Olympic Broadcaster Runs Dakar Games From Madrid
Olympic Broadcast Services is using a fully virtualised master control room to deliver coverage of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Olympics
Olympic Broadcast Services deployed a fully virtualised master control room for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, which began on a Saturday. The company is delivering more than 500 hours of coverage across 25 competition sports, with live coverage of 22 sports.
Why it matters
The deployment shows how major sporting broadcasts are shifting from traditional on-site infrastructure to cloud-based, software-driven workflows operated from distant locations. Running core functions remotely allows the broadcaster to distribute its workforce across two cities while maintaining its production schedule.
OBS is producing 507 hours of HD 1080p SDR coverage across 25 competition sports, using 64 camera systems including two drones and 100 microphones. Its staffing split places 67 per cent of broadcast personnel in Dakar and 33 per cent in Madrid, and the extraction does not report how this split affected output quality.
The players
Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS)
The broadcast organisation responsible for producing the host broadcast feed for Olympic and Youth Olympic Games, and the entity running the virtualised master control room for Dakar 2026.
The details
Core master control room functions run in a cloud-based, software-defined environment provided by Alibaba and are operated remotely from Madrid, while monitoring, control and quality checks are also managed from there. Artificial intelligence is generating automated highlights for 16 of the 25 competition sports, and OBS is using software-based workflows in place of a traditional audio infrastructure.
Timeline
Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games began on a Saturday.
The article on the virtualised master control room deployment was published on 2 November 2026.
The Tech Race
The Dakar deployment applies the cloud-based, software-defined master control room model to a multi-sport event broadcast, moving away from the traditional on-site audio and video infrastructure. It places OBS's workflow alongside other broadcasters experimenting with remote production and automated highlight generation.
The remote production model means the broadcast feed for the Dakar games is being run largely from Madrid, which may affect how and when viewers around the world receive live coverage of the 22 sports with live broadcasts. Fans following fantasy or highlight-based viewing can expect AI-generated highlights for 16 of the 25 competition sports.
The takeaway
Virtualised, cloud-based broadcast production allows a single event's coverage to be run from a different continent, which may become a standard option for future multi-sport events. Readers following the Games should check the broadcast schedule for specific sport coverage.
Further reading
For more on the event itself, see our Olympics coverage.
