Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Former IMG Production Boss Graham Fry Presented with Outstanding Contribution Award at SVG Europe's Sport Production Summit

14/09/2023

Former IMG production boss Graham Fry presented with Outstanding Contribution Award at Sport Production Summit By George Bevir

Thursday, September 14, 2023 - 17:19

Print This Story

Graham Fry, left, presented with the SVG Europe Outstanding Contribution to European Sports Broadcasting award in Amsterdam by David Shield SVG global director of engineering technology, IMG

Former IMG production managing director Graham Fry was the proud recipient of SVG Europe's Outstanding Contribution to European Sports Broadcasting award at the Sport Production Summit today.

The Award is given annually to an individual who has changed the nature of sports content creation and distribution within Europe - an apt description of Fry who played an instrumental role in building IMG into a production powerhouse, striking era-defining deals and forging longstanding relationships with clients and competitors along the way.

Fry was presented with the Outstanding Contribution award in front of a packed audience at De Hallen Studio's in Amsterdam, where he shared his thoughts on the industry and spoke about his route into broadcasting, which began with an assistant producer role at BBC Sport.

One of the mantras that I carried into my role as managing director at IMG is that a team is only as strong as its weakest link. And in those early days, I was the weakest link in in Grandstand, said Fry.

I got so much help from so many people who taught me all sorts of tricks of the trade. That was a big part of my development because I worked every Saturday and Sunday on Grandstand and in that time, I worked on pretty much every sport you could cover, whether it was bobsleigh, skiing, or rugby league. It was a really great experience for me.

That experience was put to good use producing staples of the BBC's sports output including Wimbledon, Match of the Day, Ski Sunday and on major events such as the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, FIFA World Cup and European Championships.

But the world of broadcasting was changing, and with BSB (British Satellite Broadcasting) launching in 1990 with sport a key part of its offering, Fry was offered an executive producer role. Despite his affection for the BBC, it was an offer which proved too good to turn down.

I loved it at the BBC, said Fry. I loved the people I worked with, and the projects I worked on. But [BSB] offered me an executive producer job, which effectively doubled my money and so with a young family I decided to go for it. Satellite TV was exciting, but when I left the BBC, it was with a heavy heart. Part of me thought, no more World Cups, no more Euros or Olympic Games, no more Grand Nationals or Open golf championships. But I ended up working on all of them again.

Following BSB's merger with Sky, Fry received an offer to join TWI - later to become IMG as live golf producer. I'd worked on a lot of golf at the BBC, so that gave me a huge advantage. There were two events in the first year and by the time I'd stopped in that role, I'd produced over 110 golf tournaments. And that was the start of my life at IMG.

Premier League deals

One of the highlights of Fry's career has been his work on and relationship with the Premier League, which began in 1997 when together with Canal Plus, Fry led IMG's successful bid for the overseas rights to the league, which at that time was only a few years old. That deal meant we had to do some highlight programming, and that was the start of our relationship with the Premier League, which continued to build until it was the biggest project we had in IMG, alongside the European Tour Golf production.

Another landmark moment highlighted by Fry was IMG's ongoing relationship with HBS, the host broadcast production subsidiary of InFront. HBS was host broadcaster for the FIFA 2002 World Cup, and following the demise of one its partners, found itself in need of a significant number of production crew. Fry called HBS to offer the services of TWI, which he described as something of a longshot because of the rivalry between the two production outfits.

I didn't really think it would happen, but it did, and so we got involved with HBS on the World Cup of 2002 in Korea and Japan. They needed a lot of experienced production personnel in very short order, so I offered the best part of 100 people to go on work on it, because we had a lot of experienced people working on the Premier League products.

They knew we had a good reputation, and it was the start of an amazing relationship that continued with the formation of the Doha Asian Games Broadcasting Service and is still going strong in 2023, with IMG and HBS working together on the Rugby World Cup, for example.

At the same time, IMG's work producing content for overseas Premier League rights holders went from strength to strength. There was another important moment, which turned out to be a landmark for me. Every spring, usually just after the Premier League season ended, all the overseas licensees would come to London for a two-day workshop to run through our plans for next season.

One of the things they said they wanted was content every day. We were already giving them content, probably five days out of seven, but they wanted something every day. So, we put cameras at training grounds and reporters in various parts of the country and then it dawned on me that if we're doing something every day, we could produce a channel for them. And so I got to work one evening with my ruler, a pencil and piece of paper and drew up a what I thought could be a potential schedule. We presented it to the Premier League in December of 2009, they thought about it and then came to us in April of 2010 and said if you can do a channel for this budget, we'll do it.

And it was very, very lively! We got on the air on the first d
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/outstanding-contribution-to-s...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

13/03/2025

You Will Leave Opus Singing the Original Bops Performed by John Malkovich

(L-R) Stephanie Suganami, Tatanka Means, John Malkovich, Ayo Edebiri, and Juliette Lewis attend the premiere of Opus at Eccles Theatre in Park City. (Photo by...

13/03/2025

How Spotify Is Driving Growth, Discovery, and Innovation in the Audiobook Market

Spotify took center stage at the London Book Fair this week, reaffirming our commitment to the audiobook market and showcasing our impact on the publishing indu...

13/03/2025

Spotify Audiobooks Launches a New Publishing Program for Independent Authors

At Spotify, we work every day to lift up new voices, giving creators the opportunity to live off their art. Through Spotify Audiobooks, our in-house publishing ...

13/03/2025

Evolving EO/IR Technology For All-Domain Airborne Law Enforcement

Every time airborne law enforcement (ALE) teams fly, they expect their equipment to perform. Whether airborne units are conducting support for ground teams, bor...

13/03/2025

Craft Interview: Jamie McCombs, Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio

Sunday February 9 saw the annual return of the US' biggest television event, the Super Bowl LIX. Jamie McCombs, Fox Sports Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio capt...

13/03/2025

Craft Interview: Paul Sandweiss, Production Sound Mixer/Audio Director

On Sunday March 2, stars across the film industry gathered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 97th Academy Awards. Production Sound Mixer Paul Sandweis...

13/03/2025

Riedel To Showcase New StageLink Smart Edge Devices At 2025 NAB Show

WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications will feature its new StageLink family of smart edge devices, Smart Audio and Mixing Engine (SAME) and Virtual Smart Pan...

13/03/2025

TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring for VOS360 Streaming Workflows at the 2025 NAB Show

TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...

13/03/2025

DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage Platform that Empowers Video Teams to Scale Effortlessly

DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...

13/03/2025

FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Life at NAB 2025 Exhibition

FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...

13/03/2025

Ajit Pai Appointed President of CTIA

CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...

13/03/2025

NAB: FCC's 60 Minutes Investigation Is Unconstitutional, Invalid

he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...

13/03/2025

CBS Miami to Launch AR Coverage of Weather and Sports for March Madness

MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...

13/03/2025

Meet the co-founder and chief customer success & innovation officer

Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...

13/03/2025

FCC Chairman Carr Launches Massive Deregulation Initiative

WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...

13/03/2025

SDVI Integrates Rally With Spectra Vail

SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...

13/03/2025

FCC Approves Gray's Acquisition of KXLT

ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...

13/03/2025

NAB Show 2025 Exhibitor Insight: Blackmagic Design

TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...

13/03/2025

Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice

Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions. ...

13/03/2025

Roku Debuts NWSL Zone' Within Roku Sports to Spotlight Live Games, Content

Roku Debuts NWSL Zone' Within Roku Sports to Spotlight Live Games, Content Feature marks Rokus first women's league-branded zone within service By Bra...

13/03/2025

Pixels, Images, Video, AI - and Us: A Perspective on AI from NDI Inventor Andrew Cross

Pixels, Images, Video, AI - and Us: A Perspective on AI from NDI Inventor Andrew...

13/03/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Lighting Design Group's Steve Brill, Dennis Size on Completing Customizable Studios for All Clients

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Lighting Design Group's Steve Brill, Dennis Size ...

13/03/2025

IOC, Comcast NBCU Ink $3B Media-Rights Extension for Olympic Games Through 2036; Add Digital Projects, Initiatives

IOC, Comcast NBCU Ink $3B Media-Rights Extension for Olympic Games Through 2036;...

13/03/2025

NCAA March Madness Live Returns with Expanded Availability of MultiView Vertical Video Feed, Mascot Mode, and Popular Boss Button

NCAA March Madness Live Returns with Expanded Availability of MultiView Vertical...

13/03/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive Experience for Daytona, The PLAYERS, and March Madness

SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive...

13/03/2025

Sky Business Launches Cloud Voice A New Cloud Communication Solution for UK Businesses

Sky Business, Sky's B2B division, providing connectivity and content to busi...

13/03/2025

Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S NRP140TWG(N) thermal power sensor: A new benchmark for F band applications

Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S NRP140TWG(N) thermal power sensor: A new benchmark ...

13/03/2025

The ICG Marketing Survey 2025

We asked the questions, analysed the answers and now we're excited to share the results of the fifth edition of the ICG Marketing Survey. Our 2025 survey p...

13/03/2025

Harmonic Amps Up Video Streaming Efficiency with New Origin Capabilities

SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 13, 2025 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a breakthrough in video streaming innovation with the launch of new origin capabilitie...

13/03/2025

Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025

Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025 Haivision's video wall systems, ISR technology, and DoDIN APL-certified video distri...

13/03/2025

FOR-A America Theme Connecting the Present, Building the Future Comes to Life at NAB 2025 Exhibition

Company Leads the Way with New Software-Based Production Platform, 12G Switcher,...

13/03/2025

2025-03-13

A new Apple Immersive concert experience, Metallica, is coming to Apple Vision Pro this Friday, March 14. Filmed in Mexico City during the sold-out second-year ...

13/03/2025

Italia 90 Republic of Ireland Squad, Riverdance, Cian Ducrot & B*Witched on Friday's Late Late Show

Here is your host, Patrick Kielty! Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...

13/03/2025

RT Celebrating all things Irish this St. Patrick's Weekend

This St. Patrick's weekend, RT invites you to celebrate all things Irish, showcasing the very best of Irish sport, entertainment and live coverage from the...

13/03/2025

GTC 2025 - Announcements and Live Updates

What's next in AI is at GTC 2025. Not only the technology, but the people and ideas that are pushing AI forward - creating new opportunities, novel solution...

13/03/2025

T-Mobile, Thales and SIMPL ease IoT deployments with a flexible and secure connectivity solution

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...

13/03/2025

Relive the Magic as GeForce NOW Brings More Blizzard Gaming to the Cloud

Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library. Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...

13/03/2025

Gaming Goodness: NVIDIA Reveals Latest Neural Rendering and AI Advancements Supercharging Game Development at GDC 2025

AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...

13/03/2025

Drop It Like It's Mod: Breathing New Life Into Classic Games With AI in NVIDIA RTX Remix

PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...

12/03/2025

Como o Impacto Cultural e Financeiro da Indstria Musical Define Seu Sucesso em 2025

O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...

12/03/2025

Cmo el impacto cultural y financiero de la industria musical define su xito en 2025

Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...

12/03/2025

Nourish Mind, Body, and Soul This Ramadan With Spotify

Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...

12/03/2025

How the Music Industry's Cultural and Financial Impact Define Its Success in 2025

Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...

12/03/2025

FAST now transcends back catalog content

More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...

12/03/2025

Viamedia Adopts ShowSeeker Pilot To Streamline Ad Workflows

GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...

12/03/2025

Mediagenix Appoints Wael Yasin as Sales Director Central Europe

BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....

12/03/2025

Omdia: Global Online Consumer Expenditure to Hit $6.6 Trillion by 2029

LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...

12/03/2025

Comcast Technology Solutions Upgrades to Interra Systems BATON Version 9

CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....

12/03/2025

Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering

Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering Brie Clayton March 12, 2025 0 Comments High-capacity switch enhances existi...

12/03/2025

DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol

DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol Brie Clayton March 12, 2025 0 Comments Feature film relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for ...