The Biathlon World Cup 2015 recently came to a close with the German team winning three gold and two silver medals, and finishing second to France in the medal table.

Alongside the world’s elite biathlon athletes who had put themselves to the test in Kontiolahti, Finland, Lawo had also proved to be at the top of its game. Finnish public broadcaster YLE had used an IP-based Commentary System with onsite support from Audio Broadcast Services (ABS) for television coverage of the event.

The fully digital system is based on Ravenna Audio-over-IP networking technology that enables the use of standard IP networks for interconnecting venues and devices. Ten Lawo Commentary Units (LCU) served the commentary unit, with the IP-based link infrastructure and the software-based Commentary Control Room Management tools delivering audio to all National Broadcast Partners – providing a complete and flexible solution from a single source.

The ABS/Lawo team installed the LCUs in less than three hours using pre-prepared configurations and idents, and the first commentators were able to tie inti their home broadcasters immediately afterwards – a speed of set-up that impressed the YLE staff. In addition to YLE, a number of other broadcasters used the Lawo Commentary System, among these were Russian nationwide TV and radio broadcaster RTR, Sweden’s SVT, France TV and Russian broadcaster C1R.

Further Lawo technology was also in use in the OB vans that were onsite to cover the event. Among these were the YLE-UT10 for the world feed, the Mobile Production Unit (Mobile Produktions-Einheit, MPE) from German public broadcasters ARD/ZDF, and an OB van for HD resources – all of these mobile units were equipped with mc²66 audio mixing consoles.

More: www.lawo.com