Since 2022, the first year after the Corona pandemic, working-dog has been the official broadcaster of the Agility World Championships. This week in Belgium, the German company will be bringing what is probably the most important Agility event of the year, again to home screens for the third time in a row. We take a little look behind the scenes and tell you why you should definitely tune in this year.
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But first things first. In 2022, the assigning to working-dog was still viewed with suspicion within the Agility community. Many doubted that working-dog would be able to broadcast an event of this magnitude. The shoes that had been laid in previous years in Finland and Sweden by long-standing and professional broadcasting companies from top-class sport were big to fill. When the time finally came, however, the critical voices quickly fell silent.
Even if there was still room for improvement in the one or other things, the premiere at the World Championships in Austria was more than satisfactory. The spectators also saw it that way. At the same time, the World Championships in Vienna also saw the birth of Eric Laumann as commentator and moderator. In 2023 Uwe Bormann joined him. And since last year at the latest, working-dog has been more than accepted as the official broadcaster, one from its own community. The German company took the criticism and suggestions from the previous year to heart and improved them, or adapted innovations that are otherwise only known from top-class sport productions.
And this is exactly the path they want to follow in Belgium. In addition to the main camera in the best possible position, two additional cameras along the ring capture all the emotions at the finish and on the course itself from close up. This also enables spontaneous interviews to be conducted directly from the ring. Another camera has been set up in the studio. The studio was already a small part of the broadcast last year. However, a lot of work was done on the concept for the World Championships in this subject. On the concept and also the look of it. This year the studio will really look like a studio. Just like you know it from professional TV broadcasts. All participants were also asked in advance to provide some information about themselves and their four-legged partner. This is another great innovation.
working-dog wants to offer viewers at home significant added value with the studio, the live commentary and the studio analyses afterwards. For the latter point, Neil Ellis has been integrated even more into the team as an expert. He is now a permanent part of the broadcast. But everything we see in front of the camera is only made possible by lots of helping hands in the background. X employees are on duty every day for a week in Belgium to stream the magical moments on the sacred turf into the viewers’ living rooms. Those are long days. Other employees have made this possible with a lot of passion and many hours of work in advance. Be it with the design of the overlays, the planning of the process, the technical preparation or simply the communication with the organizer.
The 49.90 euros for the entire event is more than justified. That’s less than 10 euros per day. And for all those who only find time at the weekend to cheer on the national team, working-dog also offers a weekend ticket for 34.90 euros.
For which time period is the weekend ticket for the live stream valid? Only Saturday and Sunday or also for Friday?
It is only from Saturday till Sunday valid. Unfortunately not on Friday. For this you would need to buy the full week.