, judo and 3×3 basketball as well as for athletics at the Scotstoun Stadium in the West End of the city or swimming at the Tollcross Swimming Centre. The French company also assisted with the setup of the MCR at the Broadcast Operations Centre based at BBC Scotland. Timeline is handling events from the Glasgow International Arena, including gymnastics and track cycling, while QTV is at the SEC Armadillo for weightlifting.
This ensures all the live action from the games is captured, including all four rinks of bowls and both judo rings. There are even feeds for individual apparatus in gymnastics. In total, 22 transmission feeds are going out each day.
In terms of the technical setup at the venues, each is tailored to the sport on display with bespoke camera plans.
“Every sport has its own specificities and its own storytelling, so we have a specific camera plan for each that matches previous Games or World Championship level,” Choquard explains. “At Athletics we have up to 5 produced feeds (integrated, track, throws, vertical and horizontal) with 50 cameras deployed, including virtual graphics and A drone, whereas at 3×3 basketball, we have a nine-camera plan with a jib, an RF camera, a camera up on the basket. We also aim to be as immersive as possible across the sports. So we have a camera on the warm-up pool and on the call room, in the warm-up area in weightlifting and so on, to bring all that experience and to show the variety of this multi-regional event.”
Continuing the focus on delivering for broadcasters, Actua has also developed a combined AI and data service called Actua Dash, which offers background information on athletes that can be used by commentators.
“You can see an athlete’s results, their season’s best, personal best, and so on,” he says. “It’s very valuable information. It’s something we developed internally and it’s work in progress, but I think it’s a massive help for the commentators, the producers, and so on who may not know all of the athletes. It also again shows our willingness to service and to make life easier for the broadcaster.”
And the broadcasters, it seems, are appreciating Actua’s efforts. “We want to serve the broadcasters so they can really concentrate on their domestic editorialisation and offer servicing that makes their life easy while listening to their requests and making sure they get the most out of the content. And they’re very happy. We started with a bang, delivering the high standard that we wanted to and now we’re finding cruise speed,” he concludes.
