Sports Production Summit: John Hunt to moderate World Cup 4K production session

SVG Europe has confirmed that John Hunt, UK executive director OBStv, will helm the ‘Ultra HD live 4K production at FIFA World Cup 2014’ session at the Sports Production Summit on September 11 in the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolosky Amsterdam. OBStv is the UK arm of Observe, a Dublin-based outside broadcast provider covering a range of areas such as sport, light entertainment, news, state occasions and special events.

Hunt was previously director of Operations at RTE Television in Dublin where he was responsible for all TV technical operations, technology planning and staffing plus studio planning, archive and human resources. Prior to that he worked at ITN in London, initially as a production journalist ending up as senior news editor on Channel 4 News and then becoming head of Resources.

Live Ultra HD broadcasts of the World Cup final stages from Brazil were undertaken by FIFA, host broadcaster HBS and technical production partner Sony. Three matches including a quarter-final and the final at Rio’s Maracanã stadium were covered in 4K. Twelve Sony F55 cameras and a number of upconverted specialist cameras created the 4K live mix, working with a new 4K-ready Globocast truck crewed by Telegenic.

The participants look back at the unique challenges surrounding this high profile, ambitious live 4K production from the world’s biggest most popular sporting event. Confirmed speakers include Paul Redman, FIFA Films, head and Mark Grinyer, Sony Professional Solutions Europe, programme manager World Cup 2014.