How Mediapro Chile Produced the Copa Chile Opener From the Middle of the Pacific Ocean

The extreme remote production from Robinson Crusoe Island required ‘meticulous’ planning

Mediapro Chile overcame some heavy hurdles, including two days of travel time and poor weather conditions, to produce the TV signal for the opening soccer match of the Copa Chile competition on April 27.

The match took place in one of the most remote places in the world: Robinson Crusoe Island. Located in Chile’s Juan Fernández archipelago in the South Pacific, the island is more than 400 miles from the mainland and has just over 1,000 inhabitants, according to Mediapro Chile parent GRUP MEDIAPRO.

Aerial view of the soccer pitch where Mediapro Chile produced Copa Chile soccer match on Robinson Crusoe Island in Chile’s Juan Fernández archipelago

“The main challenge was production planning,” says Mediapro Chile Marketing Manager Manuel Paredes. “With an ocean to cross and a 45-hour boat trip, it was crucial to have organized the production to perfection because, if at any time something was missing, we couldn’t exactly send someone back to the warehouse to pick it up.”

Therefore, he adds, “Prior preparation was especially meticulous.”

He notes the challenge of the weather: “It’s so cold there. The Pacific Ocean, especially in April, in May, starts to [have] more movement of big waves.”

Because of the adverse weather conditions in the Juan Fernández archipelago, commercial lines and ships do not travel there, Paredes notes. GRUP MEDIAPRO’s broadcast professionals, players taking part in the match, and the necessary technical equipment — including six to eight HD cameras and a remote-production van — were transported to the island on a Chilean Navy ship, the Aquiles. The Chilean Football Federation reached an agreement with the Chilean Army to transfer to the island all the infrastructure needed to produce the match, and the ship departed Valparaiso, Chile, on April 24.

Mediapro Chile crewmembers set up production for Copa Chile soccer match on remote Robinson Crusoe Island.

“Once we got to the island itself,” Paredes says, “one of the greatest challenges we faced was getting the entire deployment ready in record time. Strong winds on the island and a relatively unstable local power supply, which we needed to keep the equipment running, also made things difficult.

“Luckily,” he continues, “the team at Mediapro Chile worked like a highly coordinated machine, adapting perfectly to the situation in hand. We are more than satisfied with the result of the entire deployment.”

The soccer match pitted a First Division team (Club de Deportes Santiago Wanderers), who had traveled on the same ship, against a Third Division B team (the Juan Fernández soccer team). Broadcast live through TNT Sports in Chile, it drew a local crowd of nearly1,000 fans, according to Paredes.

“For more than six years,” says Alfredo Arosemena, country manager, Chile and Peru, GRUP MEDIAPRO, “Mediapro Chile has accompanied and supported expansion of Chilean soccer — both locally, through the production of the league championship, and internationally, by managing the media rights to the Chilean national soccer team.

“For all Mediapro Chile professionals,” he continues, “it is a great responsibility to contribute to increasing the exposure of the sport. But our involvement with Chilean culture and the audiovisual environment extends far beyond that, through major projects such as the Viña del Mar Festival and the Lollapalooza Festival. Although many Chileans are unaware of this, the talent and commitment of GRUP MEDIAPRO professionals in Chile is behind the images of these cultural and sporting events.”

Chilean Navy ship Aquiles transported crew, players, and gear to Robinson Crusoe Island.

Spain-based GRUP MEDIAPRO has a significant presence in Latin America, where its activity started in 1998 with Mediapro Argentina. Mediapro Chile followed in 2018.

Last year, GRUP MEDIAPRO, through Mediapro Chile, produced the broadcast of a soccer match in the southernmost venue on the planet. Through Mediapro Bolivia, it produces a match played at the highest soccer venue: at an elevation of more than 13,600 ft., Estadio Municipal Villa Ingenio in El Alto, Bolivia, is the highest-altitude FIFA Quality Pro–certified field in the world, according to the company.

As for the future, Paredes says, it is too soon to say where the opening soccer match of next year’s Copa Chile competition will be held or what other remote locations are planned.