Videe delivers extensive coverage of ATP Finals for Supertennis TV
Featuring only the world’s best eight qualified singles players and doubles teams, the Nitto ATP Finals, the climax to the ATP Tour season, has a rich history dating back to the Masters in Tokyo, 1970. Since then, the tennis tournament has been contested in major cities around the world, attracting more and more people, broadcasters and viewers worldwide. From 2021 to 2025 the ATP Finals will be held at Turin’s Pala Alpitour stadium, Italy’s largest indoor sporting arena hosting up to 12,000 people.
Since 2022, Videe has been the technical partner to Sportscast and has been responsible for AV shooting and live stand ups from different indoor and outdoor locations at the venue.
For the 2023 event, unilateral production, enriched with technical commentaries and graphical analysis, was broadcast live from 12:00 until midnight on Supertennis TV, the Italian Tennis & Padel Federation’s channel.
The need to cover four simultaneous situations (the Pala Alpitour studio, the outdoor studio, the commentary position and the pickleball tournament that was taking place at the same time) at a great distance resulted in Videe conceiving and providing a tailor made solution based on optical fibre technology.
“The heart of our system was a 1.5km-long fibre optic ring made of seven Riedel Mediornet connecting our OB truck at the TV compound with the other production locations hundreds of metres from there. Such a versatile and highly efficient infrastructure proved to be the ideal choice to meet the production requirements since it enabled the transportation of multiple signals through a sole fibre cable thus reducing the production timings,” said Roberto Pischianz, broadcast chief engineer, Videe.
Roberto Pischianz, broadcast chief engineer, Videe
Videe provided its HD12OB truck, where all the production’s signals were received and managed. As well as the 11 Videe cameras, among which there was a 9m jimmy jib and an RF system, the program, the HB cameras and the graphic board signals also passed through the OB truck. Moreover, highlights and emotional clips to be broadcast live during the stand ups were also realised on board.
Also worthy of a mention is the camera provision, mainly remote controlled. “With reference in particular to the Pala Alpitour live studio, we chose to rely on the latest addition to Sony’s Cinema Line of cameras, FR7, which combines the flexibility of a standard PTZ camera with stunning visuals through advanced cinematic features. A full-frame image and highly sensitive sensor together with a great depth of field make it the perfect partner to get the highest levels of quality and a great result: it actually opened up new ways to tell a narrative,” commented Andrea De Bortoli, technical sales manager, Videe.
To cover both the outer Fan Village and the Pala Alpitour studio, Videe provided a RF system with matrix and fibre transport.
The 2023 ATP finals were also an incredible showcase and the start of official competitions of pickleball, one of the fastest growing sports worldwide. The first edition of the Italian Championship for all levels of players was contested simultaneously with the ATP Finals in a tensile structure next to the Pala Alpitour.
The Italian Pickleball Championship took place at the same time as the Finals
“To manage the day-time production of the pickleball matches and to cover the live broadcast we provided a dedicated Tricaster flypack unit, a graphic station and replay equipment. A commentary position completed the provision. All these signals too passed through the Mediornet network and were managed on board the HD12. Our technical solution was key in dealing with the simultaneous productions and in guaranteeing the highest levels of quality such an event deserved,” added Pischianz.
“Our well recognised experience and ability to provide creative and innovative solutions to every scenario push us to expand our presence in international – and emerging – sports events. We’re very happy with the ongoing collaboration with Sportcast and Supertennis and with the outcome of the ATP Finals live production, which showed one more time our team’s strength and skill to captivate the audience with a very top-end quality live product. Videe has a particular tendency for co-operation with clients, federations and international committees. Our approach aims at sharing and thus maximising know-how, professionalism and our multifaceted experience in order to create a product with greater levels of engagement, which is able to generate excitement and gain momentum around sports events,” concluded Paola Montanari, CEO Videe.