Host Broadcaster ISB and Alfacam Relies on Thomson for HD Coverage of Pan-American Games

For the
first time ever, the Pan-American Games, in

Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
on July 13 to 29, were covered entirely in high definition television, thanks
to Grass Valley cameras, switchers and infrastructure products from Thomson.
Alfacam, the leading European Television Facilities company, based in Belgium
and part of Alfacam Group, is providing eight HD OB trucks equipped with more
than 100 Grass Valley LDK 6000, LDK 6200 and LDK 8000 cameras.

As its
name suggests, the games, held every four years, bring together all the nations
of the

Americas
from north to south, in a series of sports events across the complete range
from soccer and basketball to equestrianism and rhythmic gymnastics. The events
take place in a number of arenas and venues in and around

Rio de Janeiro, with the beach volleyball
competition taking place at Copacabana.

“One of
the reasons for the host broadcaster’s choice of technical supplier is that
Alfacam has already supplied television facilities at other major high-profile
sports events around the globe,” said Gabriel Fehervari, CEO of Alfacam. “We
have had a long and successful relationship with

Grass
Valley
and have come to rely on its equipment, particularly its cameras and production
switchers, which allow our mobile units to be so flexible. We design and build
our own trucks to meet our requirements precisely, and we are confident that we
will deliver many hundreds of hours of HD excellence from the Pan-American
Games.”

Host broadcaster for the Pan-American Games ISB
is distributing HD and SD coverage to rights owners not only in the

Americas but
across the world. In
Europe more than 700
hours of coverage from the games can be seen on HD1, one of the HDTV channels
of Euro1080, which is also a member of the Alfacam Group.