With eSports being the current driving force in the entertainment and sports sector there is an ever-increasing demand for bigger spectacle and better viewer experience at eSports events, live on site, on TV or via streaming. From 22 February to 3 March the ESL One Dota 2 eSports tournament and Intel Extreme Masters stopped in Katowice, Poland. Around 18,000 visitors followed the battels live in the Spodek Arena and several million via Internet stream. The perfect stage for Robycam Germany’s cable camera system.

Today, the Official Poster for the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 was unveiled in Paris to coincide with International Women’s Day. The bespoke design of the Official Poster reflects the cultural creed of this tournament: ensuring a level playing field for women’s football and empowerment through football for girls, women and society in general.

TVU Networks, the global technology and innovation leader in live IP video solutions, today announces that the Spanish public broadcaster RTVE deployed TVU Nano Router and TVU Anywhere to contribute SDI video over wireless networks from the remote and difficult conditions of the Dakar Rally in Latin America live to the RTVE studio in Barcelona.  The Dakar Rally is a renowned off-road rally endurance race that has been going on for more than 40 years.

Betamobil again produces the Alpine Skiing World Cup events for ORF at all locations outside of Austria for for the 2018/2019 season. Two OB Vans: the HD6 and the HD7, were, are and will be on the road in 17 European race Locations including the World Cup Final in Soldeu / Andorra.

When the puck dropped on the Champions Hockey League final last month, IMT Vislink and Movicom teamed up with Infront Sports & Media, the exclusive commercial and TV partner of the CHL, to provide a compact referee camera solution that gave ice-level points-of-view during the game between the Frölunda Indians and Red Bull Munich at the Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Movicom Refcam system used for this event included a mini-camera, specially designed camera mount, IMTDragonfly wireless camera transmitter and the Vislink 2 input H.264 receiver with Fanbeam antennas to deliver solid coverage throughout the arena.

The last few years have been good for Esports fans. The enterprise just can’t seem to stop growing and the last five years in particular has seen the online gaming world hit unprecedented heights. Viewership has tripled, prize pools are now in hundreds of millions and Esports is now receiving more media and broadcasting attention than ever.

The Switch^®, a global leader of managed, private cloud services that enhances live video productions anywhere in the world, has announced it will formally launch The Switch eSports™ at this year’s 2019 NAB Show (Booth SU3714). The Switch eSports™, which integrates eSports production, transmission and distribution from anywhere in the world, is the latest addition to The Switch’s managed, private cloud services for linear and streaming broadcasters around the globe. In addition to the launch of this innovative, new product suite, The Switch will sponsor the “Esports Experience,” the NAB Show’s first eSports pavilion located in the North Hall (N1921), which will highlight the technology behind eSports production, brand building initiatives and monetization strategies in what is the fastest growing segment of the entertainment industry.

Having devised its Vision Capture Project to move beyond established broadcast workflows and OB in 2017, the New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB) recently called on solutions from German broadcast innovator Lawo to further revise and streamline its production model. Now operating four OBs instead of six, with three Mercedes Sprinter vans and a fixed site to cover metropolitan race events from a central control room, using Lawo’s Virtual Studio Manager (VSM) provides integrated control.

Following on from a very successful test of LiveU’s technology at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland in Germany last August, WRC Promoter GmbH, the company that’s responsible for all commercial aspects of the FIA World Rally Championship, has signed up to use LiveU’s technology across 10 rallies this year. LiveU has already helped bring enhanced coverage of Rallye Monte-Carlo and Rally Sweden to viewers in 2019, with another eight events also set to benefit. They include: Tour de Corse, Rally de Portugal, Rally Italia Sardegna, Rally Finland, ADAC Rallye Deutschland, Rally Turkey, Wales Rally GB and Rally RACC Catalunya – Rally de España.

ChyronHego today announced that the NBA's Washington Wizards have used the company's Coach Paint telestration tool successfully throughout the 2018-19 season to enable the clear, concise communication of key coaching points to players during pregame video presentations. Specifically designed for coaches and athletes, the ChyronHego tool engages, illustrates, and informs with high-end telestration techniques similar to those used on professional sports broadcasts.

Swedish national public broadcaster SVT has utilized EVS live production technology to successfully deliver two complex and ambitious remote productions for high-profile winter sports events: The Åre 2019 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships and the Östersund 2019 IBU World Championships Biathlon, which took place in February and March in the neighboring Swedish resorts. This presented host broadcaster SVT – one of the pioneers of remote productions – with an opportunity to remotely produce both events from its broadcast center in Stockholm, some 600 km away.

At NAB Show 2019, Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, will underscore its leadership in helping gaming companies, esports platforms and specialist esports venues produce brilliant content and connect to fans. In an NAB Show first for the company, Grass Valley will host a live esports competition on its booth (#SL106), bringing attendees face-to-face with exciting live gameplay and professional gamers. The action will demonstrate Grass Valley’s ability to leverage decades of live production experience to meet the specific needs of esports companies and specialist venues.

Appear TV, a leading provider of solutions for video contribution, distribution and streaming, has deployed low latency contribution links for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system in top football leagues in Europe and Asia, strengthening its position as a preferred vendor for this application. During broadcasted sporting events, video footage of an incident is reviewed by the VAR, who then advises the referee on what the video is showing so that a more accurate, on-the-spot decision can be made. For football, this typically ranges from scoring plays/goals, penalties, red cards and mistaken identity, and serves as an added tool to relook at the play or incident to ensure the correct call was made on the field.

With FIFA’s first eNations Cup looming just around the corner, the live final was a tense day of gaming that ultimately saw Donovan ‘F2TEKKZ’ Hunt and Tom ‘FUTWIZ’ Leese become the 29th official England team, and who will proudly represent their country in the tournament’s debut.

In advance of the company’s participation in NAB, Ross is delighted to announce a new deal with Servus TV, a TV station that is wholly-owned by Red Bull Media House GmbH, based in Salzburg, Austria. As part of the partnership, Ross will work with Red Bull Media House and Servus TV to equip two new studios and galleries in Salzburg with the latest Ross solutions including Carbonite production switchers, XPression graphics and maps, XPression Tessera rendering solution, Furio camera motion systems, Inception News – the innovative newsroom computer system – Tria News server, Streamline media asset management system and OverDrive – the broadcast industry’s most popular production automation solution.