The 2018 Wimbledon Championships coincided with London’s longest heatwave since 1976. Broadcast to over one billion people in 200 territories, Gravity Media (as Gearhouse Broadcast) worked with WOWOW, Eurosport and Fox Sports Australia to help deliver footage globally. It receives feeds from Wimbledon Broadcast services (WBS) 18 court feeds as well as approximately eight beauty shots in and around the Wimbledon complex.
“Our team is very experienced when it comes to delivering tennis coverage for multiple broadcasters,” said Gearhouse systems designer Paul Sykes. “A big part of our job is to take in multiple feeds and integrate them into broadcasters’ systems.”
After more than six years working together, Japanese broadcaster WOWOW again chose Gravity Media as the best service provider for the job. Together, they produced a programme with WOWOW’s own commentary that went on air in Japan from 11am in the morning until close of play. Four of Gravity Media’s engineers helped to make this possible by deploying a range of kit including EVS servers and IPDirectors as well as Riedel’s commentary units and communication systems. The team also deployed five Hitachi SK-HD1200 cameras and two Sony PXW-X500 camcorders to capture the championships.
Eurosport was also a receiver of WBS’s court feeds. With its own commentary on site, Eurosport’s feeds were sent back to its headquarters via the broadcaster’s own signal path. They were then edited remotely. Gravity Media served up four engineers to help with the setup, which included two Sony HDC-2500 cameras, one Sony PDW-850 camcorder, two Glensound commentary units, a Riedel Artist 128 Communications System, a range of Avid gear and more.
Gravity Media rolled out Fox Sports Australia’s remote production set up. It sent the network provider’s feed to Sydney, Australia, where the editors received and created a program with the content. In addition to a range of kit including Hitachi SK-HD1200 cameras and a SAM Sirius 128 x 128 HD Video Router, Gravity Media provided Fox Sports Australia with commentary facilities on-site and two engineers to ensure no problems were encountered down the line.
The broadcast services provider worked closely with WOWOW, EuroSport and Foxtel during the 2018 Wimbledon Championship to ensure Angelique Kerber and Novak Djokovic weren’t the only winners at the tournament.