BT looks to give viewers control over PL coverage

Broadcast 

BT’s coverage of the English Premier League from 2013-14 could introduce technology that enables viewers to edit their own version of the live match feed.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/bt-looks-to-give-viewers-control-over-pl-coverage/5043601.article

This brief will feature prominently in a tender document issued to indie sports producers by the end of the year.

BT Vision chief executive Marc Watson said: “We are setting our minds to what innovation we can introduce.

“Clearly there is an opportunity to offer a personalised, rich, interactive experience to customers, and to deliver this to other devices in and out of the home.”

One technology that fits the bill is second-screen application C-Cast, launched by EVS last year and being trialled by several European broadcasters.

“With multiple cameras recording every match, hours of footage are captured that never get aired,” said EVS general manager of new media broadcast Johann Schreurs.

“With C-Cast, we can use this content to deliver an interactive viewing experience that can begin long before kick-off. Viewers can decide what they watch and from which camera angle.”

Likely bidders include IMG Sports Media, which co-produces the international feeds of the EPL with Premier League Productions and holds the current ESPN EPL contract; and Sunset+Vine, which produces Europa League matches for ITV Sport.

Other candidates may include North One and Input Media. According to one senior manager at an OB supplier: “IMG is usually very aggressive on price and tends to get things of this scale - it also has the track record.”

D-Cinema advances push exhibitors to invest

Screen Daily

With digital transition of the world’s 130,000 cinema screens expected to be complete in the major territories by 2015, technology suppliers are lining up the next big technical advance with which to entice further investment from exhibitors.

http://www.screendaily.com/reports/in-focus/d-cinema-advances-push-exhibitors-to-invest/5043823.article

Diamond Jubilee: by royal appointment

Broadcast 
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/production-feature/diamond-jubilee-by-royal-appointment/5042633.article

The state occasion of the Diamond Jubilee is unprecedented in the scale of its outside broadcast. Adrian Pennington reports on the key broadcasters’ production plans.

“This is the equivalent of three Royal Weddings in different locations, shot back to back,” says Ben Weston, BBC executive editor for the Queen’s Jubilee. “In terms of logistics and infrastructure, it really is three to four times the size of the wedding. So it’s a challenge by any yardstick.”

The BBC is shouldering the bulk of live coverage of the Jubilee, beginning with the Queen’s ritual attendance at the Epsom Derby on 2 June, to be produced by Sunset+Vine for BBC Sport. From there, it leads the pooled broadcast of the Thames Diamond Pageant; acts as exclusive rights holder and broadcaster for the concert on 4 June; and shares coverage – with ITN and Sky – of the procession along Whitehall and The Mall to Buckingham Palace on 5 June.

Technical planning began in earnest last October, but the designs for the concert, a BBC ambition, were kicked off well over a year ago. “We’ve previously helped organise televised concerts from the garden of Buckingham Palace and the original thinking was to do that again, before deciding to bring the whole thing out front,” says Weston.

Alongside the royal household, planning for the weekend involved the DCMS, the Cabinet Office, the City of London, the Metropolitan Police, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Diamond Jubilee Trust.

The pageant promises to be the most spectacular and challenging of the set pieces, since nothing of this magnitude has been attempted before.

The seven mile route from Battersea to Tower Bridge will be covered with more than 90 cameras positioned on bridges or buildings or on board the 1,000-boat flotilla. Kit and crew from 10 scanners are supplied by Arena, Arqiva, CTV and NEP Visions, with SIS Live managing links and satellite connectivity. “The flotilla itself is five to six miles long, which dwarfs the Boat Race as an editorial challenge,” says Weston. “When you include mustering and dispersal of the flotilla, it covers between 15 and 20 miles of river, travelling at 5 knots over four hours [live TX is planned for 2.5 hours]. Editorially, we have to be at the heart of action on the Thames to celebrate life in the capital through the prism of our maritime heritage.”

Core to this effort are eight discretely placed, remote-controlled pan & tilt HD cameras on the royal barge itself, offering shots of the royal family and POVs of the flotilla. These feeds are controlled in a specially converted production/engineering space below decks by two camera ops and a vision engineer, cut by a director then transferred over RF to radio masts positioned along the embankment. A fifth crew member will supervise the RF link to shore.

Unprecedented scale

A specialist Smarthead camera system has been devised and installed by Aerial Camera Systems (ACS), the firm that fitted Westminster Abbey with multiple specialist cameras for the Royal Wedding. “As an event, it is largely unrehearsable,” says Chris Bretnall, BBC lead technical producer. “We’ve been out on the Royal barge when nobody has been looking and test recorded as much as we can along the length of the route, but the pageant’s scale is totally unprecedented.”

RF feeds from the barge will be mixed with wireless feeds from nine other BBC-rigged boats including the main presentation vessel, Zephyr, and another rowed by Ben Fogle. Countless other professional news crews and members of the public with mobile devices will contend for spectrum on the day. All RF will be co-ordinated and licensed by band management specialists JFMG, with a comprehensive trunk radio systems a back-up to the public mobile system.

All RF and fixed links up and down the river will be sent to a central ingest point and from there to the BBC’s technical hub at Canada Gate. Terrestrial pictures will be supported by aerial shots from two helicopters – one BBC, one Sky – with onboard cameras and uplinks to guarantee reception of pictures from the royal barge for its entire journey.

Sky is dedicating all day to the pageant and fielding 20 to 25 of its own cameras, to mix with pooled pictures, including those from the Royal Barge.

The concert should be a more straightforward 25-camera OB, with the stage design, by Mark Fisher, architect of U2’s 360 Tour, presenting the main challenge as it has to circumnavigate the Victoria Memorial. Up to 100,000 fans are anticipated to line The Mall, in addition to the 22,000 invited audience.

Directed by Geoff Posner, whose credits include Live 8 and the Eurovision Song Contest, the concert will be aired live on BBC1 and Radio 2. ABC has exclusive rights in the US through BBC Worldwide, which is also selling VoD rights.

Broadcaster pooling

Live broadcast to paying customers in cinemas was rejected as it risked compromising the agreement for the likes of Stevie Wonder and Kylie Minogue waiving their fees.

NEP Visions is supplying its pair of Gemini trucks fitted with LDK 8000 cameras, techno cranes and a Vortex 30m vertical rising camera. ACS is supplying a Cineflex stabilised camera gimbal rigged to a hoist as a high beauty cam. Stage audio is captured by Britannia Row and mixed into 5.1 by Toby Allington, and presentation will be added in the master transmission truck.

For the final procession set-piece, there’s more conventional pooling. The route has been divided between the BBC, ITN and Sky in a three-way arrangement to save costs.

“It’s logistically more complex than the Royal Wedding, with more elements, more stakeholders and a longer route,” explains Emma Hoskyns, head of special events at ITV News. ITN commissioned six OB vans from Telegenic, Prolink, CTV and Visions for its own presentation and provision of pooled pictures of the route to Guildhall and Mansion House.

Sky’s pool responsibility is from Trafalgar Square to St Paul’s using 18 cameras and the services of Visions and Neon Broadcast. It will also have a 3-4 camera studio at Canada Gate and numerous other cameras around the capital and regions.

“We want to offer a lightness of touch, to capture the mood of the nation not just in London but at street parties up and down the country,” says Neil Dunwoodie, Sky’s executive producer.

“Our tone will be warm and authoritative but not obsequious,” says Cristina Nicolotti Squires, ITV News’ executive producer of Diamond Jubilee coverage. “I want to have a conversation with viewers and make them feel they have a front row seat.”

ITN crews will be covering community celebrations outside London and viewers will be encouraged to participate by tweeting comments and sending pictures to ITV.com/news for second screen interaction. “The programme will drive people to the site and the site will engage people in the on-air programme,” says Nicolotti Squires. “It’s about having a national conversation.”

The BBC is organising pooled coverage from the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s, where CTV will offer a 25-camera mix of steadicams, tracking dollies, jimmy jibs and ACS Smarthead remotes. SIS Live won the job of providing pool coverage from the Westminster Hall, venue of a celebratory luncheon.

The one element that can’t be guaranteed is the weather. ITN, for example, has presenter areas which are covered but open to the elements. “The mood, ahead of the Olympics, is about how great it is to be British and the weather is a part of that story,” says Nicolotti Squires. “You can’t have a front row seat without getting wet.”

QUEEN’S JUBILEE 

Coverage at-a-glance

• 2 June Queen’s regular attendance at the Epsom Derby kicks off the weekend’s coverage.
• 3 June Thames Diamond Pageant sees a 1,000-boat flotilla accompany the Royal Barge from Battersea to Tower Bridge.
• 4 June Concert outside Buckingham Palace, with up to 100,000 fans expected to line the Mall, in addition to the 22,000 invited audience.
• 5 June Following a service at  St Paul’s, a procession along Whitehall and The Mall to Buckingham Palace forms the set-piece climax to celebrations.

Full stream ahead for 3D

Broadcast

Broadcast format issues have limited the number of 3D channels. Could a new breed of VoD services for connected devices take off with viewers?

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/production-feature/full-stream-ahead-for-3d/5041952.article

With the 3D market caught between the rock of original content and a hard place to watch it on, some see 3D streaming as a way out of the impasse.

There are approximately 55 3D channels and demo channels around the world, plus at least another 35 VoD services offering 3D movie content, according to Futuresource Consulting. It expects that to rise by 15-20 channels and/or 3D VoD services this year, many across connected devices.

Anthony Geffen, chief executive of Flying Monsters and Life of Plants 3D producer Atlantic Productions, says: “If you are looking to finance a 3D film, you will have a problem if you rely solely on VoD, but for projections and add-on revenue, you have to take it seriously. Particularly outside Europe and the US, where 3D is limited in terms of channels, 3D VoD services make real sense.”

IHS Screen Digest senior analyst Tom Morrod says: “3D VoD will probably be an important interchange as broadcast 3D is still problematic. There isn’t a broadcast format that preserves HD quality within the same stream, is backwards compatible and doesn’t take up significantly more bandwidth. VoD gets around this by not being confined to broadcast bandwidth. It has similar capacity issues to IP or broadcast VoD transmission, but these are easier to overcome without a new broadcast format being agreed or implemented.”

With pay-TV operators such as Virgin offering a fairly limited choice of on-demand 3D movies, the charge is being led by manufacturers of 3D technology, which have a vested interest in making more content available to drive hardware sales. Samsung and Sony launched 3D VoD apps on their flagship 3D TVs last year, both primarily filled with taster material such as pop videos, movie trailers and sports highlights. Samsung recently went a step further, signing a deal with NBC Universal and other, unnamed content partners for converted 3D versions of shows such as Battlestar Galactica.

Launching soon in the US is rental service 3DGO! from Canada’s Sensio Technologies. The app will work only with devices that support the company’s Hi-Fi 3D compression technology, which so far includes Vizio 3D TVs and TCL, the leading Chinese TV brand.

“There is no sustainable, commercial 3D TV model at the moment,” says Sensio executive vice-president and chief marketing officer Richard LaBerge. “There isn’t a large enough footprint of 3D TVs and channels are mostly subsidised, with the dilemma that there is not enough content to justify consumer spend. The real deal for the next three to four years is VoD.”

3DGO! will offer about 60 titles on launch, including studio catalogue titles, concerts, sport and other events, with the door open to UK producers.

“We are looking at any good 3D content but we will reject anything poorly converted,” says LaBerge. “We have a quality-control process and converted material has to be of extremely high quality for us to accept it.”

Plans include the addition of pay-per-view 3D sport and music events through a joint venture with French music producer Séquence (see box).

Mobile streaming

Meanwhile, 3D display manufacturer MasterImage 3D is readying its own content portal for launch in the second half of this year, offering streaming to mobile devices in conjunction, it says, with a major consumer electronics brand. National Geographic and Red Bull Media are lined up to supply the content.

“We are talking to the studios as well,” says display executive vice-president Roy Taylor. “We’d love to be more engaged in Europe. We are already working with Orange and we are reaching out to Sky.”

Taylor says MasterImage 3D is talking to big manufacturers about launching in the autumn. “They are actively pushing me to make connections in Europe about 3D content.”

MasterImage’s business is in auto-stereoscopic display technology for smartphones, tablets, in-car and in-flight systems. But the portal will work only with hardware that has integrated its technology.

“Ideally, we would only build and deliver screens, but 3D is so new, we have to be involved in the whole ecosystem and help to solve the commercialisation of mobile 3D devices,” Taylor says. “You can’t just offer consumers a movie and a game at purchase. They want a continued pipeline of content.”

He says the service could be expanded onto 3D TVs – however, “our launch strategy, as a mobile 3D product, is to help seed that business opportunity. We see glasses-free mobile devices as the vehicle to bring 3D content into the home.”

Another Canadian firm, Spatial View, launched one of the first 3D streaming stores, 3DeeCentral, last year. It has since largely divested its core business in manufacturing 3D auto-stereoscopic displays to concentrate on its library of 200 eclectic indie 3D titles, which include a concert by Peter Gabriel (below).

Spatial View continues to produce overlays for 3D handsets and laptops that can turn, for example, an iPhone 4 into a glasses-free 3D viewing device. “As a complement to these products, and to stimulate adoption of 3D in the market, we needed to provide content for people to buy,” says Spatial View chief operating officer Al Lopez.

Paul Berrow, chief executive of Log Media, believes the penetration of 3D-enabled smartphones and tablets will have “a profound effect on the appetite of the younger audience, and for good reason – it’s a great viewing experience. When you can choose between HD 2D or HD 3D to watch extreme sports, for example, the 3D experience on these devices is far better. The only thing really holding back the boom is the necessity to wear glasses.”

By most accounts, the 3D industry is in a slump and likely to remain there until a critical mass of displays reaches the market. But while the content market is tough, few think it is going to die out.

The installed base of 3D-capable households will grow significantly over the next five years as new TVs will come with 3D as standard, says Futuresource. Approximately 800,000 (3%) of UK households will own a 3D TV by the end of 2012, and by 2015, close to half of all households are expected to be 3D capable.

“Since the end of 2011, the industry has been in a chasm,” says LaBerge. “The dilemma is that there is not enough content to justify consumer spend. The fact that the first generation of 3D TVs used expensive shutter glasses did not help, and then there is the inconvenience of using 3D – for example, it can be complicated for the user to switch between 2D and 3D channels.

“However, the industry will begin to see improvement in the volume, quality and monetisation of content as the footprint of 3D TV sets grows in 2013.”

CASE STUDY
SENSIO/SÉQUENCE LIVE MUSIC DEAL

A series of live 3D events is to be broadcast from Paris in a joint venture between Montreal’s Sensio Technologies and French music production specialist Séquence SDP.

The live 3D concerts will be screened in Sensio’s network of around 900 cinemas worldwide, and will later be available via the 3DGO! VoD app.

Sensio apparently has the backing of a major record label but won’t divulge which one. Confirmation of the first concert artist is pending.

“We are following the same model as the successful live-to-cinema transmissions of performances from the Met Opera,” explains executive vice-president Richard LaBerge. “Unlike sport, where much of the value lies in watching live, concerts lend themselves to time delay and VoD, so you can generate more revenue from the same production.

NAB 2012: Less is more

Broadcast

This year’s NAB will have fewer product launches and more focus on streamlining workflows and reducing costs. But there will still be plenty to get tech buyers excited.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/nab-2012-less-is-more/5040374.article

If there’s a single clear trend among all the manufacturers attending NAB, it is a response to the profound changes driven by rapidly shifting consumption habits.

“Today’s technology needs to do more than allow for technology migrations, such as the transition to HD or from manual to automated workflows,” says Snell chief executive Simon Derry.

“Manufacturers need to allow broadcasters to do more with smaller budgets, and yet give them the ability to create, manage and deliver content across multiple platforms, and to monetise their media assets.”

Translating that widely accepted assessment into product is tricky, with several firms saying they want closer dialogue with clients, and many seeking tighter integration between software and applications to overcome traditional silos.

Expect fewer individual product releases and more talk of ways to streamline workflows and costs.

Management and systems

In what is expected to be a significant NAB for Snell, Derry claims the company’s new products are not just different to anything currently around but are “truly game-changing”.

Integrated Content Engine (ICE) is an integrated playout platform that is said to be the only one that can scale from a single channel to 100+ channels while maintaining the same user interface.

“Unique to ICE is a content validation feature that analyses source material as soon as it is available to prevent invalid formats or impaired content from getting on air,” says Derry.

“This feature is critical for broadcast operations looking to avoid incompatibilities as their file-based workflows continue to change.”

Another show launch is Momentum, Snell’s media management and workflow system, and Vega, a new routing switcher that allows any combination of inputs and outputs in a mixed coax/fibre environment - something Derry believes “redefines its product category”.

Harmonic vice-president, product management, Tom Lattie says the industry is in the middle of moving from the traditional “island” approach of system design and management to a more holistic, IP-based infrastructure.

“We will showcase cost-effective, high-performance workflows that bridge the gap from traditional broadcast to next-generation multi-screen services,” he says, highlighting the debut of ChannelPort, an integrated channel playout device for its Spectrum servers.

At Harris, the theme is ‘deliver the moment’. Mathias Eckert, vice-president, sales and services, explains: “The evolving nature of how consumers digest media has transformed the way broadcasters operate, requiring solutions that automate workflows, simplify content management and support multiplatform delivery.

Harris is helping broadcasters transform signals into ‘media moments’ that inform and entertain their audiences.” Harris will introduce QuiC, a range of quality control tools for analysing video files, and HView SX Pro, a multi-display management system designed as a compact signal processing and monitoring option for control rooms.

“Live production has become increasingly complex as the number of signal sources rises, increasing the need to simplify monitoring processes across facilities,” says Eckert.

Miranda Technologies is presenting new systems to more effectively address loudness compliance and offer smarter signal management, while reducing operating costs for broadcasters and playout providers.

It will also introduce systems that automate VoD mastering, better integrate playout and simplify social media graphics, says senior vice-president Marco Lopez.

Acquisition and production

Unmissable in this category is Canon’s recently released EOS C300, which offers digital 35mm imaging in tandem with the Canon EF lens range loved by cinematographers.

Although the resolution is HD, the image starts life at almost 4K because of its 8.3 megapixel sensor. Given the way Canon derives colour information, there is little aliasing or chromatic distortion when it comes to the final image.

The latest (Mark III) version of its bestselling 5D DSLR will also be on show, and could offer high enough bitrate (50Mbps) to support HD delivery.

Canon has also promised to deliver by the end of the year a DSLR featuring a 35mm full frame CMOS sensor that supports 4K video, and it may be previewed at the show.

There is stiff competition from Nikon, whose D800 has begun shipping, and a number of relatively inexpensive largesensor cameras including Sony’s F3 and FS10, Panasonic’s AF101 and the Arri Alexa.

According to Arri business development manager Milan Krsljanin, the manufacturer will unveil “interesting developments and products that will strengthen Arri’s market leadership”.

Sony is likely to row back on 3D amid reports that it is to scale down its LA-based training facility, the 3D Technology Centre, and concentrate on developments in 4K.

Like 3D, Sony has a business that encompasses not just the front end of 4K production but also the consumer side, where it hopes to promote 4K cinema systems, 4K-capable TVs and home cinema projection.

Backing higher resolutions requires filmmakers to acquire content in the format, and central to these plans is Sony’s F65 4K camera, shipping since January with roughly 400 pre-orders worldwide.

In May, Sony will also launch a new camcorder aimed at high-end videography. The PMW-100 will cost around £3,322, sports a new sensor design, has a single 1/3-inch chip and records in the XDCAM format at 50Mbps HD422.

3D and high resolution is core to the direction ofMeduza, which will announce at NAB that the Titan camera for HD 3D TV is ready to buy. However, plans to deliver its bigger brother, the MK1, which was announced a year ago, are on hold pending development of a 4K sensor.

JVC will debut a range of newsgathering cameras that are said to be smaller and lighter than current models, and deliver better sensitivity in low-light environments. Key is the ability to instantly transfer files back to a TV station without a microwave link.

According to Gustav Emrich, JVC Europe product manager, the new technology should be particularly appealing for one-person ENG operations that need to get footage on air immediately. “The technology to instantly move files to the newsroom directly from the camera will fundamentally transform the way news is gathered,” he predicts.

Post, distribution and delivery

Grass Valley says its customers are shifting from a focus on a particular technology towards a more strategic view of how tech investment can affect their business models.

“This is a very important time in the evolution of our industry and customers want to talk about the problems they are facing and the business opportunities they want to go after,” says Grass Valley executive vice-president of marketing Jeff Rosica. “We want to be much more of a partner.”

For Grass Valley, fundamental to addressing this is Stratus, a software platform integrated across the company’s product line and intended to make collaborative working easier. Released at NAB 2011, it is now operable with the firm’s K2 Dyno Replay System, which means metadata created with the Dyno will be immediately available to other operators working on the same network.

Avid director of solutions development Kevin Usher says he believes customers “increasingly need a trusted, more consultative partner to help them handle ever-growing content demands”.

The company will focus on news, where Avid has a set of integrated, web-based software tools, and sports, where it is seeing increased demand for quality content to be pushed out to fans during a game.

“Scoreboard highlights, promotions and classic clips can now be delivered in-stadium to enhance fans’ experience,” says Usher.

“To make this happen, stadiums are investing in high-quality, collaborative, media production tools.”

For Dolby, the main challenge is understanding the impact of delivering content to a wide number of consumer playback devices.

“Content creators want to ensure their content reaches the consumer in the best quality possible, even when the content creator doesn’t know what all the end devices will be,” says Dolby marketing manager Venkat Venkateshwaran.

Part of the solution might be Dolby Digital Plus, which is capable of delivering high-fidelity audio from iPods to home cinemas in up to 13.1 channels of discrete surround sound. HBO Go, Vudu and Netflix have all licensed the technology to deliver their OTT services.

KEYNOTE: NETFLIX

Disrupting distribution patterns on both sides of the Atlantic, Netflix has become a major player as a conduit for streamed premium film and TV content on connected devices.

It even has a fund for original content, so it will be interesting to hear what chief content officer Ted Sarandos has to say at a Q&A session on Tuesday 17 April.

European broadcast veteran Gerhard Zeiler is also on the bill. The chief executive of RTL Group is on the verge of joining Turner Broadcasting System as president of its international division, and will doubtless have something to say about the strength of channel brands in an era of OTT video and apps.

The SMPTE-sponsored conference on digital cinema that opens the trade show could throw up some interesting points.

It will have fresh perspectives on 4K and will take stock of advances in high frame rates, a technology touted by director James Cameron, who will deliver a session titled ‘The Secrets of Making 3D Profitable’.

This article is taken from the March/April issue of Broadcast TECH.

Studios: meeting demand for space

Broadcast 

With several new studios opening and established ones being expanded, Adrian Pennington asks: is there over-capacity in the market, or will rising demand keep everyone busy?

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/production-feature/studios-meeting-demand-for-space/5039893.article

The demise of Twickenham Film Studios, which is in administration pending sale, coupled with the opening of several new studios in the UK in recent months, might suggest an over-capacity in the market. Yet it seems the demand for well-resourced and increasingly large studio space is at an all-time high.

Post-production consultant Peter Joly is lobbying to save the Twickenham site. He has drummed up a petition arguing that, having recently blocked further development at Pinewood, the government “would be ill-advised to allow another key part of what remains a relatively fragile industry to disappear to unnecessary development”.

Joly claims a groundswell of opposition to the potential destruction of the site within the creative community, and can point to signatures from David Cronenberg, Stephen Daldry and Steven Spielberg, who shot part of War Horse there. With names like that on board, hopes for a symbolic success for this campaign are high.

But the market won’t settle until, as looks likely, TV Centre is sold to property developers. It can only spell good news for the capital’s other established facilities, which will look to accommodate BBC productions. For now, studios are not sitting still.

3 MILLS STUDIOS

• Location London
• Space 14 x up to 13,500 sq ft stages
• Production The Million Pound Drop Live

The past year has been the best ever in terms of occupation and income at 3 Mills Studios, claims

executive Derek Watts. Some 40% of its business is from features such as Danny Boyle’s Trance, and 30% from TV, including Channel 4’s The Million Pound Drop Live. The remainder comes from West End theatre rehear-sals and music videos.

It has also been the boosted by the occupation of Locog, which is rehearsing on site for the London 2012 opening and closing ceremonies.

THE BOTTLE YARD

• Location Bristol
• Space 8,000-32,000 sq ft spaces
• Productions Stella, Dirk Gently, Inside Men, Five Daughters

The Bottle Yard is co-managed by Creative England and Bristol City Council. Its production spaces are sited with fellow tenants TR Scaffolding (media riggers), Visual Impact’s 24/7 Drama, and Bells & Two Tones (in-vision fire vehicles and crews). Bookings for 2012 include series two of Sky 1 comedy Trollied and feature Mariah Mundi And The Midas Box.

MEDIACITYUK

• Location Salford
• Space Seven HD studios, up to 12,500 sq ft
• Productions Blue Peter, A Question Of Sport, Sports Personality Of The Year, Coronation Street

Open for a year, MediaCityUK studios has now counted 600 productions through its doors and can look forward to welcoming Coronation Street, the set for which is being built on part of the site overlooked by the BBC canteen.

“Growth is good,” says commercial director Ian Munford.

“We’ve seen strong demand for high-quality HD studios, but demand is also changing in that we are seeing interest for the range of facilities and spaces we have to offer, such as the piazza.”

Munford wants to promote MediaCityUK as a campus-wide facility for end-to-end digitaltapeless production and has enticed a couple of unnamed cloud-based facilities to the site

ELSTREE STUDIOS

• Location Elstree, London
• Space Six stages, various sizes
• Productions Big Brother, Let’s Dance For Sport Relief, Dancing On Ice, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

What’s a studio’s USP? “It’s not just space – it’s the right sort of space,” says Elstree Studios managing director Roger Morris. “There are plenty of empty warehouses, converted paint factories and the like, but there are not enough of the right kind of studios, in the right location, to satisfy the TV market – or films.”

Cherry Portbury, studios manager at Media House, says it’s up to facilities to respond to any overcapacity.

“Much depends on how versatile they are and how they market their appeal to other areas such as film, channel hosting, events and the corporate sector.

“Reinvestment to adapt to new markets or improve existing facilities is an expensive risk and may force studios to close if it is not considered worthwhile,” she says, noting that IMG-owned Media House now benefits from complete HD upgrades with stereoscopic capability.

Elstree was home to the most recent run of Big Brother, with live evictions attracting around 1,000 people. Its two George Lucas stages have held Let’s Dance For Sport Relief and Dancing On Ice, plus a live Celebrity Millionaire.

“Our large stages are bigger than anything the BBC or ITV has, so it’s not a difficult sell; it’s just a case of fitting everyone in the time slot they want,” says Morris. “A new post operation, offering Avid editing, Pro Tools 10 with Euphonics series 5 sound mixing, Foley and ADR, will be part of our bundle with the studios. And we have 40 related trades on-site from special effects to drapes, scenery and lighting.”

THE PAINT HALL

• Location Belfast
• Space 2 x 20,000 sq ft stages (in addition to established studio)
• Productions Game Of Thrones

There are also two 20,000 sq ft new stages nearing completion in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter adjacent to The Paint Hall, whose anchor project remains Emmy Award-winning Game Of Thrones. HBO is likely to film a third series there, having created hundreds of ancillary jobs for electricians, carpenters and set builders. Unlike the Paint Hall, this space is purpose-built.

Moyra Lock, head of marketing at Northern Ireland Screen, says: “We don’t believe we are over-supplied in Northern Ireland. We didn’t have anything to offer large productions before 2007. We continue to market aggressively – selling our facilities, funding programmes and studio space.”

PINEWOOD STUDIOS

• Location Iver Heath, Bucks
• Space Numerous, across three sites; new, planned 30,000 sq ft stage
• Productions Would I Lie To You?, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories

Pinewood – like Media-CityUK, part of the Peel Group  – has also spotted potential in digital. It will invest in digital workflow kit, improved cameras and HD infrastructure, and promote a new 30,000 sq ft stage in the hope of attracting event TV with large live audience demands.

WIMBLEDON STUDIOS

• Location Wimbledon, London
• Space 3 x 8,000 sq ft studios, including one for HD
• Productions Starlings, The Iron Lady, World Series Of Dating, The Angel

“The sale of TV Centre is exactly why we decided to invest in new studios,” says Wimbledon Film & Television Studios managing director Piers Read of a newly opened 8,000 sq ft HD studio aimed at light-entertainment productions and capable of seating an audience of 425.

The studio cost £200,000 in partnership with Roll to Record, which has provided technical infrastructure including Calrec sound desk, EVS hard disc recording and a Grass Valley vision mixer (though the studio is not yet ready for live production).

The site also includes two 8,000 sq ft stages and more than 50 standing sets left over from The Bill, plus two further 2,500 sq ft studios, set to open shortly.

Read says Wimbledon has been “exceptionally busy for a start-up in a recession”. In its first year, Baby Cow’s Sky comedy Starlings and Film 4-backed feature The Iron Lady filmed there.

“We have back-to-back bookings throughout the year but we can’t compete for larger format shows,” says Read, who is on the hunt to acquire a rival studio. “They need 10,000 sq ft and there aren’t enough of those spaces.”

Read says demand comes from the need for quality studio space “that has all thecreature comforts associated with a sound-proof and professional environment”.

He adds: “For a long time, productions have gone for underpriced spaces without quality facilities. That can seem like a good deal up front but peripherals, from dressing rooms to recording facilities, drive up costs.”

WOODFORD FILM STUDIO

• Location Woodford, Manchester
• Space Potentially 118,000 sq ft
• Productions TBC

Avro Heritage is considering converting a 500-acre site at Woodford, a former aerodrome where three hangars provide 118,000 sq ft of potential space.

Piers Tempest, a consultant driving the project, says the future of the

site has yet to be determined. “In the short term, we are inviting productions to come in for location filming,” he says. “It’s ideally suited for very large productions that need build space with a secure perimeter, and those who want to film either because part of the location is in the North, or on cost grounds.

“The next year is about getting productions in, assessing the market and giving feedback to the owners.”

WARNER BROS

• Location Leavesden, Hertfordshire
• Space Nine sound stages
• Productions TBC; currently home to a Harry Potter tour

The UK tax credit, where foreign productions can gain a cash rebate of up to 25% of qualifying UK spend, continues to boost the domestic film economy, with Warner Bros Studios set to become the country’s next major go-to production facility alongside Pinewood, Shepperton and Elstree.

Spanning 170 acres, the site will house nine sound stages, offices, workshops, a mill, a production rentals outfit and an extensive backlot. From this week, two stages are open to the public as the Warner Bros Studio Tour London – The Making Of Harry Potter, a permanent showcase of the sets and props used in the movie franchise, which was filmed at Leavesden for a decade.

This marks the first time a US studio has set up a permanent production base in the UK, but Warner Bros has no plans to operate Leavesden as a facility exclusively for its own productions. According to Screen International, had the land been abandoned or sold after Potter, the country could have lost 35% of its production capacity.