Sport production – Gravity Media

Key industry players collaborate for top-tier Serie A coverage

The San Siro Stadium was chosen for a pivotal test on the feasibility and quality of 4K UHD in live sports production, using a new setup. For the first time in Serie A, the Milan-Udinese match on Saturday, 19th October featured two Hitachi UHD7000-S11 cameras, part of a full 4K UHD production chain in Rec. 709 standards. This innovation introduced new viewing angles compared to traditional shots, leveraging the Hitachi 4K UHD cameras.

The Team

This trial was achieved thanks to the collaboration of multiple companies, each playing a crucial role in coordinating efforts to reach the goal. Milan, as the producer of home matches, worked alongside Lega Serie A, which authorised and supervised the project, managing Serie A production from the IBC in Lissone.

EMG Italy, responsible for the match and several Serie A productions, deployed its flagship mobile unit, the Nova 128, along with a production team. CVE, importer of Hitachi and Domo Broadcast Systems products, contributed with camera equipment and an RF transmission kit from the two respective brands. This integration of technology and expertise allowed for a successful test of 4K UHD in a high-level sports environment.

The Setting

San Siro Stadium, recently upgraded with a fibre optic infrastructure by EMG Italy, provided the ideal setting for this trial. One of the two Hitachi cameras was shoulder-mounted, allowing extensive movement along the left touchline and offering goal-line shots in RF mode. An embedded Domo Broadcast system in the camera transmitted an HEVC 1080p signal, received by a set of antennas and then routed via fibre optic to the mobile unit. The second camera, using a standard SMPTE chain, recorded UHD footage and relayed it to the EMG Italy mobile unit’s CCU. Strategically positioned at 45° along the length of the field near the benches, this camera was mounted on a tripod for optimum coverage.

EMG Italy CTO

“The test yielded very positive results,” says Francesco Donato, CTO of EMG Italy, “both for image quality and fluidity, perfectly integrated into our OB Truck Nova 128 workflow.”

General Manager of CVE

“Hitachi,” emphasises Mauro Contursi, CVE’s General Manager, “has long offered a proven studio broadcasting technology, but this is the first time in Italy that we have been able to showcase the HD7000 cameras in the field during Serie A. The 4K UHD solutions proved perfect for live broadcast, with one camera, in particular, used wirelessly thanks to an integrated transmission board developed by Domo Broadcast Systems.”

Optics

“Both lenses selected were FUJINON,” comments Francesco Spisti, Head of Sales & Marketing at Fujifilm. “We opted for a UA107x8.4BESM-T45 box lens, balancing focal range and performance, mounted on the SMPTE camera. The shoulder camera used a UA22x8BERD-S8 ENG lens, ideal for realistic, high-quality 4K video production. Both lenses included full servo controls for precise zoom and focus.”

Head of production

“Using a shoulder camera in constant motion across the field,” says Giacomo Gatti, Head of Production at EMG Italy, “usually strains compression systems, producing artefacts. However, the Hitachi camera handled the stress well, delivering image quality without visual interference. Moreover, the RF section must ensure stable transmission in motion, which is not always the case. Here, the camera maintained signal stability, even within the tunnel, which other RF links have struggled with. The tunnel, symbolising the final moments before match kickoff, proved to be no issue for the embedded Domo Broadcast board in the Hitachi 7000, showcasing remarkable reliability. This gives directors greater operational confidence. Additionally, we managed colour control remotely via the panel, even for the radio camera, allowing video parameter adjustments directly over the radio link.”

Carlo Maria Di Tullio concludes: “As self-producer for our Campionato and Coppa Italia matches, AC Milan remains committed to advanced broadcasting technology to continually enhance the quality of content and viewing experiences for fans. In a competitive Serie A landscape, technological innovation is essential to deliver broadcast experiences that meet modern expectations with increasingly engaging, interactive content. The San Siro trial aligns perfectly with AC Milan’s vision of consistently exploring solutions from advanced cameras, immersive graphics, and real-time analytics to AI and machine learning to optimise production and workflows. These innovations aim to deliver a top-tier TV experience, aligning with the needs of today’s fans who expect highly interactive, customisable content accessible on multiple devices.”

EMG Italy completely renewed the infrastructure of the San Siro stadium, one of the symbols of Milan and Italian football

The Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, a tribute to the legendary Italian footballer, also known as “San Siro” from the Milanese district where it stands, is the largest sports facility in Italy and the second largest in Europe in terms of capacity.
Inaugurated in 1926, it is owned by the Municipality of Milan and managed through the company “M-I Stadio”. Today it seats 75,923 with the two teams AC Milan and FC Internazionale, who use it to play their matches.

In addition to concerts and religious events, it regularly hosts the Serie A TIM football championship, the Coppa Italia, the Supercoppa Italiana, the Champions League, the Europa League, the World Cup and the European Football Championships. Following an intense commitment, first for the design and then for the construction, EMG Italy completed, a few months ago, the complete renovation of the now dated audio/video/data infrastructure of the San Siro Stadium, also known as “La Scala del Calcio” for its beauty and prestige.

The work began at the end of the 2022-23 top-flight football championship and kept the technicians and companies involved busy for over five months, leading to the testing of the solution in mid-November. The new and advanced technological infrastructure was used for the first time on 2 December 2023, during the television production of the Serie A football match Milan-Frosinone.

“We have redesigned the entire infrastructure,” says Francesco Donato, CTO of EMG Italy, “with this project we have updated the systems not only by adapting the wiring to current technological standards, but we have also thought about it in light of the new filming formats, which require a different and more current configuration of the filming stations. The narrative of our days is certainly aimed at the maximum spectacularization of the sporting event and therefore we have implemented new solutions and positions previously available only through additional temporary systems.

Then, to make the connection with the filming equipment located at the TV compound easier, we have designed and installed all the terminations and active devices in a special container to allow the best connectivity to and from the stadium, in addition to having implemented control solutions to verify the functionality of both the active and passive components that make up the system infrastructure. The new solution, therefore, allows for the creation of productions that are significant from the point of view of narrative and technological complexity, favoring a rapid process of installing the filming stations as well as everything necessary from the point of view of reporting and interviews”.

New setup

The new setup has created 23 new shooting positions inside the stadium, plus an additional termination point for the cabling that is inside the container in the TV compound.
The cabling of the shooting positions was created with SMPTE cables and dark fibre for all positions, and active equipment was installed in some positions, both for the transport of video signals and audio signals. Finally, for some of these positions, copper connections were also created, to be considered only and exclusively as a reserve system. The system was also designed to allow a good degree of scalability, to guarantee a possible temporary expansion, should it be necessary to implement large-scale shooting configurations.

“There’s more,” adds Francesco Donato, “the new infrastructure was created in such a way that it will eventually be possible to carry out television production also in “reverse” mode and therefore, if required, it would be possible to carry out two simultaneous productions with great advantage from a commercial point of view, since the visibility of the sponsors would be doubled”.

EMG Italy, as project manager, carried out all the engineering of the project and meticulously followed the physical implementation carried out by CRV Sistemi di Nicola Carvelli, with the contribution of Professional Show which supplied the active components of the system.

Some numbers of the system:
• 30 km of cable between SMPTE and Dark Fiber
• 60 SMPTE camera points
• 200 dark fiber connections
• 82 SDI to Fiber and Fiber to SDI video trunks
• 210 Audio to fiber and fiber to audio
• 30 trunks with media converters

Double safety

“One of the fundamental objectives of this project”, adds Simone Sofia, Technical Resources Manager who personally followed the implementation, “was to guarantee the total safety of the system, which we wanted to be truly double and complete.
This means that first of all the cable routes between the shelter and the wall box were studied in particular, taking care to prepare dedicated passages and avoiding crossing old cable ducts. Furthermore, there was particular attention to the redundancy of the electrical supply, so that any event can take place without the slightest risk of discontinuity in the service.
The power supply, in fact, is double and is supplied to the shelter and the wall boxes both by a protected network with an electrical cabin owned by the stadium, and by hooking up the generator, when it is used in events. The same applies to the prevention of malfunctions due to possible excessively high temperatures. The shelter where all the connections end, positioned in the TV compound, operates at constant and controlled temperature and humidity.
All the wall boxes are also equipped with internal ventilation that manages and maintains constant the temperature, when necessary, in order to safeguard the machines contained even in the case of beating sun, avoiding possible blockages of the equipment due to excessively high temperatures.
All this is managed by EMG both in maintenance and in daily management, entrusted to a technical supervisor who, in addition to assisting the broadcasters in setting up the events, coordinates the entire active part of the system from a dedicated control station inside the shelter”.

The advantages: reliability and speed of set-up

The new system provides a great advantage both in the set-up phase and in terms of operation, then, last but not least, it is completely modular and adjustable both in terms of use and in terms of flexibility.
Francesco Donato concludes: “I would like to remind you that this new configuration also prepares the sports facility to facilitate a possible technological implementation, to develop “on-venue” communication and entertainment strategies and to promote new service systems, such as the adoption of 5G technological solutions that allow the capture and dissemination of special content dedicated to the entertainment of the public”.