Sky To Set Up Cape Town Studio
Sky Sports is to set up its own studio in Cape Town during the football World Cup in South Africa despite the pay-TV broadcaster having no live TV rights to the event.
BSkyB’s sports operation has reached a deal with the UK production company Input Media to use a dedicated studio as part of a £1m broadcast centre on the waterfront with views of Cape Town stadium, Table Mountain and Robben Island for the World Cup, which begins on 11th June.
The live UK TV rights to the tournament are jointly held by the BBC and ITV but Sky is likely to use the base to promote its high-definition satellite TV offering, which will be showing World Cup matches broadcast on the BBC HD and ITV HD channels.
The deal with Input Media will see it use a three-camera studio at the V&A Waterfront World Media & Legacy Centre, which is in the heart of the tourist area in Granger Bay in Cape Town.
Input Media has invested £1m into the broadcasting facilities at the centre, which it is offering for use to broadcasters that are not rights holders, with costs running from about $1,000 for a one-off 10 minute package to hundreds of thousands for a full-service presence for the duration of the tournament.
