Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports’ pan-European Winter Games offering will be going out to 47 markets in 21 languages, and to cope with the challenges of that ingest and distribution network, it has created a bespoke tech solution called iBuild.

Each country under the WBD umbrella will be tailoring content for its own audiences, from the sports shown to studio and presentation teams. Speaking to SVG Europe, Scott Young, EVP at WBD Sports, says: “It’s a pretty broad offering and the pan-production goes to all of those markets and they are available on our streaming platforms, HBO Max, and of course Discovery+ in the UK.

“Certain winter sports definitely resonate differently with certain audiences, so ski jumping, for instance, in Poland and Germany, is very, very popular, so those markets will lean more into a ski jumping story. Whereas biathlon in France is very, very popular, and you’ll see more of the luge and bobsled for the UK, as well as curling. So I think probably more than the Summer Games, the Winter Games will be definitely targeted more.”

iBuild therefore I am

To make the complex needs of the broadcaster easier for Milano Cortina and for its work at other major events going forwards, WBD Sports has created a bespoke system inhouse, called iBuild. iBuild is designed to service the broadcaster’s needs inside an IBC from ingest through to distribution. Some of the partners WBD Sports has worked with on iBuild include Appear, Arista and Riedel.

Young explains what iBuild does: “iBuild does three things. It receives multiple feeds, in this case from OBS. It curates those feeds technically in the way we need them to be able to distribute across for our linear, streaming, and web, app and social platforms, and all the different various forms of technology required, and then it distributes from that platform out to our own colo’s [co-location data centres].”

On why WBD has decided to develop this technology now, Young says looking ahead to future Olympic Games such as Brisbane 2032, it is an area of complexity and priority for the broadcaster that it deems best under its own control.

He comments: “In the past Olympics and past other multi-feed events, such as Grand Slam Tennis like the Roland-Garos, we would normally have a supplier come in and provide this equipment. Now we have the ability to manage this inhouse. I think for the Olympic Games particularly, it’s very important just for the multiple distribution requirements, both in and out.

“I think it’s part of the growth strategy for our Olympic broadcast,” he continues. “What we saw in Paris was a generational change in how we understand that people consume Olympic Games’. When you broadcast every moment of the Olympics on a platform where then you can curate that experience yourself, you can watch what you want, when you want, where you want. That means that we have to now make every moment of the Games available on our streaming platform. That then leads directly into a necessity for the technology going forward; not just as a trial, but as a now expected delivery of every Games.”

He adds: “Our technical teams have done a phenomenal job in the past two years planning for and building this technology. It’s been tested for the last six months here in London and it’s now installed and ready to go in Milan.”

On how WBD Sports is connecting to everything, Young comments: “We have a usual setup at the IBC. So OBS connects to us first at the IBC. All of our mixed zones – so we have a position in every mixed zone at every sport across the entire competition – they’re all connected back into the same facility at the IBC. The IBC then connects to the main two colo’s for us, which is Paris and London. From there, those feeds are distributed out to every individual market. Every market can see every feed, including every single camera. So whether you’re sitting in London, you’re sitting in Oslo, whether you’re sitting in Warsaw, you can see the same amount of feeds, and then you can choose what content you need to curate the programme for your own local market.”

Igloos and studios

WBD Sports is in the process of building two studios in Italy: a large multi-use studio for its channels in Cortina, and an igloo in Livigno. Young says: “The way we’ve set up our studio productions is there’s two larger facilities in two different areas, so one in Livigno and one in Cortina, which is a multipurpose studio that can be used by any one of the WBD markets. The one in Livigno is a partnership with the city of Livigno, which is leaning into the nature of the sports that are at the snowpark there. We are building a snow dome, which is effectively an igloo, so it’s a very different style of production where you’ll go inside the igloo and we can present different programmes, we can bring in guests and athletes, and it leans into the style of the competition that’s in that part of Italy.”

Livigno, which is near the Swiss border, will host Snowboard (Half Pipe, Slopestyle, Big Air, Cross, Parallel Giant Slalom) and Freestyle Skiing (Moguls, Aerials, Ski Cross) at Livigno Snowpark, Mottolino and the Livigno Aerials & Moguls Park, Carosello 3000, respectively.

“I think that the moment we start broadcasting from there, the look and feel will be very different from anything we’re doing from home base or from Cortina,” he says.

Continues Young: “In Cortina, we’ve built a multi-story studio complex with three operating studios plus production workspace where any one of the [WBD Sports] markets can operate throughout the day, plus standup positions on the balconies for markets just doing interviews, including CNN who are obviously a part of our business. So that’s the way we’re bringing the idea of the Olympic Winter Games to life, obviously leaning back into the hub operations and the local markets where each of the home-based markets will then present their programmes from.”

The idea behind WBD Sports’ Winter Games studio in Cortina is the same as its studio for Paris 2024, says young. “We really want to be able to bring in the cultural multi-market, multi-language coverage of our Games into a single environment. It was so successful in Paris.”

Each of WBD’s major markets will have their own studio – either augmented or virtual reality studios – with their own presenters and pundits in their base country, while reporters and teams will be at every mixed zone throughout the competition, as well as at the WBD studios on site.

Continues Young on the large studio in Cortina: “Also, because of the nature of the Summer Olympics with the warm weather, it was a spectacular environment on the roof of the Hôtel Raphael. I think for this Games, we’re also leaning into the weather. The reason we’ve chosen Cortina and Livigno is really that when you turn the TV on anywhere across our channels in Europe, we want you to immediately think “Winter Olympics”, which is why we’ve gone into the mountains rather than really focusing on Milan.”

People everywhere

WBD Sports is approaching the challenge of a spread-out Games by making sure it has people absolutely everywhere. Young comments: “Geography is definitely a challenge, but I think we’ve overcome that fairly quickly in understanding our appetite for Olympic broadcast, so having somebody in every mixed zone, in every cluster, so that we’re there to tell the story of the Games as it unfolds. The great thing about the Olympic Games’ is you’re never too sure when something extraordinary is about to happen, and the best way to make sure we’ve covered that off is to be everywhere.”

He adds that the attraction of a Winter Games – the spectacular snow-clad scenery – is the main challenge being faced. He explains: “I think a challenge is definitely weather; you’re just never too sure what the weather will throw up and what our teams will have to endure. Obviously, we hope it’s snowing. We’re hoping for the spectacular look of the Dolomites across our six clusters when it’s covered in white snow. But also that does throw up a few operational changes; not every piece of technology invented likes being in the freezing cold. Frankly, not some of the humans, either.

“So as long as our people are warm and the technology is protected, then we’re able to cover every part of the Games.”

He concludes: “What we thoroughly love around the Olympic Games is the story of the athletes and their journeys, and just having the people and technology to make sure we capture those stories as they unfold and having those athletes come back into our studios and talk to our Olympians [pundits and talent]. We have 109 Olympians as part of our team who have competed in 218 Olympic Games. That depth of knowledge tied to the technology we have to tell that story, I think is a real superpower for what WBD Sports does around the Olympic Games. That’s what I’m really excited about seeing us unlock come 4 February.”