Connecting athletes and the studio in real time through virtual production
For the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, France Télévisions deployed an innovative production system that brought athletes and guests closer to the main studio set up at the IBC in Milan, without requiring their physical presence in the studio.
The goal was to conduct live interviews from multiple competition venues while maintaining the staging, perspective, and visual continuity of the central studio.
The result: a real-time “teleportation” effect, creating the illusion that the remotely connected guests were physically standing alongside the presenters.
The challenge: displaying the guests in the studio from remote locations
Covering a multi-site international event like the Olympic Games involves significant logistical challenges. Athletes finish their events at different venues, often far from the main studio, making it difficult to conduct live interviews immediately after the competitions.
France Télévisions wanted to preserve the editorial strength of its central studio while enabling natural, instant exchanges with remote guests.
The solution therefore had to:
- connect multiple remote sites to the main studio
- ensure visual and perspective consistency across environments
- ensure seamless real-time interaction between presenters and guests
- maintain visual quality in line with broadcast standards
Creating this illusion of shared presence relied on a combination of robotic capture, virtual production, camera tracking, and real-time compositing.
The solution: a coordinated multi-site virtual production setup
A distributed production workflow was designed to connect several green-screen sets located near the competition venues to the main studio set in Milan.
Guests were captured using synchronized robotic cameras provided by EVS Broadcast Equipment through its XD Motion division.
The video feeds were then integrated into the main studio environment within a virtual production pipeline combining:
- real-time keying and compositing
- camera tracking ensuring perspective consistency between environments
- augmented reality rendering and virtual extension of the studio set
- synchronization of the various remote production feeds
Videlio’s role: overall system’s design and integration
Videlio handled the overall technical design of the virtual teleportation system as well as the integration of the various production environments required for its implementation. As the lead integrator, the teams coordinated technology choices, system architecture, and the alignment of production infrastructures deployed across the various sites.
“We chose to respond with innovation, introducing a groundbreaking system for ultra-realistic, dynamic virtual compositing. This solution is designed to bridge the distance and recreate a genuine sense of closeness between the athletes and the studio, while modernizing traditional live broadcast formats.” Frédéric Redondo, Sales Director, Videlio Events
Aski-da Creative’s Role: Graphic Integration and Operational Management of the AR Layer
As part of this project, the teams at Aski-da Creative served as experts in graphic integration and the on-site operation of augmented reality.
Our contributions focused specifically on:
- the integration of set extension elements into the studio environment
- real-time keying of remote green-screen sets
- applying the masks and visual corrections necessary for realistic integration
- operational management of the AR layer to maintain visual consistency across feeds
This precision work helped reinforce the illusion of the guests’ physical presence within the central studio.
Key Technologies
The setup relied on a combination of technologies and specialized partners:
- Broadcaster: France Télévisions — editorial design and production of the system
- Technical integration and system architecture: Videlio
- Robotic capture: EVS Broadcast Equipment / XD Motion
- Virtual production and AR rendering: Zero Density
- Camera tracking systems
- Graphic integration and AR operation: Aski-da Creative
- Signal transport and contribution between production sites
The result: a seamless, immersive experience for viewers
This setup enabled France Télévisions to conduct live interviews with athletes located at different sites while maintaining the immersive feel of the Olympic studio.
For viewers, the guests seemed to appear instantly in the studio after their performances, fostering natural and dynamic exchanges.
Beyond the technical achievement, this project illustrates the evolution of contemporary broadcast workflows: the combination of virtual production and remote capture now makes it possible to connect multiple locations to a central studio while ensuring a consistent and immersive visual experience.