NBC Olympics turns to IDS for results and timing interfaces

IDS, a division of SMT, has again been selected to provide results and timing interfaces to NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, during its production of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
“We are pleased to be working once again with IDS, and we are confident their experience and expertise in the presentation of real-time data will help us add new and intriguing dimensions for viewers watching the Games on the networks of NBCUniversal,” said Craig Lau, Vice President, Information Technology, NBC Olympics.

The IDS support team will be responsible for delivering TV graphics interfaces for NBC Olympics’ Mosaic systems in its coverage of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, short track speed skating, speed skating, bobsled, luge, skeleton, ski jumping and the ski jumping portion of Nordic combined.

IDS’ Point-in-Time system will allow the production crew to go back to the precise point in a competition to simultaneously and seamlessly illustrate points being made by the announcers, for both live and taped coverage. With one click of a button, IDS’ software system can locate and connect NBC Olympics to a specific point in the competition, even from previous days, where reporters will be able to show how a race began, when a lead changed, where an athlete improved his or her performance and other similar key events. The tool will dramatically enhance NBC Olympics’ ability to tell the stories of individual athletes and teams and their triumphs and disappointments during the 2014 Winter Games.

“Our experienced team of nine on-site experts will help NBC Olympics deliver the best Winter Games presentation possible,” said IDS president Rallis Pappas. “We will serve as the heart of generating a wide range of data for the network’s use. Our efficiency and experience in working with NBC Olympics on previous Games and other sporting events will be a huge asset for us.”

IDS’ services over the course of 14 years for NBC Olympics have included graphics interfaces and web content as well as NBC’s digital asset management interface that helped the network receive an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Team Technical Remote” following the 2008 Games.