Europe, Gearhouse Broadcast, Customer Driven, Technology Focused, Best of Breed
Event: Australian Open Tennis
Client: Channel Seven
Gearhouse Broadcast provided the host Channel 7 with technical facilities to broadcast this year's coverage of the Australian Open Tennis as well as supplying the unilateral requirements. The tournament was held at Melbourne Park, Melbourne from the 19th January to 1st Feb.
Gearhouse Broadcast was involved in the project from the planning stage, preparing CAD and system diagrams for the facility. Gearhouse Broadcast Engineers installed all the techincal host facilities which were fully tested before being handed over to Seven Network for coverage of the event.
During the event Gearhouse Broadcast supplied technical support to Seven Network, including audio, video, and communications engineers who worked in shifts during the transmission period, to ensure that the facility ran smoothly.
The tournament was covered for television in seven different courts: Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena, Vodafone Arena, Margaret Court Arena, Court 2, Court 3, and Court 6. The Rod Laver Arena, with its retractable roof, was the centre court for the event and had continued coverage up until the final match which was the Men's Singles Final.
Colin Southey for Channel Seven commented "From previous experience working with Gearhouse Broadcast we know that we can be confident of them meeting all our production needs."
The Australian Open 2006 is one of the biggest single jobs that Gearhouse Broadcast has undertaken. Drawing on previous ATP Tennis Masters Series experience, the Gearhouse Broadcast technical set-up has been expanded to accommodate the size and magnitude of the event.
A unique aspect of this project was that the whole production used embedded audio, which reduced the onsite cabling and the need for large analogue audio routers and associated distribution equipment.
According to Gearhouse Broadcast's Technical Director, Kevin Moorhouse "Being appointed to deliver broadcast solutions for the Australian Tennis Open is a testament of the confidence Seven Network has in Gearhouse Broadcast from our previous exemplary track record for working on projects of this nature".
