UEFA EURO 2008

UEFA

What we did

Gravity Media’s – then branded Gearhouse Broadcast – Project Solutions team was contracted to build and install the Technical Operation Centres required for broadcasting the UEFA EURO 2008 tournament.

A Technical Operation Centre (TOC) is the main signal-distribution and monitoring facility used by the host broadcaster at an event. TOCs are also used by individual broadcasters.

For EURO 2008, eight TOCs were needed, one for each stadium utilised during the tournament. Four stadiums were situated in Austria – specifically, in Vienna, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt and Salzburg. The remainder were located in Switzerland – Basel, Zurich, Bern and Geneva.

What we used

Gravity Media provided high definition equipment and service personnel which included three broadcast engineers and two wiremen for each of the eight Technical Operation Centres. The TOCs were managed by UEFA Media Technologies, a subsidiary of UEFA, appointed to produce Host Broadcasting Operations.

The TOCs each contained seven broadcast racks of equipment, a total of fifty-six racks.

The racks were all tested at Gravity Media’s UK headquarters two months prior to the tournament.

Gravity Media also provided the multilateral and unilateral cable installation for the UEFA EURO 2008. The broadcast contract involved laying over 900 kilometres of cable across the eight stadium venues throughout the host nations of Austria and Switzerland.

Gravity Media selected Belden cable using a variety of cable types including: Triax, Video, Audio, Cat 5 and Fibre in varying lengths.

Outcome

Andre Nel, Senior Projects Manager at UEFA Media Technologies said, “Gearhouse Broadcast delivered the Technical Operation Centres, the Cable Installation solution and the RF Commentary solution for the UEFA EURO 2004 and FIFA World Cup Germany 2006, so we were more than confident in their abilities to provide first class technical solutions for the 2008 tournament”.