Wimbledon

IMG, Input Media, ITV, WOWOW

What we did

Internationally recognised broadcast solutions provider and systems integrator Gearhouse Broadcast provides tailored solutions for multiple clients at Wimbledon. For the 2014 Grand Slam, these included:

IMG:

A large global sports events and talent agency based in New York, IMG distributes more than 32,000 hours of content to major broadcasters every year.

Input Media:

A leading UK sports production company, Input Media delivers multi-platform coverage of some of the world’s most high profile sporting events.

ITV:

British commercial television network ITV provides coverage of a range of popular sports.

WOWOW Inc:

Japan’s oldest private satellite broadcaster with four pay tv channels in operation, WOWOW is the home of Grand Slam tennis in Japan.

As excitement mounted among tennis fans prior to 2014’s Wimbledon Championship, the best in Outside Broadcast (OB) solutions were being expertly put together by a team of Gearhouse Broadcast specialists.

Content owners and broadcasters including IMG, Fox Sports Australia, Channel 7, WOWOW and Live @ Wimbledon were all relying upon Gearhouse Broadcast’s innovative & reliable OB solutions. They also looked to Gearhouse Broadcast to provide on-site technical support.

What we used

Grand Slam tennis tournaments demand seamless footage of the highest quality. Every split second of every rally must be captured for fans watching at home. Gearhouse Broadcast has a proven track record providing innovative broadcast solutions for professional tennis tournaments worldwide. This unrivalled experience was invaluable as the team put together a variety of solutions for Wimbledon 2014, including:

Service of the world feed for all Wimbledon rights holders on behalf of IMG. This saw individual feeds taken from Wimbledon’s various grass courts to create an overall signal, providing a summary of all the day’s action.
Provision of a web feed, delivered to Live @ Wimbledon, the then-new video and audio channel broadcasting online during the tournament.
Provision of bespoke feeds and supply of tailored equipment to other Wimbledon broadcasters, specifically, Fox Sports (Australia), Channel 7 and WOWOW.
Provision of studio facilities for WOWOW for its dedicated coverage of the fortnight-long Grand Slam.

Gearhouse also supplied IMG with broadcast equipment, which in 2014 included:

EVS XT3 servers
Sony MVS-7000X vision mixers
MVS-6530 vision mixers
Harris glue
Snell Cygnus router
RTS Telex talkback system
Cabling and fibre connectivity.

Outcome

Gearhouse Broadcast enabled its clients to deliver coverage of consistently high quality, reflecting the importance and high profile nature of the tournament.

Stephen Farr, head of technical services at IMG said, “We work with Gearhouse because they have years of experience in covering top tennis tournaments and provide proven and reliable solutions to help deliver our coverage.”