EA SPORTS FC SUPERCUP 2024 – LEGA SERIE A
The EA SPORTS FC Supercup, held at the Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), featured EI TOWERS as the key player. As the technological partner of Lega Serie A, EI TOWERS supported the TV production working with both an on-site crew, and a dedicated remote team at the Master Control Room (MCR) of the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Lissone. EI TOWERS support throughout the match allowed for the viewing of this spectacular event to the many fans connected from around the world.
EI TOWERS handled the contribution and distribution services for audio and video signals. These services were not only provided to the national licensee of the event in Italy (Mediaset – Italia 1 and Canale 5) and to the thematic channels of the clubs involved in the competition, but also to approximately 40 foreign broadcasters who broadcast the signals of the event to more than 180 countries.
The EA SPORTS FC Supercup was held according to the new format, involving four Serie A teams in the two semifinals played on Jan. 18, 2024 (Napoli vs. Fiorentina) and Jan. 19, 2024 (Inter vs. Lazio). These were followed by the final between Napoli and Inter on January 22, 2024.
EI TOWERS arranged the satellite distribution of 13 signals between the Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh and its Italian MCRs, using 8 different transmission antennas for a total of more than 250 hours of redundant international links, with a bandwidth occupancy of over 500 MHz on four different satellites to provide coverage in Europe, America and MENA. In addition, multiple fiber transports and streaming SRT were managed to reach Lega Serie A partners and domestic and international broadcasters. To coordinate the activities, EI TOWERS set up 15 VoIP conferences between the venue and its own offices.
The facilities available at the IBC enabled the insertion of virtual advertising in the television signals, which allowed for the showcasing of different brands in the countries where the broadcasters licensing the rights aired the EA SPORTS FC Supercup events.
Promotional content of the events, multiple audio-video contributions dedicated to the story-telling of the competition along with the live commentaries of the matches in Italian, English and Arabic were also produced at IBC. Match highlights were also packaged and distributed in the three live commentary languages and in different formats of 2, 3, 4, 10 minutes, differentiated by brand and intended for the domestic market, the international market and the official digital channels of Lega Serie A.
The success of the EA SPORTS FC Supercup reinforces EI TOWERS’ ability to provide broadcasters, rights holders and anyone who needs to distribute live content, with contribution and signal distribution services for sports events, including international events. EI TOWERS thanks all its partners, customers and suppliers for making this great event possible and reaffirms its commitment to the research and development of high quality and reliable broadcast services.