RT Software, the ‘established graphics solutions company’, work with many top tier broadcasting channels such as BBC, Sky Sports and BT Sport. Their software provides a range of intuitive tools, which can be used live or in pre-production, to “add graphics to video clips to highlight action or explain sports gameplay.” (RT Software Ltd, About). The software has greatly evolved and developed since its release in 2004, I will be discovering how it has impacted televised football broadcasts, especially in recent years. During my spare time I enjoy watching football and the analysis of highlights – it was fascinating to see the usage of the software within the live shows, particularly the ‘tablet control’ feature. This allows pundits to control video clips and add graphics whilst presenting. Additionally, augmented reality graphics are incorporated to create virtual studios, particularly on the famous show, BBC Match of The Day. I wanted to understand how the software is used to create these visually informative graphics for the audience, which are shaping the future of live sports broadcasting. 

Over the years, RT Software has developed a wide range of features that are suitable for live football broadcasts. For example, the 2012 case study released by RT Software, (RT Software Ltd, 2012), introduces the key features during that time. Firstly, overlay and live in-game graphics, for example, offside lines, instant replay screens, analysis sequences to create half time and full time highlight reels. Also, in studio touch screens, these allow presenters to utilise visual analysis tools to explain gameplay within live broadcasts. Moreover, the importance of augmented reality graphics, and how they can be used to create virtual sets and bring hovering players graphics into the studio to bring the presenter’s words to life. These stunning features alone are just a few of the ways RT Software has impacted televised football broadcasts. 

RT Software has changed the style of studios across top tier broadcasting channels. For example, BBC’s Match of The Day studio has evolved from the classic set of Jimmy Hill simply presenting and analysing Premier League football matches at a desk, to immersive virtual sets created through the power of RT Software’s augmented reality and green screening. The modern-day AR studios not only provide a very dynamic viewing experience through graphics and moving visuals; they also possess far more interactive elements to allow the presenters and pundits to visualise their scripts and analytic perspectives when explaining gameplay, through RT Software’s presenting tools which can be displayed using tablet control and in studio touch screens/tables. 

The analysis of football on television, has greatly evolved since 1973, when Jimmy Hill presented and analysed the matches on BBC’s Match of The Day. At that time, the best way to analyse match highlights was through watching slow motion clips, which became possible when Ampex produced its HS100 instant slow-motion machine in 1967 (Willets, 2019). Fast forward 50 years, and the rise of RT Software has changed the face of analysis of football. Recent software updates, such as ‘Tactic Advanced’, have enabled top-end sports channels to include ‘editable motion paths, composite graphics, automatic keying and camera tracking’ (Strauss, 2019). The intuitive interface, and greater focus on ‘ease of use’ has made it simpler than ever to control the software during live shows. As a result, this gives football pundits a new found freedom of expression when explaining their analysis of match highlights, as they can control clips and add live Telestration during presenting, providing a dynamic visual experience and a greater sense of authenticity for the audience.

Since then, further refinements have been made through the release of 'Tactic Pro' in 2019, with newly added features such as 'Player detect, Multicam support, Camera Morph, Line Tracking and Timeline-based editing.'. These new features are providing exciting visually informative improvements to the application, for example the new Camera Morph tool allows 'the user to create a seamless virtual move from one camera to another. Line Tracking provides consistent and accurate multi-point tracking references, allowing graphics to stay in position on the playing surface even as the camera moves, as well as enabling accurate metrics such as distance between points or speed of player movement.' (philsandberg, 2014).

Furthermore, the improvements to ‘AI and ‘Machine Learning’ have allowed for the creation of the new ‘player detect’ feature, which ‘provides automatic assisted keyframing of multiple players in parallel.’ This is made possible by ‘detecting the players in the video stream, tracking their movements, and creating motion paths,’ According to RT Software, this ‘dramatically reduces graphic production time’ and ‘increases the narrative content’ (RT Software, 2020), hence encouraging premium broadcasters to invest into the cutting-edge software in order to improve the viewers experience and save them time in pre-production as they no longer have to manually add keyframes to track players, meaning they can spend more time focusing on planning informative analysis.

Luke Harrison, Product Manager at RT Software, said: “Tactic Pro is now a game changer, with complex graphics that tell a real story; for example, dynamic shaded regions showing how attack or defence is crucially affecting game play can now be ready for half-time or full-time discussions. It is the speed of production that is the killer benefit and our users now have the kind of functionality that was previously only possible by taking data from expensive and complex player tracking systems” (RT Software Ltd, 2020). This links directly back to my investigation title and is evidence of the positive impact RT Software has had on televised football broadcasts. 

I first became aware of RT Software when watching Sky Sports, and I was captivated by the presenter, Jamie Carragher, using tablet control to bring his words of analysis to life, during the live broadcast. Sky Sports, along with other tier 1 broadcasters, required a method for their own designers to be able to build a ‘customisable presenter interface’ to match the unique style of their brand and marketing, so that RT Software’s tools could be seamlessly integrated into their shows and productions. RT developed and integrated the necessary functionality, interface options and tools to facilitate this – this allowed different interface styles to be created for different sports and shows which can be easily ‘selected via the standard operator interface.’ (RT Software Ltd, 2013). 

RT Software are also heavily prevalent in the creation and controlling of on-screen graphics in the football broadcasting industry. They have produced the powerful graphics creation software, Swift CG+, this provides designers with the flexibility they need to create all types of graphics ‘from virtual sets to augmented reality graphics and overlay graphics.’ The software caters for the creation of 2D and 3D graphics; the combination of ‘custom shaders’, ‘user definable lights’, and ‘Physically Based Rendering’ culminates to produce stunning results, making it another positive impact that RT Software has had on televised football broadcasts. (RT Software Ltd, Swift CG+ Full 3D Graphics Creation). 

In addition, RT Software have produced WebControl which works in combination with graphics created in Swift CG+ in order to control when and how the created graphics are displayed during live football shows. For example, ‘virtual player animations within a virtual studio, to running football scores during the big match, to triggering news graphics from the rundown list’. WebControl allows graphics to be ‘stacked up for later preview and playout, or put to air immediately.’ (RT Software Ltd, WebControl). This is a key tool to the visual success of football broadcasts and the running schedule of shows, another brilliant influence RT Software has had on the industry. 

In summary, football in television has evolved dramatically over the last few decades, and after thoroughly researching the highly regarded RT Software, it is clear that they are responsible for many of the positive changes made, since the software’s release in 2004. The new graphics creation software, and presenting methods such as augmented reality graphics, virtual sets and in-studio touch screens, have greatly improved the visual experience of football broadcasts. Additionally, the updates released for ‘Tactic Pro’ has made watching the analysis of sports all the more enjoyable. The recently added features such as 'Player detect, Multicam support, Camera Morph and Line Tracking’ displayed on customisable presenter interfaces, go a long way to achieve a dynamic and improved punditry experience for the viewer. Looking ahead, it will be very interesting to monitor any additional improvements made to software, through further online research and studying how it is continuing to be implemented into televised football matches and shows. It would also be intriguing to find out more about the other areas of the media industry that RT Software is impacting, for example, news shows and many other sports channels.