Following on from reports on the early roll-out in the Bundesliga, SVG Europe Editor Will Strauss’s new focus is how the English Premier League is going to look, and sound, when it returns to our screens on 17 June.
You may already know that Will appeared on the first new Informed Sauce podcast (15 May) to talk about how the German host broadcasters were managing televised football’s exit from the Coronavirus lockdown.
Premier League options
In the UK, Will writes on the SVG Europe site (6 June), in order to generate some atmosphere and emotion, Sky Sports viewers will be able to opt to hear customisable fake crowd noise created in partnership with EA SPORTS FIFA and watch games with friends in a virtual environment.
On the BBC Sport website, we learn how the audio option works, which “is quite clever – an “audio carpet” for the basic noise is taken from the previous meeting and it is mixed with the real noise of the game. Reaction samples for scenarios such as penalties, fouls and decisions from VAR are created and “inserted” by a watching producer”.
Sky Sports and BT Sport will both use the artificial crowd noise when the Premier League returns, with viewers also being given the option of switching it off.
Both Sky’s and BT Sports’ pre-recorded crowd noise options can be switched off if you prefer to hear the natural stadium noise.
Social option
Both broadcasters are also offering group match watching options, with chat and video calling. BT Sports is called Watch Together, while Sky Sports viewers get to go to the Sky Sports Fanzone.