France Télévisions is bringing the Winter Olympics to French viewers through the means of teleportation. The French national broadcaster is using virtual green screen technology to pull presenters and athletes from different locations around Italy into one central studio in Milan.
France Télévisions is in the process of installing green screen studios and dedicated remote camera robots in four key locations in Italy: Livigno, Bormio, Anterselva and Predazzo. Meanwhile it has a ‘real’ physical studio in Milan that will pull together the production using extended reality. Athletes from the competitions in the Milan will come to the set, while athletes and presenters from the four green screen locations will be ‘beamed in’ to create a cohesive programme of content for French viewers thanks to the remoted robot camera.
France TV’s output will be going out from Télématin, a French breakfast television news show, broadcast on France 2, every morning during the Games. “We have a team from Télématin onsite in Milano,” says Pierre, France Télévisions’ Winter Olympics team leader for Milano Cortina and senior production manager.
“We start broadcasting a special sports morning programme in Milano until midnight and replay in the night. Our sports programme and our offering is all day, and we change between channels, France 2 to France 3, France 4. And we have also a dedicated channel on our digital platform, which runs 24 hours. We finish with a live sports show from 11.00pm to midnight, every night, the JO Club!”
France Télévisions will be using channels France 2 and France 3 to broadcast major events, the most anticipated finals, and highlight-worthy performances by the French team free of charge. france.tv, its streaming channel, will also feature numerous live streams, allowing viewers to follow multiple sports.
Teleportation tech
On where the team is right now, Martin says: “We are on the starting block. Our first team is already on site to instal the beginning of the setup. We have a setup in five points in Italy. In Milan for the main base at Milano IBC and the four green screen studios in the mountains. One in Livigno; Livigno is a special part in Italia, it’s [similar to] Andorra between France and Spain. We have a studio in Bormio for Alpine ski, in Anterselva for the biathlon, and the fourth one near Predazzo.”
France TV has 500 square metres of space at the IBC in Milan, which includes the space for its main studio.
Notes Martin on the main studio: “In Milano, the setup is a large studio. It’s a tangible; it’s a real studio with virtual reality (VR) on the roof and some additional VR that will enable us to sit at a table with guests [from the green screen/robot locations].”
Read more Milano Cortina 2026: Making the Winter Olympics and Paralympics workflow work for France Télévisions
FranceTV is using robotic camera systems in each green screen studio to teleport athletes and talent to the studio in Milan. The Arcam 10 six-axis motion control robotic arm camera system has been developed by XD Motion, which is now part of EVS. Adds Martin: “The effect was developed in association with Videlio in France and France Télévisions.”
Says Martin: “We use Arcam 10 robots. It’s a robot with a camera and we will install the same robots in [our four studios in] the mountains, in the green screens. That will help us to make people appear in our main studio so during the show, the presenters will be able to speak with ‘real’ people [who are physically there], and also to people that seem to be there, on the same seats, [even though they are actually] in the mountains in the four different locations.”
The four Arcam 10 robotic arms are synchronised through each studio to enable this to work. Says Martin: “The robots make the same movements, from the robot in Milano and the robot in Anterselva, for example. The two robots have the same placement and that makes it seem real.”
France TV has been testing the teleportation tech for the past two years, and is now ready to use it. “We made a lot of tests over the last two years. Having people moving about in two different places [but appearing on screen together] makes the fact that the people are discussing something together seem very real.”
Geographic challenges
The sheer distances between locations at this particular Winter Games has been the impetus for France TV to use camera technology, VR and green screens to bring its talent and athletes together.
Martin explains the background to this decision: “Four years ago we became familiar with Cortina, thanks to the 2021 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships [which were held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, from 8 to 21 February 2021]. We know Cortina very well and we know also the distances involved in that area. When we realised that Livigno is also four hours from Milan, Bormio three hours, and every pool, every cluster [for this Games] are so far from each other, [we knew] it was impossible to bring the athletes and the technical crew together to join [a single studio] during the events also. That impacted also the number of people [we are using on site],” he continues.
“We had to decide to make a virtual or teleportation programme. We worked on a hologram, we worked on a big screen, and with Arcam, we tested it. We had demonstrations through Visio in Las Vegas [NAB] also in Amsterdam [IBC]. We made a lot of tests with different material and we did that with Videlio, with XD Motion and France Télévisions.”
Logistical issues
Martin has been working on Olympic Games since 2004. At Milano Cortina 2026, the location of the events in Italy is the major challenge. He explains: “For this one, the big challenge to connect every venue, without the physical possibility [of direct cabling]. So the challenge is to have all the material without a physical presence because the sites and the venues are so [distributed]. For instance, in one day it’s impossible to have a slalom race in the morning and to have the athlete in the Milano studio in the evening. It is possible only for the ice-based events, because everybody for those events are in Milano. So the challenge is to connect the people.
“It was the same in many ways also in China, but in China, it was completely different. We also had to connect [with athletes and journalists] and we were also onsite; we made a big effort to be on site due to COVID and due to the very, very strict laws in China in 2022. But in China, the sites were concentrated around Zhangjiakou and we have only the alpine in the other mountains. So it was easier to connect.”
The 2022 Winter Games in China used three main venue clusters: the Beijing Zone for ice sports (curling, skating, hockey, Big Air); the Yanqing Zone for Alpine Skiing and Sliding sports (bobsleigh, luge, skeleton); and the Zhangjiakou Zone for most other snow events (ski jumping, cross-country, biathlon, freestyle skiing, snowboarding).
Martin continues that this is good practice for the next Winter Olympics to be held in France: “In Italy, for us, it is a good real test to prepare for the French Alps in 2030. So in the French Alps 2030, we will have the same challenges [as for Milano Cortina]. This is a chance for us to work like [we will have to for French Alps 2030] in Italy.”
The French Alps 2030 will host the XXVI Olympic Winter Games from 1 to 17 February 2030, followed by the Paralympic Winter Games from 1 to 10 March 2030.
Register now: SVG Europe’s Winter Sports Forum 2026 will take place 26 March in Oslo, Norway.
