While on sight here in PyeongChang we have had so many amazing privileges. Through meetings with executives and organizers to coveted access to traditionally off limits areas we have really received the VIP treatment.
Today we were given the opportunity to visit the Olympic International Broadcast Center, or as we have come to know it the “IBC.”
The IBC serves as a central transportation hub for the buses we rely on to reach all of the different venues, so there is rarely a day we are not crossing through its parking lot. Another known fact amongst all of the volunteers is that IBC is also the coldest of all locations within the repertoire of venues the IOC has scattered our data collection shifts.
The chance to step in side the mammoth (and well heated) venue we’ve grown accustom to standing outside was one we all looked forward to. With pictures being restricted on the inside it is one of the venues we know the least about.
Essentially the IBC acts as the central broadcasting hub for the Olympics. Operated by the OBS it is here that networks around the globe purchase broadcast rights.
Larger networks, like NBC for America, also purchase a share of the real estate within the IBC so they can bring their broadcast and production teams on sight. Smaller networks are able to tap into OBS coverage through external hubs they have scattered throughout the globe.
Many of the rooms we toured inside the IBC function as a data point for coverage as well as archiving footage from events that have wrapped. There are also a few innovative tech pop ups scattered throughout the building that we were able to experience like a virtual reality ride taped from athletes in the PyeongChang games.