Thursday, May 08, 2014
Dubai Television specialists talked up the benefits of cutting edge technology during the 35th Asian Racing Conference in Hong Kong, saying latest innovations in broadcasting can significantly boost audience viewership.
John Heise, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the German-based Riedel Communications, one of the keynote speakers at the ‘Cutting Edge Technology in Sports TV’ session, highlighted the potential benefits of advanced televising techniques.
“The application of cutting edge technology greatly enhances the viewer experience,” Heise said on the official ARC website. “The viewer becomes immersed rather than simply watching.”
Heise also put emphasis on the importance of modernising the coverage of horse racing and its impact on the sports economic benefits.
“Advances in television technology can create brand new perspectives and the commercial logic of live coverage is that attraction and emotion can generate transaction,” he said.
Innovations that include attaching cameras to the helmets of jockeys, will offer an enhanced perspective for the viewer, and will continue its development with a Riedel HD helmet-cam project in association with the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Oonagh Chan, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Head of Broadcasting Services supported Heise’s view and said: “We strive to provide a memorable visual and auditory experience to local and overseas customers, to stimulate customer participation.
“We must unleash the power of choice by developing and designing content across multiple media platforms to enhance the customer’s experience,” Chan added.
Gary Burns, Head of Programmes and Production at Fox Sports in Australia, was also of the view that state-of-the-art broadcast techniques were fundament to creating an entertaining viewing experience.
He turned to Fox Sports’ coverage of cricket, as a case in point, while discussing the merits of using microphone technology.
Burns elbaorated on the processess of equipping Shane Warne with a microphone and the experince it created of viewers listening to him predict the dismissal of a batsman he was bowling at, and suggested that same could be adapted to horse racing wherein a jockey or trainer could communicate ‘live’ with the audience.
Burns also propsed that racing can adopt the 360 degree camera shot, which has greatly enhanced coverage of football and rugby.
“In play innovations are an important part of improving coverage, but are not possible without the support and co-operation of the clubs and governing bodies,” he said.
James Gagliano, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Jockey Club in North America, also highlighted the importance of ‘promoting racing to a new audience via television, and backing that up with imaginative multi-channel marketing.’
In closing, Burak Konak from the Jockey Club of Turkey, who helped pioneer the development of television coverage of horseracing in his country, highlighted its impact on a much wider audience.
By Leslie Wilson Jr Racing & Special?Features Writer
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
