
How The Switch delivered the US and international feeds for the global fundraiser
By Jenny Priestley
Published: April 22, 2020
How The Switch delivered the US and international feeds for the global fundraiser
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> How The Switch delivered the US and international feeds for the global fundraiser
https://www.tvbeurope.com/features/delivering-one-world-together-at-home-to-a-global-audience title=Share via Email class=share-email>
Global audiences came together last weekend in a show of unity and resilience in support of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and frontline workers. One World: Together at Home, organised by Global Citizen and curated by Lady Gaga, included a line-up of international stars, celebrities and icons who recorded performances and interviews from their homes, as many parts of the world continue to be placed under strict lockdown orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working on a tight deadline as the event was pulled together in a short period, The Switch, the platform for the production and global delivery of live video, played a key role in ensuring the broadcast reached the right networks, channels and streaming services at the right times when as live home performances by the likes of The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Elton John, Paul McCartney, and Lady Gaga herself went out. Among a range of services, The Switch provided: ingest of the US domestic and international shows; playout for pre-feeds and the live to air broadcast shows; domestic fibre and satellite to North America; and international fibre and satellite distribution to EMEA, Asia Pacific and South America.
A UK package was hosted by Claudia Winkelman, Dermot O'Leary and Clara Amfo for the BBC, while in the US events were overseen by late-night network presenters Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. The performances were packaged into a number of shows and livestreams broadcast on major networks across the globe, including ABC, CBS and NBC in the US and Canal+, Sony Pictures-Latin America, Sony Pictures-India, RAI Italy, TVE-Spain, NOVA-Bulgaria, Dubai-TV, Rede Globo and many others in international markets. Versions of the show were also streamed on a wide array of over-the-top (OTT) services, including YouTube, Tidal, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Twitch and Apple TV+, as well as social media sites Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
It was hugely exciting for The Switch to play an instrumental role in such an important and ground-breaking global event - addressing last minute requests right up until airtime, said David Shearer, senior vice president, Sales for The Switch. Things had to be set in motion pretty quickly but our team's vast experience and expertise in bringing major live events to the screen served us well.
Each performer and presenter pre-recorded their own contributions to the programme from home, using a variation of smart phone recordings to professional production set ups, which was then assembled at Sim's post production facility in Hollywood. Once the packages were compiled and the graphics overlaid, the feeds were then distributed globally.
The biggest challenge was ensuring we had both the US domestic and international feeds up and running within such a short timeframe, said Shearer. As Sim does not have any fulltime connectivity at a video level with the outside world, we install connectivity for live or as-live' shows when needed. For Global Citizen, we provided two temporary HD-SDI connections, one to The Switch Los Angeles and the other to AT&T's Hollywood Hub. These allowed the finished programmes to be fed to The Switch.
Once the temporary connectivity was installed, Sim then played out the domestic show to The Switch, which recorded the feeds at its West Los Angles production and control facility. Shortly afterwards the international show was recorded by The Switch, while the first playout of the domestic feeds went to ABC, CBS and NBC. Once the signals were tested and received, the networks could then customise and brand the feeds themselves. For the digital show, The Switch distributed the feeds to Vista Worldlink in Miami, which then encoded and distributed them globally via satellite and OTT.
For the international broadcast show, The Switch provided fibre feeds from Los Angeles to the BT Tower in London, where affiliates could then receive and broadcast the signals. It also provided a separate fibre path to London to Globecast, which then uplinked the signal to a Eutelsat satellite for coverage across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. APAC were also able to pick up a signal via fibre links to Australia, which was then uplinked to an AsiaSat satellite.
The spectacular show, which didn't solicit donations but was intended as a celebration in support of those fighting COVID-19, still raised $127 million for coronavirus relief efforts - to be split between the World Health Organisation and other charities.
Most recent headlines
14/03/2025
BURLINGTON, Mass. Avid has expanded its executive leadership team (ELT) with the appointment of three experienced executives: Tom Sharma as chief technology off...
14/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. TVU Networks, a pioneer in live video production and a leader in cloud-based media solutions, is marking its 20th anniversary at the 2025 NAB ...
13/03/2025
(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
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
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
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
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
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
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 ...
13/03/2025
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 Lif...
13/03/2025
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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 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...
13/03/2025
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;...
13/03/2025
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...
13/03/2025
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 ...
13/03/2025
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
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's video wall systems, ISR technology, and DoDIN APL-certified video distri...
13/03/2025
Company Leads the Way with New Software-Based Production Platform, 12G Switcher,...
13/03/2025
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
Here is your host, Patrick Kielty!
Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...
13/03/2025
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
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
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...
13/03/2025
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
AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...
13/03/2025
PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...
12/03/2025
O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...
12/03/2025
Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...
12/03/2025
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
Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...
12/03/2025
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
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
BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....
12/03/2025
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
CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....