GlobeCast Delivers Global Coverage for Tour de France

As Chris Froome rode under a glowing Arc de Triomphe to win the 100th Tour de France Sunday evening, GlobeCast marked its 17th straight year providing global broadcast services for cycling’s marquee event. GlobeCast’s coverage included on-site production and live HD satellite transmissions for the duration of the Tour de France, held June 29-July 21.

This year, GlobeCast collaborated with Euromedia France to aggregate signals from two helicopters, five motorcycles, and several satellite newsgathering vehicles — covering all stages of the race — into a single broadcast stream that was delivered via satellite to several broadcast customers.

Although GlobeCast has been delivering the Tour de France to global viewers since 1996, its roots in the event go back much further through coverage by its parent company, France Telecom (now Orange). Some of GlobeCast’s technicians have been involved in the Tour de France for up to 30 years, and have received numerous distinctions from the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the race organizer.

“In our almost two decades covering the Tour de France, we’ve seen many changes in the broadcasting landscape including the transition from analog to digital, the evolution in encoding standards from ETSI to MPEG-2 and now MPEG-4, and the emergence of HD television. From our beginnings delivering analog signals, we’re now aggregating HD feeds for delivery by satellite and fiber to the four corners of the earth,” says Operations Coordinator Philippe Ferrand. “These advances have raised the quality of the viewer’s experience to amazing levels, but the spirit of the world’s greatest cycling race has remained constant over the past century. We salute the ASO for 100 years of staging this awe-inspiring event for cycling enthusiasts worldwide.”