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Hans Peter Trost, Head of Sports Editorial Office #48 How can sport go digital?

In today's media system, journalism, in this case sports journalism, is no longer a constant. Its forms of mediation with editorial offices as institutions and forms of organisation are increasingly in competition with other forms of mediation, currently algorithmic.
This also has an impact on ORF as a "classic medium" with all its legal regulations, some of which no longer correspond to the times. For a public service medium like ORF, sports reporting in its entirety is an essential part of its mission. We see sport as a cultural asset and an essential part of society. This concerns not only the active personal practice, but also the quasi-passive use, the media reception. Here, the ORF largely ensures the barrier-free participation of all sections of the population. In fulfilling its mandate, however, a publicly financed enterprise is reaching its limits, because sport is increasingly becoming part of a global entertainment industry and thus the plaything and field of activity of hedge funds, financing and capitalisation models. The dystopia is therefore more and more social exclusion. Only those who have money can watch top-class sport; the less well-off are excluded.
The future of linear television lies in the simultaneous shared experience, i.e. live sport, news and entertainment. Personal programme guides and personalities, made possible by digitalisation, give a home. Algorithms must not be more personal than linear television. Genre clusters will become indispensable for media broadcasters in the future.
The use of digital platforms will become indispensable for ORF Sport in order to no longer be dependent on linear programming and overlapping of programme events for all its sports offerings. Viewers want to watch sport and also use it on different channels to suit their lifestyle. This is especially true for live sport in the broad but also in the niche. In contrast to the platforms and offers of associations and clubs, but also of commercial providers, the ORF stands by its independence and journalistic quality, which is anchored in the law. This is a unique selling point for our audience. Here, it is not the sponsor or the sport that decides how the sport is presented or how it is reported.
For ORF Sport, digitisation also enables communication with the audience at eye level via various feedback channels, especially in real time, such as via voting tools integrated into broadcasts. However, digitalisation also enables changes in technical forms of production (keyword 5G) and will in future be oriented more towards content (mass relevance) and the type of sport and no longer so strongly towards the availability of production resources at ORF.