The production teams from Mexico City are also on board and are preparing the Olympic content for distribution across three channels.
Olympic fans in Mexico will have a choice of three channels of Olympic TV content, as Televisa’s team in Paris and a team in Mexico City are committed to providing the most comprehensive live coverage possible across three terrestrial channels.
“Everything is done remotely, and we have been doing that from Lima, Peru, since the 2019 Pan American Games,” says Miguel Angel Garcia, TelevisaUnivision, EVP, Live Events and Production Services.
Miguel Angel Garcia says everyone at Televisa is happy with how things are going in both Paris and Mexico City.
Televisa’s main production facility in Paris is located in the TV tower at the Trocadero, where they have a studio operation (with a dynamic view of the Eiffel Tower in the background) and a production team that handles camera shadowing, lighting, camera work, staging and signal transport to the IBC. The signals then go from the IBC back to Mexico City, where production professionals work in production control rooms and master control rooms to create the final product.
“Each channel has its own main control in Mexico City and when we go live we send the same signal to all the different control rooms,” says Garcia. “The sports channel will be broadcasting live Olympic content from about 4 p.m. to midnight, including a three-and-a-half hour summary of the action. And then at midnight we start live coverage (since Mexico is eight hours behind Paris).”
The TV tower has proven to be a boon for Televisa. Garcia says Televisa considered getting its own rooftop location, but these situations bring with them many unknown issues such as where to park, find office space for a team of 50, connectivity, lounges, catering and food, power and more, which is why the TV tower was a much easier and more efficient option.
“And if it rains on the roof, it’s over and you can’t even go live,” he adds. “But everyone is very happy with this location.”
The TV tower’s operational facilities include a technical operation on the first floor, where the signals are managed, monitored and mixed, and a studio on the third floor.
“Our talent comes here, watches the competitions and all the highlights on a monitor and then goes upstairs to the studio for the live shows,” says Garcia.
The Televisa studio features an oval shaped studio floor that has been designed to resemble a sports stadium. The studio offers the flexibility to create different looks with a reporter’s desk or small table or even stand-up positions on the stadium shaped stage or elsewhere as the walls are heavily branded via a large LED wall and smaller LED panels.
“We have four cameras, including a Steadicam and a jib camera, so we can give a sense of movement during intros for different sports,” Garcia adds. “We were also a bit lucky that our view also shows the buildings on the sides of the Trocadero.”
Garcia says Televisa has around 75 employees in Paris, split between studio and IBC operations and coverage of the athletes and competitions at the venues. There is a production team that manages the incoming signals and makes sure they are coordinated before being sent back to Mexico, where there is a strong emphasis on simulcasting live events.
The time zone is tricky for Mexico, as it is eight hours behind Paris. Much of the live coverage in Mexico takes place after midnight and ends around 3 p.m. There are three networks that broadcast the events, although the main channel, Televisa, also airs regular programs such as the morning news. During this time, sports fans tune in to the dedicated sports channels.
“We always make sure that people can see the athletes from Mexico live because that is our main focus,” says Garcia.
Televisa’s studio in the Trocadero offers great views of the Eiffel Tower and a large LED wall for graphics and replays so presenters can follow the action.
Setting up Televisa’s studio cameras.
A lot of editing is also done in Mexico City using Adobe Premier. The editing team has access to the OBS Content+ system and can pull content and edit it for broadcast. For live applications, an EVS can be used to replay events that cannot be broadcast live.
A small production mixer from Grass Valley is available to produce the studio show on site in case there are any problems with the connection to Mexico City.
Garcia says the most popular sports for spectators are diving, taekwondo, synchronized swimming and judo. Televisa has commentary spots at those venues (11 in total) and six ENG teams and reporters following the athletes and reporting from the mixed zones. LiveU backpacks for cellular broadcasting play a big role in the ENG effort.
A unique aspect of Televisa’s coverage is the relationship with the athletes, as Televisa financially supports the Mexican Olympic team. This relationship strengthened the bond with the Olympic team and makes it much easier to get athletes to stop by the Trocadero set for interviews.
“All in all, everyone is happy,” says Garcia. “We’ve been planning this for the last two years, but now that it’s all coming together, it’s just incredible how well our infrastructure works here in Paris and also in Mexico City. We have different shifts that cover this 24/7, and our team just came from the Euros and the COPA America, so it all happened very quickly. There was even some overlap, as people left the COPA America to come to Paris and then people were brought in to represent those people for the semifinals and finals.”
