We spoke to Cong Feng, General Manager of Beijing-based IABM Gold member company, Touch Video Live Broadcast (TVLB), about the company’s activities and rise to prominence in the burgeoning China live broadcasting market.
Tell us a bit about the history of TVLB – when was it founded, what was the expertise of the founders, where did they see the market opportunity?
TVLB was founded in early 2002 and has a history of 17 years. Founder Cong Feng, who graduated from Beijing Film Academy, has rich experience in the television broadcasting industry, and he was the first person in China’s industry to put forward the concept of EFP (Electronic Field Production). He learnt by chance that the market for EFP elsewhere in the broadcasting world is huge, while in China it had scarcely begun. To make the most of this opportunity, Cong Feng decided to establish TVLB to focus on live event broadcasting services.
Explain the relationship that TVLB has with CSM and what sporting events TVLB is covering?
CSM (China Sports Media) is the controlling shareholder of TVLB. TVLB provides coverage of many major sports, including: Chinese Football Association Super League, Team China, AFC Champions League, CFA Cup, World Boxing Association, Asian Games, 2014 South American Derby Cup – Argentina vs Brazil, World Police and Fire Games, and the 7th CISM Military World Games, and many more.
Tell us about the range of services TVLB offers today and illustrate this with a few examples of recently completed jobs
Our main business includes all-round services of broadcasting solution design, project management and signal production. TVLB is able to present the most wonderful broadcasting signals to customers. It has recently successfully completed the Public Signal Broadcasting Mission for 2019 Hunan Hengyang International Marathon, the Shandong Rongcheng International Marathon in CCTV5+ and the Asian Cup 40 for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers – China vs Guam. We are also doing all the broadcasting production for the Chinese Super League.
TVLB is clearly very successful in the China market; why do your customers choose you ahead of your competition – what is your ‘special sauce’?
Yes, as one of the larger commercial TV broadcasters and broadcasting solution providers in China, TVLB already has around 10 HD and 4K OB trucks. While continuously increasing equipment investment, with its deep technical accumulation and equipment advantages, TVLB has made countless successful classic cases for broadcasting of more than 10,000 large-scale events at home and abroad. Secondly, we have cross-border integration capabilities, are familiar with the industry, and do the implementation on site. Furthermore, we not only create broadcasting solution designs and provide the broadcasting service, but also undertake the broadcasting production.
How do you see the coverage of Sporting events growing in China?
As the consumption level of residents increases, the domestic consumption structure is gradually changing. More and more people are paying attention to physical and mental health, and the participation demand for sports events has exploded. The operation of the event is the core of the entire sports industry chain. The entire sports industry is centered around the operation of sports events, the marketization process is accelerating, the potential of the whole industry chain is huge, and the demand for broadcasting is also huge.
Does TVLB operate outside of China?
Yes, in Singapore.
TVLB is a Gold member of IABM. What are the most valuable member services for you?
Networking at Events.
