Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 25, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Plazamedia GmbH’s outside production operation faces a hot autumn: In September, the company was commissioned as host broadcaster and to provide technical and personnel support for the live production of seven qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, eight UEFA Champions League matches and seven matches in the new UEFA Europa League. The production of images in HD format is increasingly a focus in all these international tournaments, and the Champions League is even being broadcast exclusively in the new standard. Plazamedia’s clients for these productions are Sky Deutschland, Sky Österreich, Infront Sports & Media AG, Sportfive, UEFA marketer T.E.A.M, French private television broadcaster TF1, French pay-TV broadcaster Canal+ and Romanian state television broadcaster TVR.
“Plazamedia has continuously expanded its international business in recent years. September of this year marks a provisional high point. Alongside producing the Bundesliga for Sky and LIGA total! in Germany, three international football tournaments define the work of our outside production operation. Our strategy of growing outside Germany as well has proven successful,” explains Florian Nowosad, Chairman of the Management Board of the full-service broadcast provider: “Today, Plazamedia is an established player in the international production market and has a logistical infrastructure with which we can deliver productions worldwide to the highest quality standards. On this basis, we will work to continuously develop our international business further.”
In addition, in September the wholly owned subsidiary Plazamedia Austria has also been producing all matches in the Austrian tipp3-Bundesliga powered by T-Mobile and the ADEG Erste Liga since the start of the new season, as well as the images of the Erste Bank Ice Hockey League and the Austrian Basketball Bundesliga live for Sky Sport Austria. In September, Plazamedia Swiss AG is providing, among other things, the base signal of the AXPO Super League for Swiss public broadcaster SRG in cooperation with tv productioncenter zürich.
According to the company, further Plazamedia outside production teams are deployed this month at the European Basketball Championship in Poland, the European Table Tennis Championship in Stuttgart, the Formula 1 races in Monza and Singapore, and MotoGP in Misano and Estoril. The logistical requirements are enormous, says Robert Adams, Head of Outside Production at Plazamedia and Managing Director of Plazamedia Swiss AG and Plazamedia Austria Ges.m.b.H.: “In September alone, we are deployed in 94 cities in 13 countries with 150 international productions. That places the highest demands on our scheduling and employees. The basis that nevertheless enables us to sustainably deliver top-quality productions for our customers amid steadily more complex technical requirements is, in particular, the experience and accumulated expertise of our employees in outside production.”
