How SVT brought the Winter Games back to Sweden after 14 years
Software-defined remote production. Full broadcast output from Stockholm. Part of SVT’s NEO (Next-Gen Online Production) initiative, a programme to move all live sports production to software on commodity server hardware.
Event 2026 Winter Games, Milano Cortina
Customer SVT (Sveriges Television)
Products Vindral Composer + Vindral Live
About SVT
Sweden’s public broadcaster, running production on software
SVT (Sveriges Television) is Sweden’s national public broadcaster. In 2020, SVT launched NEO (Next-Generation Online Production) a programme to move production and distribution entirely to software running on commercial off-the-shelf server hardware. The goals: reduce production costs significantly, build workflows that production teams can operate without requiring specialist engineering expertise, and reduce environmental impact.
The challenge
World-scale coverage, without the world-scale infrastructure
Traditional live sports production at international events carries a fixed cost floor: hardware-heavy OB trucks, specialist crews on-site, cross-border logistics. For many events, that structure makes broadcast rights economically unviable.
The 2026 Winter Games in Milano Cortina became a software production flagship test. The software production workflow’s reduced cost structure has expanded the range of events SVT’s sports team can consider and Milano Cortina is the proof of concept at that scale.
Milano Cortina would prove whether a fully software-defined remote workflow could meet the demands of the biggest winter sporting event in the world.
The solution
A full production chain in software, managed through API
SVT deployed both Vindral Composer and Vindral Live as part of the software production platform, covering every stage from feed ingest to broadcast output.
Vindral Live
Contribution, transport, and monitoring
Vindral Live handles signal transport at both ends of the production chain, receiving venue feeds from Italy and delivering finished program output to broadcast and monitoring endpoints.
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SRT ingest — venue signals travel from Milano Cortina via SRT to SVT’s Swedish datacenter
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SRT contribution — processed feeds are distributed from Live to Composer instances inside SVT’s Swedish datacenter
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SRT output — primary and backup broadcast streams at 1080p50 / 25 Mbps / 16-channel AAC to broadcast endpoints
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MoQ delivery — finished program feeds delivered to the production gallery via MoQ for browser-based monitoring
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Live Multiviewer — production teams monitor multiple channels simultaneously in a single browser interface, replacing dedicated multiviewer hardware
Vindral Composer
Software production engine
SVT deployed multiple Composer instances in parallel, each handling a separate coverage area at the event. Every instance runs the full production chain on GPU server hardware in Stockholm.
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Video compositing — picture-in-picture layouts and alpha video playout, assembled in real time from SRT feeds arriving from Italy
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Audio mixing — mix-minus routing for commentators, channel routing, dynamics processing, parametric EQ, and Crystal Speech AI noise cancellation
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SRT output — primary and backup broadcast streams at 1080p50 / 25 Mbps / 16-channel AAC to broadcast endpoints
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Remote operation — operators use Bitfocus Companion with Stream Deck panels, and a custom web audio mixer SVT built on the Vindral WebSocket API
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Orchestration — SVT’s system manages the full Composer lifecycle (provisioning, configuration, monitoring) through REST and WebSocket APIs; no manual engineering intervention required per production
The workflow
Signal chain: Italy to Stockholm
Production signal flow
Venue Milano Cortina Italy
→
Vindral Live SRT ingest SRT
→
Vindral Composer Compositing / audio / graphics SRT in
→
Vindral Live Distribution SRT / MoQ
→
Gallery + Output MoQ → gallery SRT → broadcast
Gallery location Stockholm, Sweden
Broadcast output 1080p50 / 25 Mbps / 16ch AAC
On-site hardware None
The workflow
Signal chain: Italy to Stockholm
Production signal flow
Venue Milano Cortina Italy
↓
Vindral Live SRT ingest SRT
↓
Vindral Composer Compositing / audio / graphics SRT in
↓
Vindral Live Distribution SRT / MoQ
↓
Gallery + Output MoQ → gallery SRT → broadcast
Gallery location Stockholm, Sweden
Broadcast output 1080p50 / 25 Mbps / 16ch AAC
On-site hardware None
The outcome
The first Winter Games on SVT in 14 years — run from a datacenter in Stockholm
14
Years since SVT last broadcast the Winter Games. The software-defined approach has significantly reduced SVT’s production costs, expanding the range of broadcast rights the sports team can consider acquiring.
Vindral’s API-driven approach gave our teams direct control over the production workflow — from building a custom web audio mixer on the WebSocket API to managing instances through our own orchestration system. Being able to produce where we want to and in the way we want to, without the need for specialist engineering at every step, is exactly the kind of outcome NEO was designed to deliver.
Dennis Buhr Head of Digital Transformation at SVT
We’re proud to support Swedish Television in its coverage of Milano Cortina through the NEO project. SVT has long been recognised as a pioneer in broadcast innovation, and working within this forward-looking remote production environment is a strong validation of the platform we have built. It is particularly meaningful to contribute to the Winter Games returning to SVT after 14 years, and to help ensure viewers across Sweden can access the event through a modern, flexible and resilient production framework
Daniel Alinder CEO, Vindral
The outcome
The first Winter Games on SVT in 14 years — run from a datacenter in Stockholm
14 Years since SVT last broadcast the Winter Games. The software-defined approach has significantly reduced SVT’s production costs — expanding the range of broadcast rights the sports team can consider acquiring.
Vindral’s API-driven approach gave our teams direct control over the production workflow — from building a custom web audio mixer on the WebSocket API to managing instances through our own orchestration system. Being able to produce where we want to and in the way we want to, without the need for specialist engineering at every step, is exactly the kind of outcome NEO was designed to deliver.
Dennis Buhr Head of Digital Transformation at SVT
We’re proud to support Swedish Television in its coverage of Milano Cortina through the NEO project. SVT has long been recognised as a pioneer in broadcast innovation, and working within this forward-looking remote production environment is a strong validation of the platform we have built. It is particularly meaningful to contribute to the Winter Games returning to SVT after 14 years, and to help ensure viewers across Sweden can access the event through a modern, flexible and resilient production framework
Daniel Alinder CEO, Vindral
For broadcast teams
What the SVT deployment demonstrates
Remote production scales to major events
A fully software-defined workflow handled production for the biggest winter sporting event in the world — 1080p50, primary and backup streams, from 1,800 km away. This is not a proof-of-concept setup.
API-driven orchestration removes the specialist bottleneck
SVT’s system provisions, configures, and monitors Composer instances through REST and WebSocket APIs. Operators run production through web tools and Stream Deck panels. The barrier is infrastructure design, not per-event engineering.
Lower production costs change rights economics
SVT’s sports team can now evaluate rights it previously could not afford. If your cost floor depends on on-site hardware and specialist crews, the events you can cover are constrained by that floor. Software-defined production changes it.
If your team is navigating similar constraints — REMI workflows, international coverage, parallel productions, or building the internal case for remote over on-site — we can walk through how this architecture applies to your environment.
Reference
Technology deployed
A summary of the Vindral components and capabilities in use across SVT’s production at the Winter Games.
Vindral Live
Transport, contribution & monitoring
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SRT ingest of venue feeds from Italy into SVT’s Swedish datacenter
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SRT transport for contribution feeds between Live and Composer
