NEP delivers remote production of IAAF World Relays in Japan from Andrews Hub in Sydney
Machel Cedenio of Trinidad and Tobago in the men’s 4x400m at the IAAF World Relays Yokohama 2019
NEP Group has claimed a milestone in sports broadcasting with the successful live remote production from Sydney of the IAAF World Relays 2019 held in Yokohama on 11-12 May.
On behalf of clients, NEP’s multidivisional teams delivered two days of live coverage and competition highlights from NEP Australia’s centralised IP and multi-format production facility at the NEP Andrews Hub in Sydney.
On-location hardware and crews from NEP UK covered the event and 30 high definition signals – comprising the 17 main cameras, including two Sony HDC4800 cameras in ultra-high frame rate, plus graphics in Yokohama – were linked via diverse and hitless 10 gigabit-per-second circuits on the Telstra Distributed Production Network (DPN) and sent on to Sydney, 7,800km away, using VC 2 ultra-low-latency compression technology.
Production crew and hardware were based at the Sydney Andrews Hub while shading crew were based in Japan. The finished programming was then transmitted from the Hub to broadcast rights holders around the world.
ITN, Telstra, and NEP’s UK, Japan and Australia teams worked in concert, showcasing the use of IP technology and extreme low latency compression.
Soames Treffry, president of NEP Australia, said: “The IAAF World Relays extend the ‘hub and spoke, anyone, anywhere’ concept that NEP’s Andrews Hubs were built on, meaning people can work from any location so long as they’re connected to our network.
“This milestone project cements the reality of working across multiple geographies and reflects our strategy to deploy permanent facilities in key markets which all share the same resources – both human and technical – to meet critical industry needs.
“It also showcases the breadth and scale of NEP’s client offerings across regions, and we thank IAAF Productions and ITN for their confidence in NEP’s ability to deliver this marquee event via our Andrews Hubs.”
Steve Jenkins, president NEP UK & Ireland, added, “We’ve had a long-standing relationship with ITN and the IAAF, and it has been great to work with them and our colleagues across the NEP Group to offer ground-breaking solutions. NEP’s full suite of solutions means we can offer ITN and all our clients agile, fit-for-purpose technical services – whether configured from hub, spoke, flypack or truck.
“Importantly, our clients can be confident that we have the talent and expertise to combine these services and deliver exactly what, where and how our clients need them. We’re looking forward to further building on these new technologies and our relationship with ITN and IAAF at the World Championships in Doha.”
The 2019 IAAF World Relays, held from 11-12 May in Yokohama, are a key fixture on the IAAF World Athletics Series Calendar. The competition consists of three men’s, three women’s and three mixed events: the men’s and women’s 4x100m, 4x200m and 4x400m relays; and the mixed 4x400m and 2x2x400m relays, and mixed shuttle hurdles. For many participating athletes, the event is an important milestone ahead of both the individual and relay competitions taking place at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar (27 September-6 October, 2019).
Broadcast of the World Relays comprised two days of live coverage and highlights programming following both days of competition. The international feed included pre-cut features of both Tokyo and Yokohama as well as athlete interviews and features. Up to 17 cameras – comprising a polecam, railcam, USSMs and numerous fixed and RF – were set up to cover the event, offering a similar set-up to that planned for the track events at the upcoming 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha.