Paris 2024: Channel 4 opens new fully accessible remote production facility in Wales ahead of the Paralympics

Channel 4 has opened a new production centre in Wales ready for its coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympics

UK Paralympic rights holding broadcaster, Channel 4, alongside Creative Wales, Cardiff Capital Region (CCR), production partner Whisper Cymru, and Tramshed Tech have announced the official opening of a fully accessible, remote production facility near Cardiff Central.

Designed and built ahead of delivering the Paris 2024 Paralympics for Channel 4, the Centre has been designed to be one of the most accessible remote production hubs in Europe.

Based at Tramshed Tech, the Cymru Broadcast Centre offers a versatile, state-of-the-art production facility featuring everything needed to deliver global remote productions on a large scale, which will bring new and increased opportunities to the region.

From a technical aspect, high end resources include a central apparatus room, two production control rooms and sound control rooms, a master control room, multiple edit suites, two production offices and a multiplex. The centre is equipped to help deliver high quality broadcasting, efficient production and seamless content transfer.

In addition, there will be diverse connectivity brought to the centre by BMC over Openreach and Ogi. Timeline TV has helped to design and equip the centre and will operate the space following the conclusion of the Paralympics.

As well as creating an accessible remote production facility, media consortium Media Cymru and Channel 4 co-funded research and development around accessibility in live production in conjunction with the Ability People. The ambition is for the R&D report to act as a case study for other technical facilities to use as best practice and to share learnings, to make productions accessible for all.

The facilities include a changing spaces toilet, wide walkways, ramps, power-assisted doors and accessible signage. Attention has also been given to the centre’s colour schemes and signage throughout to ensure the Cymru Broadcast Centre can be used by as wide a range of people as possible.

Channel 4 and Whisper will be delivering more than 1,300 hours of content from the centre, including 300 hours of coverage for linear TV, plus 1,000 hours of coverage on 16 live streams. Over 200 individuals will be working across the period of the Production.

The Cymru Broadcast Centre will be a legacy of Channel 4’s Paralympics coverage and is set to bring increased production to Cardiff and new opportunities within the industry. It is the latest development by Whisper in the region, who have committed to investing in Welsh production every year since establishing Whisper Cymru in 2019.

More international productions are already in the pipeline, and a series of entry-level training schemes have been planned for the centre.

Stuart Frayne, head of CBC technical operations, said: “As an engineer working in live production across entertainment, news and sport broadcast, I’ve been involved in large global events such as ATP Tennis, F1, Moto GP, 2022 FIFA World Cup, the 2023 Ryder Cup and Wimbledon 2024. It’s a fantastic opportunity to be heading up the technical facilities here at the first fully-accessible remote production facility in Wales. Along with our partners Timeline TV, who bring a wealth of experience in both conventional broadcast technologies and the latest in remote production innovations, the Broadcast Centre’s flexible design can facilitate a wide range of production solutions.

“On a personal note, it’s great to have a facility like this in Wales, bringing me back home. I’m looking forward to inspiring the next generation of technical broadcast talent and seeing how the facility can leave a lasting impact on the wider broadcast community in Wales.”

Sunil Patel, co-founder and CEO at Whisper, added: “The vision back in 2019 was always to meaningfully invest into Wales, focusing on people and global production. Hiring the best local talent and nurturing the next generation was at the forefront of our plans, and we now have a 30-plus strong team in Cardiff, as well as the Whisper Academy.

“Bringing the C4 2024 Paris Paralympics to Cardiff means it will be one of the biggest sporting productions to come out of the nation, with more to come in 2025. The Cymru Broadcast Centre is the crystallisation of an idea that will impact positive change within Wales and leave a lasting legacy. This goes down as a special moment at Whisper.”

Alex Mahon, CEO at Channel 4, commented: “The realisation of the state of the art, fully accessible Cymru Broadcast Centre in Cardiff chimes with everything Channel 4 stands for. It’s a wonderful example of what can be achieved when we pull together with a focus to make our industry accessible to everyone. It’s a fabulous asset for Cardiff and I’m genuinely thrilled that its inaugural broadcast will be Channel 4’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.”