Live on the edge

Live on the edge Eoin Connolly

FEATURE | BROADCASTING

Live on the edge Rallying has always produced dramatic imagery but bringing it to live television has historically seemed a technical challenge too far. Now, Eurosport thinks it has found a solution for its European Rally Championship. SportsPro went behind the scenes at the Tour of Corsica to watch the concept come together.

By Eoin Connolly

T

he circus is on tour in Corsica.

On the road between Calvi and Corte, moored up in the dry grass, the big top sits waiting for an evening’s entertainment.

A pair of camels are hitched separately to posts around it, gazing listlessly into the middle distance; perhaps at rest, perhaps pondering the unseen banality of showbusiness.

But these are not the only incongruous beasts stalking this picturesque Mediterranean island. May has brought with it the European Rally Championship (ERC) for the two-day Tour de Corse, or Tour of Corsica. In the northern harbour town of Calvi on Friday 17th, high-spec rally cars are driven gingerly through the morning traffic en route to the opening stage, each one bucking and sputtering on its short-clutch set-up like a bull led by the nose through a rural market town.

It is the 56th running of the all-asphalt Tour of Corsica but the first as part of the FIA European Rally Championship, a series created under a ten-year licence last September by Eurosport Events to replace its own successful but unofficial International Rally Championship (IRC).

“We had great TV production, a great relationship with rallies, great relationships with teams, complete control – but we had no sporting credibility,” says Eurosport Events motorsport development director François Ribeiro, speaking towards the end of the rally, of what was the IRC. “When you are Skoda and you go to your board and say, ‘OK, I need one, two, three, four, five million to go and win IRC,’ 90 per cent of the 2 | www.sportspromedia.com

board for Skoda were saying, ‘What is the IRC? Please explain it to us.’ And I said to Eurosport, ‘If we become the promoter of a European Rally Championship, you don’t need to explain what the European Rally Championship is.’”

The change in championship title is not the only novelty this year. Acting in its capacity as “a promoter, a producer and a broadcaster”, Eurosport is putting together selected live coverage of the event. The pan-European broadcaster began exploring the concept of live rallying “very early” in its development of the IRC, but has only used it a handful of times so far. Now the group wants to make it a regular feature of ERC coverage. “When you control the whole chain,” says Ribeiro, “your aim is to offer the best possible product to your client and Eurosport’s clients are the viewers, the fans themselves.”

Eurosport is screening four one-hour stages of the rally live – one apiece on the morning and evening of each day, including the final stage. This is produced at a roadside compound of two outside broadcast trucks – one composing the video feed and the other a data feed – and a number of smaller vans providing supplementary broadcast capabilities. Ten cars in the rally – the ten quickest – have been equipped with four-kilogramme onboard cameras, embedded low in the body of their chassis to minimise the effect on weight distribution.

Further coverage is provided by a helicopter tracking each car along the stage. Flying in an eight-kilometre circle above that, at 24,000 feet, is a small

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FEATURE | BROADCASTING

plane relaying footage from the helicopter back to the broadcast compound, which has been in place since a test feed was run on the Wednesday night.

It is late morning there now on the Friday, 15 minutes before the close of Eurosport’s first live broadcast from the rally. Ribeiro observes quietly from the centre of the video truck, but in the front bank of chairs it is Gilbert Roy who is very much the man in command here.

Roy is the director of editorial at Eurosport Events and it is he who is running the live broadcast. He keeps an eye on the mosaic of screens in front of him. These carry images from the helicopter following the stage, any three of the ten on-board cameras, graphics, and TV output from the channels broadcasting the race – Eurosport and France 3 Corsica. Another screen shows a map profiling the course, with GPS tracking giving the positions of the cars.

From here, Roy relays instructions to the data team, those controlling the helicopter and on-board cameras, and the on-air crew.

Eurosport’s commentators for the event are back at its global production HQ in Paris – where the video and data feeds are also sent for distribution to viewers

– but seasoned rally journalist Julian Porter is on hand at the end of the stage to conduct driver interviews. A France 3 Corsica reporter perches alongside Porter to translate for French viewers and, when time allows, conduct longer interviews with compatriot competitors.

Back inside the truck, seated to Roy’s left, is the avuncular, bespectacled figure of Jean-Pierre Nicolas. Winner of the Tour de Corse in 1973, the 68-year-old was made general manager of the IRC in May 2012 and became the ERC’s general coordinator when the series rebranded this year. Nicolas is effectively the liaison between Eurosport Events and the ERC teams, and variously demonstrates his affection for the sport and his knowledge of the field – burbling favourably to a French print journalist at the performance of young Renault driver Germain Bonnefis and reacting smartly to unexpected changes in the field.

“That’s a [Ford] Fiesta,” he says, alerting Roy to the sight of an interloper. “That’s [Fernando] Casanova.” Roy informs the data and commentary teams to ensure there is no on-air misidentification.

The atmosphere in the truck is quiet and calm, that of professionals relaxing in familiar pressure. As each team races

through to complete the stage, they are met by Porter and his team, who have around 30 seconds of airtime to spare on an interview. Midway through one driver’s lengthy monologue, Roy says firmly, “Julian, no more questions.” Then Bonnefis arrives.

“Bonnefis is tenth fastest,” says Roy. “1:46.3. You can ask him one or two questions.”

Porter, crouched by the driver’s door and talking above the strangled blasts of a dormant rally engine, has plenty to keep him occupied. Roy interjects at one point to tell the Scot to back gently out of the shot. Towards the end of the broadcast, Roy notices that one ERC sponsor has not been getting enough airtime.

“Julian, turn your microphone to show Yokohama instead of Michelin,” he says.

Porter neatly twirls his three-cornered mic, but he turns it the wrong way and shows an ERC logo instead.

“One more,” says Roy. The truck breaks into peals of rich laughter – it is the loudest it has been. Porter spins the microphone again and Yokohama has its moment on screen. After the broadcast ends a few minutes later, Porter and Roy greet each other with warm smiles and knowing jokes about live TV.

Eurosport’s on-air team interview Ireland’s Craig Breen at the end of stage seven, on which he suffered considerable damage to the rear of his Peugeot

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Eurosport’s broadcast helicopter follows the Mitsubishi of Jaroslav Orsak through a stage of the 2013 Tour of Corsica and provides live aerial footage

“When you control the whole chain, your aim is to offer the best possible product to your client and Eurosport’s clients are the viewers.”

There is plenty more that can go wrong in that medium, of course. That night, a few hundred miles across the Mediterranean at the Cannes film festival, a man invades the beachside set of Canal + magazine programme Le Grand Journal with a starter’s pistol.

Rally driving has its own dangers. In Corsica, between Corte and Taverna, a small shrine marks the point where Finnish driver Henri Toivonen and his codriver Sergio Cresto came fatally off the road in the 1986 race. In case of serious accidents, says Ribeiro, there is a “crisis protocol” in place for Eurosport’s TV team, the communications department and the FIA. “The local organiser and the FIA are in charge of the safety,” he explains.

“So we have a crisis protocol in case something happens – if we have a big accident or injuries, casualties and so on – but that’s only to be correct, let’s

say, for the viewers, or for the spectators or for anybody who would have been potentially hurt.”

Happily, no such incident will befall the 2013 event but there are still technical issues for the Eurosport team to address after the first live broadcast and that is Roy’s major priority. Then comes the production of the highlights. Before welcoming a small group of journalists into the OB video truck, Roy emerges with a short stack of discs of footage.

These will be edited into a 26-minute highlights programme through the day, along with a one-minute catch-up bumper for the subsequent live show. Those packages will be produced here on the island, at the TV compound and the media centre in Ajaccio, before being sent on to Paris.

The on-board and helicopter cameras remain in operation throughout the day.

Meanwhile, the live production team

also keep tabs on events in the race, not only because of the obvious editorial prerogative but also to keep track of their equipment.

“We don’t have time to switch one camera to another car,” explains Roy, “even if one car retires. It takes three hours to fix the cameras in the car, because it’s not only fixing the camera to the car, it’s also the transmitter and antennas which are on the roof of the car so we need to drill a hole in the roof.”

As it happens, there is one unfortunate retirement overnight. The former Formula One star Robert Kubica dominates popular attention from the moment his Citroën pulls into the Place de la Citadelle in Calvi for Thursday’s ceremonial start, teasing reporters and fans away from the main stage like a magnet skirting a pile of paperclips.

Kubica is in his first ERC season and has been followed to Corsica by a posse of SportsPro Magazine | 5

FEATURE | BROADCASTING

Between skiing and cycling: the live rally concept “

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ook, if someone has the capacity to do it, it’s Eurosport,” says Eurosport Events motorsport development director François Ribeiro, recalling the conversations that led to Eurosport pioneering live TV rallying coverage.

As enticing as that prospect was it presented a unique set of challenges.

Rallying takes place over long stretches of open road, moving through even longer sections of countryside and challenging terrain. It is near impossible to follow using roadside cameras, with cars scurrying by to provide, at best, around five or six seconds of usable footage. And in traditional rallying, cars are not running in direct competition with one another.

Seeking a solution, Eurosport put “rally experts” and “non-rally sports experts” around the table to draw up some observations. “And we found out that rallying is exactly halfway between cycling and alpine skiing,” Ribeiro says.

“It’s exactly halfway.”

The live concept built for rallying, then, borrows from the coverage of both, and Eurosport began its development through 2007 and 2008.

The ideal stage length is around 25 kilometres – although Eurosport

Polish journalists. His withdrawal with a broken fuel pump, while leading, is an undoubted disappointment. Ribeiro is phlegmatic, though.

“Rally is very uncertain, unpredictable, anything can happen,” he says. “When everything is running well, and when you have good weather, very strong

Bryan Bouffier celebrates his rally win in Ajaccio

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Events director of editorial Gilbert Roy points out that “it’s not the length of the stage but the duration which is important”. For a one-hour block of live television, ten cars, in reverse order in the standings, was deemed the optimum for piquing viewer interest, closely mimicking the traditional coverage of downhill and slalom.

Occasional editorial flourishes, like the use of cameras at the start and finish of stages, invite further comparisons with skiing.

It then became a matter of technology. The use of an overhead helicopter was taken from road cycling but the on-board cameras required specialisation and miniaturisation before they were effective. After testing in Switzerland through 2008 and early funding discussions with individual rally stakeholders – “countries, promoters, cities, tourism boards and so on” – Eurosport took the plunge. The Monte Carlo Rally in 2010 was the first to be screened live, with 13 hours of coverage across three days.

The template for live rally coverage has largely been set since then but the process of making technical improvements is ongoing. Roy suggests that a greater range of frequencies to

competition, it’s great, it’s fantastic and everything clicks. But yeah, things can go wrong. Robert did not crash but had a technical failure. It can happen.”

The retirement has no effect, says Ribeiro, on the editorial approach to the event and it makes little difference to Kubica’s immediate plans either. With a gravel test due early the following week in the south of France he remains on the island on Saturday, a helpful presence to team and media around the service park – the pop-up garage area sitting between each day’s various stages. The facility has been moved from Aérodrome de Corte on day one to a spot near the main Napoleon Bonaparte airport, just outside Ajaccio.

The TV compound is also moved, in the dead of night, to a new location. Porter

receive footage from the on-board cameras – at the moment, the ten on-board cameras in use share three channels – is next on the agenda.

The logistical challenge of identifying a live stage is equally daunting, and takes several months. First, funding must be in place from the local organisers.

Then, a route is sought on the course that conforms to Eurosport’s criteria in terms of length, difficulty, accessibility for helicopters, lack of signal obstructions and space for a nearby TV compound. FIA and series competition rules regarding distances from the service park and other such matters must also be considered.

Then there is the issue of scheduling.

Each one-hour stage must have a corresponding slot in Eurosport’s pan-continental schedule – ruling out periods where major events like the Olympics, Tour de France or French Open tennis are taking place.

“So as soon as we have decided which stage we take, at what time, the organiser takes the timings, and then I ask Eurosport not to change anything!” jokes Roy. “Because if they say, ‘Oh no, sorry, we have new rights for a football match,’ we are dead. They know that, so it’s a very close collaboration.”

and the on-air team wait close by for the drivers at the end of stage seven, watching coverage and data coming in on a laptop at the roadside. There are fewer spectators here than elsewhere – the action being less dramatic as the cars crawl through a Michelin-branded arch – but some gather to capture their favourites on camera at a less shutter-vexing speed.

Dressed in Eurosport-branded navy polo shirt and shorts, Porter stretches for the sky as the sun bursts through the clouds. The weather for the rally has been changeable, sometimes dramatically so, which keeps the drivers and the organisers interested.

The Tour of Corsica is known to some as the ‘Rally of 1000 Corners’. The roads wind capriciously through mountains and rural brush, and the resulting TV pictures

are a major selling point for the local promoters, who bear the additional costs for live broadcast.

“The Rally of Corsica is 70 per cent funded with public money, by the local government,” explains Ribeiro.

“They pay Tour de Corse to promote themselves and keep the tradition alive.

This is also the reason they are paying a lot to have the start of the cycling Tour de France, because they know that they will offer themselves an international promotional campaign to show Corsica to millions of viewers.”

On that front, the organisers have been more fortunate than their counterparts at April’s Rallye Azores, where much to Ribeiro’s regret the archipelago’s “mindblowing” scenery was smothered in heavy rain and fog.

They are having better luck, too, than Irishman Craig Breen. One of the early leaders, he arrives at the end of stage seven with considerable damage to the back end of his Peugeot. His misfortune has not escaped the notice of the Eurosport crew at roadside, and Porter directs his cameraman across the road so he can sweep around the back of the car for the viewers’ benefit before the interview starts.

Breen’s little accident will require attention later at the service park, where another member of the Eurosport fraternity is loitering in the mid-afternoon.

Olivier Fisch is the global commercial director and managing director of

Eurosport’s Julian Porter (left) and a reporter from France 3 Corsica speak with François Delecour

Eurosport Events, and has arrived for a few hours of meetings before leaving again in the evening. Sporting dark, thick-framed spectacles and a chic navy trenchcoat, Fisch would be inconspicuous in most settings but here he bobs up in a sea of branded anoraks and overalls.

He meets Ribeiro outside Renault’s hospitality base. They set off slowly around the park, speaking quietly amidst the fury of engines and power tools and picking their way between the cars – which prowl around freely, stopping for no one and reminding visitors that this is their natural domain. The rally weekend is not only a major test for Eurosport the broadcaster, it is a chance for Eurosport

The upgrade costs of live coverage were funded by local promoters looking to showcase the island

Events the promoter to take the series’ vital signs.

“Our job is to make up the calendar, decide the calendar, sign all the agreements with the rallies, try to get as many teams and manufacturers involved,” says Ribeiro. “So for instance, today I stayed at the service park to speak about next year to Skoda, Citroën, Peugeot, Renault, Michelin and so on.”

Fisch will have conducted his meetings before the main business of the weekend is over and in the end it is another Frenchman, the 34-year-old Bryan Bouffier, who is the overall victor in the rally. The final stage is broadcast live on Eurosport before a presentation by the local organisers in the pouring rain at Ajaccio’s Place du Diamant, where the time-honoured roar of La Marseillaise brings welcome respite from a looping Crazy Frog cover of Queen’s We Are The Champions.

Bouffier and his co-driver stow their trophies in the boot of their Peugeot 207, quite literally, before making off for fresh roads and new challenges.

Eurosport is already looking far beyond the next rally, with Ribeiro well into planning for 2014.

“I would love to bring half of the championship to live TV next year,” reveals Ribeiro. “I think this year we’ll be able to do three rallies live. I am working now on the Rally of Poland, hopefully to cover it live. I would love next year to do six – half of the championship live. That would be a great target.”

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