NZBS Students Take Tertiary Futsal Finals Live to Freeview

The University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand (UTSNZ) National Tertiary Futsal Championships will provide more than just an exciting showcase of student sport this August - they'll also give the next generation of New Zealand broadcasters the opportunity to deliver a live sports production on a national platform.

First-year Screen Production students from the New Zealand Broadcasting School (NZBS) will produce their own live broadcast of the Championship Final as part of a practical industry project that mirrors the way many of the world's biggest sporting events are televised.

The broadcast will air live on Freeview Channel 200, New Zealand's free-to-air student television channel, which showcases emerging talent and original content created by students from the country's leading broadcasting and media programmes. The channel provides aspiring broadcasters with the opportunity to create and deliver content for a real television audience while gaining invaluable hands-on industry experience.

The project builds on a successful initiative introduced by NZBS last year, where first-year students produced a live outside broadcast of a secondary school netball match using a REMI (Remote Integrated Production) workflow.

Rather than housing the entire production crew at the venue, REMI productions split responsibilities between the event site and a central production hub. At Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre, students will operate cameras, manage audio and fulfil floor management roles, while the directing, vision mixing, graphics, replay, sound mixing and overall production will take place remotely from the New Zealand Broadcasting School's control room.

This is the same production model increasingly used throughout the broadcasting industry. In New Zealand, remote production workflows are employed by broadcasters including TVNZ, Sky Sport and NEP to deliver major sporting events such as domestic cricket, the National Basketball League, First XV rugby and ANZ Premiership Netball. Internationally, some productions are even directed from control rooms on the other side of the world.

For the students, the project represents a unique opportunity to apply the skills they've developed throughout the year in a live, high-pressure environment.

Preparations begin the day before the finals, with students undertaking equipment checks and a technical site visit to Parakiore before returning on finals day to complete the setup, rehearse and ultimately deliver live coverage of the Championship Final.

In addition to the screen production students, the project may also involve journalism and radio students gaining experience in presenting and conducting interviews around the event, further replicating a professional live sports broadcast environment.

UTSNZ is excited to support the initiative, which not only enhances the experience for student broadcasters but also expands the visibility of tertiary sport to audiences across New Zealand.

The partnership highlights the value of providing authentic, real-world learning opportunities while showcasing the innovation and collaboration taking place across New Zealand's tertiary sector.

The UTSNZ National Tertiary Futsal Championship Final will be broadcast live on Freeview Channel 200, giving viewers the chance to watch both outstanding student athletes and the country's future broadcast professionals in action.

How to Watch:

Catch the NZBS broadcast of the men’s and women’s Tertiary Futsal Championship finals live on Channel 200.

Men’s Final: Tuesday, 1.00pm
Women’s Final: Tuesday, 3.00pm

Livestream coverage of selected games across the Tertiary Futsal Championship, including the finals, will also be available via the New Zealand Football YouTube channel here.