This week’s WTA Top Seed Open in Lexington, KY, represents the first WTA- or ATP-sanctioned event on U.S. soil since the pandemic shut down the sports world in mid March, and Tennis Channel is on hand to bring the action live to the masses. While the tournament marks the return for high-profile stateside tennis, it’s nothing new for Tennis Channel, which has kept busy over the past five months, producing five tournaments in the U.S. and carrying hundreds of hours of live coverage from the around the world.
“We took great pride in being one of the very first networks to come back with live sports,” says Bob Whyley, SVP/executive producer, Tennis Channel. “We never put the ‘gone fishing’ sign up. We have done five remotes since [the pandemic began], and we’re happy with that accomplishment. If we weren’t producing live tennis on our own, we took in live world feeds from Europe. And, if we weren’t doing that, then we had a live studio show where we incorporated some of our talent in studio and other talent via Skype.”

Safety Means Efficiency: ViBox, SMT Automated Production Tools Deployed
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Tennis Channel, on behalf of WTA Media, is producing the world feed for the WTA event in Lexington this week, as well as delivering its own customized telecast to U.S. viewers. In an effort to ensure the health and safety of its team, the network has a smaller onsite crew and footprint than usual, deploying 22 people (which would typically be 50-60) and Gravity Media’s Polaris midsize mobile unit rather than a 53-footer.

“We have to be thoughtful and sensitive to the amount of people that we have onsite,” Whyley points out. “We can’t do business as usual with the big mobile units and big crews, but that doesn’t mean we can’t produce a great show.”
Polaris is built around a 16-channel SimplyLive ViBox all-in-one production system, which is handling the center-court coverage at Top Seed Tennis Club. Tennis Channel has deployed six cameras for center-court coverage, including a jib, a build-up slo-mo system, two hard cameras (courtesy of Ross Production Services), a handheld, and a beauty shot. Longtime CBS Sports Coordinating Producer Bob Mansbach is overseeing the production.

“The SimplyLive ViBox takes a little bit of getting used to because it’s relatively new technology,” says Whyley, “but it has worked out great so far. Our operators in there have been doing a great job, and it’s accomplishing exactly what we need to accomplish, which is a nice, clean world feed.”
To deliver live-streaming coverage from Courts 2 and 3 in Lexington, Tennis Channel is deploying SMT’s automated robotic-camera-tracking system to produce live feeds using just one or two operators per court. Each court has a three-camera setup: one lock-off wide shot and two robotic cameras controlled by SMT software that allows a single operator to produce the entire show. SMT is also providing data and scoring for the main control room inside Polaris (since SMT can integrate into the ViBox directly via NDI).
“I know SMT is more widely known for doing graphics and stats,” says Whyley, “but this camera-tracking system has been pretty impressive for our streaming courts. We knew we needed to have a limited [crew onsite] because of safety, and this has played a big role in allowing us to do that.”

Back in L.A.: Producing the Domestic Broadcast From Home
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Another major reason Tennis Channel was able to limit the number of bodies onsite is that it’s leveraging its Los Angeles production facility to create its own domestic telecast. The world feed is being backhauled to L.A., where Tennis Channel’s production team (abiding by all safety and social-distancing guidelines) is using a dedicated control room to supplement the feed with graphics, studio inserts, match commentary, and other storytelling elements.
“[Our studio] has been dark only two weeks since the week of March 9,” says Whyley. “We are very comfortable there, and we have a good process in place by now. And [parent company] Sinclair has been very supportive and helpful to make sure we have all the right procedures to keep people as safe as possible. We don’t have too many folks in one location, and it has been very successful to date.”

Looking Ahead: Scaled-Down US Open Presence, Major Production at Roland Garros

Next week, the ATP Tour returns for the Western and Southern Open (usually held in Cincinnati) at Flushing Meadows in advance of the US Open, starting at the same venue a week later. With health and safety taking precedence at the Open this year, only host broadcaster ESPN will be permitted onsite. As a result, Tennis Channel will not have its usual lofted set at Arthur Ashe Stadium but will be taking in court feeds, providing first-ball-to-last-ball commentary, and producing its TC Live studio show from Los Angeles.However, the real Super Bowl for Tennis Channel each year is the French Open, which, for the first time, will take place after the US Open at the end of September. As the U.S. domestic rightsholder, the network will once again produce hundreds of hours of live first-ball-to-last-ball tennis from Roland Garros and have a sizable onsite presence with 70+ crew (compared with 150 in a typical year) and multiple booths and studio sets on the grounds.“Most of our focus right now is on the French Open,” notes Whyley. “I think I could speak for everyone in saying we’re really excited to be a part of it. We will fall underneath the [French Tennis Federation] protocols when it comes to safety, and we’ll be scaling back in terms of people. But we’re in a good place, and we’re ready for it. You don’t know what tomorrow brings, but, being in production, we’re used to having to be flexible. So we will be ready, no matter what.”

Simplylive, the makers of the world’s most intuitive and ultra-efficient multi-camera production systems, today announced its partnership with Matrix Video Communications Corp. as a value-added reseller and system integrator in Canada.  

“I am excited that Matrix has chosen to partner with Simplylive” said Chuck Silber, Simplylive’s Chief Revenue Officer.  “The MVCC team was quick to realize the potential of Simplylive’s remote-optimized live sports production solutions and are highly motivated to help us expand our reach into the Canadian market.  I believe their outstanding reputation and high level of technical expertise uniquely positions them to help provide their market with the ViBox solutions that are ideal for today’s new production reality.”  

Commenting on the partnership, MVCC’s President Glenn Burgess added “With our entire economy migrating to the cloud we have been looking for a production solution that incorporates remote location workflows as its core.  Now with COVID highlighting the benefits and flexibility of remote operators we are excited to represent Simplylive from our multiple Canadian offices.”

About Simplylive

With offices in US, EU and Asia, Simplylive was founded by live production veterans who have made systems that have helped produce televised events like the World Cup, Super Bowl and the Olympics. Simplylive’s ViBox platform takes a different approach from traditional hardware and software products. Instead, system designers focus on the way live programs are actually produced, the next generation of users needed to make those programs, and an approach based on system simplicity, flexibility, reliability and oncoming migration to a VoIP and Cloud future. The result is a platform used by ESPN, IMG and Canal+. To find out more, visit www.simplylive.tv.

About Matrix Video Communications

Matrix Video Communications Corp. is a specialized video communications company that has built their reputation on achieving the highest degree of customer satisfaction in consultation, design, integration and installation  of audio, video and multimedia solutions in the Broadcast, Post-Production, and Audio-Visual environments.  As one of Canada's leading suppliers of audio & video equipment and installation services, we combined the advanced expertise of our team alongside our collaborative approach to become a leader in the marketplace. 

Simplylive, the makers of the world’s most intuitive and flexible multi-camera production systems, ​ has announced that they have joined the SRT Alliance.  SRT is a free open source video transport protocol and technology stack that enables the delivery of high-quality and secure low latency video across the public internet.  Founded by Haivision  April 2017, the SRT Alliance already has more than 350 members. 
 
The Simplylive Vibox platform is natively remote production capable, and intrinsically migratable to the cloud. The ViBox I/O hardware can be located with the cameras at the event venue, while the switcher or replay operator UIs can be located in an entirely different location provided they are connected to the same network.
 
The mission of the SRT Alliance is to overcome the challenges of low-latency live streaming by supporting the collaborative development of SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) Open Source, the fastest growing open source streaming project. SRT is a free open source video transport protocol and technology stack originally developed and pioneered by Haivision that enables the delivery of high-quality and secure, low-latency video across the public internet.
 
“SRT’s ability to reliably to deliver the best quality video at all times on any network, including the public internet, is an outstanding addition to our overall remote production strategy”, says Pierre Mestrez, VP Pre-Sales of Simplylive SRL. “In addition, SRT’s inherent capabilities are further enabling the rapid development of our game-changing ViBox Cloud production platform.  Simplylive is proud to be part of the SRT Alliance, and looks forward to contributing to its mission.”

“As one of the leading innovators of remote live production, we’re delighted that Simplylive has joined the SRT Alliance. With the adoption of the SRT protocol, Simplylive can provide their customers with outstanding, low latency and secure streaming workflows to further enhance their remote production capabilities, and help them transition to cloud-based production,” said Jesus (Suso) Carrillo, Director SRT Alliance,Haivision.
 
About Simplylive
With offices in US, EU and Asia, Simplylive was founded by live production veterans who have made systems that have helped produce televised events like the World Cup, Super Bowl and the Olympics. Simplylive’s ViBox platform takes a different approach from traditional hardware and software products. Instead, system designers focus on the way live programs are actually produced, the next generation of users needed to make those programs, and an approach based on system simplicity, flexibility, reliability and oncoming migration to a VoIP and Cloud future. The result is a platform used by ESPN, IMG and Canal+. To find out more, visit www.simplylive.tv.
 
About the SRT Open Source Project & SRT Alliance
SRT is an open source video transport protocol and technology stack, developed and pioneered by Haivision, that optimizes streaming performance across unpredictable networks with secure streams and easy firewall traversal, bringing the best quality live video over the worst networks. The SRT Open Source Project, supported by the SRT Alliance, is a collaborative community of industry leaders and developers striving to achieve lower latency Internet video transport by continuously improving open-source SRT. For more information about the project and how to join the SRT Alliance, visit srtalliance.org

ESPN’s St Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational returned to Clearwater, Florida in February 2020, providing more than 40 games of softball across ESPN’s networks. 

Each participating team played between four and six games over the course of four days, with the USA Softball Women’s National Team also competing in three exhibition games throughout the weekend. 

Gravity Media provided three Simply Live ViBox all-in-one production solutions, as well as engineering to integrate with the OB provider, to provide coverage of three of the pitches at the event. 

The setup included a single-user production with three cameras and one director/producer; a dual-user setup with five cameras, director/producer and dedicated replay operator; and one large three-user setup with 10 cameras, director/producer and two dedicated replay operators.

The whole ESPN team produced 40 games in four days from four fields split between two compounds a mile apart. On Friday 14th, we were live on ESPNU for over eight straight hours, which created a post-season-coverage type of atmosphere. 
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The streaming numbers for the tournament were impressive, and the Sunday night ESPN2 game delivered in dramatic fashion both on and off the field, with a solid rating for a softball game in February.

When The Jump returns to ESPN on Monday, the entire crew will be working from their homes – marking the first time ESPN is deploying a fully at-home workflow for one of its studio shows. The “Live at Home” remote-production workflow was developed in recent weeks by a committee that featured more than 30 ESPN staffers from the company’s Creative and Studio Direction, Production, Production Operations, Remote Production Operations and Technology departments.

“The goal of the committee was to review the best option for producing studio shows at a high-level, while allowing all of the associated staff to work from home,” Chris Calcinari, SVP, ESPN & ABC Sports Remote Production Operations, wrote on ESPN Front Row. “The ‘Live from Home’ committee reviewed several cloud-based solutions that work well to execute very basic productions, but did not allow for a large volume of video, graphics or animation. The committee quickly turned to several tools that have been deployed in the field and could be operated from afar.”

At the core of the “Live at Home” remote workflow is the Simplylive ViBox, which is based at ESPN’s Seaport Studios in Manhattan, but controlled from a staffer’s home in Los Angeles. The ViBox touchscreen production system provides us with the ability to cut/dissolve/wipe between cameras, video and animation sources. It also allows us to store and playback video and insert graphics.

​Remote home studios have been built out for The Jump on-air talent with audio/video signals from each home sent over the internet (using the TVU application) to the Seaport Studios for integration into the ViBox.

​A Vizrt graphics device is also based at our Seaport Studios and is controlled from Operators’ homes in Middlebury and Southington, CT.

All communications take place using a Unity Intercom app installed on the phones, tablets, or computers of everyone involved, including talent.

Production staff is also able to pull video from ESPN media servers and edit at home.

CLICK HERE to read Calcinari’s full post on ESPN Front Row and to see more behind-the-scenes photos.

Remote production trials are carried out regularly in France but for the Pro B clash between Paris Basketball and Aix Maurienne broadcast on Sunday 26 January on RMC Sport, AMP Visual TV delivered a real live remote production that went to air.

“At RMC Sport we like to implement new workflows. We had been thinking about producing a live remote production and not just a trial for quite some time, so with AMP Visual TV and our own "Letsee" team we chose a basketball game,” said Luc Pannier, director of broadcasting and production for the Altice Group, owner of RMC Sport.
This is the first time a Pro B (second division of the National Basketball Championship) regular-season match has ever been held at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris-Bercy – two days after the NBA Paris Game 2020 between Charlotte and Milwaukee.

Equipment used for coverage was identical to that of a traditional match produced with the help of the IXI Live mobile unit. Seven cameras were deployed around the basketball court with five camera operators manning the three cameras on the sidelines, plus one for wide shots and one for close-ups, with two minicams positioned behind the hoops.

“We placed a sensor at the base of the wide-angle camera that, depending on the shot, automatically enabled the minicam to follow the direction of the action. The interesting thing about our set-up is that we used traditional 300Mb fibre broadband instead of a costly dark fibre network to send seven video and audio signals as well as all the other data,” said François Valadoux, deputy CEO for technical resources at AMP Visual TV.

Simplylive ViBox for the production
On-site at the AccorHotel Arena in Bercy there was a pared-down production crew of five camera operators, some assistants and two sound engineers. At the AMP Visual TV media centre (which has moved from the 15th arrondissement of Paris to join the nerve centre of the group’s studio facilities situated at la Plaine Saint Denis, close to the future Olympics village), the crew members who usually work in the IXI Live mobile unit were calling the shots.

They included a director, LSM operator, digital imaging technician, sound engineer and, for the graphics, a dedicated broadcast designer from Tangodelta, services provider for the Professional Basketball League. Worth mentioning is the fact that the commentator and the sports analyst were also in a remote location and just the on-air announcer was present at the stadium to be on set and conduct interviews.

Match director Raphael Gaboriaeu calls the shots for Paris Basketball vs Aix Maurienne, with Simplylive ViBox. “As far as I am concerned, it makes no difference that we are not on site. Directions are given in real-time (as well as tally signals for the camera operators),” said match director Raphael Gaborieau.

“Before the match, I was told there would probably be a one-second delay between transmitting and receiving the signals back at the studio but the delay was barely a quarter of a second.

“For the remote production I used a ViBox, like I normally would in the production truck and I could even have single-handedly managed the slomo replays if needed,” said Gaborieau. “However I chose to go to the stadium to check the camera positions and for a briefing with the operators on site. Otherwise we could have simply used skype to visualise each position.”

Cost savings? Not just yet…
At present, a single one-off remote production does not cost less than normal on-site production. There will be a cut in costs when the professional league (or any federation) and the championship broadcaster agree to tweak the schedule.

In fact, the economy of scale can only be effective if production teams produce a series of two or even three matches a day or even more over a single weekend.
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This will surely happen in the short to medium term for a good number of championships as financial pressure is severe in the world of sports broadcasting production.

SimplyLive is coming to a reseller near you. 

Do you produce live multi-camera sports productions? Are you looking to...
     ➢ Produce more content with less dollars?
     ➢ Work with systems that are extremely flexible and easy to use?
     ➢ Expand your business without breaking the bank?
     ​➢ Purchase production tools that won’t be obsolete in a year

If so, you'll want to come see the SimplyLive ViBox, the world’s most intuitive and easy-to-use live sports production system. 

​Starting in February, 2020, SimplyLive with be demonstrating the ViBox systems at a reseller near you. Current dates are listed below, and check back because more dates are being confirmed.

Check in with resellers to confirm times and to reserve a spot.
​Thanks!