Whisper Cymru, Channel 4, Tramshed Tech, Creative Wales and Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) have opened a fully accessible, remote production facility near Cardiff Central ahead of the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Based at Tramshed Tech, the Cymru Broadcast Centre (CBC) has been built to deliver global remote productions on a large scale.
The centre has also been designed to be one of the most accessible remote production hubs in Europe. It includes a central apparatus room, two production control rooms and sound control rooms, a master control room, multiple edit suites, two production offices and a multiplex.
In addition, there will be diverse connectivity brought to the centre by BMC over Open Reach and Ogi fibre. Timeline TV have helped to design and equip the centre and will operate the space after the Paralympics.
In addition to creating an accessible remote production facility, media consortium Media Cymru and Channel 4 co-funded research and development around accessibility in live production with The Ability People. The ambition is for the R&D report to act as a case study for other technical facilities to use as best practice and to share learnings, to make productions accessible for all.
The facilities include a changing spaces toilet, wide walkways, ramps, power-assisted doors and accessible signage. Attention has also been given to the centre’s colour schemes and signage throughout to ensure the CBC can be used by as wide a range of people as possible.
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Channel 4 and production partner Whisper will be delivering more than 1,300 hours of content from the centre, including 300 hours of coverage for linear TV, plus 1,000 hours of coverage on 16 live streams. Over 200 individuals will be working across the period of the production.
More international productions are already in the pipeline, and a series of entry-level training schemes have been planned for the centre.
Stuart Frayne, Head of CBC Technical Operations, said: “As an engineer working in live production across entertainment, news and sport broadcast, I’ve been involved in large global events such as ATP Tennis, F1, Moto GP, 2022 FIFA World Cup, the 2023 Ryder Cup and Wimbledon 2024. It’s a fantastic opportunity to be heading up the technical facilities here at the first fully-accessible remote production facility in Wales. Along with our partners Timeline TV, who bring a wealth of experience in both conventional broadcast technologies and the latest in remote production innovations, the Broadcast Centre’s flexible design can facilitate a wide range of production solutions.
Sunil Patel, Co-Founder and CEO of Whisper, said: “Bringing the C4 2024 Paris Paralympics to Cardiff means it will be one of the biggest sporting productions to come out of the nation, with more to come in 2025. The Cymru Broadcast Centre is the crystallisation of an idea that will impact positive change within Wales and leave a lasting legacy. This goes down as a special moment at Whisper.”
Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon said: “The realisation of the state-of-the-art, fully accessible Cymru Broadcast Centre in Cardiff chimes with everything Channel 4 stands for. It’s a wonderful example of what can be achieved when we pull together with a focus to make our industry accessible to everyone. It’s a fabulous asset for Cardiff and I’m genuinely thrilled that its inaugural broadcast will be Channel 4’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.”
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