SIS Live has won the contract to supply the outside broadcast facilities to ITV Sport for its host broadcaster coverage of UEFA Champions League and Europa League football.
SIS Live will provide ITV Sport with new-generation OB vehicles, OB 3 and OB 7. Roger Pearce, technical director, sport, ITV, said: “After an extensive tender process, we are very pleased to select SIS Live to provide us with the technical OB facilities for ITV Sport’s host broadcast coverage of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League for the 2009/10 season. We are extremely impressed with SIS Live’s technical innovation, excellent reputation and the standard of their new HD OB fleet. We look forward to a successful season working with the team.”
David Meynell, managing director, SIS Live, added: “The UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League are two of the world’s most prestigious club football competitions and we are delighted to have been chosen by ITV Sport to support their host coverage. SIS Live will be giving ITV Sport all the support and facilities they need to provide exciting host coverage of their UK home matches for both competitions, as well as presentation coverage for home and away games. ITV Sport is using the newest OB 3 and OB 7 vehicles to provide a powerful and flexible broadcast solution. We will also be collaborating with ITV Sport to pioneer new technical innovations and camera angles to offer people the very best possible viewing experience.”
All of ITV Sport’s UEFA Champions League games will be captured in high definition quality with 5.1 surround sound, while UEFA Europa League games on a Thursday night will be captured in a combination of HD and SD using OB 7. For UK home matches in both competitions, SIS Live will be providing OB 3 alongside the powerful Unit 12 vehicle for both host match and presentation coverage. A third production unit will provide monitoring and production space.
OB 3, launched in September 2008, and OB 7, launched in June 2009, are built on the same highly flexible and user-friendly modular design. Both are fully HD throughout and 3G capable, delivering the highest quality 1080i HD pictures with 5.1 surround sound. Because both vehicles have the same infrastructure design, they can share material seamlessly and are an ideal pairing for match coverage and presentation.
SIS Live is also providing a fully-managed service for ITV Sport. Two experienced project managers will look after all aspects of the coverage, providing a point of contact for the ITV production team on site, as well as on site technical co-ordination with a guarantee that all queries are dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Phil Aspden, head of commercial, SIS Live, said: “At SIS Live, we understand the requirements of covering live football and know we need to be as flexible and adaptable as possible. We do not underestimate the challenge ahead and the geographical spread of games throughout Europe. But we are confident we can help ITV Sport create the best host broadcaster coverage of these premier club matches.”
ITV has the domestic TV rights until 2012 for both competitions and has the first-choice live match on Wednesday nights during the early stages of the competition. ITV Sport will be covering a total of 18 live matches in the UEFA Champions League, including the final, and 15 live matches in the UEFA Europa League.
