From the Olympics to the Oscars, host broadcasting for major live events involves a broad range of tasks, including slick project management from start to finish. Sometimes the planning spans years, to be sure everything is transmitted professionally and seamlessly when event time comes around.
At Gearhouse Broadcast, host broadcast services are at the sweet spot of what we do. From initial consultancy through to onsite management, our team is rated across the industry for its unmatched experience, steadfast commitment to quality and outstanding customer service.
Whether it’s a single venue or a multi-site broadcast, we offer a full support package, ranging from internet streaming through to designing, building and integrating full-service International Broadcast Centres, Master Control Rooms, Technical Operation Centres, Commentary Control Rooms, Production Control Rooms and Media Centres.
Whatever the event, we have the capability and capacity to deliver first-class host broadcasting support worldwide. For example, one of our ongoing high-profile projects involves providing host broadcast services and local crew for Lagardère Sports and Entertainment, the rights-holders to the Confederation of African Football’s international matches, including the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup and African Nations Championship.
Our French team leads on the project, and is responsible for providing everything needed to cover matches taking place in venues across Senegal, Mauritius, Djibouti, Madagascar and Sudan. We supply the production crew, equipment, power and satellite links, as well as logistical services such as shipping, travel and visas.
For each match, we ship one of our HD multi-camera Flyaway production units to the stadium. These all-in-one mobile units are quick and easy to set up onsite, and provide up to ten workstation positions for operational and technical crew. They’re by far the best solution for the job, as some of the venues are located in areas where it’d be hard for an OB truck and international production crew to reach.
Elsewhere, we assisted ESPN in its capacity as both host and sole domestic broadcaster for the US Open tennis. For 2018, we overhauled the entire technical infrastructure, housing the whole production workflow in a two-storey building at the Flushing Meadows site in New York. The solution included a huge production gallery, as well as a Central Apparatus Room, Master Control Room, EVS replay and camera shading areas, and nine separate control rooms.
The facility took ten days of onsite integration and rigging by a specialist crew, and felt more like a permanent studio than an outside broadcast facility. The solution provided full HD coverage from seven televised courts, as well as site-wide wireless camera and comms access – with all RF systems operating seamlessly within New York’s notoriously crowded radio spectrum. The set-up was a blueprint for the future of live tennis production, enabling ESPN to work more flexibly and create more and better live programming, while at the same time providing a great working environment for the crew.
In short, our solutions enable the delivery of complex, high-definition broadcasts, wherever they’re needed, anywhere in the world. From major international sports events to reality TV, studio to outside broadcast, we’re known for delivering high-quality, innovative support services that get the story out to audiences all around the globe.