IBC Sport Reception brings industry together

Welcoming Remarks From the First Annual
IBC Sport Industry Reception
By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director, SVG

IBC Programme PDFThe Sport Video Group, formed in late 2005, was created specifically for events like tonight’s reception.

The sport industry is as dynamic as ever, taking advantage of new technologies like HDTV, broadband, and mobile video to reach sport fans in exciting ways. By helping those in the sport industry better understand today’s challenges and tomorrow’s technology, the Sport Video Group believes everyone can be a winner.

This event marks SVG’s expansion to serve the world sport industry community. Our Advisory Board is eager to meet and exchange information with their counterparts in Europe and around the globe. And our Sponsors are helping us build a truly international organization that represents the interests of sport technology leaders in all markets around the world.

As such, there is no better opportunity to celebrate the global sport technology industry than the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Germany on 9 June, 2006. That date will be remembered as more than just the beginning of the world’s biggest media event: it was the beginning of a new era in television.

For the first time ever a major international sport event was produced entirely in High Definition, giving broadcasters the perfect launchpad for HD services.

More than 30 broadcasters around the globe took advantage of the opportunity, delivering pristine, wide-screen images and high-quality audio. Football fans in Brazil, Germany, Italy, the UK, and France, among others, experienced the World Cup like they never had before.

Delivering the World Cup in HD was truly an international effort but it was Swiss-based Host Broadcast Services (HBS) that pulled it all together. The company was responsible for providing unilateral production, transmission, commentary facilities and associated services for world broadcasters and new media licensees. To achieve this, it designed, built, installed and managed the International Broadcast Centre and the multilateral and unilateral broadcast facilities at the venues.

And the company will do it all again in 2010.

Tonight we’re gathering to celebrate the accomplishments of Francis Tellier, Peter Angell, and the entire HBS team and, more importantly, to say thank you for a job well done on behalf of the Sport Video Group and sport broadcast organisations around the globe.