Press releases

Ismaning, 03 May 2010 – World Championship fever at PLAZAMEDIA: Germany’s largest sports-TV producer will use innovative technology to showcase the opening match of the 2010 IIHF World Championship. Exclusively for LIGA total!, PLAZAMEDIA will produce the clash between Germany and the USA on 7 May in the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, in 3D, HD und SD 16:9. In addition to the regular live broadcast on sports channel SPORT1 (in SD 16:9), the opening match will also be shown exclusively in 3D and HD on LIGA total! from 8.10 p.m. as part of a collaboration between Constantin Medien AG and Deutsche Telekom AG.

The football stadium “Auf Schalke” will masquerade as a giant ice hockey arena for the occasion, with room for nearly 76,000 fans. PLAZAMEDIA will showcase this emotional sporting highlight with its customary high quality, capturing the game from a variety of perspectives with nine 3D cameras in total. As well as the main camera and a radio camera, in particular the two behind-the-goal chip cameras and the sportscams on the opposing right and left sides will bring the fast pace of the action to the screen with spectacular pictures. Added to this are two chip cameras to the right and left of the penalty benches and a polecam above the ice rink to make sure no match decisions escape the viewers at home. To watch the World Championship opener on LIGA total! in 3D, Entertain customers require a LIGA total! HD subscription, a 3D-ready TV and a pair of 3D glasses.

Florian Nowosad, CEO of PLAZAMEDIA, says: “With PLAZAMEDIA already having successfully produced a football Champions League match in 3D in February, our next step is now in another sport. It’ll be the first time an ice hockey match has ever been broadcast live in 3D and HD in Europe. Technically it’s especially challenging because the play is extremely fast and the puck is difficult to make out. I’m confident we’ll be presenting world-class ice hockey in a new dimension on 7 May.”

As well as the opening match, PLAZAMEDIA will produce the entire Ice Hockey World Championship (7 – 23 May) for sports channel SPORT1, which is showing a total of 30 games in up to 22 broadcasts (over 3,000 live minutes) on free TV and has one studio on the spot in the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen and one in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. PLAZAMEDIA will use four additional cameras for the unilateral Sport1 production and lay 1,000 metres of cable in the venue. Altogether 25 crew from the full-service provider will be on site over the two weeks to make sure the technology performs without a hitch.

PLAZAMEDIA GmbH, a Constantin Medien AG company, is one of the leading full-service providers for TV and new media and is also Germany’s largest producer of sports TV. Based in Ismaning near Munich, the company employs a full-time staff of 230 as well as 700 freelancers to produce content for television broadcasters and rights holders in the fields of domestic and international football, ice hockey, basketball, boxing, Formula 1, sailing and European and World Championships in a variety of sports. PLAZAMEDIA offers comprehensive services for OB production, broadcasting, new media, studio productions and post-production. The firm’s clients include sky, LIGA total!, SPORT1, ARD, ZDF, RTL, SAT.1, ProSieben, RTL II, Disney Television International and Eurosport, as well as many other national and international companies. PLAZAMEDIA is managed by Florian Nowosad (CEO), Zeljko Karajica and Markus Maximilian Sturm.


Contact:

PLAZAMEDIA

Ulrike Haeser
Director Marketing & Communication
Fax: +49-(0)89-99633-6703
Phone: +49-(0)89-99633-6701
Email: ulrike.haeser@plazamedia.de