On the ball: How Polsat is planning EURO 2016 coverage for Polish fans
Poland joins Germany, Ukraine and Northern Ireland in Group C of the EURO 2016 finals in France. Although Poland beat Germany for the first time during the qualifying rounds, it is still without a win again Ukraine in five meetings. So, this should be an interesting tournament for the fans watching in Poland.
“We will cover all UEFA EURO 2016 matches,” said Jakub Radecki, deputy head of sports at Polsat. “Our main presenters and commentators will be our own Mateusz Borek, Bożydar Iwanow and Roman Kołtoń.”
Radecki says that for this tournament a decision has been taken not to use the facilities at the IBC, however Polsat’s own OB van will be utilised at the grounds where the national team is playing. “We will receive a dirty feed from the host broadcaster, and this will be supplemented by our own cameras and basic graphics – including statistics provided by UEFA — which we will add in France. For replays, we will have two EVS operators at each Team Poland match. Overseeing the production will be our dedicated director for the tournament and he will carry out his own vision mixing.”
Polsat will also be using its allotted stand-up positions at both the Poland games and the other major matches. He goes on to reveal that match presentation will come from three sources – the Polsat studio in Warsaw, at Team Poland base camp in La Baule and at the stadiums during match days and the day before prior to a game involving the national side.
“In addition to the games themselves, we are also planning a highlights and summary programme on each day of the tournament. To collect the stories, we will have two ENG crews moving between the relevant venues, and the programme will originate from the studio in La Baule.”
On location editing will be carried out using two Final Cut/Adobe Premier suites. Where necessary, further editing will be made at Warsaw studios.
“We are looking forward to this tournament with Group C being an interesting one to watch,” said Radecki.