BBC Sport Introduces New RCS LaunchPad for English Premier League Broadcasts

For the Premier League’s 26th season, which kicked off this past month, BBC Sport introduced Reality Check Systems’ (RCS) LaunchPad touchscreen graphics and analysis solution into its live studio and remote production workflows for English Premier League and other sports broadcasts. RCS completed the integration as part of a new deal with the BBC, and will continue to provide ongoing system support to the network.

LaunchPad primarily resides in BBC Sport’s Salford-based studio, where it has enhanced BBC Sport’s storytelling capabilities for Premier League and other sporting event broadcasts, enabling real-time analytics and telestrations before, during and post-match/game. In addition, BBC Sport plans to use a second LaunchPad system to cover remote events. LaunchPad’s intuitive UI has made it easy for BBC Sport talent to call up and analyze touchscreen graphics that visualize live stats on players, teams, matches and more, providing coverage for fans.

“Mass audiences tune into BBC Sport’s coverage each weekend wanting to see the latest action and updates on their favorite teams and players,” says Phil Bigwood, Executive Producer, BBC TV Sport. “This season we wanted to improve and build upon what we already do and give viewers more detailed information in a more visually interesting way. With tactical analysis becoming an increasingly important tool in live sports production, we thought LaunchPad could help us better engage fans with dynamic graphics and in-depth analysis of their favorite players and teams. LaunchPad is a great storytelling product containing a range of useful tools to help keep viewers entertained and informed by our coverage. We’ve seen great results so far, with positive feedback, and look forward to building on this over the coming months.”

LaunchPad is powered by Foundation, RCS’ cloud data service, which automatically culls Opta football match data, sorts and organizes the information and makes it accessible via the touchscreen. Available in any language and easily transportable for remote events, LaunchPad helps networks and leagues, such as BBC Sport, Univision Deportes, beIN Sports, SBS Discovery, Eurosport and MBC Sports connect fans more closely to football. LaunchPad integrates with industry standard tools, and each system arrives tailored to the client’s aesthetic.