OB opens up for change

Broadcast

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/in-depth/ob-opens-up-for-change/5059958.article?blocktitle=PRODUCTION-FEATURE&contentID=1169%C2%A0…

The OB sector is anticipating a shake-down as decisions on several contracts are in the offing.

Consolidation in the UK’s outside broadcast supply market over the past decade has left broadcasters with little choice other than to ask the five major firms left standing to tender for every contract going.

And this year there have been a lot of contracts up for grabs, arguably the most high profile of which was BT Sport. Production partner Sunset+Vine selected Arena Television and Telegenic to provide location facilities for live coverage of 38 English Premier League matches and 69 Premiership rugby union games respectively for the next three seasons.

BT’s swoop for Premiership rights knocked incumbent holder ESPN out of the picture and with it the OB work SIS Live had with the US sportscaster.

Arena, meanwhile, relinquished its rugby union coverage for ESPN. “BT’s entry has certainly added a whole new dynamic,” says SIS Live sales director Simon Bowler. “As BT and Sky compete, there could be an arms race to get the best freelance talent. There may be an element of the highest bidder paying for the best freelancers.”

Softening the blow a little, SIS Live has picked up BBC1’s Antiques Roadshow, Le Mans for IMG and the 11-race British Touring Cars Championship for ITV. By far its largest commitment, however, is to BBC Sport, including provision for Wimbledon, the London Marathon, Six Nations rugby and Open Golf. It has held these contracts since 2008, but a new deal from 2014 is currently out to tender.

With the BBC’s decision imminent, SIS Live’s rivals are hoping to feed on the new dividend. “Everyone is keeping an eye on the BBC,” says Arena managing director Richard Yeowart. “Not only will this produce a small windfall of contracts for the traditional OB suppliers, it will also have an impact on the incumbent.”

SIS Live fully expects a competitive tender but remains confident of its own pitch. “There are very few, if any, companies that can provide everything under one roof without having to sublet,” says Bowler. “The work has historically been done by this company since it was transferred from BBC Resources and the tender is potentially one of the most significant changes in the OB world for some time.”

Peaks in demand

Most mainstream broadcasters have been tendering projects over the past six months – Yeowart suggests at least 50 individual BBC/ITV/Sky strands – and several are expected to continue for another 12-18 months. “We have found ourselves snowed under with tenders from a variety of clients,” claims Yeowart.

“We continue to grow the business to meet demand (Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Glastonbury are among its non-sport roster), but will attempt to cap growth at about 15% per annum, so that we can maintain quality.”

As the big five suppliers slug it out, business is reportedly buoyant but prices are keen. While the sector is typically characterised by ‘even’ years of feast and ‘odd’ ones of famine, suppliers are attempting to smooth the vagaries of supply and demand.

“We’re trying to flatten out the cyclical nature of the business to make it more consistent in years without significant sports events,” explains Bowler. “We’ve tried to capture more long-term contracts as a backbone and also fill in gaps with adhoc work such as T In the Park for the BBC.”

For Visions managing director Steve Jenkins, it’s been a surprisingly busy summer, especially given the bumper yield of Olympic year 2012.

Visions covered the Champions League Final at Wembley for host ITV and unilateral broadcasters Sky and Fox sports. With parent NEP, it supplied ESPN’s coverage of The X Games in Brazil, Barcelona and Munich and it has taken on new racing contracts for IMG at meets including Cheltenham, Aintree, Derby and Royal Ascot.

That momentum will be carried forward into the start of a new 300- game football season for Sky Sports, spanning EPL, Champions League and Football League matches. Meanwhile, Visions’ custom studio production division Roll to Record cemented a new multi-series agreement with Endemol, including another two years of Big Brother.

In what remains a very capital intensive operation, suppliers need more predictable revenues if they’re to make the necessary investments in new technology. 4K technology is coming to the fore, though only Telegenic has a multi-camera 4K vehicle ready today.

Its T25 scanner was shipped to Brazil for Sony and FIFA tests of 4K live production at the Confederations Cup in June. Having proved the operational and technical feasibility of the concept, it’s highly likely that some matches of next year’s World Cup will be recorded, if not broadcast, in the format with the truck heading out to South America once again.

Telegenic is keeping mum on whether its 4K resource will be tasked for further use in the UK, although Sony and Grass Valley continue to test equipment with suppliers. “The cost of capital investment hasn’t really reduced and comes at a time when there is pressure on broadcasters to control their costs which, naturally, creates a tension,” says Bowler.

“I think there will be a major push into UHD – but we’re not there yet and broadcasters have to make a significant commitment to make that happen. Ultra-HD will definitely feature in the next trucks we build.”

Euro Media Group division CTV is, however, to launch the UK’s second 4K truck around May 2014 specifically to cover cricket for Sky Sports. It would be premature to infer from this that Sky is timing a 4K channel for mid-2014; it’s simply business sense to prep any new truck going forward with 4K infrastructure, especially for those companies contracted to pay-TV broadcasters that are likely first movers into Ultra-HD.

Since Ultra-HD is not in BT Sports’ immediate plans, Yeowart says Arena is not committing to the format in the next six months, although it will review that position. “We believe there is work for a medium-sized truck to be added to our fleet,” he says. “New truck builds have increased in costs as key equipment manufacturers push operators towards newer, more expensive technology.”

Despite helping Sony test 4K at Wimbledon, Visions is also holding fire on investment as it assimilates hardware acquired from Arqiva at the end of 2012, though it has ordered new Kayenne visions mixers and will upgrade some of its EVS servers to XT3s to equip its 16-truck fleet.

The demise of Belgian super-supplier Alfacam sounded a warning to the market about overstretching on hardware without doing the work to absorb its running costs. Euro Media acquired the 12 HD units and related assets such as cameras, servers and RF subsidiary Eurolinks from the bankrupt company in a deal sealed this June.

Emerging markets “We saw an opportunity to equip different divisions of Euro Media in Holland, Belgium, Germany and Italy with additional trucks and also to open new businesses in emerging markets,” explains chief operating officer Barry Johnstone.

The latter includes Brazil where Alfacam had an operation, a canny move for the French conglomerate given the country’s burgeoning broadcast scene and its hosting of global sports extravaganzas in 2014 and 2016. Although the purchase did not come complete with Alfacam’s contract to deliver host broadcast kit for the Winter Olympics, CTV will be sending four trucks to Sochi.

Euro Media is also the major supplier to European Tour Golf productions and for 2014 that includes host provision of the Ryder Cup.

Looking a little further ahead, there are also tenders out for Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games, a Sunset+Vine production for which Arena claims to have snared some work, and the 2015 Rugby World Cup, which is a BBC and ITV joint hosted tournament.

“There is high demand at particular points of the season and at weekends, but I think the number of suppliers we have in the UK meet that demand,” says Jenkins. “It is competitive, since we all pretty much have the same range of equipment. Ultimately, individual relationships, teamwork and delivering in the field all count most highly.”