FIFA announce IBC venue for 2010 South Africa

April 23, 2008

FIFA have announced that the Nasrec Precinct in Johannesburg will be the location of the International Broadcast Centre at the 2010 World Cup Finals. The announcement was made via video link by FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who stated his belief that “this particular IBC will be one of the most advanced centres of information in the world.”

The area will receive major financial investment ahead of the showpiece finals in South Africa, which are now just two years away. South Africa have announced plans to build 500 residential units and a four star hotel on the site. The area already has Soccer City, the main venue for the 2010 Finals and the stadium which will play host to both the Opening Game and the 2010 World Cup final. Also located in the area is the SAFA House, the operational centre for the event.

The completed centre will be able to handle transmission capacity of forty gigabytes per second via it’s satelitte teleport and telecommunications infrastructure. 2010 will also be the first World Cup finals to be broadcast in HDTV with a dedicated network being setup to link the ten stadium venues and the viewing world with the 2010 World Cup.

In his address, thee Mayor of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo, said: “Johannesburg is determined to make its contribution towards the successful hosting of the this event in South Africa’s history and this International Broadcasting Centre will help us reach our vision of a world class African city.”
Johannesburg is already the main centre in South Africa for international and national broadcasting, with the South Africa Broadcasting Company’s headquarters in the city. It is also home to most of the radio stations and 60 per cent of information and technology enterprises in South Africa.

Television data from around the globe during the 2006 World Cup Finals confirmed that it is the most popular event in the world, with over 715 million people watching the final between France and Italy, while a cumulative total of 26.29 billion watched the tournament.

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