Sky Racing Deploys TVU Anywhere for Extensive Horse Racing Coverage During COVID-19

“The advantage of TVU Anywhere over other products was the amount of control over the quality instead of solutions like Skype and Zoom," said Ryan Gray, Broadcast Operations, Sky Racing AU.

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“I would recommend TVU Anywhere to those that obviously need to contribute live or recorded content that don’t have a resource like a camera or the resources to transmit live. The TVU Anywhere app allows you to do this anywhere, anytime. All you need is a phone and a mobile or WIFI network. Additionally, the app allows you to secure high amounts of bandwidth by aggregating across both cellular and home internet connections. This is a big tick when trying to secure high quality video transmission.”

Ryan Gray
Broadcast Operations
Sky Racing AU

Sky Racing (previously Sky Channel) is an Australian broadcaster that operates a number of television channels and radio service showcasing the best in wagering, primarily across thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing through top quality live streaming  and advance-deposit wagering on races taking place in Australia, as well as selected international races across 15 countries. The broadcaster telecasts more than 140,000 live races per year to 5,000 retail outlets, pay TV and digital platforms as well as into 51 countries.

Before COVID-19, Sky Racing had three TVU One transmitters in the field, three TVU Transceivers in their studio and a TVU RPS kit. TVU Anywhere was primarily used as an application to integrate regional talent and analysts across Australia on the daily afternoon preview show along with providing betting market updates on site at sporting events like the Cricket and NRL.

When Covid19 struck, Sky Racing had to realign their staff and equipment in order to cover stories, keeping in mind restrictions and safety of their staff and crew.

TVU Anywhere was a natural choice as Sky Racing had transceivers installed and operational in the studio facility. Sky Racing expanded TVU Anywhere usage to 60 active registered devices to integrate the rest of the talent, industry participants like horse trainers, jockeys, owners, officials and more, who were not able to come into the studio due to stay at home policies.

Sky Racing team also deployed TVU Anywhere for its anchors. To comply with social distancing, Sky Racing separated their three anchor Sunday show between the anchor’s home and studio. One anchor would host the show Thoroughbred Weekly from their home while the other two hosts came into the studio. The collaboration was completely seamless between the anchor using TVU Anywhere at home and anchors at the studios.

“The advantage of TVU Anywhere over other products was the amount of control over the quality instead of solutions like Skype and Zoom. CBR/VBR options, delay and bandwidth control are very handy when dealing with varying mobile and Wi-Fi networks in Australia,” said Ryan Gray, Broadcast Operations, Sky Racing AU. “It also allowed us to seamlessly send back IFB straight to the presenter’s device. We could also remotely adjust exposure and framing.”