Big TV wins at Euro 2008

They think it’s all over for the Euro 2008 football tournament, but one Bradford company has made a lasting impression in Germany and is set to secure future business there.

Wyke-based Big TV, which hires out huge LED screens, managed to win a contract to place a screen in the town square of Frankfurt for the duration of the competition.

Big screen public viewings of major events have had a bad press recently after a riot was sparked by the failure of a screen situated in Manchester 15 minutes before the start of the UEFA cup final in May.

A technical fault was blamed on that incident by the company that supplied the screen, Bradford based Lightmedia Display.

But now Big TV – also Bradford-based but not connected to Lightmedia – is soothing fears about big screens with a successful run in Frankfurt.

Amy Jenkins, production co-ordinator at Big TV, said: “Following the recent violence in Manchester due to screen failure during the football, the German event company were hesitant to use an English company – as can be
expected,not wanting a similar disaster.

“To reassure the company and council, we provided the screen with two
backup systems, a satellite and a digital receiver.”

There were hiccups, but nothing to do with Big TV, and the company’s technical experts immediately leapt into action. Amy said: “On the one occasion the feed was lost worldwide – all three feeds were lost within one second of each other – our technician had a back-up of previous goals he had pre-recorded, and played commentary of the current game to the crowd.”

The screen attracted more than 20,000 viewers for every game during the tournament. Big TV’s staff even became local celebrities.

Amy said: “Our screen technician, Simon Woodcock, became very well known and commended for his excellent work. He was given a free pass to the city and invited to meet the mayoress. A story was printed about him in the local paper after which he was recognised in the street and even given free food and drink.”

Big TV are now following up business leads from the event and fully expect to be returning to Germany for repeat business in the future.

By Dave Barnett
Bradford Telegraph & Argus
Article can be found at http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/search/3187350.Screen_firm_wins_at_Europe_tournament/