Eurovision Services successfully tests complete cloud production solution

The Biathlon World Cup of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) was the framework chosen by the EBU to test the possibilities offered by cloud production.

The remote and cloud production have been two of the hottest topics in live event streaming since the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world of live sporting events early last year.

However, there have been few real-world applications of end-to-end solutions for major live sporting events.

In this framework, Eurovision Services has tested a cloud workflow during the Biathlon World Cup of the International Biathlon Union (IBU), held in mid-February in Antholz, Italy earlier this year, and the results far exceeded the company's expectations.

In particular, Eurovision Services was able to activate the appropriate infrastructure throughout the value chain so that all suppliers involved could deploy their technology without problems. The test was carried out in collaboration with the EBU, the Italian RAI and the Finnish YLE, as well as technology providers Grass Valley with GV AMPP, Simplylive, Splint y AWS.

The entire contribution workflow was delivered from Antholz to the cloud and all sources were monitored in parallel to the live production of the event. The operation involved contribution from three video sources (international, enhanced and range), in addition to the range audio source, a source of remote cameras at the range and the mixed zone, as well as an audio source over IP from the mixed zone to the cloud using ultra low latency encoders.

The cloud contribution used the company's own pasarelas SRT of Eurovision Services to guarantee maximum security and reliability. Using the high-performance Global Eurovision Network, the average round-trip time between Antholz and Eurovision Control (EVC) in Geneva was only 33 milliseconds and the entire contribution process (using a medium latency profile), including encoding, decoding, wrapping, unwrapping, and timestamping for SRT, took an average of 1.56 seconds.

The service used a 1 Gbps network to connect to the service AWS Elemental Media Connect, where remote production and commentary teams were able to access sources to produce their shows.

Michele Gosetti, Global Sales and Marketing Director at Eurovision Services, comments: "This proof of concept exceeded our expectations and demonstrated that, with a few minor adjustments, our technology stack is ready to accommodate remote production applications in the cloud. We have already successfully used our audio over IP solution and will soon offer a range of solutions for IP delivery using our two SRT gateways for optimal security and redundancy."

More than 330 hours of coverage

The Biathlon World Championships were issued by 18 members of the EBU, plus a number of other broadcasters around the world. These include Eurosport, Eurosport Asia, NBC (United States), Polsat (Poland), L'Equipe (France), Match TV (Russia) and CCTV (China).

In total, they have been programmed more than 330 hours of live coverage via linear television, and most broadcasters also offered complementary coverage on their digital platforms. These figures represent an increase of approximately 10% compared to the level of coverage of the IBU World Championships held last year in Östersund, Sweden, thanks to the addition of two EBU members, the RUV of Iceland and the RAI of the host country, Italy.