IBC still in limbo

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 07 Apr 2009

It seems as though the City of Johannesburg is nowhere in its preparations to refurbish the Nasrec centre, now the MTN Expo Centre.

The centre is to host the international broadcasting centre (IBC) during the 2010 World Cup tournament next year.

It has been more than a year since Fifa chose Johannesburg to be the host city for the IBC. In that time, a budget of R120 million has been set aside for the construction and refurbishment of the expo centre. MTN has pledged to further invest in the building as part of the rebranding deal which was signed three weeks ago.

Fifa says the physical upgrades to the building were left up to the city to undertake, yet no major projects have been announced in terms of the promised upgrades to the MTN Expo Centre. These include equipping the building with video adapters that will convert feeds from the stadiums into digital signals that will be sent out worldwide.

The 30 000 m²building, which will see another 6 000m² being added to it, is expected to be the hub of broadcasting activities during next year`s tournament.

Numerous attempts to obtain comment from the City of Johannesburg failed.

Fifa TV director Niclas Ericson says the soccer organisation has provided the services of Host Broadcasting Services (HBS), which is the official broadcasting partner for the tournament.

"HBS`s role includes aspects of the production of the multilateral signal, as well as providing necessary services and facilities to media rights licensees in order to fulfil their unilateral production needs. And this includes the design, construction and set-up of the IBC."

Main concern

"Preparations are on track for the World Cup, with of course a lot to do," says HBS CEO Francis Tellier.

"All parties are currently changing gear, with more staff on board, hence some organisational changes. It is expected that the Confederations Cup will greatly help to `troubleshoot` and fine-tune the projects."

Tellier adds that HBS is primarily concerned with the Confederations Cup at this point, for which it is establishing an international broadcasting coordination centre (IBCC) at HBS`s premises at Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg.

"Most of the six Fifa Confederations Cup stadiums have been cabled and we are working closely with Telkom to ensure the rest will be connected before the Confederations Cup kicks off next year," says 2010 LOC chief IT and telecommunications officer Phumlani Moholi.

Moholi says mobile TV compounds, located outside each FCC stadium, will be used in conjunction with the IBCC to broadcast the games. The compounds will be equipped with an outside broadcasting van, satellite facilities and all the equipment needed to broadcast the games, he adds.