RTL Television To Showcase German Football National Team with Vizrt Sports

posted:

06/09/2014

Innovative technology solutions will help the broadcaster and its production company cover the games for the EURO 2016 qualifier

Vizrt, a leading provider of content production tools for the digital media industry, announced today that RTL Television, a premier commercial broadcaster in Germany, will use a comprehensive array of Vizrt technologies to produce and broadcast the future football games of the German national team. RTL has regained the TV rights to broadcast the current World Cup title-holder’s games for both its qualification campaigns for the EURO 2016 tournament in France and World Cup 2018 in Russia. The same technology will be demonstrated during IBC 2014 at Vizrt’s booth 7.A10.

RTL and its production house Cologne Broadcasting Center (CBC) have been customers of Vizrt since 2009. RTL is upgrading its production and playout facilities at the CBC in order to support production of the German national team games, which are among the most watched broadcasts in Europe and other regions.

“We are very excited to have won the exclusive rights to broadcast the national team’s games and are making upgrades to produce the highest quality coverage possible,” says Manfred Loppe, Head of Sport, RTL. “We recognise that viewership will increase due to the team’s recent 2014 World Cup Championship, so we have to deliver a captivating broadcast and that’s where amongst others Vizrt comes in.”

Among the Vizrt solutions to be implemented and used prior to and during games, RTL is using Viz Arena, which utilizes a new image-based tracking system for live game enhancements and analysis. This unique camera tracking capability and integration with real-time 3D graphics from the Viz Engine 3D compositor gives broadcasters new creative possibilities for football (soccer) coverage. This makes it possible to apply graphics on the field without mechanical tracking heads. Data-driven graphics, sponsor branding and analysis content can be added live before, during and after the match.

“CBC is well acquainted with the quality and reliability of Vizrt systems. We appreciate what Vizrt is trying to accomplish with its technology and tools”, said Mido Fayad, Director Production & Broadcast Operations of CBC, “and we chose to continue and expand our relationship with Vizrt.”

RTL and CBC will also use Viz Libero for pre-game, half-time and post-game analysis; Viz Virtual Studio for the creation and implementation of immersive graphics both in their mobile studio and on an interview crane camera on the field; Viz Trio to present scores, player statistics, etc.; and Viz Artist, used to design template-based advanced 3D elements to be used before and during each game broadcast.

“When deciding on the technology for their latest infrastructure upgrade, RTL and CBC did extensive research before choosing Vizrt’s technology,” said Dr. Stephan Würmlin Stadler, Executive Vice President of Sports at Vizrt. “RTL/CBC’s sports production activities continue to get bigger and add more production values to attract fans and keep them tuned in to the game at home. We are honored and excited to be working with them on this major football project and will continue to support their advanced production workflows in the future.”

The first RTL game will be the EURO 2016 qualifier between Germany and Scotland in Dortmund on Sunday 7 September.

About Vizrt
Vizrt provides real-time 3D graphics, sports analysis and asset management tools for the broadcast industry - interactive and virtual solutions, animations, maps, weather, video editing and compositing tools. Vizrt's products are used by the world's leading broadcasters, including: CNN, CBS, Fox, the BBC, BSkyB, Al Jazeera, ITN, ZDF, Star TV, Network 18, TV Today, CCTV, and NHK. Furthermore, many world-class production houses and corporate institutions such as the Stock Exchanges in New York and London use Vizrt systems.