Media report Lesezeit 5 min
BMW Open 2026: live is the duty, reach is the reward
One OB van, three control rooms, 20 cameras – and a cloud distribution that generates more reach for the organiser than the classic live operation. mebucom visited the ATP 500 tournament in Munich.
Since the BMW Open by Bitpanda became an ATP 500 tournament, every court has to deliver a broadcast-ready picture the moment a player steps onto it – across seven days, on a “followed by” schedule without fixed start times. best boys tv-factory acts as host broadcaster and production lead on behalf of MMP Event, with TV SKYLINE supplying the equipment and its OB van Ü7.
Centre court, court 1 and court 2 are produced in 1080i/50 from three control rooms, court 3 runs as a backup feed. Four outgoing video feeds, ten audio feeds from two audio control rooms, around 7.5 kilometres of fibre on site: because the MTTC Iphitos venue next to the Englischer Garten is small, the production is based in the former Max Planck Institute nearby.
20 cameras, 60 EVS channels
The three TV courts are covered by 20 Grass Valley LDX 98 cameras – lead cameras, low player studies at the net, an ultra motion in the centre, two super motions crossed on the sidelines and an RF camera for walk-ons. 60 channels on five EVS VIA servers handle replays, audio runs entirely in stereo on a Lawo MC²56.
Global distribution does not rely on a cloud aggregator but on ATP’s own fibre network: 20 HD-SDI signals travel to London via Appear X20 encoders, another 40 stay on site – for electronic line calling, video review and the LED surfaces. 60 signal paths in total, without a second OB van on the compound.
„We do live here because we have to for the signals of the live partners. That is the basic work. The real question is what comes on top: how do you handle the content?“
The real leverage sits in the cloud
All matches are available as high-resolution recordings on the scoopa content platform around 20 minutes after the final point – segmented by sets and rallies, including highlight rough cuts and an integrated browser editor for accredited media partners. ARD, ZDF and RTL source their summaries exclusively from the cloud and no longer take a live signal at all. Automated EVS direct cloud ingest workflows file ultra motion clips to the correct match without any manual step – and onto the LED wall in the Sky studio within minutes.
Sky, Eurosport, ProSieben MAXX and Joyn arrive without their own outside broadcasting and produce full studio shows via LiveU over the networks provided by best boys. On top of that, a five-person content team delivers curated highlight packages, commentated news edits and social content shot natively in 9:16 instead of being reframed from 16:9.
The results are measurable: the tournament has grown from around 100 million contacts in 2014 to more than two billion. 64 people on site make it happen. The next expansion stage is already decided for 2027 – court 3 becomes a full TV court with its own control room.
The full article by Niklas Eckstein was published by mebucom on 21 May 2026 and is available as a PDF download.
