Formula E partners with Tata Communications to reduce environmental impact of broadcasting

• Tata Communications has partnered with Formula E to become the official broadcast distributor of the Formula E World Championship.
• The two companies have announced a multi-year strategic partnership.
• The company has adopted a remote broadcast model aimed at reducing the environmental impact of sports broadcasting.

Formula-E has signed a multi-year strategic partnership with Indian telecommunications giant Tata Communications to become the official broadcast distributor to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

As part of the agreement, Tata Communications will deliver high-definition and high-speed live broadcast to viewers across the world as part of Formula E’s new remote broadcast production. The aim of this is to reduce the environmental impact of sports broadcasting while also reducing the cost.

Tata Communications was responsible for the broadcast at the 2023 Greenko E-Prix held in Hyderabad, the first Formula E race in India.

"There are 85 cameras capturing the event for over 400 million people watching all over the world. To be able to facilitate that truly speaks about the power of internet that we have been able to leverage, with our dedicated media cloud and edge computing capabilities. And apart from our long-standing partnership with FIA, we extend the services to multiple major sporting leagues across the world,” said AS Lakshminarayanan, chief executive officer, Tata Communications.

Remote broadcasting

As part of the remote broadcasting setup, Tata Communications will deliver more than 160 live video and audio signals from Formula E races across continents using 26 media edge locations across North America, Europe and Asia.

Jamie Reigle, chief executive officer, Formula E said the partnership with Tata Communications has helped reduce the cost by 30 to 40% and the central broadcast hub in London has helped in reducing emissions.

"Formula E is an intense tour given its on-the-go nature. Tata Communications' support over the years has enabled state-of-the-art remote production possible, with real-time TV signal transmissions from the race venues to our broadcast centre in London and finally to the audience's screens. Thus, bringing down multiple logistical challenges, driving cost efficiencies, travel flexibilities for our employee, especially women, and reducing emissions," said Reigle

Eric Ernst, the technology director at Formula E told Business Insider India that the new broadcast system that depends on public internet lines instead of leased lines has helped reduce the cost by around 40%. The company’s plug-and-play setup has also made logistics easier as there is a huge reduction in the setup size and the people required to operate.

“We have 50% less freight and people, which has played a big role in reducing the logistics cost,” said Ernst.

The company employs 49 people at its London centre and has an entourage of 51 people that travel along with the equipment to the race track.

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