Clear-Com has revealed that the Chilean national broadcaster, Red Televisiva Megavision S.A. (Mega), recently used a Eclipse digital matrix system with IP-enabled V-Series intercom user panels to cover the FIFA Confederations Cup men’s football tournament in Russia.

The V-Series intercom panels use the internet to interconnect Mega OB vans at stadiums in Kazan, Moscow, and Sochi with the Mega production crew at the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in St. Petersburg, and Mega’s central studios in Santiago, Chile. The Intercom-over-IP signals from Russia are fed into Mega’s Eclipse intercom system in Santiago, while it is understood that Mega will be using the same IP-connected Clear-Com intercom system to cover the FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018.

The FIFA Confederations Cup – which ran from 17 June – 2 July – is played every four years as a run-up to the quadrennial FIFA World Cup. Eight teams are in the tournament, including Russia (host of the 2018 FIFA World Cup), Germany (winner of the 2014 FIFA World Cup), and the six winners of FIFA confederations championships worldwide including Chile and Mexico.

New to Mega’s setup is the deployment of IP-enabled V-Series panels at the various communication locations, which are connected to the existing Eclipse intercom system, as part of a larger series of improvements. Deciding to connect its intercoms remotely via IP solves a number of problems for the national Chilean broadcaster.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to find ISDN or analogue telephone lines for international events,” said Antonio Ormazabal, Mega’s operations manager. “The remote IP panels provide us with stable, consistent communication between our production headquarters in Chile and our crews in Russia for live broadcasts.”

Functionally, Mega’s engineering technicians found it easy to add the V-Series panels to their existing Eclipse intercom system and to get those units located in Russia connected back via internet to Santiago. This was accomplished quickly thanks to the V-Series’ one-time configuration set-up, no matter how many times the Mega crews change their locations and internet connections at various stadiums.

“We’ve been a Clear-Com customer for 27 years, and have been consistently pleased with the quality of the products that Clear-Com has provided us,” Ormazabal concluded. “Working with them and the company’s regional distributor, Rios y Cia, Mega has been able to fulfil its intercom needs time after time. We look forward to putting the V-Series panels to their biggest test yet next year, when we cover the FIFA World Cup in Russia.”

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