TORONTO – Canadians will enjoy the most all-inclusive coverage possible for this weekend’s Live 8 on CTV event.
From 7 a.m. to 12 midnight on Saturday, July 2, Live 8 on CTV will feature a minimum of 17 hours of music with a message from around the globe. The day begins at 7 a.m. ET as the first act takes to the stage in Johannesburg, South Africa. For the next four hours, Live 8 on CTV will feature international acts from Johannesburg, Berlin, London, Rome and Paris as CTV pulls down the simultaneous live feeds direct from those locations and switches on the fly to the world’s best performances.
Then at 11 a.m. CTV will sign on to Barrie, Ont. to carry live, complete and exclusive coverage of every single Canadian act. During band changeover, viewers will also be treated to even more international performances (also joining in progress with Live 8 Philadelphia, 12 noon) happening live around the world – in real time and tape delayed – in order to maximize the television experience.
When the last act signs off in Barrie (approximately 8 p.m. ET), CTV will then begin a four-hour, prime-time greatest hits package (8 p.m. – 12 midnight ET) recapping the historic day that was and re-broadcasting the single-most memorable performances of the day from all around the world.
As artists unite across the planet to focus attention on plight of the world’s poorest countries, CTV will be there to deliver the message to Canadians across the country. In all, it’s a customized-for-Canadians line-up of international performances in combination with complete coverage of Live 8 from Barrie.
"It’s not just shaping up to be an historic day for Live 8 organizers," said Ivan Fecan, CEO of CTV Inc. and president and CEO of Bell Globemedia. "It’s been an historic week for CTV as the entire company has been all hands on deck, joining together for a common cause. Never before have we organized a production of this scope and magnitude in such a short period of time."
From a programming point of view, Live 8 is a must-carry for CTV since it’s what the world is buzzing about," said Susanne Boyce, CTV president of programming and Chair of the CTV Media Group. "But beyond that, it’s an opportunity for CTV to help deliver an important message. We’re enormously proud to showcase the Canadian artists who, once again, have stepped up to the plate when called upon."
To pull this event together, CTV’s news, sports and entertainment divisions have joined together in an unprecedented mobilization effort and are working around the clock to present the historic broadcast on Saturday. In one of the most complex and comprehensive broadcasting initiatives ever for the network, CTV is utilizing every available resource and working around the clock to prepare for the momentous television event.
Three different units are working in unison: a studio crew in Toronto where the show will be anchored; a mobile crew based on location at Live 8 Canada in Barrie, and a third crew responsible for receiving feeds from all nine concerts and producing a three-hour highlights package with live elements on the fly.
In Barrie alone, the production will involve the use of three digital mobile trucks and two audio trucks. Twenty-three cameras will be used, including a CableCam – a robotic camera that will traverse the entire concert bowl from a wire hung above the crowd – as well as a helicopter camera and a 50 foot high Super TechnoCrane. Over 150 additional crew have been hired to assist CTV with the production.
Live 8 is part of a day of action around the globe calling on the leaders of the world’s richest countries, including Canada, to act to end poverty when they meet at the G8 Summit in Scotland, July 6-8. The goal of the international events is to eliminate the debts owed to the world’s richest countries by the world’s poorest countries.
