Islanders were treated on Liberation Day, not only to an island wide choice of celebrations and community cavalcade that visited all 10 parishes, but the chance to meet members of the Royal Family. Their Royal Highnesses The Earl and Countess of Wessex visited a number of the Channel Islands and were treated to waves and smiling islanders wherever they were.
We have been involved with the broadcast of Liberation Day digital video content for the past two years and this year was no different. We were tasked with broadcasting three of the most significant events, with those being the church service, islandwide community cavalcade & the fireworks. PTZ cameras were deployed in the town church alongside a plethora of microphones to ensure every angle and sound was captured. We broadcast the service in full 1080p HD to the dedicated Liberation Day website where it was enjoyed by viewers worldwide.
We quickly hotfooted it over to Castle Cornet to prepare for the Islandwide Cavalcade which would be passing later that afternoon. We ensured coverage of the cavalcade from Salary corner as it headed towards castle emplacement with aerial images being transmitted live from over 400ft. Another service we provided for the event organisers was securing a commentator / announcer for the cavalcade. Jim Cathcart has many years of experience broadcasting for the BBC and has worked on many previous Liberation Days so was in prime position to provide an in-depth background to the history of the occupation and liberation of our island. After much research, a visit to the cavalcade meeting point at the start of the route and working closely alongside the cavalcade director ensured our commentator was primed with all the necessary information to provide the best possible coverage on the day.
Their Royal Highnesses were also present at Castle Emplacement and enjoyed meeting members of the public post cavalcade and our cable-free roaming camera ensured we could bring the best view of the Royals to the audience watching around the world. An additional roadside camera beamed low latency HD video back to our broadcast studio where the output was mixed and then relayed back to our CDN ensuring it was transcoded and also simulcasted to Facebook where the broadcast was also available to watch.
We didn’t have time for lunch, let alone tea, so after the Royals departed the Castle Emplacement for their evening engagements we then shut down our portable broadcasting studio and re-packed our bags to head off to our next broadcast location, which was on private land where permission had been granted by the owners, to ensure the best possible viewpoint for the fireworks display taking place that evening. Again the HD livestream was bonded and broadcast online where viewers could watch coverage on the official website or via the simulcast on the Liberation Day Facebook page. The organisers wanted to ensure the best possible digital coverage was available across both platforms and employed us to deliver on the day taking any worry and further responsibility away from them in the lead up to and on the day. Our knowledge and experience to date ensured that all Liberation Day broadcasts were hosted on the appropriate platform (CDN) whose comprehensive reporting has highlighted that the broadcasts were consumed internationally from viewers in countries in Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand. The 7,711 viewers on Liberation Day spanned 33 countries and 78 states where 88% of viewers watched live, and who’s viewing numbers will continue to grow in the coming days, highlighting the need to deploy the right team, with the knowledge and experience to do the job and deliver on the day.