In Broadcast - February 2013 - 69

ISSUE 16 - FEBRUARY 2013 | WWW.INBROADCAST.COM

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

N E W S

InSTUDIO

Aston Villa Score With Blackmagic Design
Soccer club introduce a state-of-the-art digital outside broadcasting pod incorporating the
ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher and Blackmagic Design Smart Videohub...

R

eplacing the club’s analogue
tape workflow, which was
rented on a match-by-match basis,
has allowed Aston Villa Football
Club Multimedia Operations
Manager Nick Finney, to make
significant cost savings while also
giving them complete control of the
production process.
Content is a mixture of prepared
material including player interviews,
sponsor messages and goal
compilations along with pre-match
build-up from pitch side and live
match footage, which goes out on
two large LED screens at either end
of Villa Park, the club’s stadium and
hospitality and shopping centre.
In addition, the multimedia team
also has an IPTV channel which is
broadcast across 300 television
screens on around the concourse
and hospitality areas.
“The solution we’ve built is
Blackmagic Design end-to-end. Not
only has it meant we can centralise
all of our live content into the one

Villa’s Blackmagic Design ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher

place, but it has also given us much
more flexibility when it comes to
getting material up later. Something
that wouldn’t have been possible
when using tape,” said Finney.
“Using the ATEM gear on a match
day, we have found it to be both
intuitive and reliable. Keying is good,
very easy, and the fact we have two
completely independent channels
that we can control separately has

meant we have been able to cut
down our costs while making our
workflow much smoother.”
Match day footage is an edited
feed supplied by broadcasters
including Sky and the BBC via SDI,
while the multimedia team also has
its own mobile SDI camera used for
capturing match build-up pitch side.
Both HD SDI feeds are captured
using an ATEM Camera Converter

and fed back to Aston Villa’s OB pod
into two ATEM Studio Converters.
The club has also installed
a Blackmagic Design Smart
Videohub along with a new fibre
optic backbone to handle video
distribution around the stadium.
A mixture of live footage, keyed
graphics and VT are then fed
into the ATEM 2 M/E Production
Switcher, which the multimedia
team then package up and output
over two channels from the ATEM
2 M/E; one with an ATEM 1 M/E
Broadcast Panel, while the other
is using the ATEM’s software panel
control on a Macbook.
Finney added: “I am really proud
of what we have already achieved
in such a short time frame. The
match day experience at home
is much slicker now, and we are
able to provide more for the fans
enjoyment during a game such as
live scores, match stats and even
twitter feeds.”
69

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In Broadcast - February 2013

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