During the football tournament in South Africa, German broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR) is acting in the name of ARD, the nationwide German radio and TV network, as customer of the World Cup’s host broadcaster, Swiss Host Broadcast Services (HBS). This means SWR is responsible for all organisational, technical and logistical matters for ARD.

With all eyes on South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, SABC (The South African Broadcasting Corporation) set up the hub for its World Cup broadcast studio in Exhibition 1 at the Sandton Convention Centre, central Johannesburg. All the match coverage and several regular programmes are being transmitted from the studio for the duration of the tournament.

Camera Corps' new Net-Cam cameras entered football history on Sunday June 27 when an estimated 26 million viewers saw Frank Lampard's disallowed goal during the England team's defeat by Germany in Bloemfontein. Referee Jorge Larrionda and his assistant Mauricio Espinosa did not realise the ball had entered the goal until they watched the video replay at half-time.

A report from the technical control centre of this global mega event.

Bernd Suchanek, Ferenc Varga, Abrie Grobler and Rainer Hans make up the MEDIA BROADCAST team in the Technical Operation Center (TOC) at the World Cup stadium in Cape Town. Along with our teams in other venues across South Africa they are responsible for making sure that the HD connections from the "hot spots" of this World Cup, the stadiums, to the IBC (International Broadcasting Center) in Johannesburg work without a hitch.

Eyeheight's DK-2M downstream linear keyer helped convey the excitement of the world's most famous tennis tournament in June and early July as part of the equipment relaying the event in 1080i HD to television viewers. Chosen by a major UK-based outside broadcast company, the keyer was used to process the output from a production switcher feeding the games to an international audience.

The Indian Premier League (IPL), was launched in April 2008 and has since gone from strength to strength. Played as a Twenty20 cricket tournament, the IPL consists of eight franchises, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai and Mohali, each of which is responsible for managing a single cricket team. The league is played over 44 days and features 59 games with the winners of the taking home around US$2million.

Bringing the best FIFA World Cup™ experience to your audience is the key objective of every MRL, but some go a little further and bring the fans to the event. “We are running a special draw for Al­gerian subscribers,” explained Yousif Al-Obaidli, Al Jazeera Sport’s Head of Overseas Services and World Cup Project Manager. “Five hundred fans will be drawn to come here and we will fund their travel, tickets and accommodation. It is a nice way to support our community.”

Just over 50 personnel for all pro­gramming provide the ears and voices to BBC Radio’s presence in South Africa. “We have one studio on site at the IBC,” says Joanne Watson, Planning Editor for BBC Radio, “but, apart from the odd ‘eclectic’ show, like [radio football pundit] Danny Baker’s, most of our coverage has been from the ven­ues and outside the IBC. We have a breakfast show which is follow­ing the England team, and will stay with them for as long as they are in the tournament.”

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.

“This is the first World Cup that we have been present at in 24 years,” explains Abdelha­kim Djama, News and Sports Programme Coordinator for ENTV Algeria. “As the team here were too young back then to take part, that makes this a first event for most of us!”

Despite his national team Greece seeing elimination in its last game of group B (M36), Aris Nikolaskis, Sport Coordinator, is still able to see many positives at this tournament. “I’ve been to other World Cups, but I’m really pleased with this one,” says Aris, “the set-up has been fantastic. Everything has been very well or­ganised, there are more facilities; I am personally very comfortable here.”

This may be the fourth FIFA World Cup™ that Claude Phipps, Director of Special Proj­ects for ESPN (USA), has attended, and the fifth for Geoffrey Mason, Head of 2010 Production Planning, but there is still room for surprises. “This is the biggest operation that ESPN has undertaken for a World Cup,” explains Claude, “and the response has been fantastic.”

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.

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.

Not every MRL has brought a large team to South Africa: for Dutch broadcaster NOS there are under 30 staff on site. That would mean a fast and furious chase around the country for their four ENG crews if they were to get all the footage they needed – thankfully the FIFA Max Server is there to help.