Sochi 2014 - Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games

Japanese studio design is pretty different to both the US and European stuff. They are usually VERY brightly lit and very busy...

Folk that have set their recording devices (because <shock horror> most of the population actually spends the day at work on a Friday) will be delighted to discover that later this evening

Or not...

Here is the set NBC's morning show TODAY is using while they are broadcasting from Sochi. This typical for TODAY and NBC to decamp the PRESENTATION operation and broadcast from a set/studio set-up in a square on the grounds of the Olympic Park. This is the same building they used for the LONDON 2012 and for a number of previous games.
Have look:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u73AxjjuF0M/UvJUoEBXCPI/AAAAAAAAN4A/TI3dbF96Rgc/s1600/Edit_Sochi_Olympic_Park_0081.JPG
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7imAo3-4cbY/UvJUoI2TeyI/AAAAAAAAN34/ylo-P2C2Ksk/s1600/Edit_Sochi_Olympic_Park_0086.JPG
http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/sochinbc.jpg
http://www.newscaststudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/todaysochi1.png
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/40c774e8f652f36bb24ac65a313a91f3e32ee374/c=150-0-2808-1998&r=x383&c=540x380/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/02/19//1392842322000-NUP-162293-0109.JPG

London 2012 & Bejing:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/thumbnail_570x321/2012/08/today_show_london_olympics_a_l.jpg
http://p.twimg.com/Ay653k_CAAEQkdM.jpg
http://www.onthesceneinc.com/portfolio/images/large/outdoor_exhibits/nbc/nbc10_l.jpg
http://www.onthesceneinc.com/portfolio/images/large/outdoor_exhibits/nbc/nbc15_l.jpg
http://www.onthesceneinc.com/portfolio/images/large/outdoor_exhibits/nbc/nbc12_l.jpg
http://www.onthesceneinc.com/portfolio/images/large/outdoor_exhibits/nbc/nbc11_l.jpg

That studio has been around for at least ten years now, it's certainly well travelled.

I know. They certainly got their money's worth

Yes, with the benefit of hindsight, looks as if the Beeb's schedulers did them all a huge favour

Historically Today haven't decamped the whole operation - just the presentation operation.

Unlike other NBC Olympic shows, which are produced, directed and technically produced locally in the NBC space in the IBC, Today often use a remote production system to allow production to be controlled from New York.

Certainly in Beijing (and I think London) every studio camera was fibred back separately to a gallery control room in New York, where the technical crew were still based. The show was directed from NY and cut there. I'd expect the same to be true of Sochi. It allows them to use their standard production processes, all their New York edit suites and play-in facilities etc.

So the entire operation didn't decamp...

Much like CBC are doing then. It's all cabled back to Toronto and Montreal.

And we figured out that the BBC probably are too what with the delays in interviews.

Must be a lot cheaper

It's a big talking point in the broadcast industry at present, you stuff all your camera and audio feeds
down a big fat low latency wide bandwidth pipe to base, and do all your camera racking, sound balancing, and production back there. I was involved in an experiment a couple of years ago to remote control and rack
a three camera HD flyaway system in London, and rack it in Stockholm. It worked, but at this end the only
place we could find a fat enough circuit to plug into was to take the UK end of the rig to a Docklands data centre !

Future OB trucks could have a lot fewer people and kit on board.

The NBC studio was also used back in New York while their current set was being built.

SVT and NRK both did their London 2012 studios this way I believe - fibre-ing cameras back individually (with remote racking control going the other way). Presenter mic feeds were embedded on the outgoing videos from each camera, and presumably reverse talkback and clean-feeds were handled on a couple of reverse visions that were used for preview monitors etc.

It's popular in Scandinavia internally as well - as they have great fibre infrastructure. (SVT did alpine sport coverage from Norway as a test pre-London 2012)

I don't think the BBC are using this approach - as they aren't running a multi-camea operation out there. I suspect they are just using standard Unis and accepting a higher latency (as they aren't remotely racking or directing etc. and are presenting out and about)