Innovation during the 2018 FIFA World Cup: remote production

The increasingly immersive experience in sporting transmissions was the subject of a roundtable during the 2018 Set Expo Conference. To discuss the subject, representatives of some of the major broadcasters with real-time programming during the FIFA World Cup in Russia.

The challenge of the Globo Group was to ensure perfect transmission – not only of the world tournament games, but also complete coverage of the activities of the Brazilian national team, Gilberto Castaño, operations director of Globosat explained. “We were tasked with operating at a lower cost and with 100% integration” – he added – since the sports nucleus of the group began working as a unit (combining TV Globo and Sportv). The option was to take a leaner structure to Russia, preferring remote production of games and reporting. “In 2014 in South Africa, we had 395 m² or production space. This year, we had 45 m². This saved us R$ 1 million on carpets alone. Even so, the network sent 23 reporting teams with mobile technology: broadcast backpacks and remote editing kits. The success can be measured in figures, such as the record number of people with their TVs turned on and connected to the group’s digital platforms: 91% of the Brazilian population.

Guests at the presentation also included Fox Sports.  Luís Santos, vice president of engineering and operations for the pay TV channel, showed that one of the peculiarities was to combine the entire content and production intended for other countries of Latin America, such as Argentina, Mexico and Chile.   Another challenge mentioned by the executive is the enhancement of latency in digital transmissions. The higher the quality transmitted in sound and pictures, the greater the challenge of not having the viewer shout “Goal!” several seconds late.