On the occasion of the 19th Football World Cup which will take place from 11th June to 11th July 2010, Euro Media group, a leading European provider of audio-visual services, is going to South Africa.

HBS (Host Broadcast Services) has been appointed by FIFA to be the Host Broadcaster for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa as well as the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil and to oversee the host broadcast of Other FIFA Events (OFEs). HBS was previously the Host Broadcaster of the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups™.HBS' responsibilities at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ include Production, Broadcast Venue Operations, and the construction, management and dismantling of the International Broadcast Centre (IBC).

The jewel in ITV’s FIFA World Cup™ coverage provides a perfect ex­ample of the efficient collaboration process between FIFA, HBS and the broadcast community. When HBS offered broadcasters the opportuni­ty to book a dedicated outside pre­sentation studio, ITV saw the huge potential in their eventual location.

MEDIA BROADCAST is broadcasting the African football tournament - 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ - to the whole world.For the 2010 World Cup, MEDIA BROADCAST, together with local partners, is realising the TV broadcasts in South Africa and is also sending some of these broadcasts to other countries. To do this, all the matches in South Africa are being transmitted to the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) over one of the advanced IP platforms planned and realised by MEDIA BROADCAST

There have been many improvements between the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ and the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ but one change has perhaps benefitted broadcasters more than any other and that is the move of the FIFA TV office to within the IBC.

South Africa is giving the world a lot this sum­mer by hosting the FIFA World Cup™, but Ital­ian broadcaster RAI is doing its bit to redress the balance by actually employing more locally sourced labour than full-time RAI employees. “Our logistical operation was handled by an Ital­ian company with experience and links in South Africa. We have hired 150 local staff, alongside 140 of our own employees, and they have done far more than just help us move our equipment from one location to another,” explained Head of Technicians Massimo Recupito.

The FIFA World Cup™ offers different challenges to every nation. For CCTV it is the time difference. Prime time games, including the FIFA World Cup™ Final, will kick off at 02:30 Beijing time – but the Chinese broadcaster have a plan that will ensure their au­dience will not miss a moment of the action.

The FIFA World Cup™ always throws up a group that is a nightmare scenario for the national team coaches involved, the famous “Group of Death”. The paradox is, however, that while Portugal’s placement in Group G with Brazil is a headache for coach Carlos Queiroz it is a dream for broad­casters RTP – providing a direct head-to-head clash between the two nations on which they place the biggest emphasis.

As the only 2010 FIFA World Cup™ broadcast­er for the Korean Republic, SBS’s Deputy Chief Engineer, Taeyoug Kwon hopes for big things from the event. “At the Olympic Games in Van­couver,” Kwon says, “we had 50% of the Ko­rean public as viewers – we expect more for this event.”

A consortium of nine broadcast stations across Argentina, Telefe is one of two rights holders representing the two time FIFA World Cup™ winners. Operating two ENG crews – one mainly based at the national team’s training camp and the other following La Biceleste during the build-up to Argentina games – Telefe are hoping to of­fer total coverage to the viewers back home.

2006 was the last time Portugal hosted a Judo World Cup stage in their country. In June 2010 Lisbon Judo fans had free access to Campo Pequeno Arena and had the opportunity to watch the best male athletes in the world.

Each FIFA World Cup™ brings new developments and innova­tions in the broadcast industry, and for Serbia’s public broad­caster RTS the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ will offer the chance to utilise SmartJog technology to aid their transmissions.

As one of the first Media Rights Licensees to arrive at the IBC, TV Azteca were clearly eager to get involved in the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Picking up the keys to their unit on May 10 – a full 32 days before the tournament kicks off – the Mexican broadcasters have been able to quickly set up their facility and familiarise themselves with the IBC in plenty of time before the action begins.

Danmon Systems Group (DSG) has completed and delivered a pre-built Master Control Room system in flyaway cases for use at the World Cup football series in South Africa which commenced on June 11. The system was designed and produced for TV 2|DANMARK which has undertaken to operate the shared MCR setup on behalf of Scandinavian broadcasters during the tournament.

One of the hardest challenges facing a broadcaster at an event like the FIFA World Cup™ is the organisation and lo­gistics. Fortunately for the members of Japan Consortium-Operations (JC-OPS) all that hard work is done on their behalf. Comprised of one national broadcaster – NHK – and five commercial networks, as well as 76 commercial radio broadcast­ers, JC-OPS purchased the rights for the tournament from FIFA and then distrib­uted them amongst their members.