Match TV, which is part of Gazprom-Media Holding, will become the official broadcaster of the XXIX Winter Universiade to be held in Krasnoyarsk from March 2-12, 2019. Aside from filming and broadcasting the competitions, the channel will transmit the television signal to foreign broadcasters from 42 countries. Moreover, Match TV is taking part in the staging of the opening and closing ceremonies together with the ceremonies director Ilya Averbukh.
All sports competitions will be available to view on Match TV’s channels and digital resources.
“The Winter Universiade is an important event for the country. Our goal is to show the full range of emotion of the sports competitions. I am certain that millions of viewers in different countries will get to witness a bold and spectacular sports celebration,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko, CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding.
Match TV has all the modern equipment needed to film large-scale, world-class sporting events. The media powerhouse will use 61 units of special television equipment to produce an international signal in Krasnoyarsk. This technology, to be delivered to the site of the Universiade from various Russian regions, includes 12 mobile television stations, two mobile satellite communication stations, six special technology vehicles and 12 mobile energy compounds.
The broadcasts will be produced by 806 specialists from 16 Russian regions, including 41 from Krasnoyarsk. The channel will employ the best television experts.
A unique feature of filming major sporting events like the Universiade is that all the equipment works in tandem with the International Broadcasting Center (IBC). The IBC’s central control room will bring together the signals from all Universiade venues and then the signal will be transmitted to foreign broadcasters in 42 countries. The IBC has also created a special archive that will compile a database from the records of all sports competitions. The records will be automatically categorized, which will make it possible to search the records instantly and pull out information on any specific request. For example, there could be a compilation of all the goals from the hockey tournament or the players’ emotions after a successful shot. Thanks to this technology, the editorial staff will be able to create video reviews within minutes and quickly find key moments in a large amount of video materials.
On top of that, Match TV is taking part in the preparation and staging of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2019 Winter Universiade, along with Ilya Averbukh, who is the creative lead for the events. The beauty of Siberia will be the main theme of the opening ceremony. This theme will also be at the core of the Universiade’s television promo created by the Match TV team. The clips called “Universiade: Sports” and “Universiade: History” are already on air at Match TV. The channel will also show videos about sports stars who will participate in the competitions, Siberian hospitality, sport and friendship, as well as the love story between the beauty Angara and the great warrior Yenisei, which is based on national folklore.
Universiade’s broadcasts in Russia
Match TV will show the competitions across 11 sports as athletes compete for 76 sets of medals: biathlon, alpine skiing, curling, cross-country skiing, ski orienteering, snowboarding, figure skating, freestyle skiing, bandy, hockey and short track. The federal channel Match TV will feature 55 hours of live broadcasts, with an additional 100 hours of broadcasts planned on special-interest channels Match! Arena and Match! Igra. The websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru will broadcast all of the competitions live.
Match TV built its own studio specifically for the Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk. The live studio will provide informational and analytical support for the competition. The studio’s control complex will make it possible to pick up live presentations from all of the Universiade’s sports venues. The broadcasts will also make use of augmented reality technology. The studio will work on a 24-hour basis and will display the latest information about competitions on its external screens. Universiade champions and medallists will visit the studio as guests, while famous Russian athletes, including Olympic biathlon champions Anton Shipulin and Olga Zaitseva, will serve as returning experts. The journalists from the program Vse na Match! (All to the Match!), led by Russia’s leading commentator Dmitry Guberniev, will be the studio’s hosts.