It started in Malmö 2013. Back then, our task was to deliver comm radio equipment. Since then we have been to Stockholm, Ukraine, Portugal and Israel in 2019. Every year the assignment grew in scope and complexity. In Israel, the competition included three individual broadcasts, which meant that TPO was on site during 60 days with a crew of about 15 people and several co-workers working remotely.
During the two initial weeks, our mission was to build a production office for around ten people. After that a network was built which supplied the whole event with internet access for accreditation, ticket validation, video, light and TV production among other things. We installed tens of kilometers of fiber cable and built a large distribution network. Wireless networks for camera systems and distribution of sound and image were also established. In the capacity of frequency coordinator TPO also had the responsibility of making sure that a huge range of wireless application could be used without interfering with each other.
When working with an event of this magnitude that far away from our home base, everything is brought to a head. The logistics becomes as great a challenge as the broadcast itself. This makes it all the more important that we ensure right from the planning stage that we have redundancy in our hardware delivery. It can be described as having a plan B which is already in motion. Among other things this means that we always bring double sets of all hardware that we use.
Eurovision Song Contest is an event that creates a lot of emotion and enthusiasm. It also contains an element of politics that can’t be underestimated. There are many stake holders to consider, many professional groups to unite and many sub-contractors that must be prompted to pull in the same direction. This means that TPO through the years not only have developed its capacity in tech, but also in diplomacy. Cyber security is also a big priority when all of world is watching. This was enhanced further when the competition took place in Israel with its geopolitical history.
We are proud of our capacity to pull off an event of this magnitude. Not only is it an occasion for people around the world to unite around music, it is also an occasion for the TV industry to show off new technology and try out new concepts.
During Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine, Portugal and Israel we cooperated with Riedel as technical partner. During the event in Stockholm we participated as sub-contractors to the City of Stockholm.