Interview: Melissa Payne, IMG Media

When broadcasters shell out millions of pounds to acquire the rights for top sporting events, it’s often headline news.

Arguably, though, it’s once the deal is done that the hard work really begins – arranging the coverage of the matches, tournaments and events.

And this is where IMG Media vice president, head of technology operations, Melissa Payne comes in.

The Technical Services division at IMG, which launched 18 years ago, has helped IMG move from a majority rights selling business, to an all-encompassing rights and distribution business.

Rather than simply selling sports rights to broadcasters, IMG now provides coverage as well – offering a multi-lateral world feed as well as arranging all on-site facilities for its broadcasters.

It means that, after acquiring rights to an event, broadcasters don’t have to incur huge unilateral technical costs to arrange the delivery of a live signal and the logistical nightmare which is attached to dealing with sporting events taking place across the globe.

When Payne first joined IMG in 2000, she says it used to produce and arrange the delivery of the Premier League and European Tour, as well as IMG’s flagship programmes such as Football Mundial, Transworld Sport & SNTV. All of IMG’s other sports properties were represented from a rights standpoint only.

“Broadcasters would pay a big chunk of…