Finnish public broadcaster Yleisradio Oy will be producing some 400 hours of television programming and approximately 300 hours of radio programming during the London Olympic Games.

To do so, YLE has opted to use a Lawo mc²66 MkII console for its main television production, and three Lawo sapphire units for radio production — for Finnish-language station Radio Puhe and Swedish-language station Radio Vega. The third sapphire is located in the audio master control room and handles additional requirements other than audio mixing production.

A second studio facility, which has been set-up about three miles from the International Broadcasting Centre — City Studio — features a networked and remote-controlled Lawo zirkon frame acting as an “audio interface” to both the main mc²66 production audio system and the YLE radio system, with some remote control capabilities.

For television, the main feed to YLE TV2/TV1 is bilingual (Finnish and Swedish), transmitted in parallel to the HD network in 5.1 audio format. The second feed, produced in Helsinki by YLE’s new U10 OB truck, focuses on Finnish interests for the YLE Fem television channel. Two additional radio feeds, in Finnish for Radio Puhe and in Swedish for Radio Vega, are produced in London.

The company explains that Lawo Nova routers and Line Scheduler software are central to the YLE system design, and enable pre-prepared scheduled routing. At the IBC, a Nova73 HD matrix routes all the feeds for radio and television production and to and from Helsinki. Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television connects to this matrix for commentary audios and returns, and it also sends radio feeds to Danmarks Radio.