TVU Networks to offer expanded customer support and new solutions for the Beijing Winter Olympics

TVU Networks has updated its customer offering for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, following lessons learnt from working on the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.

The move will see the company offer TVU One mobile transmitter rental, including equipment delivery, pick up, set up, technical assistance and exchange, and complimentary office space in the TVU Beijing office.

Other services will include: 24×7 live pool feeds from Beijing; use of the Watch Party Solution to share live moments between athletes and friends and family remotely; a professional Remote Reporting Solution, which provides reporters and producers with the ability to conduct remote interviews from their home or studio; and an All-in-One Interview Kit for mobile journalists that enable high-quality live shots from anywhere

The rationale for the new offering is based on a number of factors, the company said. These include the potential for stricter COVID-related travel parameters in China. But also to take into account the mountainous terrain surrounding venue locations Yanqing and Zhangjiakou which could make broadcast coverage of the Winter Games even more challenging than conditions faced in Tokyo.

Anticipated restrictions in Beijing include: limited availability of 5G SIM cards, three-week visitor quarantine, rules on equipment transport, and limited visitor access to the Great Wall.

Paul Shen, CEO of TVU Networks, said: “We’ve got a solid support network in place. Our TVU team will take care of any issues our customers face, so they can focus on producing the best possible coverage in Beijing.

“While we provided a host of services on the ground in Tokyo, our support will be even more extensive in China based on our lessons learned, and because we believe that conditions in Beijing could make remote coverage there even more challenging. Given our successes in Tokyo, we’re confident in our ability to help broadcasters navigate the complexities of next year’s Winter Games.”

When compared with the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, TVU saw a 100x increase in the use of TVU Grid for IP-based video switching routing and distribution and 10x higher adoption of the TVU Anywhere mobile app in Tokyo.

Live 24/7 beauty shots from multiple cameras of Tokyo locations before and during the Summer Games were popular for bumpers and other interstitial content. TVU also offered a rental inventory of TVU One mobile transmitters and had professional ENG camera crews at the ready. Plus, the company offered studio space in downtown Tokyo equipped with TVU Grid for broadcast-quality video transmission.

“There wasn’t the ability to send a crew to different locations at any time in Tokyo, as there’d been in the past,” added Shen. “Without on-location resources, broadcasters had to get creative to produce quality interviews, beauty shots and cover stories with a local flavor. That’s where cloud- and IP-based solutions provided the flexibility needed to produce compelling coverage without the typical on-site access.”

TVU One mobile transmitters available for rent in Beijing will feature: 5G transmission with unlimited 5G data; 4K HDR or 1080p HDR picture quality; Sub-second latency; and the aggregation of all available data connections – mobile, 5G, WiFi, Ethernet, and satellite – to transmit broadcast-quality video from any location.

The XXIV Olympic Winter Games takes place in Beijing 4-20 February 2022.