Korea's KBS Climbs the Podium with Riedel

KBS, the Korean national television broadcaster, chose Riedel for its new flypack that was used for the network’s coverage of the Olympic Games. The flypack contains all new state-of-the-art equipment and was deployed not only for KBS’s own programming but also to provide several venue feeds to the Olympic host broadcaster Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB).

The intercom consists of an Artist 128 frame, 18 x 1000 series LED display control panels and 14 x 2000 series LCD display control panels. In addition, the system includes 3 x C44 digital partyline interfaces, 12 x C3 digital beltpacks being used for IFBs, 2 x CD2 digital partyline speaker stations, and 3 x C31 split boxes for added flexibility. On top of this KBS is also used a RiFace to integrate two way radio communication into the intercom system, 2 x Connect Solo analog telephone hybrids to interface to telephone lines and 2 x Connect IP to add VoIP functionality.

“The versatility of the digital beltpacks is key,” explained Yeom Jung-Dong, Deputy Director responsible for outside broadcast infrastructure at KBS. “Not only do we no longer have to deal with 2/4 wire converters but the audio quality is superb. The digital audio makes an obvious difference.”

Riedel has been a popular choice at the Games in Beijing. Half of the 55 broadcast trucks used to cover the events were equipped with Riedel intercom systems. In addition to KBS, other national broadcasters that used Riedel include the BBC (UK), ARD/ZDF (Germany), ORF (Austria), TVE (Spain), ERT (Greece), ERR (Estonia) and CHT (Taiwan). On top of the national broadcasters, communications for the enormous opening and closing ceremonies and all of the venue communications utilized Riedel equipment. Over 1,370 C3 digital beltpacks were used for venue communications and timekeeping alone.

The KBS intercom project was handled by Riedel’s partner in the South Korean market, Sama Global Video Communications Inc.