EVENT > Australian Open
LOCATION > Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia
DATE > 14-27 January 2008
Pete Anwyll (network engineer)
and Geoff Mann (senior engineer)
(resource manager)
MELBOURNE: THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS is the first of four Grand Slams in the international tennis calendar and is hosted in the city of Melbourne, Australia.
Eurovision provided a full range of services for the international broadcast community over the course of the two weeks of the tournament.
Eurovision Special Events set up the Eurovision MCR in the TV compound of Melbourne Park, with 24 input sources and 8 output destinations. This was the central hub for the European distribution of this prestigious event. Honed over years of participation, the Eurovision team has perfected the transition of the annual tennis extravaganza into hundreds of hours of multilateral and unilateral transmissions. This year we transmitted the event to more than 20 European broadcasters in countries including Austria, Switzerland, Cyprus, Germany, Spain, France, UK, Croatia, Serbia, Russia, Israel and Turkey.
As well as the daily multilateral feeds, Eurovision offered facilities to enable tape playouts (in the majority of the formats), editing and live standup transmissions. Before the tournament Eurovision received a request for English commentary to be inserted on the multilateral feeds. This was tricky, as only a small number of broadcasters required this and the majority did not. Eurovision devised a technical solution to accommodate the minority without compromising the needs of the majority, thus keeping everyone happy.
Vital Statistics
| > | 25 broadcasters |
| > | 8 outputs: 6 multis, 2 unilateral |
| > | 711 transmissions |
| > | 260’071 minutes |
| > | daily flash interviews with every winner included in the multis |
| > | 1 stand-up position |
Comments
Nada Jelenkovic > Eurovision
programme coordinator
This is one of my favorite events to coordinate. I’ve been
doing the Australian Open for years, actually, but have
only been onsite for the past two tournaments and that
adds significantly to the beauty, the excitement and
the suspense!
‘When we at Eurovision start preparing the event – usually in mid-November – we know we’re getting ready for something really big. By the time we get to Melbourne in January, we are always amazed to see how this event has grown and how this is now one of sport’s major events watched by people all over the world, sitting at home in their pyjamas.
‘I am told that Eurovision is considered an excellent partner and our professional skills are highly
praised by
our clients. That’s what I most love hearing from our clients’.
Peter Anwyll > Network engineer
‘As always with Melbourne, this being such a high profile operation, the pressure is on to deliver. There
were a number of fastballs thrown at us and they were dealt with promptly and professionally. This event gave
us the opportunity to take Eurovision’s relationship with our broadcast partners to a higher, more personal level:
not only did we deliver the goods on a broadcasting platform, but we performed at the highest level on the
dance floor, as well!’
THE EUROVISION TEAM
| Geoff Mann > | Supervising engineer |
| Peter Anwyll > | Network engineer |
| Jorge Garcia Diaz > | Broadcast engineer |
| Lourdes Valle Perez > | Resource manager |
| Nada Jelenkovic > | Sports producer |
Eurovision Marketing
e marketing@eurovision.net
t +41 22 717 2020
www.eurovision.net
