Alfacam has signed a contract worth up to €2m with ORF to provide TV facilities for the upcoming soccer season, and won three other contracts (worth more than €2.5m) to provide its wireless technologies for three events (in Belgium, Denmark and London), writes David Fox.
The contracts indicate good future prospects for the Belgium-based OB specialist, but “We have not yet been able to catch-up on the weak performance of Q1,” said its CEO, Gabriel Fehervari. While Q2 will be some 2.5x better than Q1, that cannot compensate fully for poor trading between January and March. However, he is confident that H2 will be “substantially better” than H1.
The ORF contract will start on July 13, with the Champions League Qualifier in Klagenfurt, and includes the production of all Champions League and Europa League games, plus anywhere from 15 to 40 main Sunday games per season, depending on ORF’s own availability. Therefore, the estimated value of the contract could be anywhere between €1m and €2m.
The three wireless contracts use technology developed by EuroLinx, Alfacam’s wireless division, over the past three years to cover long distance events such as bicycle races, marathons, triathlons and race walking.
It uses an aircraft, two or three helicopters, four to six motorbikes and one or two special vehicles, which can transfer up to 10-12 HDTV signals in top quality to a TV vehicle that is typically stationed near the finish line.
Last weekend Alfacam produced the Belgian Championship Cycling for VTM, and was also chosen by TV2 Denmark to produce the World Championship Road Cycling in Denmark (in September). It has also signed an agreement with the Host Broadcaster for next year’s games in London, after extensive tests in the past weeks.
As Alfacam’s business in Latin America and India is taking off, Fehervari wants to focus more on these strategic projects and on international sales, mainly overseas, so it has appointed Sven Marinus as COO to help look after daily management.
