The Quicklink TX has been enlisted by oXyFire Media to assist in remotely producing FreeSports’ Rugby League Back Chat programme amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Skype TX technology has enabled the show to remotely introduce presenters and guests while the usual studio-based production is not able to take place.
Rugby League Back Chat is a 60-minute show produced by PHA Broadcast and broadcast on FreeSportsTV. The programme is in its 8th series and hosted by Matt Shaw and is the UK’s essential weekly Rugby League TV debate show.
“It’s not quite as bad as having a chat show with nothing to chat about; but having a sports chat show with no sport to chat about does have its challenges.” say’s Producer Paul Davies of PHA Broadcast. “As a 30-episode programmes, Rugby League Back Chat was only 3 programmes into its current series when the lockdown was announced meaning not only was there no sport to talk about, but no guests to talk about no sport.”
Rugby League Back Chat discusses the news and breakdown of the UK’s Rugby League and Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL).
Due to the current COVID-19 outbreak and social distancing rules, the most obvious prospect was to cancel the series or at least put it on hold until it was safe to return to the outside world. PHA Broadcast required a method of continuing the Rugby League Back Chat show without requiring the presenter and guests to visit a studio and sit side-by-side. There was another option, and that was to get the guests - from their homes - to dial into a system that could lock up pictures and audio from their mobile phone or laptop. A big ask and technological.
The Quicklink TX was provided to PHA Broadcast by oXyFire Media, an award-winning live streaming and creative video production company based in Sheffield, UK.
“The Quicklink Quad has enabled us to continue working during these troubling times. The Quicklink TX is great, it’s so nice to have full control over the 4-channels as HDSDI sources into our vision mixer” said Jay Rozanski, Creative Director at oXyFire Media.
oXyFire have now used the Quicklink TX Quad for a number of high-profile jobs, including a New York-based fundraising event which raised over $200,000, produced entirely remotely from the UK.
Jay continued: “There’s currently no end in sight for COVID-19, so we are looking forward to rethinking how we place our business and what we do. We’re already in talks with several events companies to work out if and how we can offer virtual conferencing.”
“This set up allowed us to provide episodes where shortly before we had been resigned to the prospect of cancelling an entire series. And so well received was this show we have gone on to make one each week throughout the lockdown which is something any number of sport shows have not been able to achieve.”
