4th October 2006

It was a great end to a truly successful season as the final round of the Bennett’s British Superbike Championship took place at Brands Hatch on Sunday 1st October. After 13 rounds of the fast-paced sport, the Televideo team were extremely pleased with the end result, and all crew members enjoyed an end of season party to celebrate the show’s first year live on ITV1.

The British Superbike Championship is without a doubt the biggest success story of motor racing in recent years. The speed and thrills have attracted huge audiences, with numbers still rising. The television coverage of this sport is key. Televideo have provided this coverage for Sky Sports for 6 years - on Sky the programme is broadcast delayed live in its entirety. ITV1 took the show live for the first time this year. The British Superbike Championship was aired on Sunday afternoons, putting the pressure on to deliver a show suitable for this prime-time slot. The end result was a very successful series that gained approximately 1.1 million viewers per week, with numbers increasing towards the final round, which saw around 1.5 million viewers watch Kiyonari take first place in the championship.

The outside broadcast trucks used to provide the television coverage were Televideo’s Unit 4, a large articulated unit with extended production area, and a presentation truck that was re-designed specifically for ITV’s live coverage. Later on in the season, Televideo launched their new high definition unit, HD1, at the Superbikes, although the truck, which has dual output, was used in standard definition on this occasion. The Televideo team at the British Superbike Championship consisted of an average of 18 crew members, made up of engineers, EVS operators, graphics operators, vision mixers, sound engineers and cable riggers. The consistency of the crew, together with their professionalism and hard work, not only resulted in an excellent television series, but also helped to make the season enjoyable for all involved.