Broadcast Services International Supports Tokyo Broadcasting System at the World Athletics Championships

Broadcast Services International teams up with Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) in Budapest, Hungary for the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

The biennial athletics competition is the preeminent event on the sport’s calendar. Running from August 19 to 27, the nine-day competition saw events take place at the newly built National Athletics Centre, with the Marathons and Race Walks contended on the streets of Budapest.

With a long history of high-level sports production for their nationwide viewing audience, TBS has been a rightsholder and official World Broadcast Partner to the World Athletics for over 25 years. The way TBS produces this event has evolved over the years, and Budapest included two full production suites with full connectivity to Japan (intercom, tally, EVS), twelve transmission lines to Tokyo along with three full a commentary positions and a studio build in the stadium over-looking the track. As part of their production compliment, TBS has twelve unilateral cameras around the facility in addition to the 30 Host Broadcast Feeds at their disposal. Their presentation extends to the marathons, where they have their own dedicated motorcycle with live RF camera, three cameras at the Start/Finish and one fixed point camera on the course to provide extensive coverage of the Japanese runners to compliment the Host Broadcast.

TBS is easily the largest presence in the Rights Holding Broadcaster compound, where they have enough production and office space to facilitate a crew of roughly 120. BSI’s involvement in this partnership functions on two front; as a technical facility provider which includes engineering support and onsite technical management in Budapest.

Broadcast Services International has been supporting TBS since the mid-nineties for majority of their live coverage events outside of Japan. This includes involvement in The World Athletics Championships since 1997 and the Masters golf tournament since 1995. Notes Grier Patterson, Vice President of TBS International, “Our long partnership with BSI is rooted in the fact that they deliver on their promises. They bring world-class kit and technical innovation to the table, supported by a team with an impressiveknowledge base built on years of experience.”

BSI collaborates closely with TBS for months before the event to ensure that all necessary elements are included in the production plan. Typically, they provide several options for OB mobiles and Air Packs, and TBS determines which option best suit their needs for the specific event. Sometimes a combination of both has been used – as was done in Eugene, Oregon during last summer’s World Championships