INTERNATIONAL BROADCAST CENTRE (IBC)

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1 INTERNATIONAL BROADCAST CENTRE (IBC) The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is located in the Johannesburg Exhibition (Expo) Centre (JEC), an existing exhibition centre and part of the Nasrec complex, in the south-west of the city. Following a highly competitive process, the City of Johannesburg was selected to host the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Johannesburg was chosen for many reasons, including the quality of its infrastructure, the variety of accommodation and activities available and its role as an international gateway into South Africa, as well as its strongly expressed willingness to provide all possible support for the IBC and its users. Additionally, Johannesburg is the host city of two of the ten FIFA World Cup venues - Ellis Park and Soccer City; the latter is within walking distance of the IBC and will be directly accessible from the IBC s main entrance. These two venues alone will witness a total of 15 matches, including the FIFA World Cup Opening Match and the FIFA World Cup Final. The IBC location is also within driving distance of another five host cities (Mangaung/Bloemfontein, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Tshwane/Pretoria and Rustenburg). Twenty-six matches will take place at these five venues. The IBC site lies a convenient 37km from the OR Tambo International Airport. FIFA, the LOC, the City of Johannesburg and HBS all share responsibility for the smooth functioning of the IBC. IBC Venue The greatest benefit of hosting the International Broadcast Centre for the City of Johannesburg has been the catalytic effect it has had on the development of the Nasrec area. Part of the city s commitment has been to secure such a legacy by upgrading the existing Johannesburg Exhibition Centre (JEC) facilities. All the IBC halls are gathered around a central courtyard. The courtyard is surrounded by covered walkways which connect all the participating halls. It is possible for IBC users to circle the IBC completely internally or simply cross the internal courtyard. The IBC is divided into the following halls: Hall 6 of the Johannesburg Exhibition Centre (JEC) and the Black Eagle Conference Centre are dedicated to both multilateral and unilateral operations. All multilateral areas, including the MCR (Master Control Room) and CER (Central Equipment Room), are located in a central position using, where possible, existing rooms. These rooms are adjacent to Hall 6 where additional extensions for multilateral areas have been constructed. The Broadcast Information Office (BIO) and the Booking Office serve as the key multilateral interfaces for the MRLs and face the African Plaza. The FIFA TV and FIFA Broadcaster Servicing Team offices are also located in Hall FIFA World Cup South Africa 1

2 Halls 7 and 8 of the JEC are dedicated exclusively to unilateral operations. Hall 9 is dedicated to unilateral operations and the on-site Media Rights Licensee (MRL) empties storage. The Bateleur Centre accommodates press-related functions on behalf of FIFA and/or the LOC. The IBC main entrance is located between Hall 8 and Hall 9. The position of the main entrance creates perfect access possibilities to/from the parking area, the Soccer City stadium and the main transport hub. On the east side of the IBC, between the IBC parking and Halls 7 and 8, a paved area functions as the IBC Satellite Farm. The main delivery gate is located between Halls 6 and 7 and lies adjacent to the IBC Satellite Farm. IBC Facts & Figures 30,000m 2 International Broadcast Centre (IBC) 650 Switches 600m Distance to Soccer City Stadium 2,250 Domestic power double sockets 14,500m 2 Unilateral space constructed 1,500 Technical power double sockets 6,300m 2 Multilateral space constructed / in use 1,650kW Cooling capacity 22m 2 Smallest unilateral area 2,000 Accumulator valves 2,470m 2 Largest unilateral area 830 Fan coil units 10 Elevated outside presentation studios 460 Heating panels 12,200m Walls built 2,200 Basic office chairs 820 Doors 600 Executive chairs 80 Windows 900 Desks 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa 2

3 29,000m 2 Carpet 1,300 Waste bins 180 Electrical boards 119 Days of construction 2,450 Lighting fixtures 38] Days of dismantling Outside Presentation Studios As part of the Catalogue of Services, HBS offered dedicated outside presentation studios at the IBC. The enclosed studios are elevated nine metres from the ground and give MRLs the chance to shoot footage of the Soccer City stadium with the city of Johannesburg in the background. HBS is also offering two unequipped bookable outside platforms for MRLs to perform stand-ups, with a view similar to the one offered by the dedicated studios. IBC Technical Facilities Master Control Room (MCR) The MCR (Master Control Room) is the central distribution point within the IBC for all incoming (venue and non-venue) and outgoing (Telco and Satellite Farm) VandAs. All incoming feeds through general telecom interfaces (fibre optic or satellite downlink), and regardless of the signal format (HD or SD), are monitored and distributed to MRLs within the IBC. The smooth distribution of incoming unilateral VandAs on bookable circuits/timeslots to the appropriate MRL or directly to the telecom interfaces is handled by the MCR. The MCR also handles the management of the signal distribution to the IBC Production Centre. Outgoing unilateral feeds from MRLs and multilateral feeds from the IBC Production Centre are monitored and distributed to Telco and the Satellite Farm. The MCR staff will intervene if availability, quality or circuit-timing issues are encountered. The MCR will be fully staffed and operational 24/7 from 2 June to 12 July (12:00). Commentary Switching Centre (CSC) The Commentary Switching Centre (CSC) controls and patches all national and international commentary and coordination audio circuits. After the successful implementation of computerbased audio circuit switching at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, HBS has further improved the service provided to MRLs. HBS is using the same audio matrix, which connects all venues to the IBC via uncompressed high quality audio circuits and shortens set-up times between matches. The whole signal path is redundant via protected WAN connections and is fully under the control of HBS operational staff FIFA World Cup South Africa 3

4 Standards & Availability of Feeds All 64 matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup feature full production in HD. All multilateral feeds are available in HD format at the IBC. All these feeds are down-converted to SD, so MRLs can book either format, HD or SD, for the delivery of multilateral feeds into their unilateral spaces. The signal standard for HD is 1485 Mbps, 1080i/50, SMPTE-292M with up to eight embedded audio channels (as 4 AES/EBU stereo channels in Group 1 and 2, SMPTE- 299M). The signal standard for SD is 270 Mbps, 625i/50, SMPTE-259M with up to eight embedded audio channels (as 4 AES/EBU stereo channels in Group 1 and 2, SMPTE-272M). IBC Production Centre The principal live production areas of the IBC Production Centre are detailed below. Production Control Room (PCR) The Production Control Room (PCR) is the central distribution point and hub for all incoming and outgoing feeds and material between the MCR and the IBC Production Centre. It also ensures that all individual exchanges of programme material proceed smoothly inside the centre. The PCR deals with the daily requests and technical requirements from the multilateral production facilities within the IBC Production Centre and all feeds are switched through the PCR production router. In addition to the tasks mentioned above, the PCR controls and monitors the ingest and outgest of all multilateral feeds and material onto the FIFA MAX Server, as well as the incoming HBS file transfer, transcoding and ingestion of ENG material. The PCR also hosts a dedicated server for mobile content, which handles the ingest and outgest of material for the Mobile Content production. Quality Control Room (QCR) The Quality Control Room (QCR) serves as the central point for HBS quality control of any audio and video content produced as part of the overall television production of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It also acts as the ultimate observation area and command centre for all match coverage and the Multi-Feeds production as well as being used for the monitoring of the final audio product, including stereo TVIS production and 5.1 Dolby E Surround Sound. EBIF Show Live Production Rooms There are two dedicated EBIF Show Live Production rooms where the various elements of the programme (titles, features, live match coverage, match highlights, action analysis, voice-over guide, graphics, etc.) are mixed to produce the programme. Permanent Highlights Live Production Rooms 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa 4

5 Two Permanent Highlight Live Production rooms are linked via the Production Control Room to the multilateral section of the Master Control Room at the IBC. 5.1 Surround Sound Room A 5.1 Surround Sound mix is produced to accompany all the matches. This mix is intended to complement the HD streams. There are two 5.1 Surround Sound Production rooms at the IBC. The two rooms are used by the HBS audio production team to create a 5.1 Surround mix. The pre-mixes and audio elements are transported from the multilateral production facility at the venue to the IBC via the Commentary Contribution Matrix. The final 5.1 Surround Sound mix is sent back to the venue after the coding process into a Dolby E stream (20 Bit) and the audio stream is embedded into the dedicated video feed. FIFA MAX Server Logging Room The FIFA MAX Logging Room manages the various contents of the FIFA MAX Server and produces relevant logs of the ingested materials (match feeds, ENG material, features, etc.). A number of logging stations and venue off-site access terminals are part of the logging room FIFA World Cup South Africa 5