Highlights of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU in the PCC

The Prague Congress Centre is the venue for the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU from July to December 2022. This includes more than 50 events in total, and it is far from possible to cover everything that has taken place at the PCC during this periodand will still be happening. We offer at least a list of interesting things related to this event.

Hosting the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU was also an opportunity for the PCC to further develop and innovate, which will beneﬁt it in the future. Electric vehicle charging hubs, which you can read about on page 4, are not the only innovations that have emerged in connection with the Presidency in the PCC. There are also big challenges for the PCC AV team.

Cabling

New cabling is being used in the PCC during the Presidency to connect the auditoriums: up to 24 channels of video, audio and interpretation are being provided in the auditoriums using new ﬁbre optic cabling. 4 K optical converters and the Dante protocol are used to distribute the interpretation.

Technology

The requirements for the provision of technology are quite strict and are based on the precise requirements of the Government. Since last year, the use of equipment according to the new ISO standard has been required, which has complicated the procurement of the necessary equipment.

Robotic cameras

The PCC has purchased new robotic cameras and software to provide an automated view of a delegate who has an activated microphone. In practice, this means that when a delegate starts to speak, the camera automatically takes the delegate. This technology is not new but has not been used at the PCC before. In the future, the PCC will use these robotic cameras for other streams and hybrid events.

CCTV technology in the press centre

It is a summary of the distribution of video, audio and interpretation signal to the press centre so that journalists have up-to-date information about the arrival of delegates, the start of the press conference etc. CCTV is used to distribute the signal from Czech Television, which provides these services for the Government Ofﬁce. If there is no live and up-to-date data from CT, the PCC AV team sends information to the CCTV about the programme or whatever the client wishes (e.g. videos). The press centre is equipped with screens that show this content by a separate interpreter signal. Journalists can also record both audio and interpretation as well as video at the locations concerned using a separate infrastructure.
Cabling and new cable infrastructure were built to distribute the CT signal with a connection point for the transmission truck. Which means that in the future any TV operator can use this distribution point and connect at various PCC locations, without having to pull and secure their own cabling.

Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU 2022 in the PCC in figures