Destination Athens: getting the images home: from a Broadcaster's point of view, the Olympics...

To say that broadcasting the Olympic Games is in the hands of one man would be something of an exaggeration. But Manolo Romero is arguably the most powerful man in the Olympic Games' television coverage, and has been for more than 30 years (since the Mexico City games in 1968). He is now chief

executive of International Sports Broadcasting, the company he established and which was Host Broadcaster for the Salt Lake City 2002 event, and the Athens and Turin upcoming games. ISB serves as television consultant to the International Olympic Committee, is a member of its Radio Et Television Commission and its Executive Group, and is television advisor to the International Amateur Athletics Federation.

More importantly Romero is the man with the eye for the so-called 'beauty shots', frequently the single image that ends up being the most remembered of a particular Games. Few will forget the high-diving images from Barcelona, when the divers were televised against a brilliant blue sky,--and nothing else --or the thrilling moment when the jet-pack wearing specialists entered the arena during the Los Angeles games. During previous Olympics, he served as chief executive of Sydney's Broadcasting Organisation, in the same capacity at the 1996 Atlanta event and head of International Operations for ABC for Los Angeles 1984. He has received several Emmys and awards including the IOC Golden Rings and Spanish 'Ondas'.

At Sydney there were constant 'beauty shots' set up for broadcasters, including the Olympic cauldron where the flame burned constantly, activity on the Olympic Boulevard as well as the iconic Opera House and Sydney Harbour bridge views, and that of Darling Harbour with the city skyline in the distance. Indeed, one radio-camera was set up on the busy Sydney Harbour to Manly ferry-boat just to show the crowds travelling between two of Sydney's beauty spots. Broadcasters could dip into these images as a backdrop to their own coverage. But it is Romero's guiding hand that's largely responsible for the images we see from the opening ceremony on Friday, 13 August 2004, to the final moments.

As this is written the final touches are being made to the Athens International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) which will end up housing more than 15,000 broadcasters (radio, television and Web/internet), and operate for 24 hours a day feeding signals to TV and radio stations around the world. It is probably the world's most complex and sophisticated broadcasting operation, and it's built for the two weeks or the games (and the immediately following Para-Olympics) and then discarded, only to be recreated two years later (on a somewhat more modest scale) for the Turin winter games, and then rebuilt for Beijing, China. Sydney's IBC covered 58,000 sq metres. Athens is bigger at 70,000 sq metres. Overlay work in Sydney began in November 1999, almost a year ahead of the event, and the IBC was partially operational on 15 August 2000. It was shut down as an operating facility on 3 October 2000. The Athens IBC complex comprises the fully revamped HELEXPO building (the National Exhibition Organiser), and two other new buildings.

The Olympics is larger and more complex than even the soccer (FIFA) World Cup, which although probably capturing more global eyeballs is a much more straightforward task than the Olympics. The soccer games are just 4 hours of intense activity, albeit with national opt-outs and unilaterals covering specific-interest matches.

Romero has his task made a little easier by the grouping of various regional broadcasting organisations, like the European Broadcasting Union, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), South America's Organizacion de la Television Iberoamericana (OTI) and then looser tie-ups like the TV image pools organised by Japan, China, Korea and others. However, most major national broadcasters also have their own dedicated feeds to take care of, and outfits like North America's giant NBC, the sports-mad Australian broadcasters, Japan and the UK's BBC, all have dedicated facilities at the International Broadcasting Centre, taking unique coverage of some events as well as mopping up hundreds of hours of all-embracing television. Romero says that four years ago at Sydney some 90% of all Olympic action, whether heats or finals, was covered live somewhere on the planet.

During the actual games, Romero's Technical Operations and Engineering department is responsible for generating the video and audio signals from venues into the IBC and distributing those signals out to broadcasters. They use an extensive network of 'guest' broadcasting specialists drawn from well-known international names, like the BBC and RAI, and private OB companies like Europe's AlfaCam. Romero's department maintains commentary systems at the individual venues and the IBC, will look after all broadcast technical equipment at venues and the IBC, will implement all broadcast telecommunications ('talkback') needs at venues and the IBC as well as overseeing the construction integrity of the infrastructure at the IBC.

Having the circuits in place and the cameras ready is but one part of the mammoth logistical exercise. Technical operations works closely with the Bookings office, to help co-ordinate broadcaster's specific demands. For example, booking schedules availability of radio and television studios, edit suites, post-production and off-tube positions at the IBC and pre and post unilateral video and audio transmissions. In addition, Booking assigns electronic news gathering (ENG) camera platforms at the venues, collects and provides schedules for daily unilateral transmissions and commentator usage at the venues, and distributes all-important bibs and armbands for camera platforms, parking passes, observer seat allocations and special tickets for station VIPs. Booking is also judge and jury in arbitrating any conflicts in camera platforms, premium ticket allocations and unilateral transmissions at daily briefings.

Already Romero has held pre-event briefings, under the umbrella 'World Broadcaster Meeting'. Back at the Sydney games, more than 200 individual rights-holders sent (in some cases huge) broadcast teams to cover the Games in order to send unique footage, sometimes live, sometimes taped, back to base.

Multilateral signals are identified, level checked and equalised in the contribution area of the Transmission/Distribution Centre (TDC). The signals are then synchronised and the format converted to PAL or standard digital, depending upon the format in which they are originated. In Sydney the multilateral signal 'bundle" consisted of 40 active feeds and another two feeds for test and synchronisation. Outbound national and international signals were monitored in the transmission area of the TDC. The TDC at Sydney claimed the world's largest video wall, comprising 400 individual monitors. Athens will provide even more.

Furthermore, Eutelsat and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have signed a contract for four wideband transponders that will be used by the EBU for television coverage of the Games. The additional satellite capacity will allow the EBU to provide private direct point-to-point circuits between Athens and the headquarters of television channels that have their own TV crews and content aggregation facilities in Athens. In addition to these private circuits, the EBU will simultaneously deliver 800 hours of live coverage with ambient sound to its 71 members.

The allocation and swapping of programmes is a major part of the EBU's activities. The EBU is setting up an infrastructure completely dedicated to the Olympics, deploying a new teleport on-site which will deliver a total of 36 non-stop programme feeds, 32 of which will be carried by Eutelsat. The 16 studios that will have a direct link to the Athens teleport are located in Moscow, Tehran, Belgrade, Budapest, Bratislava, Madrid, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Odense, Helsinki, London, Paris, Mainz, Oslo, Stockholm and Hilversum.

And this year's Olympics represents a major step-change in broadcasting demand, in both circuits and video complexity because almost every camera covering the games will be capturing its images in breathtaking High Definition. Some lucky American, Japanese, Korean and Australian viewers, who own HD equipment, will be able to enjoy Romero's images. The rest of us will have to manage with Standard Definition quality. One can only wonder how that position might have changed by the time China opens its doors to Romero and his team in 2008.

Greece's national broadcaster ERT is mounting its biggest-ever TV operation to help cover the games. They are working with the Athens Olympic Broadcasting unit to establish and produce:

* Coverage of 301 sporting events

* More than 1000 cameras & 4450 VTRs

* 3500 hours of live output

* 350 Broadcast trailers

* 12,000 accredited broadcast personnel

* 52 TV remote production trucks (OBs)

* 1795 commentary positions