Football World Cup 2006 / International Broadcast Center
The International Broadcast Center (de. " International Broadcasting Center ") or abbreviated IBC was the media center and the headquarters for all television broadcasts of the 2006 FIFA World Cup .
The broadcasting center for the 2006 World Cup was built on the Munich exhibition grounds and operated by HBS on behalf of FIFA . All broadcasters worldwide received their signals from the main control room of the IBC. In addition to the various HBS production facilities, the three busy exhibition halls contained studios for television and radio stations from 48 countries, the FIFA press center , information stands, internet areas, games areas and presentation areas.
construction
The three exhibition halls of the IBC had a total area of 30,000 square meters. The specially made ventilation systems for the studios and the other facilities had a total weight of 720 tons. The number of doors was 700. In the middle hall of the broadcasting center (Hall C4) was the Master Control Room (in front of the World Plaza show area), the other production facilities and departments of HBS, the IT department of FIFA, and 24 broadcast studios for various television sets - and radio stations (including that of the BBC ), the catering area as well as a restaurant and an internet area on the first floor. The press center, the Bayern Plaza prop construction, games areas, several radio studios, the Dolby surround showroom and a bistro were in Hall C2. Hall C4 mainly housed television studios (including the studios of ARD, ZDF and RTL). The satellite farm was located in front of Hall C4 .
Functions
The entire live broadcast of the World Cup was coordinated in the IBC.
Signaling pathways
The image signals from each of the 23 stadium cameras from HBS were sent simultaneously in high-resolution format (high definition) and in SD (standard definition) with the stadium acoustics (embedded audio) to HBS outdoor broadcast vehicles . Two more camera positions were available in the stadium for television broadcasters. The signals ran to their OB trucks . The recording perspective combined the field of view of the 16: 9 format of HD with the narrower 4: 3 field of view of SD. The broadcast vehicles at the stadium are connected to the respective Technical Operations Center (TOC) of the soccer stadium.
From the TOCs at the stadiums, the signals ran via two mirrored lines and also via satellite to the main control room of the IBC. The terrestrial transmission took place via fiber optic cables from the Telekom subsidiary T-Systems . T-Systems took over the signal connection of the main control room. The audio signals of the stadium speakers (commentators) were transmitted to the master control room on the same lines, but in contrast to the stadium acoustics in separate channels.
All signals were sent from the main control room to the transmission partners stationed in the IBC. Some channels were looped from the main control room to other production units in the IBC and fed back in before being relayed to the television stations. Some of these channels were equipped with graphics , others with short-term edited clips (so-called highlights) for breaks.
The broadcast partners forwarded the signals to their broadcasters via the IBC's satellite farm. From there, the broadcast to the television viewer or consumer took place.
Master Control Room and CSC
The IBC's Master Control Room had an area of 800 square meters. It was designed in an elegant design and for the first time aimed at publicity. The rear wall and one side wall were mostly made of glass. Every camera in every stadium could be checked in the MCR on the numerous virtual partial screens of the monitor wall. The room was the central node for all transmission signals worldwide. Both the feed lines to the broadcast partners and the return lines for the television programs ran through him.
The Commentary Switching Center (CSC) was an adjoining room to the Master Control Room. The audio signals from the announcers ran over him. All commentator signals from all stadiums were managed there and forwarded to the main control room.
Production Center
The IBC's Production Center was also operated by HBS. It was divided into various production units, all of which were connected to the main control room. In these, overlays (logos and graphics), slow-motion repetitions and cuts (highlights) were created for the live broadcast and all games were recorded for further use. These productions were available to the broadcast partners in the IBC in different combinations on different channels. However, some large broadcast partners only used the pure image and sound channels and produced their own graphics for the football broadcasts.
new media
The New Media production unit produced special formats for cell phones and online providers. Most of these were brief summaries of games (one minute or four minutes), voice over (alternate speakers), live video messages, and live picture messages.
Sending partner
126 broadcasting partners (TV and radio) from 48 countries were stationed in the IBC. 15 television studios were built to produce programs on site. The British BBC, ARD and ZDF, the Italian Rai TV and the Brazilian channels TV Globo and Univision had large studios . The two largest studios by far had been set up by the two Mexican rival broadcasters Azteca and Televisa.