Turin 2025: EMG / Gravity Media Italy supports FISU for host coverage of the Winter Universiade
The 2025 Winter World University Games (WUG), or Universiade as it is often called, took place from 13 to 23 January in Turin.
EMG / Gravity Media Italy worked closely with event organiser FISU (the International University Sports Federation), to provide comprehensive broadcast coverage of all the sporting disciplines plus the opening and closing ceremonies.
The disciplines covered include alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, slopestyle, moguls and aerials, figure skating, speed skating, curling, and ice hockey.
Live productions were concentrated in the competition venues selected by the WUG 2025 Committee, with a significant commitment at Pragelato Rua for the biathlon, where EMG / Gravity’s IP UHD-HDR capable mobile unit Orion 209 was deployed, and drones were introduced.
“The team is further strengthened by the involvement of around 220 freelancers, reflecting the logistical and production complexity of an event of this scale.”
“The operational coordination,” explains Davide Furlan, project manager for EMG / Gravity Media Italy’s production of the event, “involves a high-profile team comprising six unit managers dedicated to the competition venues, coordinated by me at every stage of the project. The team is further strengthened by the involvement of around 220 freelancers, reflecting the logistical and production complexity of an event of this scale.”
“A key aspect of EMG / Gravity Media Italy’s commitment,” continues Furlan, “is the technical and editorial consultancy provided to FISU to optimise the live coverage of competitions. Thanks to our expertise in winter sports disciplines, we have successfully translated FISU’s specific competition requirements into effective and high-quality production solutions.”
Beyond the live production, EMG / Gravity Media Italy also managed the international signal distribution from its MCR in Cologno Monzese, dedicated exclusively to FISU TV.
This service was previously tested during the 2023 Winter Games in Lake Placid (USA) and the 2023 Summer Games in Chengdu (China). The MCR operates a cloud-based platform capable of managing up to eight main and 8 backup live input feeds, allowing for a potentially unlimited number of output streams. For Turin 2025, there were nine international rights-holding broadcasters.
EMG / Gravity Media Italy’s collaboration with FISU also extended to the management of its International Broadcast Centre (IBC), hosted at the EMG / Gravity Media Italy facility in Cologno. Here, an EVS operator, a technical manager, and a media manager oversaw the control and delivery of content to FISU’s Media Hub.
The FISU production area included: One coordination and production workstation for FISU’s head of production; Three editing rooms, with two for editing and one dedicated to news; and one taker coordinator for managing outgoing signals.
To ensure continuity, the EMG / Gravity Media Italy team assigned to Cologno included a producer/general coordinator, supported by five MCR operators, an MCR supervisor, two technical supervisors, and three IT engineers.
