This NTA OB van renovation project prepared Nigeria’s national broadcaster for the 2009 FIFA Under-17 Football World Cup. To meet FIFA’s high definition requirements, C2S Media renovated and upgraded NTA’s fleet of six 12-camera outside broadcast vehicles and its International Broadcast Centre. In addition, C2S installed a nine-metre C-Band earth station in Abuja and supplied six HD portable satellite uplink systems.

NTA – NIGERIA FIFA U17 FOOTBALL WORLD CUP, Nigeria

THE BRIEF

With stringent specifications to meet for their coverage of the 2009 FIFA Under-17 Football World Cup, NTA Nigeria turned to C2S Media. Africa’s biggest broadcaster, they required complete renovation and upgrade work to their fleet of six 12-camera outside broadcast vehicles, and to their International Broadcast Centre (IBC) facility to give them the high definition capabilities needed to meet FIFA’s requirements. An uninterrupted power supply (UPS) capable of powering the IBC was also provided. To get NTA’s coverage on air, C2S Media installed a nine-metre C-Band earth station at the international stadium in Abuja, and supplied six HD portable satellite uplink systems.

C2S Media provided a further two 16-camera portable flyaway kits – including engineers and operators – to provide coverage of tournament games from two locations to the host broadcaster. To deliver this vast project within a tight timeframe, C2S Media planned and coordinated the purchase of thousands of items of equipment, and had 64 engineers working around the clock, seven days a week to complete work on time. C2S Media arranged training for engineers on the new systems, and even chartered an enormous Antonov cargo plane to transport the renovated HD O B trucks.

International Broadcast Centre

• Upgrade of existing system from SD to HD, with complete rebuild of the video and control systems, and added 5.1 Remix facilities.
• The facility is capable of switching 20 satellite and fibre external feeds and 16 internal stadium feeds, 12 VT and 8 Vectorbox transmission servers to 16 contribution circuits, and creating two main Live TX paths via Evertz QMC and Vectorbox systems

Key equipment installed included:

• Evertz distribution equipment and Xenon 128×128 router with 128 output multi-viewer
• Sony and Tektronix monitoring systems
• Avid Post Production with Central storage from EditShare
• Ingest transmission systems provided by means of 8x HD Vectorbox 8 0 0 0 with dual redundancy

12 Camera HD Outside Broadcast vehicle fleet

• Upgrade of six 12-camera outside broadcast trucks from SD to HD capabilities, with complete internal refurbishment, including new monitor stacks, air conditioning and electrical and mechanical repair.
• The overall OB upgrade utilised equipment from more than 60 manufacturers. Highlights included:
• 60 x Sony HSC-3 0 0 and 12 x HDC-3300 camera channels
• 36 x Canon X J Series box lenses
• 36 x Canon HJ Series barrel lenses
• 12 x six-channel EVS HD replay servers
• 6 x Sony MVS-8000 2.5ME vision mixer
• 6 x LAWO MC-56 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound audio desks
• Evertz HD routing and multi-viewers
• Evertz distribution equipment and control

Other requirements

• Installation of 9m C-Band Earth Station at the international stadium in Abuja
• Provision of six Temix HD portable satellite uplink systems
• Temporary supply of two16-camera portable flyaway kits, including engineers and operators
• Specially chartered air freight export arrangements

What the NTA OB van renovation delivered

Each of the six trucks moved from SD to HD, with a complete internal refurbishment including new monitor stacks, air conditioning and electrical and mechanical repair. Overall, the upgrade used equipment from more than 60 manufacturers, including 60 Sony HSC-300 and 12 HDC-3300 camera channels and 36 Canon XJ series box lenses. C2S also supplied two 16-camera portable flyaway kits, with engineers and operators, and a UPS able to power the IBC.

C2S Media designs, coach-builds and integrates new OB vehicles for broadcasters across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Discover more of our new OB vehicles and systems integration services, or contact our team to discuss a project like the NTA OB van renovation. Learn more about the distribution and routing equipment on the Evertz website.