Sky Sport Deutschland is produced with Lawo technology

The Sky project team, consisting of Christian Barth (Director of Production, Construction and Distribution Platforms), Florian Hennig (Head of Production Engineering) and Chris Herrmann (Senior Director of Production Engineering), is responsible for selecting and implementing the new infrastructure. Wolfgang Götz of Promediatools provided advice on behalf of Lawo.

IP-based infrastructure for improved workflow

To improve the workflow of its sports reporting and TV programmes, Sky Sport is installing a total of twelve Lawo Diamond IP-based broadcast mixing consoles. Diamond controllers are based on the open AES67/Ravenna Audio-over-IP networking standards and are also compatible with ST2110-30/-31 and ST2022-7. With Power Core modules also integrated into Sky as DSP engines, Diamond controllers provide expandable I/O connectivity for AES67, MADI, analogue, AES3 and Dante. The broadcast control system used is the popular VSM (Virtual Studio Manager), a comprehensive control and workflow solution for IP-based broadcast infrastructures that enables seamless integration and single workflow.

How it all started – and how it continues

The selection process was based on proof of concept with several manufacturers. The selection fell on the Diamond broadcast module for radio and TV applications, which was presented at the end of 2021, with the graphical visualization software VisTool in conjunction with VSM. The reason behind this comprehensive decision, in addition to implementing an efficient workflow, was also a new infrastructure for optimal use of VSM.

“The infrastructure needed to provide a high degree of technological integration,” Christian Barth explains of the initial situation. “Scalability also played a crucial role, as the mixers had to be able to perform everything from mono voiceover to Dolby Atmos at the same time.” “The Lawo mixing console fits well into our system landscape,” confirms Florian Hennig. » Sky has such deep integration between audio processors that it makes sense, for example, for a mixer user to be able to listen to the effect of the audio post-processors in the monitor and re-adjust accordingly on the mixer. With Diamond, previous limitations in audio workflow no longer apply due to the various DSP functions. In addition, with the move towards more remote production, different time levels have to be balanced with sometimes significant delays, which is achieved very well with diamonds.”

The new infrastructure, designed by Chris Herrmann's team in collaboration with Wolfgang Götz, aims to combine several workstations: »In addition to functionality, efficiency was also a big issue. Whereas previously it was possible to broadcast only one sport per console, Diamond allows up to four sporting events to be broadcast per console,” confirms Florian Hennig. In addition to the classic control rooms, a control room for monitoring is being created, which is equipped with Power The Core serves as a monitoring unit and switch through which all other control rooms can be settled and monitored, as Chris Herman describes: “This means that a lot of the information is at one point of truth and can be viewed or accessed centrally; the intercom system has to be connected here as well.” “

Step by Step

Following the system decision, workflow definition and technical implementation were completed in parallel with extensive training by the end of 2023, and installation and commissioning will take place in 2024. Until the technical conversion is fully completed, the new setup will be operated in parallel with the previous infrastructure.

Christian Barth reports on the course of the project: » Preparatory work for the installation took about a year, during which all workflows were analyzed and the complete infrastructure and functions as well as the VSM were built from scratch. During this time, our team has extensively dealt with the systems and is now able to manage the entire setup independently.” Wolfgang Götz: “Sky Sport wanted in-house expertise, so Lawo focused a lot on training and support in the project implementation.” Finally, Christian Barth: “Now the Diamond/Power Core solution meets our requirements perfectly. “