Customer Web
Where you can find a site, apply to share infrastructure or gain permission to access sites and climb towers.
Broadcast Australia contributes expertise to Beijing Games
29 Aug 2008
Broadcast transmission services provider, Broadcast Australia, has contributed its broadcasting expertise to the world's biggest sporting event. Through a consultancy agreement with Host Broadcaster, Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB), Broadcast Australia assigned Vice President of Technology-International, Peter Kepreotes, to provide consulting services to BOB for the duration of the Beijing Games.
Based at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Beijing, Kepreotes worked in conjunction with the BOB Engineering and Technical Operations team to deliver and manage the Host Broadcaster's technical infrastructure throughout the Games period – from set-up in June, to the Closing Ceremony.For the first time, the Games television coverage was produced entirely in full high definition with 5.1 surround sound.
As Technical Operations Coordinator, Kepreotes ensured the broadcast infrastructure — from the venue cabling and the high-definition OB Vans in the broadcast compounds, to the technical operations centres (TOCs) linked to the IBC and beyond-was operational 24 hours a day. This involved establishing and maintaining fibre-optic, RF, microwave and satellite links, as well as ensuring power, video, audio and data feeds from the venue and airborne cameras remained uninterrupted.
"It was imperative that the Host Broadcaster's infrastructure was of the highest quality and ‘robustness', as it had to provide interruption-free multilateral feeds to all of the rights-holding broadcasters (RHBs) from across the world," said Kepreotes. "From a television broadcasting perspective, it doesn't get more extensive, complex and demanding than this. There were over 8000 RHBs from over 200 countries working at the IBC to ensure billions of viewers from around the world didn't miss a second of the action."
Kepreotes has extensive Olympics experience managing Games technology infrastructure. He was the IBC Venue Technology Manager at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games, with additional involvement in Games spectrum planning and frequency coordination, ceremonies, and the Main Press and Media Accreditation Centres. This wealth of experience made Kepreotes a logical choice for this role.
Download PDF [50.1 kb]
