BT Sport, Here East

2013 – 2023  (Facilities still occasionally available to be used by external productions.)

 

 

In 2012 BT, rather surprisingly to some (probably including Sky), won the rights to broadcast about half the Premier League football matches starting in August 2013.  They also planned to cover women’s football and other leagues around the world as well as the FA Cup.  Other sports they went on to show included rugby, tennis, boxing, baseball, NASCAR, IndyCar and Moto GP.  In November 2013 they outbid ITV and Sky for the following 3 years’ UEFA Champions League matches with a jaw-dropping £900m.  They clearly meant business.

 

BT decided to create a new studio centre that would enable them not only to link the various matches and have sport-related discussion programmes but with sufficient space to produce large scale TV programmes that would have an entertainment element as well as sport.  In any case, they had to produce material to fill three channels – BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN.  What they created in just 14 months was extremely impressive.  In fact, they were only given the keys to the building 20 weeks before going on air.

They looked at taking over existing studios at dock10 in Salford and at Pinewood but opted to build new facilities within the shell of the International Broadcast Centre on the Olympic Park in East London.  They took over one end of this huge building (80,000 sq ft) and constructed two linked TV studios of 3,500 sq ft and an astonishing 10,000 sq ft.  The larger one is about the same size as TC1 at TV Centre.

A third studio of about 2,000 sq ft opened in the summer of 2015.  There were originally seven gallery suites, each of which could be routed to control any of the studios.  Two of these were visible through huge windows on one wall of studio 1.  One other was also on the ground floor near studio 3, the others surrounded the MCR on the first floor.  In 2015 two more production galleries were added, bringing the total to 9.  It thus became possible for BT to transmit 8 matches simultaneously via their various channels and red button services plus on Champions League nights, The Goal Show.

In January 2023 I was sent the following update on recent improvements to the facilities:

 

 

For the first five years the two biggest studios were linked via a large permanently open doorway that was the full width of the smaller one, forming a giant L-shape.  Therefore, the studio activity in each studio could be seen from the other in the background, making everything seem even bigger and more dynamic.  It was a unique way of working and did cause some operational issues of course but nevertheless looked great on screen.

The USP of studio 1 was a large ‘sports pitch’ at one end of the studio.  The floor of this was initially green toughened ground glass – beneath which were a number of channels containing LED strips, which could be instantly switched on to form various pitches such as football, rugby, tennis, basketball etc.  In 2015 this was updated with smoked black glass.

This area was used for various demos regarding tactics, formations, techniques etc and for doing anything that might just be a bit of fun.  Footballers demonstrated how to take or save a penalty – rugby players showed how a line-out works.  A guest might try a bit of archery perhaps or ride on a snowboarding simulator.  The huge area and very flexible lighting rig meant that almost anything was possible.

Around the walls were a number of LED display panels which were added to in 2015 along with Augmented Reality technology enabling 3D graphics in the studio.

 

 

The aim was clearly to make sport more easily accessible to those who might not consider themselves sport fans – thus increasing the viewer numbers.  This included having shows that were perhaps more entertainment than pure sport – for example, Danny Baker had a Friday night ‘Vaguely Sport-related Phone Out‘ show that was perhaps more comedy than sport that ran from 2013 up to May 2015.  (I worked on a couple of these to find out what these studios were like and I really enjoyed this show.)  Clare Balding had a regular chat show with well known celebrity guests that was repeated on BBC2, and another show – Life’s a Pitch – had a regular live music slot.

The flexibility of the studios meant that the camera crew in studio 2 could move into studio 1 and use the pitch for a demo or a chat.  This obviously affected what was happening at the time in studio 1.  Not least, the lighting.  The two lighting galleries were linked and there was a great deal of calling out between the two console ops as one handed over half the lighting rig to the other for the duration of the pitch invasion.  It sounds chaotic but thanks to a very clever lighting rig – and the fact that the freelance lighting crews all know each other very well – it did seem to work.  Incidentally, all credit is due to lighting director Dave Gibson who designed the rig for these studios, knowing almost nothing of how they would in fact be used.  His rig turned out to be incredibly flexible, enabling last minute changes to be carried out on live shows every day.

Studio crewing was a departure from the way Sky operate.  Sky use their own staff who only therefore work in their studios on their shows.  The running of the BT studios was carried out by Timeline TV.  They used experienced freelancers who regularly worked on all sorts of complicated and demanding shows all over the country – filling in the gaps in their schedules with a few days here and there at BT.

 

As well as the three main studios there was a small mezzanine studio in the corner, overlooking studio 1.  This had a permanent desk set-up enabling discussions and links to take place.  This little studio was often used for BT Sport 2.

The main studio had a permanent set within it which consisted of a huge round tower or hub with LED lighting within it and large graphic screens around it.  Initially, at its base some computer terminals were located for researchers who sometimes got involved in the live shows.

 

Studios 1 and 2 opened with 15 Sony HDC-2400 cameras but there were CCU slots for a total of 24.  The building also initially contained more than 20 edit suites, 8 voiceover booths and a dubbing theatre.  All the facilities were 4K capable, and in fact in June 2015 BT announced that they would be launching the UK’s first Ultra HD channel in August.

The facilities were from the outset of course tapeless.  The channels were routed to Red Bee Media for transmission from their White City facility.  At one time it looked possible that Red Bee might move to Here East but this idea went away.

BT’s channels were broadcast on Sky as well as all the other main distribution systems.  Those with a BT Broadband package were able to receive the channels for free.  This is essentially why BT entered the TV market – in order to compete with Sky who were offering combined TV subscription and broadband packages.

 

The facilities were sometimes rented out to other broadcasters – for example, the submix for the 2014 New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna shown on BBC2 and BBC4 was done in one of the large galleries here.  One assumes it would previously have used a TV Centre gallery.  Also, the BBC’s live Sport Relief programme in March 2014 (the events came from the Copper Box, Aquatic Centre and Velodrome) used the local connectivity and BT’s lines from here to the Telecom Tower.

Other bookings included the following: NFL  (C4), Capital One Cup (C5), Boxing on 5 (C5), IPC Athletics (More4), Race to Superbowl 50 (BBC2), Law and Disorder: The Live Debate  (C5) and A Right Royal Quiz.

In September 2018, BT announced some changes to the studios.  In a wish to market them more widely, they removed the glass floor in the big studio and like the others it now has a normal resin TV floor.  A sound-proof partition was installed between studios 1 and 2, enabling them to operate completely separately.  Also, new audience handling facilities were introduced as well as improvements to dressing rooms, green rooms, production offices, galleries and post production facilities.  The studios regularly hosted sport-related shows for both ITV and the BBC but, as noted above, they also attracted some comedy shows and quiz shows.

 

Here’s an update on recent work I was sent in January 2023:

 

This was clearly a very impressive facility, particularly with its very large studio – and the programmes made here were much more exciting and dynamic than the kind of sports programmes viewers were used to before.  Interestingly, within a few months of BT Sport opening, Sky completely refurbished their Sky Sports News studio, making it look much bigger even though it was only a couple of years old, and they regularly now use their largest (5,500sq ft) studio with a standing audience for football shows.

 

 

All Good Things…

 

In May 2022 it was announced that BT Sport and Warner Bros Discovery had agreed to form a 50:50 joint venture to create a new premium sport offering for the UK and Ireland.  They also agreed to transfer the operating businesses of BT Sport to Warner Bros Discovery.  This means that BT Sport and Eurosport UK have been combined into one operation which was rebranded as TNT Sports from July 2023.  (The Eurosport name was retained in the UK until after the 2024 Paris Olympics.)

The new joint venture has one of the most extensive portfolios of premium sports rights including UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, the Premier League, Premiership Rugby, UFC, the Olympic Games, tennis Grand Slams featuring the Australian Open and Roland-Garros, cycling Grand Tours including the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia and the winter sports World Cup season.

The effect of this is that BT’s staff were transferred over to WBD.  They were also informed that BT had not renewed the lease on the Here East studios and would be leaving there in the summer of 2023.  I was told that the destination was unclear, but there were rumours of some of it going to existing facilities and an expanded MCR in Discovery’s Chiswick Park buildings; and some going to a new WBD studio facility currently being built in a building leased from, and next door to, IMG in Stockley Park.  Although at first the staff thought their employment was secure, in January 2023 they learned that their jobs had in fact been dissolved and they would have to re-apply to Warner Bros Discovery if they wished to stay – according to a report in Broadcast.  Those who did not find a new role were given redundancy.  Worrying times indeed for the 200 plus staff affected.

 

 

The final programme came from the studios on June 5th 2023.  Sadly, it appears that nobody was interested in taking the facility over as a working studio centre.  However, although much of the technical kit was stripped out, the studios themselves and some of the galleries were retained, to be used by media training college LMA.

 

In January 2025 I was sent an update on the state of the facilities by Paul Thackray:

 

Following BT Sport exiting the facilities, most of the upper floor was completely stripped back to the brickwork.  It is now available to any new tenants.  As of January 2025 it is vacant.

The ground floor including the canteen, the area previously occupied by MOOV (virtual graphics company) and most of the Purple ROC area were taken on by Liverpool Media Academy (LMA), who also occupy an area on the upper floor. The Stratford LMA Campus has about 1000 students studying various media courses.

The three Studios remain much as they were.  Studio 3 has a stage and is mainly used for music performances.  The Mez (small studio) & Tower have both been removed from Studio 1. The LED screens (except those in the Tower) are still in place and working.

Studio 1 is often split using blacks and used for different media courses.

Production Control Room A has been re equipped (mainly with old kit) as a teaching gallery.  It is one combined Production, Sound, Vision, Lighting and Replay.  It has a Sony 7000 vision mixer, Brio sound desk & 4 Sony cameras.  The lighting desks can go in the rear of the Gallery or any studio floor.

No courses using the new PCR have yet been offered or run. (as of 2024)

All the BT dimmers & the dimmer room are still in place, but only some of the lamp heads remain, along with all the pantographs.

The generator has been removed from site.

The studios have been hired out in down-time, either with an OB truck for live shows or Single Camera for drama etc.  (Facilities rentals are still handled by Timeline TV.)

All other rooms are much as was but with different functions and furnishings.  e.g. PCR C now has rows of PCs to learn how to write games programmes, Green Room A is the Staff Room.  Lighting 1 is the electric piano room(!)

 

Since BT left, the facilities have been used for a live Esports programme with a large set in Studio 1 with player practice in Studio 2.  Studio 1 was also used to represent the Newsnight studio for Amazon Prime’s drama about the infamous Prince Andrew interview with Emily Maitlis – A Very Royal Scandal.  This studio is considerably larger than the real thing in Broadcasting House!  They also used the production gallery to shoot scenes.  Interestingly, before BT left, the rival Netflix drama Scoop used studio 2 here to film its version of the events.

 

 

So perhaps rumours of the death of these studios have been exaggerated.  It is true, they are used for media training so not available all the time but it does appear that they can still be hired by external productions, which is of course a very good thing.