On behalf of the Cologne production company i&u TV, the EMG / Gravity Media team was responsible for the complete live stream broadcast of the ceremonial award ceremony of the European Inventor Award 2024.

The live stream was broadcast worldwide across various digital platforms, enabling a global audience to participate in this prestigious event.

With their contribution to the successful execution, EMG / Gravity Media once again underlined their leading role in international broadcast and event production.

Credits: © EMG

At the European Championships 2022, the EMG / Gravity Media group took full responsibility for the technical execution of the international multisport event.

State-of-the-art production equipment was deployed: motorcycles, helicopters, cars, an extensive OB van fleet, and the mobile diPloy container village, which served as the central control hub. The seamless coordination on site underscored the entire group’s capabilities.

A special highlight: The German team from EMG / Gravity Media was responsible for the complete TV production of the table tennis competitions — precise, reliable, and in top broadcast quality.

Credits: © Ben Houdijk

Over 40 people from EMG Italy crew worked for the fastest marathon in Italy

A fast and completely renovated track, compared to the previous editions, for a much loved marathon in which many participants manage to give their best, to the point of achieving their own “personal best performance”.

The race, which, as always, sees the presence of illustrious guests, Italian and international champions, as well as amateurs from all over the world, takes place on a ring with start and finish in the center of Milan, in the Montanelli Gardens park. The athletes compete on what has been defined as “a modern and complete course”, suitable for smoothness both for advanced amateurs and for top runners. The route touches several art places of a Milan to be admired that combine historical and contemporary elements. The organization – impeccable as always – by RCS has once again confirmed EMG Italy’s management of television production this year.

The mobile vehicle engaged was the flagship Orion 209, located in the area immediately adjacent to the departure, which coincides with the arrival.

The Project Manager for the Milan Marathon Fabio Bertini, Sales Consultant of EMG Italy, tells us some details. “This unique OB Truck of impressive dimensions and of the latest generation”, says Bertini, “has made it possible to package both the international feed and the customized one for the Italian unilateral broadcast of SKY Sport. Also this year, as per tradition, the broadcast was retransmitted an hour later than the actual performance and this involves a complex production procedure, much more than a normal live television broadcast. This procedure defined as “near-live” at first glance seems to be simpler to build and more streamlined, because the entire live radio frequency section, helicopters and radio link planes are missing. In fact, this is not the case because it requires perfect synchrony of the entire organization involved. 90% of the event is covered by motorcycle cameras equipped with an operator and camcorder who follows the entire span of more than two hours race, also considering the pre-departure and post-arrival stages. While in a live broadcast it is enough to select the images arriving in the control room by the video mixer, here the mechanism is much more delicate and demanding”.

Near-live

“The simulation of the live broadcast”, continues Bertini, “is based on continuous recordings made on XDcam discs by the cameras that follow the circuit thanks to the motorbikes and the start/finish cameras. Over the span of three very specific tranches, these contents must be physically transported on physical media, by special RCS fast relays, and arrive intact to the director. This must take place with perfect timing in order to ensure that the director Franco Scotton, on board the Orion 209 truck, can reconstruct the event in an absolutely synchronized way and with the continuity of a virtual live broadcast, immediately starting to switch between different points of view as soon as the records arrive”.

The first of these four sections is the start where eight cameras allow to film the entire initial block of the competitors, from 8.50 to 9.15. The perfect live simulation can only happen because the first change and transport of discs takes place at the eighth kilometre. The second takes place at the twentieth kilometer and the last at the finish. The hour-delayed broadcast begins airing while the race is in full swing and continues for an hour after the actual race has concluded. From just before nine in the morning, in addition to the three bikes, the eight cameras expertly located in the arrival/departure area of the Indro Montanelli Park, have been operational.

Special supports are also used here, such as a jimmy-jib dedicated to a camera with wide optics (14x), a camera working in a “super slowmo” configuration with a long optics, and a shoulder radio-camera entirely dedicated to covering the start and finish and an EFP configuration camera is dedicated to filming the podium and the prize delivery, on the scaffolding. The “time shift” television coverage manages an arc of about three hours and a half, with an hour delay, so the event is fully commented on the airing delayed by an hour, just as if it were live. The near-live transmission is made possible thanks to another special mobile truck, the satellite uplink which, exactly one hour after the official start of the marathon, follows the live broadcast for three and a half hours.

Two galleries in one

The Orion 209 mobile vehicle packaged the feed for the international live broadcast thanks to its main gallery and at the same time one of its sections, or second gallery, was also dedicated to the creation of the personalized unilateral feed for SKY Sport.

RCS and EMG Italy also set up for SKY, in the park adjacent to the at the outset, two tents: one for the commentary station and the second in a mini outdoor studio configuration, where the interviews of the important personalities were held. Here, 4 cameras in EFP configuration were dedicated and the graphics, as well as the timing, station breaks and animations of the track, were provided by RCS. 4G backpacks were used on the bikes which also produced images for direct re-proposing on the mega screens placed at the start/finish for the public, operators and journalists.

The setup

“The setup of such an event”, concludes Bertini, “is rather complex and involves a rather long period of time, from the morning before at nine, until the evening at midnight and then on the morning of the event at seven all the personnel was already on the track and was busy until 5pm”.

In addition to the main vehicle by EMG Italy Orion 209 with expansion dedicated to the production of the two feeds, the TV compound had a mobile vehicle dedicated to graphics, another small vehicle by EMG Italy dedicated to managing the RF reception of backpacks and editing dedicated to a 15-minute service for the international feed. At the TV compound there was also a vehicle dedicated to the satellite uplink, as well as a 200KW bi-generator power truck. The audio was recorded in stereo with ambient microphones for each camera for the international feed and an international commentary station was also set up in English.

© 2023 Presspool PressOffice RobertoLandini

The Australian Summer of Tennis is well underway with the Gravity Media crew across the ATP Cup, the Adelaide International Tournament, the ATP Summer Series and the Australian Open qualifiers all leading up to the Australian Open which begins next week!

Gravity Media has kick-started Australia’s summer of tennis by supplying outside broadcast trucks HD 5 and HD 6 at the ATP Cup in Sydney and HD 9 at the Adelaide International Tournament.

The ATP Cup brings together the sport’s best players competing as a team, hosted across two venues in the Ken Rosewall Arena at Sydney Olympic Park and the Qudos Bank Arena. Adelaide is hosting two ATP 250 events during the 2022 Australian summer. The first was the Adelaide International 1, which was played Monday 3 to Sunday 9 January and the second is the Adelaide International 2, played from Monday 10 to Saturday 15 January.

The Gravity Media team then went on air for a week with the ATP Melbourne Summer Set Series. From Monday 3 to Sunday 9 January, the team covered matches at Melbourne Park across Rod Laver Arena and seven other courts, capturing the action from two WTA events and one ATP 250 event.

All eyes were then on the Australian Open qualifying matches which commenced on Monday 10 January. Gravity Media was across 12 courts as the team captured Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray amongst others as they compete for their spot in the Australian Open main draw!

The Grand Slam season starts off at the Australian Open, where fans come together for stellar tennis, as players from around the globe participate in the first of four Grand Slam events taking place this year, which Gravity Media will be delivering the coverage of.

There is a team of over 150 people employed by Gravity Media across the Australian Open who continue to work in difficult COVID circumstances making this project all the more commendable. We’re immensely proud of our team on the ground and the sacrifices they’ve had to make.

At Gravity Media, tennis is in our DNA. We’ve been active in the market for over three decades, and we’re fans of the game as much as broadcast and production partners. To find out how we can help with your next production, email enquiries@gravitymedia.com

The Emirates FA Cup Third Round is one of the most popular weekends in the English football calendar.

And Gravity Media had a team of over 500 people working across the UK, in various roles, to cover the action. The Gravity Media Production and Content team was on hand to deliver world feeds from all 32 ties for The FA broadcast live on the BBC and ITV, as part of their brand new 3-year deal looking after the international production of the World’s most famous domestic club competition.

The ready-to-air programmes for rights holders were complete with specially produced content, graphics, and commentary. In addition, Gravity Media oversaw 19 live outside broadcasts up and down the country, which included the deployment of our own outside broadcast truck Pictor at Borehamwood vs AFC Wimbledon and Charlton v Norwich.

96 highlights packages and over 250 digital clips were produced in-house across the weekend at The Production Centre in Chiswick, west London for The FA to use on its social channels and digital platforms.

For more information on how we can help you with your next production, please email enquiries@gravitymedia.com

Gravity Media, the leading global provider of complex live broadcast facilities and production services to content owners, creators, and distributors, is thrilled to announce the renewal of a five-year contract with Supercars in Australia. This Supercars contract adds to Gravity Media’s twelve-year relationship with the car racing sport.

Gravity Media has been contracted to supply Supercars with a complete outside broadcast solution along with all the in-car camera systems fitted in the Supercars using our Globecam specialist cameras unit. Globecam is renowned for creating a range of ground-breaking devices that have entertained viewers all over the world with footage captured from exciting new angles and perspectives.

The innovative technology used facilitates viewers with an incredible experience at every turn, as well as getting an up-close look at the drivers in action during the broadcast. 

Over the weekend of Friday 29 October, the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship season returned to the track at Sydney Motorsport Park for the Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight. The races for Round 11 kicked off the first of four consecutive jam-packed weekends of the drivers going back-to-back at Sydney Motorsport Park – only this time, four of the races were held at night under the lights! Since the championship’s inception in 1960, only 12 of 1074 races had been held under lights before the weekend. 

The events are broadcasted live each weekend on Fox Sports and streamed via Kayo, along with the Bathurst, Sydney Motorsport Park and Gold Coast rounds being broadcast to the Seven Network. 

John Newton, CEO of Gravity Media commented: “We’ve worked with Supercars for seven years and we’ve recently signed a new contract which takes us for another five years. We are looking forward to taking the sports to new horizons with new technology and always trying to push the boundaries with what we’re able to deliver.”

“The holistic turnkey solution that Gravity provides Supercars is vital to our production. They are a one stop shop for us with detailed outside broadcast with the Bathurst 1000 with over 160 individual cameras across track cameras, on board cameras, specially cameras, RF cameras, helicopters. And of course the globe cam in car system delivering crystal clear HD pictures out of vehicles traveling up to 300 ks an hour.” said Nathan Prendergast, General Manager – Television & Content at Supercars Australia.

To find out how we can help you with your next production, email enquiries@gravitymedia.com