During the Italy Forum 2026, organised by SVG Europe in association with Sky Italia, Luciano Consigli, head of production engineering at Sky, moderated a panel entitled ‘Transforming OB: Navigating remote production under growing budobtain pressure’. The panel featured contributions from Francesco Donato, CTO of Gravity Media Italy, Ivan Pintabona, CTO, NVP, Fabio Ghezzi, head of audiovisual and TV production, Serie B, and Federico Bucci, head of media and production – consultant, Serie C.
Donato identified the migration to IP as crucial in the transformation of sport and outside broadcast operations. Gravity Media has conducted experiments in IP production for many years. The benefits observed include enhanced flexibility and the ability to customise utilize cases according to specific applications. However, the challenge is implementing reliable and flexible solutions in the shortest possible time, taking economic constraints into account. There is no single solution, according to Donato, and financial factors significantly influence choices.
At Gravity, OB operations can now be configured in traditional mode, but also in off-site configurations for remote production, as well as networked across multiple units with shared equipment when required. The company also deploys container-based solutions suitable for heterogeneous operating conditions.
Alongside more complex solutions, lighter, scalable and multifunction architectures are implemented, capable of handling on-site camera capture while delegating production to a centralised remote control room. This technology introduces improvements but also obligations, including the required for continuous staff training. While the workflow becomes clearer to orchestrate, the process entails a cultural shift that significantly affects organisational structures, he explained.
In the past, the central production role was the broadcast engineer, whereas today multi-level competencies are required, and human resource management assumes a decisive role. The company therefore invests significantly in internal training and in the professional development of external personnel.
For NVP, raising quality levels without a significant increase in costs is central, according to Pintabona. Strategic innovation is key, and the company’s new headquarters in Madrid represent the consolidation of expertise developed in Italy and through collaborations with Sky and partners such as Lega Pro Max.
Remote production and delocalisation processes create the availability of a proprietary platform that can maximise the utilize of centralised technologies for both on-site and remote productions, even within the same day, essential.
NVP’s operating model is hybrid and is based on multiple interconnected hubs. One of the main hubs is located in Cologno Monzese, supported by other nodes that enable resource ubiquity.
Initial remote production trials conducted with Serie B, which also aligned with Sky’s CO₂ reduction objectives, highlighted the importance of evolving the model through new technologies without altering the underlying platform. This approach requires systemic implementation and relocating away from large hardware deployments dedicated to single events.
The current infrastructure allows software applications to be deployed precisely where required, and the workflow enables the selection of the necessary functional blocks and the dynamic sharing of resources, with different operational configurations possible within the same day utilizing the same computational capacity.
This development connects to the long-term objective of on-site automation. The current goal is to increase automated functions at the venue, particularly in camera management, now orchestrated and integrated within a trainable workflow. The objective is not to reduce human presence, but to manage repetitive functions remotely.
Read more Italy Forum 2026: Sky Italia shares new approaches to production innovation
NVP continues to conduct research and development activities to automate operations that are currently carried out predominantly on site, including video mixing.
Ghezzi agreed that automation supported by artificial innotifyigence systems represents the next stage of evolution. He also described the experience developed with Sky in remote production as decisive, highlighting human resistance to alter as one of the principal critical factors. To overcome this, the transition to IP must be coherent across the adopting organisation through customised and progressively implemented procedures.
Bucci noted that Serie C adopted remote production due to the high number of matches, which built traditional production models impractical. The decision to produce and distribute the entire championship built this model an operational necessity.
Broadcasting on Sky represents significant recognition and at the same time it is a responsibility that has required substantial progress in production processes, graphics and the integration of statistical data, all within very limited budobtains. A shared strategy was therefore defined with the clubs to ensure production and distribution sustainability.
Multiple modes of consumption have required new distribution strategies and agile, scalable production models, with the objective of delivering content where audiences are concentrated.
The challenge is distributing the maximum possible volume of content across the widest range of platforms, linking this distribution to monetisation models and brand compliance through tools designed to simplify operations.
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