La Télé, a prominent regional broadcaster in Switzerland, has significantly upgraded its production capabilities to deliver French-language coverage of the Swiss National Hockey League. Following a contract with MySports, the broadcaster successfully implemented a secondary control room and studio within a tight three-month window—all while maintaining its daily news and general interest programming.
Unified Infrastructure for Multi-Match Production
The technical challenge was to handle the influx of seven simultaneous National League matches without building a completely separate, redundant hardware chain. To solve this, technical director François Vittoz and his team placed the Blackmagic Videohub 120×120 12G at the core of their operations.
- Centralized Routing: The router manages approximately 45 sources and 60 destinations during peak match nights.
- Shared Resources: Both the original and the new MySports control rooms share access to robotic studio cameras, multiview monitoring, and a centralized server room, eliminating the need for duplicate infrastructure.
- Ethernet Control: Lead operators can manage both broadcast chains from either position, providing immense flexibility for a small six-person technical team.
The Match Night Workflow
Every game day, an eight-person crew handles a complex web of incoming and outgoing signals. Using Net Insight Nimbra IP transport, the facility receives 10 feeds from on-site production trucks and exchanges signals with the German-language master control in Erlenbach.
- Live Vision Mixing: The primary control room utilizes an ATEM 4 M/E Constellation HD paired with an ATEM 2 M/E Advanced Panel 20 for sophisticated studio segments and live game switching.
- Instant Replays & Highlights: Editors use DeckLink Quad 2 and UltraStudio Mini Monitor cards to tag key moments and assemble 40-minute highlight packages that air simultaneously across multiple networks at 10:25 PM.
- Audio Integration: The facility uses SDI interface units to bridge the gap between their audio-over-IP network and the SDI infrastructure, ensuring seamless channel reordering for match commentary.
Standardizing for the Future
For La Télé, the decision to standardize on Blackmagic Design was a strategic move driven by the need for high-end performance on a regional broadcaster’s budget.
“Implementing a Blackmagic solution helps us to work flexibly without compromise,” noted David Klaus, AV Technician at La Télé. The success of this hockey coverage has provided the broadcaster with a “scalable template” for all future live sports requirements, making future builds less staff-intensive and more cost-efficient.