Pictured (left to right): Alexander Günther (Sportcast); Stefan Kuerten (EBU Director Sports & Business); Ingrid Deltenre (EBU Director General); Josef Nehl (Sportcast); Frank Hippler (Sportcast); Agnieszka Czerska (Eurovision Manager of Marketing a.i.); Dominic Vogt (Sportcast); Georges Bery (Eurovision Technical Sales Engineer)
 

Four top executives from Sportscast, which produces the German Bundesliga’s broadcast signals, took part in a joint demonstration this week of ‘Web Services’, a new software tool developed by the EBU to streamline the way Bundesliga transmissions are managed on the Eurovision network.

Web Services is a direct interface between the transmission booking databases of Sportcast and Eurovision, which automates a booking process that had previously been carried out manually. It is a successful cooperative development initiated by the Eurovision marketing and sales unit, and actively supported by the IT and planning teams of both Sportcast and Eurovision.

The production version of the tool went live on July 3.

Given that Sportcast books about 5,780 hours of transmissions per year on the Eurovision network, Web Services will greatly enhance accuracy and efficiency, and liberate staff to focus on other tasks.
 
Hosting the visit was EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre, who said Web Services was a highly innovative solution with potential for expansion.

“Web Services is a fantastic new tool that will benefit the Bundesliga and Eurovision in equal measure,” she said. “Automation means we are minimizing manual intervention and the risk of human error, which is good news all round. We have begun rolling out this tool to other Eurovision customers as well, including EBU Members, so Web Services has a very promising future.”

Sportcast executives attending Tuesday’s demonstration at the EBU headquarters, in Geneva, were CEO Josef Nehl, CAO Alexander Günther, Head of Distribution Services Frank Hippler and planning manager Dominic Vogt.