Inside the Development of BBC Sports EURO 2024 Studio Operations with AE Live

"We’re really excited about what we’re delivering to football fans during our EURO 2024 coverage": John Murphy, Design Director for BBC Sport

BBC Sport’s cutting-edge EURO 2024 Studios have been front and center since the tournament began and, with the assistance of its long-term partner AE Live, BBC Sport is covering the month-long competition from its base in the Pariser Platz in central Berlin with a new and stunning look.

The latest in extended reality and augmented reality technology are delivering a unique viewing experience to BBC Sport viewers.

Overlooking the iconic Brandenburg Gate, BBC Sport’s purpose-built complex boasts two stunning presentation areas, both of which are designed following the central theme of a football museum, inspired by Berlin’s very own Neues Museum. From these sets, the latest in extended reality (XR) and augmented reality (AR) virtual technology are delivering a truly unique viewing experience to BBC Sport viewers.

“We’re really excited about what we’re delivering to football fans during our EURO 2024 coverage,” says John Murphy, Design Director for BBC Sport concludes, “BBC Sport are continually seeking ways to elevate our coverage and use technology in the most creative ways possible to entertain our audiences. Our chosen graphics partner has outstanding expertise in synergising all of the technical elements of a production, in order to deliver a flawless broadcast from a graphics perspective.”

AE Live’s, Director of Innovation and Virtual, Chris Izatt, who has led the project for AE Live, says delivering the BBC Sport’s virtual studio production of EURO 2024 brings exciting new innovations to their coverage.

“As a broadcaster, they are committed to delivering the best possible experience for their audiences, and we are extremely proud of what we have been able to produce with our partners,” he adds.

In addition to the overall technical integration, implementation and operation of the real-time LED and AR Set extensions, AE Live are delivering presentation graphics and a match clock across 27 matches, plus graphics for highlight programs. The expert use of AR and LED real-time graphics technology has digitally extended the sets by over 56,000 cubic feet, providing greater editorial flexibility and presentation spaces which would not have been possible within the confines of the physical set.

Forced perspective can make a studio show much more compelling for viewers.

AE Live chose to bring Stype on-board to provide camera tracking and Unreal Engine integration technology. Stype RedSpy is being used to track three cameras in the internal studio, and Stype Follower is being used to track two cameras on the Terrace. Their StypeLand plugin for Unreal Engine ensures a seamless integration with these tracking products, as well as providing sophisticated calibration tools to guarantee the XR and AR set extensions blend seamlessly together. A total of seven virtual engines are beings utilized, handling 56 video feeds, nine of which are 12G UHD.

The set design for the indoor studio marries the physical with the virtual to create a stunning XR and AR presentation area. Housing a large physical window on the back wall and utilizing ROE supplied floor-to-ceiling LED screens as side walls, the surrounding space is filled with virtual elements to give the impression of a museum gallery. The AR ceiling virtually extends the height of the studio and seamlessly joins together with the scenic content within the LED screens, adding a greater sense of scale and grandeur to the environment, as well as providing positions to stylise the set or playout editorial AR content. Cameras can also turn 180 degrees away from presenters and use an AR extended presentation space to deliver AR content, including a UHD virtual window which takes a live feed from stadiums and can take viewers directly into and out of the live match.

The workflow for all virtual elements, including the LED walls, is managed through Stype’s StypeLand Unreal Plugin and an AE Live software application that manages delays and camera cuts, ensuring that all virtual content is delivered in perspective to the viewer with camera movements.

The second studio uses the Roof Top Terrace bringing fans closer to the heart of the tournament and giving them a taste of the atmosphere. Using similar systems and workflow as the indoor studio, the LED screen instead acts as a virtual floor (window) which looks down into the football museum below. The glass finish to the LED screen provides vibrant and spectacular results during BBC Sport’s presentation and build-up of evening matches.

The overall delivery of both sets is made even more impressive with deployment of a remote workflow. On-site, presenters and a core production team, including an AE Live Virtual Technician make up a modest-sized crew based in Berlin, with the remaining production team including seven AE Live Graphics Operators and core OB infrastructure being based out of Media City.

The virtual set designs created by Paul Kavanagh Studio Ltd, were realised by AE Live’s Virtual Art Department, who meticulously brought the studio to life in real-time by virtually matching real-world textures and materials while also considering the lighting and shadows within the virtual environment for different times of day.

AE Live also produced a suite of AR templates in Unreal, that can be delivered both in the traditional sense, next to and in front of the presenter or guests or within the XR space via the LED screens. AE Live’s CUE application (Control for Unreal) debuts for EURO 2024 on this project and has been specifically designed to provide its AR Graphics Operators with a flexible and familiar control application for the build and playout of Unreal AR graphics, regardless of whether they need to appear in the AR or XR space within the studio environment. CUE also integrates with AE Live’s data management system, Aether, allowing match stats, tables and team line-up data to directly populate templates.

AE Live has held the BBC Sport Football contract since the start of the 2017/2018 domestic football season. The current contract covers studio presentation and match highlights graphics for BBC Sport’s weekly coverage of the Premier League and domestic football across Match of the Day, MOTD2, Final Score and Football Focus, as well as Match and Presentation graphics for Live FA Cup OBs and international tournaments.

“This has been an exciting project to work on,” says Izatt. Six months of planning, system design, development and testing to ensure that we could provide a fully commissioned system within seven days of boots on ground, ready in time for rehearsals. BBC Sport continues to be a fantastic long-term partner and we are proud to be supporting them again this summer.”

AE Live Team for the BBC Sport EURO 2024 Project:

Chris Izatt (AE Live – Director of Virtual and Innovation)
Scott Marlow (AE Live – Head of Production – Virtual)
Gavin McCandlish (AE Live – Head of Engineering)
Brice Beauvillain (AE Live – Director of Software Development)
Lewis Phillips (AE Live – Production Director)
Peter Wedderburn (AE Live – Senior Environment Artist)
Darren O’Neill (AE Live – Senior Technical Artist)
Daniel Hackman (AE Live – Technical Artist)
Richard Faulkner (AE Live – Graphics Supervisor)
Chris Barker (AE Live – AR Graphics Operator)
Mike Major (AE Live – AR Graphics Operator)
Oswyn Williams (AE Live – AR Graphics Operator)
Becky Gregory (AE Live – Match Graphics Operator)
Christina Saunders (AE Live – Presentation Graphics Operator)
Tom Hanson (AE Live – Product Manager)
Liam Cook (AE Live – Junior Vizrt Designer)
Rob Field (AE Live – Software Programmer)
Karar Sunny (AE Live – Virtual Technician)
Josh Yee (AE Live – Broadcast Engineer)
Sven Grbec (Stype Engineer)
Luka Crnelc (Stype Engineer)