CineArk has supplied RF camera systems to Phoenix Broadcast for the BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Championships, the company’s first live sports project after a decade working in film and high-end scripted television.

The BWF World Championships is an annual event which this year took place (17-23 August) in New Delhi, India,

“We received a request back in July from Phoenix Broadcast to supply RF systems for this event and we jumped at the chance,” said Jo Adams, head of broadcast and live at CineArk.

“It’s a massive event with millions watching in India alone, where this year’s event is taking place in New Delhi.”

For the tournament, CineArk provided five COFDM Nano RF transmitters and RF over fibre packages for roaming cameras. The systems were rigged on Sony FX3 cameras, where size and weight were the deciding factors: the Nano transmitter weighs 200g and is smaller than a pack of cards. It uses a wide-voltage, reverse-polarity-protected input and a REC-triggered low-fan mode for quiet operation, and is designed for non-standard camera setups such as minicams, where rigging and power vary from job to job.

“We’ve been tackling technical challenges for productions in almost every environment imaginable, from remote desert landscapes and dense woodlands to busy city streets and offshore locations.

“Whether it’s RF, comms, remote production, DIT, video or streaming, our focus is always the same: providing the crew, systems and expertise that keep productions moving,” said Adams.

CineArk’s background is in film and scripted TV, with credits including Dune, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Bond, The Rings of Power and Project Hail Mary. The company owns close to 100 RF systems of various types.

For F1 The Movie, CineArk supplied transmitter equipment to facilitate four 10-bit HDR camera feeds from each car, COFDM receive infrastructure for continuous coverage across F1 race tracks, and RF-over-fibre systems, alongside video equipment, network infrastructure equipment and network infrastructure engineers.

The Phoenix Broadcast job for the BWF World Championships came through existing industry contacts. “Phoenix was awarded the prestigious event because of their new, bespoke technical solution and vast team experience handling major events. I’ve known Sid (Sid Tyagi, Phoenix Broadcast founder and managing director) from my NEP days and also from when I was at Luna Remote Systems,” Adams said. “It was great to reconnect with him in his new guise at Phoenix as they have a lot of great work on their books that hopefully we can work together on.”

CineArk sees the tournament as the start of a wider move into the sector. “We very much see this as the start of a push into sports and live sports, yes,” Adams said. “I’ve been reaching out to my contacts and had a couple of great RFP’s through already.”

The company operates from London, with further offices in Cardiff, Dublin and Belfast, and can service European clients from Dublin. “We’ve been providing bespoke solutions for years so if any potential clients want to talk to us about new projects, in any location, we’d love to work with them, even if it feels an impossible task!” Adams said.