29th SEA Games Kuala Lumpur 2017

Infront (through group company HBS), assisted the Host Broadcaster with several aspects of the coverage of the 29th SEA Games held in Malaysia in 2017, successfully maintaining the profile of the Games as an appealing TV product for rights holding broadcasters.

Rising together

For the 29th SEA Games, Astro Arena appointed HBS – working as IGBS, its 50-50 joint venture with IMG Media – for the delivery of a number of production and support services at the leading multi-sports event in South East Asia. Coinciding with Malaysia’s 60th anniversary of independence, the Games were seen as a showpiece of the nation’s celebrations.

The IGBS mission

The scope of work for the project included the design of the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), located at the brand new Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC). IGBS provided the design of the multilateral and unilateral areas to the contractor appointed by MASOC (the Local Organising Committee). IGBS was also in charge of IBC broadcast engineering and supplied, integrated and operated the IBC broadcast technical equipment.

On the production side, IGBS provided ENG coverage for non-live sports as well as quality control for all live events, produced Daily Highlights and two multi-channel feeds. Three Broadcast Venue Managers (BVMs) and two Venue Technical Managers (VTMs) supported broadcast activities onsite. To support Rights Holding Broadcasters (RHBs), IGBS teams handled booking operations and generated/distributed broadcast information before and during the event to ensure all requests were met.

Content for all platforms

The two multi-channel feeds provided 12 hours of coverage per day, featuring a range of sports, and were delivered as a complete ready-to-air package – a particular benefit to RHBs who required SEA Games content to populate their online platforms. Five IGBS ENG crews travelled across the venues to capture the crucial action and medal ceremonies from the 11 sports not covered live or with extended highlights. Eleven Daily Highlights shows were produced along with a one-hour and 45-minute event overview show, transmitted shortly after the Closing Ceremony. IGBS also provided live stream and VoD encoding for the official YouTube Channel.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• 17 feeds, with 16 of them active on the busiest day of the Games (13 sport, 3 beauty cameras)

• Over 250 hours of content pushed through two multi-channel feeds over the 11 days of the event
• 772 hours of Video on Demand (VoD) content produced