SVG Europe attracts its largest event audience to date for SportTech 2014

From 4K to DPP to content production, the trends shaping sports broadcasting came in for scrutiny at SVG Europe’s latest well-attended conference event, SportTech, which took place at the Emirates Stadium in London today (7 May).

Following a technical tour of the stadium and a networking lunch, BT Sport chief engineer Andy Beale discussed the development and first year of the high-profile new sports channels in a special keynote presentation, with input from Bruce Brewer (Aspera) and key personnel from project partner Timeline Television.

CTV OB MD Barry Johnstone was joined by Sky Sports’ Paul King, European Tour Productions’ Jim Storey and sports TV director John Watts to talk content production, while Futuresource Consulting head of broadcasting technology Adam Cox offered thoughts on Ultra HD and ‘the gap between future vision…and present reality.’

Broadcast Innovation’s founder and MD, Russell Grute, moderated a session about the migration to digital file delivery with Craig Dwyer (Avid), Mark Hill (Ixedia) and Alexandra McDevitt (Ericsson Broadcast Services).

The evolution of Olympics broadcast was the topic of consideration for Christine Espeland (TV2 Norway), Jens Knudsen (TV2 Norway), Richard Morgan (BBC Sport) and Sotiris Salamouris (Olympic Broadcasting Services).

Current and forthcoming OB and studio projects were examined by Hubert Hubbes (L-S-B Broadcast Technologies) and Wolfgang Reeh (TV Skyline).

The busy one-day programme concluded with reflections on 2014 and the extent to which it will be considered a landmark year for sports events and technology. Panellists for this session included Keith Lane (Sky Sports), Carlo de Marchis (deltatre), Dan Miodownik (HBS) and David Shield (IMG Media).

Detailed individual reports on each conference session will appear on the SVG Europe website over the next few days.