It's a TMO's paradise... 34 different cameras will cover the RWC semi-finals and final

Television match officials at the World Cup are going to be spoilt for choice when it comes to reviewing footage at the finals. 

The 2019 tournament is the first World Cup where broadcast production will be completely produced and controlled by World Rugby.

One of the steps that will be taken to enhance coverage of the sport is to have a total of 34 cameras covering all angles for the semi-finals and the final, rising from the 28 and 23 camera plans used for other categories of matches during the six-week tournament.

That multi-angle coverage is aimed at setting new standards in rugby broadcast production in the hope of achieving a record global footprint by attracting new fans and showcasing the sport in higher quality than ever before.

World Rugby reckons Japan 2019 will set a rugby broadcast record as the action is set to be available to more than 800million households in 217 territories once all rights deals are announced, surpassing the 683m homes record in 2015. 

Since last time the @AllBlacks weren't number one…

– Eight seasons of @GameOfThrones took place
– @Instagram was created and launched
– @DjokerNole won 15 Grand Slam titles
– One Direction were formed… and broke up

What did we miss?! ? #WhilstNZWereNo1 https://t.co/ocHUhcC47I

— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) August 19, 2019

The governing body claims these figures underline its commitment to expand the sport’s reach from its current 800m following and to engage with the next generation of fans across the globe.

“Our mission is to grow the global rugby family and our World Cup 2019 broadcast plans reflect that mission – providing more content to more people with more innovation than ever before,” said Bill Beaumont, the World Rugby chairman. 

“We are excited that new standards will be set in the broadcast and social media presentation of World Cup, as fans will experience the action from more angles and feel even closer to the world’s top players and the stories that will mark a historic and very special event.” 

In a further enlivening development, augmented reality (AR) graphics will be incorporated into the coverage for 34 of the 48 matches for elements such as team line-ups, player comparisons, statistics and tables. 

Rugby World Cup 2019 by the numbers

1st Rugby World Cup hosted in Asia

6 worldwide partners renewed in record time with a record value

9th Rugby World Cup

12 host cities from Sapporo in the north to Kumamoto in the south

20 teams

48 matches

55 team camps

94 teams involved in the qualification

217 broadcast territories *when all broadcast deals are announced

3,000 media in attendance

13,000 volunteers

25,000 disadvantaged children in Asia who will benefit from ChildFund Pass It Back support

400,000+ international visitors

600,000 tickets sold to international fans from the Antarctic to Russia

1.16 million Impact Beyond Asia 1 million project participants to date

1.5 million+ tickets sold to date 

£1.5 million pledged to ChildFund Pass it Back from fans and commercial partners 

1.8 million attendance

5.5 million tickets applied for 

14 million rugby fans in Japan

40 million anticipated domestic broadcast audience for the opening match

90 million+ RWC awareness in Japan (77.4 per cent of the population) 

112 million rugby fans in Asia 

500 million+ live broadcast audience

800 million broadcast households

Y216.6 billion (£2.97BN) added value to the Japanese economy – a record

WATCH: Part one of Operation Jaypan, the two-part RugbyPass documentary on what the fans can expect to experience at the World Cup in Japan