On Saturday 9 August Host Broadcast Services (HBS) kicked off its four-year term as host broadcaster of the French Football League (Ligue 1) with a 9-match multiplex. More than 500 staff and over 100 cameras were deployed throughout France to ensure that all operations went smoothly, providing a promising beginning to HBS' involvement with the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP).

HBS' coverage of the Ligue included some major innovations. For the first time in the history of French football mobile phone users were able to follow selected matches (8 of the weekend's 10) on their handsets in real time thanks to a specific Mobile International Signal (MIS). Produced by a dedicated team of new media specialists, the MIS ensures optimal image quality and appropriate framing for mobile users. Another HBS innovation is a searchable clip database featuring match highlights, interviews, contentious actions, slow-motion replays and more, created during each match by a team of specially trained loggers who "tag" clips with relevant keywords. The database is a spin-off of the well-received Clip Compilation Channel, inaugurated during HBS' host broadcast of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™.

Jean-Guillaume Welgryn (left), LFP Deputy Director of Media and Development, and François-Charles Bideaux, Director of Production for HBS France Production, perform quality control on Day 1

This successful start to the French football season is an excellent example of the internal cross-fertilisation that allows the company's ever-growing expertise to be rapidly and effectively applied to new fields. HBS is proud to have been selected by the LFP and aims to continue providing production services of the highest standard throughout the 342 matches per season included in its contract as well as to continuously introduce innovations to better serve the domestic and international audience.