FIFA TV, the media rights and broadcast operation controlled by football’s governing body is to receive the IBC 2014 International Honour for Excellence.
The highest honour given by the IBC will be presented on Sunday to Niclas Ericson, representing FIFA at IBC and Director of FIFA TV.
The International Honour for Excellence is presented in the gift of the IBC Council. Chair of the Council Peter Owen said “FIFA TV continues to innovate and to engage with its huge global audience. It brings together the latest technologies and leading vendors to deliver unmatched content to unrivalled audiences. For this reason, FIFA TV is the richly-deserved recipient of the IBC2014 International Honour for Excellence.”
Niclas Ericson said “I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of FIFA, and our deepest thanks go to IBC for this honour and recognition. It also pays a fitting tribute to the dedication of our industry-leading service providers who help us deliver the very best coverage of the FIFA World Cup to football fans all over the world.
The FIFA World Cup is far and away the most popular single-sport event in the global calendar, and television audiences for its finals rival the Olympics in terms of international audiences.
Since 2007 the management of media rights and television coverage of the World Cup has been handled directly by FIFA TV. This follows the pattern set by the International Olympic Committee and increasingly replicated by sports organisations that want to stamp their mark on the coverage of their events.
The World Cup has been very much an innovator, leading in the development of new technologies, and encouraging sales of both broadcast hardware and end receivers.
The first radio broadcast of a World Cup was in 1930 from Uruguay. By 1954 in Switzerland television had joined the party, and in Mexico in 1970 colour was added. The first high definition coverage was from Italy in 1990, and by 2006 in Germany all 64 matches were in HD.
25 games were produced in 3D in South Africa four years ago. The estimated global audience for that tournament was 3.2 billion people worldwide. This year three matches in Brazil were produced in 4k Ultra HD and nine in 8k Super Hi-Vision. The final was filmed in 360 degree Ultra HD Omnicam. 10 million FIFA apps were downloaded, with peak daily activity by three million users.
