9 countries, 1 graphics provider: wTVision! wTVision is one of the most experienced players covering data and real-time graphics of several football competitions worldwide. The company is now covering 9 National Football Leagues in: Portugal, Spain, Belgium, United Arab Emirates, France, India, Afghanistan, Gabon, and Bolivia.
All these competitions have different requirements, levels of statistics, number of operators, sports products, and services. But, in the end, what is the role of wTVision in a football championship?
wTVision covers data and graphics. To do that, wTVision offers the software, the equipment, the design, and the people.
Software - FootballStats CG is the product used to cover football matches and championships. This product has two main applications: Football Stats, wTVision's football-dedicated scouting system, that allows operators to collect a wide range of information on a match, for a complete report. This information can give a very detailed picture of the game, allowing to collect events such as: "Player X takes a left-footed shot from inside the penalty area and scores a goal, to the right high. Assist on the goal came from Player Z" and FootballSlides, an application to control on-air graphics that receives information from the database and displays it through any kind of on-air graphics by controlling a graphic engine. wTVision integrates with several graphics engines from partners such as ORAD, Vizrt, Ross Video, or Chyron.
For the data, wTVision can work in partnership with other companies, such as Stats, Amisco, or Opta, integrating their data and managing the graphics operation. This scenario is happening in the French League, where wTVision is receiving data from Amisco.
In addition to the "traditional" data collection, wTVision also integrates tracking systems' data to provide even more detailed coverage. In Portugal, for example, wTVision is using SportVU from Stats to deliver tracking data to its client SportTV.
With the data being gathered, this must be stored and spread to commentators, coaches, and fans. wTVision’s SportStats Center is the database system to manage and store data, on a match-by-match basis, and in championship-wide events. Data is then used to feed MatchCenters and provide custom game reports, automatically, to be delivered to federations and clubs.
Check the example of the Portuguese league matchcenter, designed, developed, and managed by wTVision (http://matchcenter.wtvision.com/). Matchcenters receive information in real-time and include written reports with the description of the actions, as if it were a real person/commentator reporting the game.
During the broadcasts, commentators are given access to wTVision’s Sports Commentator, which provides updated statistics and reports, allowing a more detailed and in-depth analysis during the game.
To enrich the broadcast and highlight the company’s capacity of using different technologies, to provide a complete service, wTVision also provides virtual graphics showing information such as distance to the goal or offsides. In Portugal, wTVision is using the system from its partners Deltacast and Hego.
It is also worth mentioning that the company has vast experience managing giant screens in football stadiums. This dedicated application enables the management of data (statistics), graphics (with statistics, player IDs, etc.), clips (for advertising), and a ticker.
In the 9 leagues, different models are being applied. Clients can choose to have 3 different levels of statistics, meaning different investments:
Level 1 - FootballStats CG - Single Operation Edition - Allows a single operator to gather the most important data a televised football game requires and launch the graphics from the same interface (model used in Gabon and India).
Level 2 - Football Stats CG - Premium Edition - Enables rich and complete data coverage for broadcasters, federations, and coaches' reports.
Level 3 - FootballStats SG + Tracking System Integration - Combines data collected with FootballStats with tracking data of players, balls, and referees for complete data coverage.
Equipment and Logistics - wTVision can provide all equipment needed to cover an event. The service can be made in the stadium, using wTVision’s HD Graphics OB-Vans or in a studio environment (at client facilities).
People - wTVision’s operational staff is responsible for setting up all equipment to cover the event, gathering data during the game or coordinating data coming from other third-party data providers, setting up tracking systems and virtual graphics systems, if applicable, managing the real-time graphics production according to the director’s requests (different levels of information can be launched), and validating the data collected and enriching the database with additional information. Clients can choose to operate the service themselves, using wTVision’s products, which can be sold or licensed to the client for a period.
Design & Branding Services - wTVision can integrate the graphics, using the client's branding or develop the entire concept. The last example was the Portuguese Federation.