# Olympic Broadcasting Services

Olympic Broadcasting Services S.L. (OBS) is a limited liability company which was established by the International Olympic Committee in 2001 in order to serve as the Host Broadcaster organisation for all Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Olympic Winter Games and Youth Olympic Games, maintaining the standards of Olympic broadcasting between each edition. Headquartered in Madrid, Spain, the company operates as a subsidiary of Olympic Broadcasting Services S.A. (Lausanne, Switzerland), which is owned by the International Olympic Committee through the Olympic Foundation.

## Functions

As host broadcaster, OBS is responsible for delivering the pictures and sounds of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to billions of viewers around the world. It produces and transmits unbiased live radio and television coverage of every sport from every venue. This feed is called the International Signal, or the World Feed, and is distributed as a service to all broadcast organisations who have purchased the television and radio rights to the Games (known as Media Rights Holding Broadcasters or MRHs).
In collaboration with the Local Organising Committee, OBS supervises the development of the necessary infrastructure (particularly the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), which serves as the primary base of broadcast operations for OBS and the RHBs during the Games) and facilities at the various Olympic venues to ensure the successful broadcast production of the Games. OBS also offers additional services, equipment and supplies to the RHBs to assist their unilateral productions.

## History

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing marked the advent of OBS as host broadcaster. Previously that role had been was delegated to the local organising committees or even third-party broadcasters, a situation which necessitated a total rebuild of the omnibus broadcast operation each edition of the Games.

### Beijing 2008

Its operations began with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, a joint venture between OBS and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, acted as the host broadcasting consortium (along with the state television network, China Central Television, which is one of the host nation broadcasters of the games).
For the first time in history, a Games edition took place in China and OBS provided a then-record 5000+ hours of coverage, 40% more than Athens 2004.
The BOB team of more than 6000 professionals was the first Games to be covered fully in High Definition and 5.1 surround sound.
Beijing 2008 marked the introduction of the Olympic News Channel (ONC), a sports news programme made available to broadcasters. It consisted in regularly updated 30min program that ran around the clock offering the sports news, as well as other Olympic-related news stories.

### Vancouver 2010

For the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, a wholly owned division, Olympic Broadcasting Services Vancouver was set up. The 2010 Olympics marked the first Games where the host broadcasting facilities were provided solely by OBS.
Following Beijing 2008 which coverage was fully in HD and 5.1 surround sound, Vancouver 2010 was the first Winter Games edition to offer the same for all events.
The Olympic News Channel (ONC), a round the clock sports news programme made available to broadcasters introduced at Beijing 2008, was reconducted and enhanced with additional content, in particular athletes’ interviews directly from the venues. MRHs were able to receive the ONC via satellite worldwide. The service comprised a number of other feeds including live finals and recorded content as well as selected competitions, two daily highlights programmes and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. This multichannel distribution helped bring Games coverage in areas where they were not traditionally broadcast and would be referred to as the Multichannel Distribution Service (MDS) in future Games.

### London 2012

The 2012 Olympic Games were broadcast by team based in Madrid, Spain with the assistance of planning team in the host city. More than 5,600+ hours of live sports, ceremonies and Olympic News Channel content were distributed to the Rights Holding Broadcasters. OBS employed 1,000+ HD cameras, including 40 High Super Slow Motion cameras and other innovative specialty equipment such as 3D cameras, Super High Vision cameras, and the world's longest cablecam, which stretched the 2,340m of the Rowing venue from start to finish. The SHV live coverage was done in cooperation with Japanese broadcaster NHK.

### Sochi 2014

The Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 marked the beginning of the tenure of Yiannis Exarchos as the new CEO, who replaced the retired Manolo Romero. Under Exarchos, the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games represented the largest broadcast operation in history for a Winter Games until that date. OBS deployed more than 450 cameras, including 12 cablecam systems, 31 High Speed Slow Motion (HSSM) cameras and a multicopter/drone used for the first time, to ultimately produce 1300+ hours of television.
In total, 464 television channels broadcast the Sochi Games, almost double the number from Vancouver, and more digital platforms offered coverage than at any previous Winter Games with 155 websites and 75 apps showing events live from Russia.
Due to the increased number of channels and digital platforms for Sochi 2014, there were more hours broadcast globally than any previous Winter Games with more than 100,000 hours broadcast around the world, compared with 57,000 for Vancouver 2010.
For the first time in Olympic history, the amount of digital coverage exceeded traditional television broadcasts with 60,000 hours available on digital platforms, compared with 42,000 hours on television. These were the first predominantly digital Olympic Games and OBS helped fuel the significant increase in digital coverage by launching, for the first time in Sochi, the Olympic Video Player (OVP). Available in 95 countries, the OVP provided a fully integrated data, a news channel, live streams and on-demand video.

### Rio 2016

Rio 2016 represented the most television coverage of any previous Olympic Games, with nearly 350,000 total hours broadcast globally, far exceeding the 200,000 hours that were broadcast for the London 2012 Games. Additionally, coverage was aired across more platforms than ever before, as more than 500 television channels and 250 digital outlets conveyed the Olympic Games around the world.
The Olympic Video Player OVP was used for the first time in a Summer Olympics. The OVP broadcast the Games to 56 territories including highly populous areas such as India, Latin America and Thailand, providing live and on-demand HD video of all competition sessions as well as short-form highlights and real-time statistics with enhanced interactivity.
Ultimately the number of hours of coverage available on digital platforms nearly doubled that of traditional television, representing more than two and a half times of what was achieved for London 2012 (218,000 hours versus 81,500 hours), marking a milestone in the history of Olympic broadcasting.
Representing the largest host broadcast operation to date, Rio involved more than 7,200 OBS personnel. Further, having developed a production plan to cover all 28 Olympic sports, including new additions Golf and Rugby Sevens, OBS drew on more than 1,000 cameras for the coverage of the Rio Games.
Rio also marked the first time Olympic content was available in Virtual Reality (VR). Overall, OBS produced more than 85 hours of live VR coverage, captured by custom-developed 360-degree camera systems, to a total of 14 RHB organisations, representing 31 territories and with total views topped 1.3 million. OBS provided VR coverage as Video On Demand (VOD) and highlights packages available for the Opening/Closing Ceremonies, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Fencing, Athletics, Basketball, Diving and Artistic Gymnastics.
8K Super High Vision (16 times the resolution of High-Definition) was also used for the first time in Rio in collaboration with Japanese Rights Holder NHK. OBS-NHK distributed 8K and down-converted 4K (distributed with one-hour delay) to eight MRH organisations that took the 8k/4k feeds, representing 10 territories. Approximately 100 hours of live coverage was produced including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and a selection of disciplines (Athletics, Basketball, Football, Judo, Swimming).

### Pyeongchang 2018

Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympic cameras provided by Panasonic.
In cooperation with Intel, OBS utilised a VR platform that created a 360/180-degree virtual reality environment for viewers.
Certain sports events and the Ceremonies were produced natively in Ultra High Definition (4K UHD), for the first time, providing participating subscribers with a pixel resolution four times that of High Definition (HD) – the current standard. Furthermore, other events were produced in 8K Super Hi-Vision (SHV) through partnership with Japan’s public service broadcaster, NHK. Up to 10 cameras, including 8K Super Slow Motion (SSM) cameras, were deployed for live production, twice the number used at Rio 2016.
The OBS Production Plan included more than 450 cameras to produce approximately 5,000 hours (approximately 20 per cent more than in Sochi four years ago) – including live sport, select official trainings and Ski Jumping trials; the Opening and Closing Ceremonies; the daily Medals Plaza Victory Ceremonies; the Olympic Channel News (OCN); digital content (Virtual Reality, Content+); and other production material.
OBS launched a new cloud-based content delivery platform known as Content+, which provided fully produced short-form content (varying from 10 seconds to slightly longer pieces of three minutes) for MRHs to use on their digital and social media platforms.

### Tokyo 2020

The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 proved to be unprecedented in Olympic history due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In March 2020, the decision was made to postpone the Games until the summer of 2021, which affected normal broadcasting routine.
This was done through daily interactions and planning sessions with governmental authorities, the IOC, the Organising Committee and the MRHs, as well as Exarchos team addressing agreements with vendors and the more than 8,000 OBS personal. This included the development of guidelines, or a “Playbook”, for the IBC and venues operations which OBS and the more than 7,000 MRHs onsite in Tokyo would follow to ensure the Games existed in a safe and secure environment.
OBS partnered with Alibaba Group to create the OBS Cloud, a suite of custom-made cloud-based solutions adapted to the demanding, data-heavy broadcast workflows. OBS Cloud offered the connectivity, processing and storage capabilities required for the broadcast of the Games. Not only could MRHs access all OBS content remotely, but they could also set up their own content creation, management and distribution systems within the platform.
With fans unable to attend the Tokyo 2020 Games, OBS provided an online ‘Cheer Map' and ‘Fan Video Wall’ that brought audiences virtual participation. Fans could access the Cheer Map and Fan Video Wall feature via participating MRHs, as well as at the Tokyo 2020 section at the Olympics website. OBS also facilitated the ‘Athlete Moments’, allowing athletes at selected venues to connect with their family and friends directly after their event. The Athletes Moment proved was also implemented again in Beijing 2022 and even in Paris 2024.
Tokyo 2020 would also be the first Games edition to be fully produced natively in UHD HDR.
By the close of the Games, the increase in the amount of digital content available across platforms would make Tokyo 2020 the most watched Games Tokyo 2020 saw a 74 per cent upsurge in digital unique viewers compared with the Olympic Games Rio 2016, with a 139 per cent increase in the number of video views on digital platforms.

### Beijing 2022

Beijing 2022 restricted movement outside the venues and IBC, separating the Olympic stakeholders from the Chinese population.
Beijing 2022 represented the first time that an Olympic Winter Games was natively produced in Ultra High Definition (UHD) High Dynamic Range (HDR) with immersive audio.
Teaming up with Intel again, OBS set up a pilot project that was used for the coverage of curling.

### Paris 2024

The first-ever Summer Olympic opening ceremony not held in a stadium, the event was held along the River Seine, with more than 300,000 people watching from along the high and low quays.
As executive producer of the Ceremony, Exarchos led the OBS coverage which used more than 110 cameras including robotic cameras, cranes and cable cameras, as well as four custom-made stabilised boats, three helicopters, eight drones – three times the number of cameras used in Tokyo, where approximately 40 cameras were used for the Opening Ceremony. Additionally, 200 mobile phones were deployed on the boats of the different teams to cover the athletes as they float down the Seine. The OBS coverage on land, water and in the air, resulted in the largest single broadcast production for a sporting event in history.
Exarchos pushed to introduce for the first time in an Olympic Games, the use of cinematic lens. Ciematic'style cameras brought a filmic quality to some images within the Olympic coverage; these shallow depth of field cameras brought the central characters and spectators into sharper focus enhancing the overall visual experience for the viewer.
OBS also produced more overall content than ever before, including more coverage focused on the athletes’ journey, their training, warm-up, and behind-the-scenes content. In total, OBS produced more than 11,000 hours of coverage, more than a regular television network produces in a single year, including around 4,000 hours of sports competition and ceremonies. This represents nearly double the number of hours produced only 12 years ago for London 2012.
The 2024 Olympics had UHD HDR visuals paired with 5.4.1 immersive sound. Cinematic lenses were used across various venues, honoring the host country. The coverage featured advanced multi-camera replay systems, with the number of cameras doubling compared to Tokyo 2020, and First Person View (FPV) drones equipped with UHD HDR cameras.
The production also used augmented reality (AR) technology, enabling live interviews from the Olympic Village to be seamlessly integrated into mixed-reality studio environments. Dynamic graphics were used for the presentation of sports.
For the first time in Olympic broadcasting, the OBS Live Cloud served as the main method of distributing live signals, a shift towards cloud-based delivery. A virtualized OB van (VOB) was used to create a more sustainable broadcast production environment. Three VOBs were used for delivering live coverage in native UHD (4K) HDR for four sports: Shooting, Judo, Wrestling, and Tennis.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was used in several new initiatives, including automated highlights generation in collaboration with TOP Partner Intel. Intelligent stroboscopic analysis, developed with TOP Partner Omega, studied movement and biomechanical positions in Diving, Athletics, and Artistic Gymnastics. Enhanced data graphics were used in Diving to analyze athlete body positions, while AI-driven technology measured serve reaction times in collaboration with Omega, providing data on the athlete's response to a serve.

## Sustainability

Beginning in Rio 2016, OBS began offering MRHs six different modular structures for use in the fit-out to make the overall operation more sustainable, reducing the fit-out timelines significantly, by approximately a month and half (20 percent), and also helping to reduce the overall broadcast footprint. These structures which contain prefabricated panels could be used for multiple Games, eliminating 50,000 cubic metres of waste, the equivalent of almost 3,000 truckloads.
Following Pyeongchang 2018, previously used modular panels and containers were shipped to a refugee camp in Uganda where they were used to make much-needed housing. The work was financed by OBS in lieu of the costs of recycling those materials in Korea.
For the Paris IBC, OBS reused the prefabricated fit-out materials that were procured for the Beijing 2022 IBC with the reuse ratio at 90% for the modular panels.
At the venues, reductions in venue compound space required were down 11% from Tokyo, as well as broadcast power requirements reduced by 29% from Tokyo.

## Gender equality

In 2011 the ratio was 70% male / 30% female). Currently, women make up 47% of OBS’s permanent employees.
To increase the number of women working as camera operators, OBS established a camera training programme where more than 70 female camera operators were trained and the top performers hired to work as part of the Games-time staff.

## Manolo Romero

From Sevilla, Spain, Romero was a veteran engineer and executive of every Olympic broadcast from Mexico City 1968 until London 2012. At Los Angeles 1984, he had the full oversight of the host broadcast operation, a role he would embody again for Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and then for all Games from Sydney 2000 until he completed his Olympic career following the London Games.

## Previous logos

* 2010 logo
* 2014 logo