This summer in Paris, Calrec’s technical support team was back at the trackside as this year’s global sporting extravaganza got off the starting blocks. Calrec support engineer Toby Spiller is at the sharp end of Calrec support and has first-hand experience of how broadcasters have adapted their broadcast workflows since the Beijing Games. In fact, he has contributed to them.
As travel restrictions were cautiously lifted for the 2022 Games in China, Spiller was on the ground at the Olympic Park, but not everything at the first post-COVID Winter Games was onsite. Beijing marked a huge shift in broadcasters’ approach to sports broadcasting, with NBC Sports employing eight Calrec RP1 Remote Production Units onsite in Beijing, all controlled by Calrec Artemis consoles stationed in Stamford in the US. The pioneering workflow created a new world record; it was the first time any global broadcaster had employed fully remote workflows for all its Games coverage from the IBC.
It worked so well – flawlessly, in fact – that NBC Sports upped its game in Paris this summer with 12 RP1 units connected to mixing consoles in Stamford, as well as stationing a number of other consoles around Paris to create content for socials as well as traditional broadcast channels. And NBC wasn’t alone, with more international broadcasters taking full advantage of increasingly flexible, efficient and sustainable ways to deliver top quality content across multiple channels.
But irrespective of location, Calrec was still on site to deliver the same levels of support that it always has, and Spiller was on the ground to see how things had developed in the last two years. We caught up with Spiller to see what happened next.
“After all the personal and technical challenges I experienced in Beijing, it was an honour to provide support once again for the 2024 Summer Games. What was most interesting was how many of the remote production workflows that had to be adopted for Beijing 2022 had been carried over into the post-COVID world, and how different broadcasters are adopting completely different approaches to live coverage.
“I was based at the IBC on behalf of NBC Sports and stayed in the Media Village alongside my other NBC colleagues. Similar to the Beijing Games, NBC had a small studio based at the IBC alongside a mixture of RP1s and OB trucks at each of the venues across Paris. The OB trucks were all from NEP UK, so it was good to see some familiar friendly faces, and my first job was to visit each setup as it came online before the Games began. This not only provided peace of mind for the people making use of them, but also meant we could figure out how to get from the IBC to any given venue in the shortest possible time!
“Although we were primarily there to provide NBC with 24-hour on-air support, NBC kindly gave us permission to provide support to other international broadcasters using Calrec equipment, of which there are many. Although this year not all of them were based in Paris.
Not traditional
“We’ve been talking about remote broadcasting for a long time, and at Calrec we’ve been supporting remote productions since the launch of the RP1 in 2016. But this Games illustrated the huge shift, widespread acceptance, and integration of distributed technologies across the board, a shift that has happened in a relatively short space of time. It reflects a broader trend in the broadcasting industry; one that prioritises flexibility, efficiency, and the ability to deliver high-quality content regardless of physical location.
“In Paris I still had a number of traditional outside broadcast trucks and flypacks to support, but many more broadcasters were working in new and different ways. We had companies using smaller consoles like Brio to create full 5.1 surround mixes and content for social channels like TikTok. We had companies using hybrid SDI/IP capable units, while Australian facilities company Pacific Broadcast even flew a brand new 56-fader Argo S console, ordered direct off the stand at NAB in Las Vegas, to Tahiti to cover surfing.
“From a support perspective it meant getting involved in much more complex workflows. Consoles no longer operate in isolation, and the opportunity to work with – and learn from – other manufacturers and broadcasters as they modify their systems to meet evolving needs is crucial. It means as broadcast systems continue to adapt, we can remain ahead of the curve and continue to guarantee the smooth workflows that Calrec has always delivered.
Hybrid approaches
“These workflows are not only more efficient, but they enable broadcasters to do more. This year NBC used a compact Brio console in an Insert Studio at the IBC to create high-quality monitor mixes for both producers and talent, gathering signals to create a mixture of live podcast and TikTok shows, and forwarding everything via Dante to its US headquarters in Stamford for a full mix.
“They had RP1 remote production units to provide full remote production capabilities at a variety of events including the opening ceremony (Trocadero), swimming (Paris La Défense Arena), gymnastics (Bercy Arena), diving (Paris Aquatic Centre), basketball (Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Lille), beach volleyball (Champ de Mars (Eiffel Tower), golf (Le Golf National) and coverage for the Today Show (Café de l’Homme). They had another two 96-channel RP1s situated at TV Tower and a 32-channel RP1 at the historic Palais Brongniart for Team USA House, which provides a home base for team USA guests. As in Beijing, all were fully controlled on Artemis consoles in Stamford.
“NBC also operated a more traditional network on the ground. Calling on support from NEP UK, they relied on a range of Calrec consoles including an Apollo in NEP’s Caspian OB truck which was networked to an Artemis console in its Albiorix truck as a sub-mixer. Both were situated at the Stade de France and Trocadéro to cover the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics. NEP also had a 36-fader Calrec Summa and two RP1s in its Kore truck positioned at the Cafe de L’Homme and OBS TV Tower for NBC Primetime and Daytime. Gymnastics and basketball coverage were mixed using a 56-fader Apollo console in its Venus truck, while NEP’s Ceres unit used a 56-fader Artemis at La Defense Arena to cover swimming and water polo.
Driving change
“BBC Sport also took a hybrid approach, with two Brio sub consoles and a central router core at the IBC for general coverage throughout the event as well as two RP1 remote production units at TV Tower which were controlled from BBC headquarters in Salford, UK. They also employed Timeline TV’s UHD1 OB truck, which was famously the first purpose-built 4K UHD outside broadcast unit in Europe, for athletics coverage and for the closing ceremony at the Stade de France.
“France TV went a step further, with its new hybrid UM1 and UM2 trucks acting as additional control rooms at their Paris HQ. Both use Apollo+ consoles with ImPulse cores, and UM1 also uses a small Type R surface as a sub, but what is fascinating is that both are designed to be hybrid SDI / ST 2110 trucks. France TV mixed the main UHD production in UM1, and UM2 was used to cover athletics events at the Stade de France. Similarly to how technology encouraged new ways to work in Beijing, this is another example of how big events can drive change, encouraging France TV to accelerate its adoption of live IP production using ST 2110.
More with less
“Other broadcasters were busy doing more with less; a compact Brio 36 console at Roland-Garros was used to mix full 5.1 coverage, and Italy’s RAI Radio used two Brio 36 consoles at the IBC to provide ingest and comms, as well as two Calrec Router Core systems as network cores. Croatian broadcaster Hrvatska Televizija (HRT) also used a Calrec Type R remote production unit for general event coverage for the first time.
“With Spanish broadcaster TVE using an Apollo console at the IBC, NVP in Italy using an Artemis in its OB5 truck, South Korea’s KBS using a Summa for general event coverage, Japan’s Nippon TV using a Brio at the IBC, and NEP Australia using two Apollo consoles, two Brio consoles and one VP2 in Australia with sources piped directly from Paris for Nine Network, there was plenty to keep across.
“But the opportunity to understand how our customers are approaching the same broadcast challenges in new and creative ways is part of the joy of being involved in such an event. Even while the Games were still going on, you could already hear people having conversations and making plans for the next two games, the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Games and the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games.
“What will they look like? It’s too early to tell, but we’re absolutely there for it!”
