BOSTON—CBS Boston has inked a deal with the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) to televise weekly live games this summer beginning June 27 on WSBK-TV.

Weekly broadcasts of the Cape Cod Baseball League Game of the Week will air Saturday at 7:00 p.m. on WSBK-TV, with six games scheduled through Aug. 1, including coverage of the league’s All-Star Game on July 18. Each broadcast will be preceded by a 30-minute pregame show, Inside the Cape League, at 6:30 p.m.

The Cape Cod Baseball League is widely regarded as a top collegiate summer baseball league. It features top collegiate players from around the country competing exclusively with wooden bats. The list of alumni who transitioned from "The Cape" to "The Show" includes some of the greatest names in baseball history, such as Frank Thomas, Carlton Fisk and Thurman Munson, as well as current stars Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber and Paul Skenes.

“With this partnership, CBS Boston brings elite summer baseball to viewers across the region while highlighting one of the most respected leagues in the sport,” said Johnny Green, regional president and general manager of CBS Boston and CBS New York. “We are proud to bring excitement to fans while strengthening our ties to communities across the region.”

“We are incredibly excited to partner with CBS Boston to bring the magic of the Cape Cod Baseball League into homes across New England this summer," said Andrew Lang, president, Cape Cod Baseball League. "This agreement represents a significant milestone for our league, allowing us to showcase the world-class talent on our diamonds to a broad audience. Fans can look forward to seeing the unique atmosphere and tradition that makes the Cape League so special, while generating greater visibility of the best college baseball players in the country."

Under the agreement, the CCBL will provide a fully produced broadcast, and CBS Boston will serve as the exclusive local linear television broadcaster of Cape Cod Baseball League games in the Boston market.

As the 2026 Major League Baseball season gets underway, the sport is attempting to simplify its TV schedule with new network partnerships while also ushering in a new era of AI-based officiating.

For decades, baseball thrived on the predictability of regional sports networks and national broadcast windows. However, that longtime model is—and has been—in visible decline, with linear viewership plummeting from 40% to 60% over the past decade, particularly among younger audiences, according to Nielsen and related industry analyses.

As a result, in 2026, MLB finds itself navigating one of the most consequential transitions in its modern history—not just in terms of media rights, but in how the sport is fundamentally consumed.

Getting Personal
That transition is being analyzed not only by MLB, broadcasters, content providers and technical concerns, but by the newly structured TV-rights agreement between MLB and ESPN that reflects a sport in transition.

Under the new agreement announced last fall, ESPN will distribute MLB.TV through its app while gaining exclusive national game packages and local streaming rights for six specific teams. Subscribers can also access thousands of live games across both ESPN and MLB platforms, including a “game-of-the-day” offering and expanded summer coverage.

Baseball has also returned to NBC, with 25 primetime games scheduled, as well as coverage on Peacock and The Roku Channel. Additional rights deals with Netflix—including Opening Day coverage—are also part of the new mix of distribution options.

Fox Sports retained the rights for the All-Star Game and World Series, and TNT Sports retained its Tuesday night and postseason package.

Matt Coleman, futurist and CEO of Las Vegas-based FansXR, which provides live, fan-controlled broadcast views for entertainment and gamification, says such moves illustrate MLB’s efforts to adapt to today’s TV landscape.

“[MLB] is moving away from the stability of linear television toward a fragmented, multiplatform future defined by streaming, personalization and interactivity.” he said.

Although some regional sports networks such as NESN—which announced a redesigned on-air look and expanded signature programming for this season’s coverage of the Boston Red Sox—are still very much in the game, many other regional sports networks have collapsed, forcing MLB to rethink not just distribution, but its entire relationship with fans.

That’s because a demographic reality is becoming harder to ignore. The average baseball fan is now approximately 57 years old, with a predominantly male audience skewing close to 70%, according to Statista. While loyalty among this base remains strong, MLB continues to lag behind the National Football League and National Basketball Association in attracting younger viewers.

And those viewers no longer consume sports as a scheduled, passive experience.

“Younger fans aren’t rejecting baseball; they’re rejecting passive consumption,” Coleman said. “The next generation expects to interact with the game in real time—predict outcomes, compete with friends and personalize their viewing experience. The leagues that understand this shift will unlock entirely new economics around engagement.”

That shift is already visible in how content is being distributed and consumed. MLB’s growing partnerships with streaming platforms, such as Apple TV, and emerging sports distributors like DAZN are less about replacing television and more about diversifying access points.

Meanwhile, social platforms—led in part by early experiments with Snap Inc.—have redefined how highlights are delivered, favoring short-form, mobile-first content that travels instantly across networks.

D-I-Y
The new MLB-ESPN agreement sits at the center of this evolving landscape. Rather than reinforcing the old model, it’s the bridge that blends national and local rights into a more flexible framework. This allows MLB to maintain reach while gradually reclaiming control over distribution.

“The real strategic objective is not simply rights revenue, but data ownership and building a direct, first-party relationship with fans that can be monetized across platforms,” Coleman said. “This is where the next phase of innovation becomes critical. The introduction of interactive engagement layers has the potential to fundamentally reshape the economics of the sport.

“By integrating real-time prediction, gamification, and augmented reality into live broadcasts, baseball can evolve from a passive viewing experience into a dynamic, participatory platform,” he added. “The financial upside is significant. A traditional passive viewer, monetized primarily through advertising, may generate between $1 and $3 per game.

By contrast, an actively engaged fan, participating in prediction mechanics, interacting with live data, and engaging with gamified elements, can generate from $8 to $25 per game through a combination of extended engagement, microtransactions and targeted sponsorship integration, according to Coleman.

“Once you layer in prediction and interactivity, you’re no longer monetizing attention, you’re monetizing participation,” he said.

That means brands like T-Mobile are moving beyond traditional signage and broadcast spots, instead focusing on integrated digital experiences that provide tangible value to fans, be it through exclusive access, rewards or enhanced connectivity. At the same time, betting and prediction markets are becoming increasingly central to the viewing experience, driving deeper engagement and longer watch times, while opening new monetization pathways for leagues and partners alike.

Of course, artificial intelligence is key to this developing market. “It’s poised to accelerate all of these trends,” Coleman said, “especially considering that, within the next five years, the concept of a single, linear broadcast may give way to fully-personalized viewing environments.”

Imagine fans being able to choose their own commentators, tailor camera angles and receive real-time predictive insights, with highlights instantly generated by AI systems. The highlights would then be distributed across platforms in seconds, while data overlays transforming every pitch into an interactive moment.

The race to build this new landscape is underway, as technology giants such as Apple and Amazon have the infrastructure and design capabilities to reimagine the viewing experience, while platforms like YouTube continue to dominate in creator-driven distribution.

Yet the most disruptive innovation may come from companies operating above the broadcast layer, like FansXR, that “enhance existing [game] feeds with interactive and immersive capabilities,” said Coleman, and “that blend content, community, data and commerce into a unified ecosystem.”

For MLB, the path forward is clear but challenging. “The league must evolve beyond its legacy as a broadcast-driven product and embrace a future defined by interactivity, personalization and direct fan relationships,” Coleman said. “The MLB-ESPN deal is only the beginning of that transformation.”

Hawk-Eye Takes the Field
After trying out the new ball-strike system in Minor League Baseball in 2025, as well as in its last two spring training sessions, Major League Baseball has taken the next step in its technology evolution.

So with the start of the 2026 regular season, it’s gotten real: the Automated Ball-Strike System, powered by Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology, which uses images from advanced cameras that are triangulated and combined to create a 3D image of the ball’s trajectory, has officially made it to The Show.

While the technology represents progress, it’s not meant to violate the tradition of the game: the rules still empower the home plate umpire to call balls and strikes, while the Hawk-Eye collects data from 12 cameras set up around the diamond from a set strike zone for each player, depending on height ratio.

With the ABS system, the pitcher, catcher or batter can challenge up to two calls per game (each team gets two and retains them if the challenge is successful), with data from Hawk-Eye available to determine the exact location of any pitch that’s in question. Then the results of the review, which takes about 15 seconds, is immediately displayed on live video and the scoreboard.

The technology, created by Hawk-Eye Innovations, which Sony acquired in 2011 from Mark Getty (the son of Sir Paul Getty), has been used in other sports such as soccer and tennis, and it is a core part of Sony’s sports business. MLB has been using Hawk-Eye’s SMART replay as part of its video decision systems since 2014 and as part of its play analysis service in 2020.

Five of the 12 cameras have high frame rates that specialize in bat and pitch tracking; in 2023, MLB upgraded those cameras from 100 frames per second to 300 fps.

The system dovetails with MLB’s use of other concepts, like Statcast, in its growing data toolbox. The use of the ABS and the Hawk-Eye technology may delete some entertaining verbal interludes from MLB games, but it will certainly temper arguments over ball or strike calls.

That’s important, given that a 2019 study from “The Journal of Sports Engineering” divulged that umpires miss about 14% of ball and strike calls, with fatigue being a key reason.

But if the numbers from the recently concluded spring training provide a solid barometer of what to expect, the impact of ABS and the Hawk-Eye is hard to dispute. In 288 games played with the ABS in use, there were an average of 4.1 challenges per game, according to MLB. Calls were overturned 52.2% of the time, and challenges added 13.8 seconds to the game’s official time, on average.

Not surprisingly, catchers had the greatest success, overturning pitches 56% of the time, compared to 50% for hitters and 41% for pitchers. Full counts prompted challenges more than any other count; players challenged least often on 3-0. But the higher the leverage of the count, the less successful the challenges were.

Hopefully, the new system will work for all parties without encroaching on the competition. During its testing process in the minors, MLB considered implementing ABS on every pitch. However, after much discussion and trial, it was decided that its current setup was the most effective approach.

Major League Baseball has announced deals with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix covering 2026-2028 that make ESPN the exclusive distributor for MLB.TV, put regularly aired games on NBC for the first time in 26 years and expand Netflix’s role from presenting documentaries to live baseball coverage for the first time.

ESPN
MLB awarded ESPN the right to distribute MLB.TV, its subscription package of thousands of live and on-demand out-of-market games, on the ESPN App and on MLB platforms. Its agreement with the sports network also includes a broad range of national and in-market rights.

New MLB.TV subscribers will be able to purchase and stream the service through the enhanced ESPN App. New and existing MLB.TV subscribers will be able to access the service on the ESPN App and through MLB platforms.

ESPN has also secured exclusive local in-market streaming rights for the San Diego Padres, Cleveland Guardians, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. Next year, their in-market games will be available to purchase and stream on MLB platforms.

The sports broadcaster will also deliver more than 150 out-of-market regular season games per season across a special game-of-the-day offering for subscribers to ESPN Unlimited.

ESPN also gets a 30-game package of exclusive national games for its linear network and ESPN Unlimited, consisting mainly of weeknight games during the core summer months. It will also retain rights to the MLB Little League Classic as part of its coverage of the Little League World Series, and will air games on Memorial Day and on the first day of the season’s second half.

NBCUniversal
Baseball’s rights deal with NBCUniversal sees the return of baseball to NBC and Peacock beginning with primetime coverage of the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 26, 2026—the only primetime MLB game on Opening Day.

NBC’s coverage consists of 25 primetime games each season; “MLB Sunday Leadoff,” which will return to Peacock and NBCSN from The Roku Channel with 18 late-morning start games; 17 Peacock/NBCSN exclusives; one Peacock-NBC simulcast over the 2026 season; a Sunday afternoon whip-around show looking at live action from across the league on Peacock; a Sunday, July 5, “Roadblock” featuring all 15 MLB games that day on Peacock-NBC; Peacock-exclusive regular season and postseason games on the NBCSN sports cable network; and Telemundo Deportes presentation of all NBCUniversal-produced MLB games in Spanish with Universo televising all games broadcast on NBC.

Netflix
The MLB awarded Netflix the rights to air MLB’s Opening Night game, starting in 2026 with a March 26 New York Yankees-San Francisco Giants contest; special-events games such as the Field of Dreams game in Iowa; and the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, held ahead of the All-Star Game. Netflix will also air the World Baseball Classic, an international tournament involving MLB players.

Baseball’s other primary TV partners, World Series and All-Star Game rightsholder Fox Sports and TNT Sports, will retain their current packages.

A post on MLB.com quoted MLB commissioner Robert Manfred as calling the new deals “a great opportunity to expand our reach to fans through three powerful destinations for live sports, entertainment and marquee events.”

NEW YORK—Fox Sports said its coverage of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the decisive Game 7 of the 2025 World Series delivered 27,330,000 viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox Sports streaming platforms. That ranked it as the most-watched World Series game since 2017’s Game 7, which pulled in 29,069,000 viewers, according to Nielsen data.

On Fox, the 11-inning Fall Classic conclusion delivered an average audience of 26,882,000 viewers and peaked at 33,064,000 from 11:45 p.m. to midnight ET. Fox said the number is up 16% over the most recent World Series Game 7 in 2019 and ranks as Fox’s most-watched Saturday primetime telecast since Jan. 18.

TV Tech's coverage of the new technologies that Fox Sports used to produce the games is available here.

Through seven games on Fox, the 121st World Series delivered an average of 15,709,000 viewers—the best complete average for a World Series since 2017 (18,926,000 viewers) and up 2% over last year’s average for five games (15,336,000 viewers), Fox said.

In addition, the complete 2025 MLB postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8,088,000 viewers, up 8% over last year’s average (7,520,000) and Fox Sports’ best postseason since 2017.

On Fox, Game 7 drew a 22.2/62 rating in Los Angeles, peaking at 26.5/66 from 12:15-12:30 a.m. ET.

Top local markets for the entire World Series included:

• Los Angeles 17.6/53
• San Diego 10.9/40
• Seattle 9.6/37
• St. Louis 9.2/26
• Milwaukee 9.2/27
• Las Vegas 9.1/32
• Portland, Ore. 9.1/34
• Buffalo, N.Y. 8.9/24
• Sacramento, Calif. 8.9/31
• Minneapolis 8.7/27

Fox Sports’ digital platforms and streaming services recorded record levels throughout the 2025 World Series. Game 7 was the most-viewed World Series game in Fox Sports history, with a total average minute audience (AMA) of 752,731. Fox Sports delivered 1.3 billion views for the World Series across @MLBonFox social media channels, up 96% from 2024 (664 million).

In addition, Fox Deportes’ coverage of Game 7 averaged 448,000 viewers—the most-watched Game 7 on Spanish-language television since 2019 (613,000 viewers for Nationals-Astros).

Separately, Major League Baseball said Game 7 of the 2025 World Series averaged 51.0 million viewers combined across the U.S., Canada, and Japan, making the 11-inning contest the most-watched MLB game in 34 years, going back to Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.

RENO, Nev.—As technical director for Minor League Baseball’s Reno Aces, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate, I’m charged with overseeing, managing and maintaining our broadcast technology for nearly 75 home games. I support the direction and production of the baseball broadcast for the Bally Sports Live feed, local sports channel Nevada Sports Net (NSN) and the MiLB.TV feed, as well as the feed syndicated to the video board.

To achieve the look the Reno Aces wanted, we needed a durable, versatile and reliable camera that provided great images, offered lens flexibility, could be used by operators with all levels of experience and had a lower cost of operation.

HXC-FZ90 Deployment
We selected four of Sony’s HXC-FZ90 camera-system chains with the compatible camera control units (CCUs), which are used at center field, high home, low first and low third. I am familiar with Sony—we were replacing older Sony models—and the FZ90 offered us a good bang for our buck. With Sony’s cameras, if you treat the equipment right, it will last a long time.

The HXC-FZ90s are well-suited for the demands of live sports—they have a small footprint and are unobtrusive. They’re lightweight, easy to move and handle, and ergonomic enough for shoulder-mount use. Our camera operators range from novice to entry-level to experienced, and there was a short learning curve for everyone to get the most out of the camera. They are smooth, easy to use and have a nice layout. I even handled the integration of these units, and they were very plug-and-play, so setup was nice and simple out of the box.

Additionally, the camera’s ²⁄₃-inch type 4K CMOS image sensor has a dynamic range that enables us to effortlessly capture pretty sunsets over the Sierra Nevada mountain range, as well as springtime thunderstorms and majestic clouds that are full of rich, vibrant colors, with minimal painting.

Our games see their fair share of sun and shade, but the FZ90s allow us to adjust the iris and find a sweet spot that seamlessly handles shadows and bright light, especially when both are in frame simultaneously. The auto iris was a big selling point for us, especially when we don’t have a dedicated camera shader.

Full Control
On a minor league budget, we also valued the HXC-FZ90’s B4 lens-mount system, which supports the ²⁄₃-inch glass we already had in-house and allows us to swap out lenses. One of my favorite FZ90 functions is being able to maintain full ND (neutral density) control from the CCU and the ability to control different scene files. Additionally, the scene settings allow us to paint and repaint the cameras easily, without the need for a good scope. We go through the touch-panel menu settings to get into engineer mode to achieve everything quickly and simply.

Another notable feature is the XLR audio inputs which allow us to adjust the gain and run natural sound, from the crack of the bat to the coaches interacting, which adds more reality and engagement.

The cameras also offer 4K upgradability, which allows the cameras to grow as our needs do. Once MiLB or our RSN move over to 4K, we won’t be required to buy new cameras—we can just purchase an upgrade license to shoot in 4K, and the image is going to look even sharper. Finally, the compatibility with other Sony cameras is beneficial; they all match and offer integration, requiring only small tweaks, which makes our jobs easier.

For more information, visit https://pro.sony/ue_US/.

BOSTON and NEW YORK—The sports network NESN has announced that it has selected ViewLift provide solutions and technologies to upgrade the viewing and streaming experiences available for NESN 360, the direct-to-consumer streaming home for the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins and other New England sports programming.

The upgraded DTC and TVE streaming offerings, which will use ViewLift’s “out of the box” features and functionality, are scheduled to relaunch this summer. NESN 360 allows fans to stream all locally-available games live on major devices, including mobile, web and connected TV platforms.

“The fan experience continues to be at the forefront of everything we do. By entering into this partnership, we will continue to focus on delivering dynamic, first in class products for fans of the Red Sox, Bruins and all of our programming,” said NESN president and CEO David Wisnia. “We’re excited about partnering with ViewLift to power feature-rich, reliable streaming for the next iteration of NESN 360.”

In making the announcement, the companies noted that NESN has a long history of tech innovation, which the current agreement continues. NESN was the first to provide fans with High-Definition broadcasts and then the first to offer 4K game broadcasts. In 2022, NESN was the first to launch a direct-to-consumer streaming platform in NESN 360.

“We are particularly proud to work with NESN, a consistent innovator in live sports,” said Rick Allen, CEO of ViewLift. “Our platform now streams 14 US pro teams and five RSNs, more than our competitors combined, and we will bring this experience to bear for the passionate fans of the Red Sox, Bruins, and the other pro and collegiate teams that New Englanders have come to enjoy from NESN.”

With the new deal, ViewLift’s roster of clients now includes streaming platforms for the NHL, and 14 professional teams across that League and the NBA, WNBA and MLB, as well as the Professional Fighters League, LIV Golf, and other sports leagues and teams around the world. The company reported that its robust cloud-based platform ensures seamless, buffer-free streaming and supports flexible monetization models, real-time analytics, fan personalization, and rapid deployment.

MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL—The Minnesota Twin have inked a new, multi-year partnership with Gray Media and FOX 9, KMSP, to broadcast 10 Tuesday night regular season games per season. All 10 simulcasts of Major League Baseball’s Twins.TV production will air live in the Twin Cities on the main FOX 9 channel, beginning with an exclusive 30-minute FOX 9 pregame show, “Twins Tuesday Live.” Select Gray Media stations in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa will carry each of the 10 Tuesday games, ensuring local over-the-air coverage of Twins baseball across Twins Territory for the first time since 1988.

All locally-distributed Twins regular season games will also be available on Twins.TV Presented by Progressive.

(Read: Local TV’s Role in Pro Sports Flashes Real Staying Power)

“We joined MLB Media and created Twins.TV in 2025 to increase access for all fans, with a big part being the opportunity to return to free, over-the-air television,” said Twins Executive Chair Joe Pohlad. “To achieve that goal with our partners at FOX 9—a station that has long been dedicated to local programming and the game of baseball—is wonderful for the Twins and our fans, and we could not be more excited. We’re also thrilled to join with Gray Media to air Twins games in communities across our region. The expanded reach of these games will allow more fans to sample Twins baseball and increase consideration for enjoying more of our games on cable, satellite or via the Twins.TV direct-to-consumer streaming service.”

Marian Davey, General Manager of FOX 9 KMSP-TV, said of the partnership, “FOX 9 is thrilled and honored to bring the Minnesota Twins back to broadcast television. The Twins are more than Minnesota’s baseball team, they are part of who we are as a state. For generations, the Twins and Minnesota families have been making lifetime memories together. Now it’s time to make new ones.”

“Gray appreciates the opportunity to join with the Minnesota Twins and FOX 9 to bring free, over-the-air baseball back to Twins Territory for the first time in decades,” said Sandy Breland, Chief Operating Officer of Gray Media. “We know Twins fans across the outer market Twins Territory will love it.”

Beyond the 10-game Tuesday package, an additional five Twins contests have been selected for national FOX Saturday Baseball telecasts this season, meaning that 15 regular season Twins games will air locally on FOX 9 in 2025. Before those matchups, FOX 9 will present “Twins Weekend Live,” an exclusive one-hour pregame show.

MIAMI and NEW YORK—TelevisaUnivision has concluded a new multi-year agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB) that will allow TelevisaUnivision networks set to provide dedicated coverage of the MLB regular season starting Tuesday, Aug. 20, and continuing through the entire postseason. 

The multiyear agreement includes a new weekly whip-around show – “MLB En Vivo,” featuring live look-ins, highlights and recaps of up to 15 games every Tuesday throughout the remainder of the regular season, airing live on UniMás from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm ET coast-to-coast. 

TelevisaUnivision will also produce “MLB Esta Semana” during the regular season, a weekly MLB-focused show airing on UniMás in the U.S. every Saturday at 3:00 pm ET/PT, and on TUDN in Mexico. 

“MLB En Vivo” and “MLB Esta Semana” will be simulcast on TUDN each week and will also be available on the premium tier of ViX, TelevisaUnivision’s streaming service. 

TelevisaUnivision will also have the exclusive Spanish-language rights in the U.S. to the 2024 American League Division Series and American League Championship Series, which will air on UniMás and simulcast on TUDN, with select games on Univision. 

Additionally, Game 1 of the 2024 World Series will be broadcast on Univision, in conjunction with Fox Sports and Fox Deportes, giving fans access to the Fall Classic for the first time in the U.S. on an over-the-air Spanish-language broadcast network. 

“Major League Baseball is truly excited for the launch of this new partnership, as it provides a valuable opportunity to increase exposure for our great game across the formidable reach of TelevisaUnivision’s unmatched domestic platform,” said Kenny Gersh, executive vice president, media and business for Major League Baseball. “Communicating authentically with our robust Spanish-speaking fanbase is a priority for Baseball and this partnership will allow us to connect them more directly to our brand, our clubs, and the growing number of dynamic Latino stars represented in the game today.” 

“We are proud to partner with Major League Baseball, delivering action from the best players and teams to our viewers across the country,” said Marco Liceaga, senior vice president of sports rights acquisitions & commercial partnerships at TelevisaUnivision. “Baseball is engrained in Latin culture. With Hispanic players making up more than 30% of the league, this first-time partnership deal will undoubtedly bring a new wave of pride, influence and sense of community, providing Spanish-speaking fans with in-language coverage of the game they love.” 

This new deal adds to TelevisaUnivision’s coverage of Major League Baseball as the official national Spanish-language audio partner in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. TUDN Radio broadcasts each Sunday Night game of the week, July 4 games, the MLB All-Star Game, Labor Day games, the MLB Postseason and the World Series. 

SAN JOSE, Calif.—In another important example of how high-profile sports rights are shifting to streaming, Roku has secured the exclusive multi-year rights for Major League Baseball (MLB) Sunday Leadoff live games. 

Starting May 19, Roku will offer Sunday MLB games for free on The Roku Channel. It will also be offering an all-new MLB Zone to help baseball fans discover live and upcoming games, nightly recaps, highlights and a fully programmed MLB FAST channel. 

On most Sundays throughout the season, Roku will be the home for the first games of the day, with an exclusivity window during airtime as well.

The MLB also reported that paying subscribers of MLB.TV can watch all 18 matchups blackout free from anywhere in the world.

“As television programming, live sports, and the leagues have fragmented across networks, apps, and multiple packages, Roku—home to all of them—plays an increasingly crucial role for viewers and advertisers,” said Charlie Collier, president, Roku Media. “With this deal, Roku delivers free, live, weekly Sunday baseball and 24/7 baseball curation, destinations, and channels across our platform. The lead-in to all of television is now the lead-off for Sunday baseball as well. It’s a terrific partnership.”

MLB Sunday Leadoff will stream every Sunday on The Roku Channel and TheRokuChannel.com from May 19 to Sept. 15. The matchups start on May 19 with the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Boston Red Sox. 

Other featured games include the Baltimore Orioles with young stars Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson going head-to-head against the New York Yankees with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto on July 14; and the defending National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks with reigning National League Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll will face the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman on Sept. 1. 

The game telecasts will be produced in collaboration with Major League Baseball. Broadcast teams each week will be market-focused, with Chip Caray (play-by-play), Will Middlebrooks (analyst), and Alexa Datt (reporter) calling this Sunday’s game. The full MLB Sunday Leadoff on Roku schedule is listed at the end of this press release.

“With free games available to anyone, MLB games on Roku will be widely accessible to fans,” said Noah Garden, MLB deputy commissioner, business and media. “Since Roku serves as an entertainment gateway for millions, this partnership offers a valuable new promotional and distribution platform for MLB games and content.”

ATLANTA—Gray Television Inc. has announced an agreement to bring select American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) games to free, over-the-air local television stations in multiple Midwestern markets and across three of Gray’s local sports networks: Arizona Family Sports in Arizona, Peachtree Sports Network in Georgia, and Silver State Sports and Entertainment Network in Nevada. 

The AAPB is a Major League Baseball Partner League that operates in nine states and one Canadian province. Formed in 2006, the league consists of twelve member clubs. On opening day 2023, 23 players had previous experience with MLB clubs; over 65% of American Association players already have Double-A experience or above.

As part of the deal, Gray intends to air the AAPB All Star Game over-the-air across more than a dozen markets on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. 

In addition to a “Game of the Week” format on Gray’s owned over- the-air sports networks, Gray’s television stations in Mankato, MN, Rockford, IL, Sioux Falls, SD, and Cedar Rapids, IA plan to carry games from AAPB teams located in or near those markets.

“Gray is committed to live sports,” said Sandy Breland, Gray’s COO. “This agreement provides another example of ways we are providing viewers what they want with live sports.”

“The partnership with Gray Media allows the American Association to now bring our product to over 8 million television households. That significantly extends our viewership from our 12 home markets to millions more in the United States. It’s a great win for our brand to showcase our elite athletes, including many players with MLB experience, in front of millions of new fans,” said Joshua Schaub, American Association of Professional Baseball Commissioner.

As Major League Baseball enters a new season on a wave of resurgent popularity, live game streaming could soon play a bigger role than ever in drawing fans to the game. 

Looking back, the biggest changes in 2023 were the new rules created to shorten the average length of an MLB regular season game, which had grown to a record 3 hours, 11 minutes in 2021. The new rule changes in 2023 reduced the average length of a MLB game down to only 2 hours and 42 minutes. 

The shorter games, however, have not changed the fact that the upheaval in regional sports network coverage in particular, has drawn attention to team owners’ efforts to maintain TV exposure, with some streaming services rolling out new technologies that could soon be impacting fan engagement on a much broader scale. 

How fast that impact will spread depends in part on what happens next in the unfolding saga that is consuming regional sports networks, but new demonstrations of what can be done to attract online viewers are not likely to be ignored no matter who ends up with individual teams’ broadcast and streaming rights.

The RSN Mess
For the most part, it looks like traditional TV coverage, primarily through team affiliations with RSNs and national TV network broadcasts from MLB Network, ESPN, TBS and others, will continue. But where things go with many teams after 2024—especially the 12 clubs broadcasting through Diamond Sports Group’s RSNs—remains to be seen.

Diamond, rescued from bankruptcy by $450 million in debt financing, $495 million in a suit settlement with owner Sinclair Broadcast, and $115 million from sale of a minority equity stake to Amazon, will cover 12 teams in 2024. Presumably, with its commitment to ongoing operations, it will seek to stay the course with at least some of those teams in the years ahead. 

Elsewhere, the defending Texas Rangers, along with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners, have set up pay TV broadcasting deals in the wake of Warner Bros. Discovery’s termination of AT&T Sportsnet last year, leaving the Colorado Rockies without a TV deal after working out support for a streaming service supported by the MLB.TV platform. The 14 other MLB teams’ RSN affiliations remain intact.

An important factor in what comes next for baseball on TV will be the approach to securing rights taken by broadcast station groups, which, as reported in our cover story this month, have capitalized on sports team owners’ preference for free TV’s reach over the diminishing viewership registered by RSNs. Several NBA teams have taken this route, and it’s likely broadcasters will want to bid competitively for MLB team rights as well in light of the sport’s renewed popularity.

The improvement was confirmed in recent consumer surveys by the polling company Ipsos and sports marketer Playfly Sports, both of which ranked baseball second only to football among pro sports in the U.S. in terms of popularity. Baseball stadium attendance surged 9.5% in 2023, the largest spike in 30 years, according to ESPN, which attributes some of that increase to the shorter games.

On the streaming side, Diamond RSN games will be available at a premium to Amazon Prime subscribers, and the other RSNs will continue their streaming services, most of which, like Diamond, use the MLB.TV platform. With streaming now the default source for 73% of American adults, according to Adtaxi, the experience of viewing baseball is about to become much more engaging.

MLB.TV Innovations
The most pervasive availability of new enhancements to baseball streaming is coming by way of the MLB.TV platform. The MLB.TV streaming service supports access to all teams at $149.99 annually while the regional RSN’ streaming services focus on single teams at much lower costs. 

MLB has long been at the forefront of streaming innovation. And Apple TV+ with the streaming component of its $9.99-per-month Friday Night Baseball package built on the MLB.TV platform is adding some bells and whistles related to other options available through its app store.

Much of what’s new this year is related to enhancements of popular features from last year, including expanded availability of Catch-up viewing of live game highlights to Xbox and Roku and simultaneous viewing of up to four games on supported Apple TV, Fire TV and Google TV devices. 

Also, MLB tells us, “We continue to add tailored VOD to the MLB.TV home screen based on the user’s favorite team, going beyond the top highlights and into home runs, minor league highlights, defensive highlights, data visualizations, longer-form features, and vault and archive content.”

Mirroring the MLB Network’s TV programming, streaming subscribers will again be able to access the live “lookins” to games around the league and other highlights. And, once again, they’ll have access to 7,000 streamed minor league games from affiliates of all MLB clubs.

MLB broadcasts and streaming will also make more use of dynamically inserted digital ads appearing virtually behind home plate. “EVI [electronic visual insertions] technology dynamically overlays those ads without changing any of the physical signs in stadiums,” MLB says.

YES and MSG are GAME
Unrelated to any reliance on the MLB.TV platform, an even more cutting-edge perspective on what’s doable in the streaming domain is coming from YES Network, broadcast home to the New York Yankees. Now in its third year, the YES App—with its support for an impressive range of features and interactivity—is setting a new benchmark in baseball streaming.

It’s one that other providers may soon find is easier to reach, if things go as planned with a new business created by YES Network and another regional sports broadcaster, MSG Network. They say they’re putting their streaming expertise to work through a joint venture they’re calling Gotham Advanced Media & Entertainment (GAME).

Along with collaborating to further enhance their own streaming services, the partners will be developing a turnkey platform service designed to provide customizable support for other parties’ locally branded streaming services. 

The YES App, which also streams games from the NBA’s Brooklyn, plus the New York WNBA and MLS franchises, is better known for its enhancements to user experiences than MSG’s streaming service MSGSN, which covers the NBA’s New York Knicks as well as the New York City area and Buffalo Sabres NHL teams, and, on occasion, the NFL’s New York Giants and Buffalo Bills.

Last year the YES App was named “Best Fan Engagement Tool” in the Cynopsis Sports Media Awards competition and won two gold awards as D2C platform of the year and best in fan engagement at the global SportsPro OTT Summit Awards.

Parties to the Gotham JV declined to discuss their plans, but just judging from what’s already on offer from YES App, GAME-supported services could end up expanding user experiences with baseball and other streamed sports in multiple directions. 

As described by Matt Duarte, vice president of strategy and business development at YES Network, the refinements YES has introduced on its streaming app going into this year’s Yankee season are incremental but significant improvements to major advancements the network has been implementing since the app launched in 2021. 

Just Like Opening Day
One aspect to what YES is doing with Yankee streaming this year has to do with “revamping the look and feel” of the YES Watch Party feature “at or close to opening day,” Duarte says. The app allows any user to text an invitation to one or two other users to join in the video chat, where each user is given independent control over the volume balance between their comments and the game audio. 

The YES iteration of watch parties with backend support from two U.K.-based suppliers—Evertz subsidiary Eaves Live and start-up Sceenic—is designed to bring the video chat element of shared viewing directly into the app as a tightly synchronized first-screen experience rather than running as a second-screen complement to the primary game feed. Synchronized reception of notoriously out-of-sync live unicast streams is an innovation that obviates reliance on alternative video conferencing infrastructures like those supported by the WebRTC protocol. 

“No matter what platform, Android, iOS, or web, you’re on, we synchronize the video reception so there are no spoilers from other participants,” Duarte says. Synchronized stream reception also plays a role in other interactive aspects of the YES App, he adds. 

Amid these advances in streaming experiences, it’s clear there’s much more to come. For example, last year MLB experimented with a virtual ballpark experience tied to its Gameday 3D application in conjunction with a September 20 Angels-Rays game at Tropicana Park. 

It remains to be seen whether and when MLB will bring such experiences back into play, but they point to the types of features that can now be supported with virtual technology. Using any type of connected personal 2D display device, users appearing onscreen as avatars could navigate the 3D environment via hand swipes or cursors and audibly interact and play games with other visitors. 

They could tap into a live game feed as would be seen from different locations in the stands or watch the game on virtual jumbotrons as they moved around the virtual stadium. These capabilities were enabled in part by technology supplied by U.K. based Improbable, which uses location coordinates and other data collected by each game camera to recreate a three-dimensional animated video rendition of the entire space.

The state of audio and video synchronicity in the broadcast world is definitely improving, but deficiencies are still apparent on some broadcasts, particularly sports. 

Audio/video synchronization problems are aggravating and probably inevitable. Frequently many problems experienced in the home are solved by software updates, replacing cables, adjusting the hardware settings in your TV and on your soundbar or by simply unplugging the unit for 30 seconds. 

A Head Scratcher
However, many persistent and seemingly random sync problems that plague broadcasters are a head scratcher. For example, how can various elements within a production such as wireless microphones and cameras be out of sync while other production elements are in sync? I used to think my problems were a Roku (streaming device) problem, but then the network goes to a commercial break or local news and that content seems to mysteriously be in sync. How can an entire program be out of sync while the national and local commercials are in sync?

Although picture and sound in DTV are transmitted together they are distinct streams of data and processed by separate hardware or software paths at the station and in TV receivers. Here lies most of the problems: At-home audio and video enhancements such as video upscaling and soundbar decoding through ancillary speakers require processing time. 

Many issues can be resolved with a power reset, software download and even by putting a wire between your router and TV, eliminating the wireless aspect of Wi-Fi, but there are problems that the viewer cannot resolve, particularly in sports.

Out-of-sync audio and video sync can begin in the OB van or broadcast studio where the audio and video are captured, produced and processed independently of each other. 

With any piece of digital equipment—for instance the mixing console—the microphones have to be digitized and attention must be paid to the input/output stage and with the monitoring. 

Why? Because latency occurs with every digital conversion. High-end digital mixing consoles—such as those from Lawo, Calrec, Wheatstone and others—have resolved any noticeable delay, but with the pressure to reduce engineering costs, small and medium-sized operations have opted for mixing consoles from the PA industry that rely on I/Os that connect through CAT 5/6 along with console plug-ins for compressors and other processing equipment that certainly inject timing issues.

Mismatched conversion or sampling rates will certainly cause latency between digital equipment and can be easily overlooked during installation. At the end of the day, a “valid test” should be conducted to ensure that the audio and video are in sync before leaving the studio or OB van.

A Summer of Frustration
Every time I watch TV I observe A/V sync issues, but I decided to give broadcasters another look last month and was very surprised at what I saw and heard. Nothing demonstrates a sync issue better than the crack of the bat hitting a fastball or the whack of the golfer on a tee shot.

Earlier this season, ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball caught my attention after I noticed that the first several batters were out of sync. This does not surprise me because the audio team might have to do some tweaking to get the sync dialed in. But after several innings the sync did not improve. 

Months later, ABC/ESPN appeared to have their sync issues under control and their coverage of softball championships with RF microphones on the coaches and umpire seemed to match the picture. ESPN’s WNBA coverage was impressive because the net microphones and coaches’ microphone were spot-on with the commercial breaks. Later that day I observed that ESPN’s SportsCenter was in sync, but once again Sunday Night Baseball was off. How does that happen?

Baseball is a tedious sport to sync audio because of the various graphic sources that all inject some processing latency. I asked Glenn Stilwell, who produces and mixes baseball for Apple TV, what the numerous audio sync pinch points in baseball are.

“Foremost the pitchcast or strikebox,” he responded. “Second is the advertising boards [green screen] behind home plate. Third can be any low depth of field RF cameras that shoot presenters. And then there are wireless mics placed on the home plate umpire. Getting all that to sync with the video can be a challenge.” 

Stilwell further said that “Camera 4 [center field] is the most common video signal that will need a sync adjustment, as it is the one typically used with the pitchcast and advertising signs. Camera 2 [high home] also has a different sync given that it is used to show certain graphics.”

In addition to baseball, golf is particularly difficult to sync because of the abundance of wireless microphones and cameras used. During my listening test I observed that both CBS and CW’s LIV golf were unacceptably out of sync. 

I waited for CBS to show the booth announcers and noticed that they were slightly out of sync, but when they showed the roving announcers, the sync only got worse and the tee shots on both CBS and LIV golf were hideous. I curiously waited for CBS to go to “60 Minutes” and found the sync on “60 Minutes” to be acceptable.

Finally I observed that NBC NASCAR had various degrees of sync issues between the many RF microphones and even the commercials, but when the network switched to local news, the sync issues cleared up. During the day and evening I noticed that one of the four local networks had sync issues on all programming and that the talking heads on CNN, MSNBC and PBS were in sync.

Sync issues are pervasive and elusive and can occur in production, transmission, distribution, and finally, in the home. With production, anything wireless comes with timing problems. Additionally, when moving audio and video through the network, frame synchronizers and encoders need processing time to accomplish their tasks. Bit rate reduction, better known as “compression,” is always prone to timing issues.

I know the technology exists to initiate proper sync, and there are various “time stamping” schemes that can be used to insure and maintain sync. I know that sync issues have been addressed in these pages; however what I do not know is why sync is still a pervasive problem, particularly with sports. I would appreciate hearing from my engineering and video friends who can explain to this non-techie audio guy what’s going on.

Sinclair subsidiary Diamond Sports Group has decided to no longer pay  Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres and has dropped the team from the Bally Sports regional sports networks portfolio. 

“Diamond Sports Group (DSG) has decided not to provide additional funding to the San Diego RSN that would enable it to make the rights payment to the San Diego Padres during the grace period and will no longer be broadcasting Padres games after Tuesday, May 30," Diamond said in a statement provided to TV Tech sister brand Next TV Tuesday afternoon.

"While DSG has significant liquidity and has been making rights payments to teams, the economics of the Padres’ contract were not aligned with market realities," Diamond added. "MLB has forced our hand by its continued refusal to negotiate direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming rights for all teams in our portfolio despite our proposal to pay every team in full in exchange for those rights. We are continuing to broadcast games for teams under our contracts.”

MLB says it will support teams that are no longer receiving compensation from Diamond and will offer Padres games via its MLB.TV app for free until June 4. Starting next Monday, June 5, Padres fans will be charged $20 per month of $75 for the remainder of the regular season and will also mean that local blackout rules will not apply. 

Fans will also be able to catch the games on a new channel via cable, satellite and streaming.

NextTV has the story.  

BLOOMINGTON, Minn.—Zeplay has announced that the Rochester Red Wings Baseball organization in Rochester, New York has implemented fresh technology updates for their Zeplay instant replay servers. 

The latest hardware and software bring new technology improvements and operational efficiencies that optimize the in-venue and live streaming experience for fans, Zeplay reported. 

The Triple-A Minor League Baseball Affiliate for the Washington Nationals has been a Zeplay customer for ten seasons.

“It has served us very well for 10 years,” explained John Blotzer, who joined the team as director of video production in June 2011 and implemented the system after he arrived. “This year, it was time to invest in a system upgrade that would bring us new production capabilities and freshen our approach, which includes an expansion of our video export capabilities.”

Currently, Blotzer and his team use Zeplay to deliver content for in-venue displays, streaming broadcasts on the MiLB.tv app, and local news organizations. 

“We have four cameras in the field positioned on home plate, first base, third base and center field,” explained Blotzer. “We can take in video from any angle at any point, and show it on the live app stream, two large video boards, and closed-circuit televisions around the venue. We also provide replays to monitors that our official scorers have access to if they want to review a play to confirm if an error or wild pitch happened. Zeplay has always allowed us to cue up these different angles; with the latest upgrade, we can do it quicker and smoother, and with better precision.”

Zeplay’s current software also streamlines the ability to export files to multiple locations. “We will send game highlight clip packages to different news stations,” said Blotzer. “Our replay operator will cut the highlights of all scoring plays and other special plays, and the new software makes it easier to distribute the compressed files in the right formats to the right targets. That also makes it easier for the news organizations that need to download the content. The new software also allows us to add presets for exporting all these video files for faster content sharing.”

As for the replay operators, many learn Zeplay on the job.

“We always have new interns and operators for each season,” he said. “By the third or fourth inning of their first game, they feel ready to take control of Zeplay,” said Blotzer. “That starts with the basics of recording feeds, tagging plays and firing instant replays. Editing is less important since we don’t currently have a local broadcast TV presence, but even the more advanced Zeplay tools are quick to pick up. I have even put people from our marketing department at the controls on short notice if we are short-staffed.”

Blotzer adds that the built-in multiviewer is helpful not only to review and select angles for live replays, but also to help with production processes like color correction. “We never really expected that, but since our camera control station is right beside Zeplay and its visual content presentation is so clear, it helps our directors and producers ensure consistency across the production workflow. Zeplay is capturing all those color angles, so it gives us an excellent quality assurance platform.”

But for Blotzer, even with new advanced features and improvements and consistent ease of use, it really comes down to the fan experience. “We are getting replays on screens faster than ever with the new software,” he said. “The fans really enjoy watching the replays and how quickly we turn them around, and we even now have advertisers who sponsor the replays. And as Zeplay continues to improve the product, it will be a staple of our production workflow for years to come.”

Apple and Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that “Friday Night Baseball,” a weekly doubleheader, will be available to all Apple TV+ subscribers on Fridays throughout the regular season starting on Friday April 7. 

Apple acquired the rights for the doubleheaders for an estimated $85 million and aired the first season of the games in 2022 for free. This year fans will need to pay $6.99 a month for Apple TV+ for two marquee matchups over 25 weeks with no local broadcast restrictions. 

“We can’t wait for ‘Friday Night Baseball’ to start up again, and we’re excited for fans to experience everything new we’re bringing this season,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “Apple TV+ truly has something for everyone, from two live baseball games every Friday night, to an incredible slate of award-winning original films and series — there’s never been a better time to sign up.”

“Friday Night Baseball” will begin the 2023 season on Friday, April 7, with the Texas Rangers at the Chicago Cubs for the inaugural “Friday Night Baseball” daytime game at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, and the San Diego Padres at the Atlanta Braves.

“Friday Night Baseball” will be produced by MLB Network’s production team in partnership with Apple. 

Each game will feature state-of-the-art cameras to present vivid live-action shots, and offer immersive sound in 5.1 with Spatial Audio enabled, the companies reported. 

“Friday Night Baseball” will again utilize drone cameras for beautiful aerial stadium shots, as well as player mics and field-level mics to immerse fans in the gameplay and stadium atmosphere. 

Fans in the U.S. and Canada will also have the option to listen to the audio of the home and away teams’ local radio broadcasts during “Friday Night Baseball” games.

In the U.S., the games will also be available in bars and restaurants via DirecTV for Business, which will deliver all the action to its network of more than 300,000 restaurants, bars, hotel lounges, retail shops, and other venues throughout the regular season on existing satellite equipment. 

LOS ANGELES—Fox Sports is launching its coverage of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), with the first game of the premier international baseball tournament on March 7. 

The opening game will feature Cuba vs. Netherlands in Pool A play on Tuesday, March 7, from Taiwan’s Taichung Intercontinental Stadium at 11:00 PM ET on FS1, Fox Deportes and Fox Sports streaming services.

Team USA, featuring MLB All-Stars Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Tim Anderson, Trea Turner, Will Smith, Adam Wainwright and many others, makes its WBC debut Saturday, March 11, from Phoenix’s Chase Field against Pool C opponent Great Britain at 9:00 PM ET on Fox, the company reported. 

Joe Davis, the voice of Fox MLB, joins first-ballot Hall-of-Famer and Sports Emmy winner John Smoltz will be in the booth for the Team USA opener. Emmy Award-winning reporter Ken Rosenthal reports from the field.

“What a fantastic way to build excitement around the 2023 baseball season, with the best players in the world facing off for pride of country,” said Mark Silverman, Fox Sports President and COO. “Wearing their country’s flag on their jerseys means a lot, raises the stakes and creates memorable moments on and off the field for the television audience.”

Fox will be covering the WBC across platforms with exclusive coverage of all 47 tournament games across Fox (3 games), FS1 (23), FS2 (18), Fox Deportes (29), Tubi (3), and the Fox Sports app in the U.S.

WBC rosters include more than 60 MLB All-Stars, 180-plus players on 40-man rosters and more than 300 players under contract with big league teams according to MLB. 

Operated by MLB and the MLBPA and sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the World Baseball Classic will be contested on fields in Japan, Taiwan and the U.S., and wraps up with semifinal games at loanDepot park March 19-20 and the championship game in Miami on Tuesday, March 21.

YouTube TV on Tuesday dropped the MLB Network from its channel lineup. The service, part of the vMVPD’s basic $65 per month tier, was pulled because the network could not agree to terms to renew its carriage agreement with Google. 

The announcement comes as MLB approaches its 2023 season in less than two months, Subscribers will lose access to any DVR content from the MLB Network but baseball fans will still have ESPN, Fox and TBS—also on YouTube TV’s basic tier—to watch their favorite teams.  

“We have been working hard to renew our deal with the MLB Network to continue carrying their content on YouTube TV,” the company told its subscribers in an email. . “However, we have been unable to reach an agreement, and starting today, January 31, 2023, MLB Network content will no longer be available on YouTube TV. We apologize for the news and will continue conversations with the MLB to advocate on your behalf, in the hope of restoring their content on YouTube TV.

MLB Network released the following statement in response: "With Spring Training about to start, we regret that YouTube TV has been unwilling to negotiate a fair carriage agreement. MLB Network has offered terms consistent with what close to 300 other U.S. providers have agreed to for distribution. With the great demand and value for live baseball content, Major League Baseball’s commitment to MLB Network now and in the future is stronger than ever before, and we remain open and committed to reaching an agreement with YouTube TV as soon as possible."

MLB Network plans to air more than 250 live regular season and Spring Training games this year. 

HOUSTON, Texas—When the Philadelphia Phillies face off against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park for the first game 1 of Major League Baseball’s World Series, Fox will be using more than 40 Sony cameras to cover the action. 

The cameras being used for the games include Sony’s HDC-5500, HDC-3500, HDC-4300, HDC-P31 and HDC-P50, Sony reported. 

Specific deployments include: 

• 9 x HDC-5500 – 4K Global shutter imager HDR/SDR camera systems will be used in the dugouts, first and third base, the left and right foul poles and tight center employing between 6x and 8x high frame rate.
• 2 x HDC-3500 – Global Wireless systems in wireless configuration will be used for locker room celebrations and around the stadium.
• 7 x HDC-P50 – Compact 4K HDR/SDR POV cameras will be used in a number of robotic applications including capturing home plate as well as being used on stabilization rigs in wireless configurations.
• 9 x HDC-P31 – Compact 1080/60P capable HDR/SDR POV cameras will be used in the clubhouses, by first and third base, in the bullpens, as a FLY cam, in the home talent booth and to provide beauty shots.
• 15 x HDC-4300 – 4K HDR/SDR camera systems with High Frame Rate capabilities will be employed for capturing the booth talent, and using up to 6x high frame rate to capture the action at first base, third base, right, left and center field and home plate, as well as in-studio.

DYERSVILLE, Iowa—Fox Sports is upping its game for production of the August 11 Field of Dreams Game, hoping to build on the success of its telecast of the 2021 inaugural game from the cornfield ballpark built to celebrate the Oscar-nominated film of the same name.

This year, the broadcaster is building on the cinematic approach to the production it took covering the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox last year—the most watched regular season baseball game in 17 years for Fox Sports. 

For this year’s game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs, Fox Sports is adding a roving Sony HDC-F5500 camera system. Using the company’s Super 35mm 4K CMOS image sensor, the camera can create the shallow depth of field commonly found in cinematic productions.

“Sony launched the new F-5500 camera late last year, and we are lucky enough to have one of those with us,” said Brad Cheney, Fox Sports vice president of field operations and engineering. “For this game, we are going to run it as an RF camera."

“Because the game is not tied into the stadium or ballpark structure itself like it would be at Yankee Stadium, for instance, it is great to have that kind of cinematic camera that has the ability to be wireless and can take in the amazing cornfield and have that cinematic feel to continue to tell the story of the movie," he continued. 

(Pregame coverage of the Field of Dreams 2 Game begins Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. EDT. Game coverage starts at 7 p.m. EDT. Fox Sports coverage will be available on Fox Television stations, Fox affiliates, Fox Deportes, the Fox Sports Live App, and from MVPD and OTT partners.)

Cameras and coverage
The focus on creating a cinematic look doesn’t end with the HDC-F5500, however. “We are going to continue to have a cinematic look on our drones along with our FlyCam [capable of moving between the movie set and the primary field], and we are going to continue to leverage HDR production, as we did last year, and continue to push that forward,” said Cheney.

These cameras in particular, given their range and freedom of movement will help to set the scene. “The ballpark just continues to extend past the walls, so they really allow you a lot of room to tell a story, and obviously that story is not just the game—although that’s of the utmost importance—but its’ also about celebrating the movie and celebrating that connection between parents and children,” he said.

Besides the Sony HDC-F5500, Fox Sports will rely on nearly 40 cameras for its coverage. Sony this week released a list of its cameras to be used, which besides the HDC-F5500 in an RF configuration included: 

• HDC-4300 4K HDR/SR camera systems with High Frame Rate (HFR) for coverage inside third, high home, centerfield, inside low first, high third, talent in the booth, player introductions and the studio for pregame coverage.
• HDC-5500 4K Global shutter HDR/SDR camera system with super slow mo support, used at 6x speed for high first, tight center, mid first and mid third and in standard mode from the centerfield platform.
• HDC-P50 compact 4K HDR/SDR POV camera with up to 6x HFR to capture over-the-shoulder booth shots and serving as the first base robotic camera for virtual applications.
• HDC-P31 compact 1080/60p-capable HDR/SDR POV camera used robotically at mid-home, in the booth and to capture beauty shots.

The camera lineup also includes two DirtCams, and the audio setup will leverage more than 50 microphones, including multiple mics buried in the field and one at each base, to pickup game sounds. MLB revealed this week that Cubs outfielder Ian Happ and Reds first baseman Joey Votto will wear mics during the game to talk to Fox Sports announcers Joe Davis and John Smoltz. 

Fox Sports will continue its production strategy of acquiring HD 1080p HDR, using Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG), and transporting its production from the venue to network center where it will be upscaled to 4K HDR for select distribution partners, says Cheney.

Viewers can watch 4K HDR coverage on Cox Contour TV, DirecTV [DBS only], Comcast Cable [STB only], Altice Optimum, DISH, FuboTV, MTC Cable, Service Electric Cable, Verizon FiOS, Armstrong, RCN Grande, EPB, YouTube TV and Jackson Energy.

On-site and Remote Workflow
Last year’s game was played during the COVID pandemic, and to ensure the health and safety of its production crew Fox Sports reduced the number of people on site involved in coverage. The broadcasters relied on its production team at the “Vault” production center in Los Angeles where members could be separated by a safe distance to run replays and create graphics.

It will use the same strategy for this year’s game—no small feat given the location of the venue. “Amazing as it is, we still have interconnectivity in a field in Iowa,” he says.

Fox Sports will use two C-band satellite trucks for the primary and backup paths for contribution of the production to its network center. The local internet service provider also is supporting required connectivity with a couple of IP lines, says Cheney.

“The IP link helps provide a lot of the connectivity from MLB’s partners, including what helps power our drones,” he says. “T-Mobile is providing a lot of cellular connectivity. So we are excited to have that kind of outward connectivity in a cornfield in Iowa.”

While it may have taken extra effort on the part of Fox Sports and MLB to ensure that level of connectivity in a cornfield, that setting and its splendor is the lynchpin that makes the Field of Dreams Game special, says Cheney.

“The beauty of this game—something we learned last year—is quite remarkable,” he says. “We’re committed to delivering that beauty to viewers.”

(Editor’s note: On Aug. 10, Fox Sports also will produce a youth baseball game of teams from the Chicago Cubs RBI and Cincinnati Reds RBI programs playing on the field from the movie set. The game, presented live on FS1, begins at 5 p.m. EDT.) 

TEL AVIV, Israel—Pixellot, a provider of AI-Automated sports video and analytics solutions, has announced that its innovative AI-powered baseball camera system, DoublePlay, will capture and stream thousands of games for Cooperstown All Star Village (CASV).    

Cooperstown is renowned for being the home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Cooperstown All Star Village (CASV) is a 70-acre resort with hotels, restaurants, and twelve state-of-the-art youth baseball fields that host week-long summer baseball camps. Each week 10,000 youth players, from 700 teams, enjoy festivities and play competitive games. This year’s tournaments will be held from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  

CASV will use twelve Pixellot DoublePlay systems to livestream all the games, and provide highlights so that families will never miss a moment of their child’s once-in-a-lifetime experience at this iconic baseball resort. 

These video moments can also be saved through a unique package of content showcasing the child’s Cooperstown baseball journey.   

“Partnering with Pixellot for our youth baseball camp enables us to provide the players and their families a powerful and unrivaled package of content to remember their time here,” said Rick Abbott, CEO of CSAV. “Through Pixellot, we can now bring the highest quality video coverage of games and our festival events for young players and their families. Alongside reliving great memories, this is an invaluable platform to attract more young people to the national pastime.”   

“We are excited to be working with Cooperstown All-Star Village to help create a once-in-a-lifetime youth baseball experience,” added David Shapiro, president of North America at Pixellot. “Leveraging our cutting-edge DoublePlay solution, which is used by MLB to broadcast the Draft League and the Appalachian league, Cooperstown All-Star Village can cost effectively, and easily capture every catch, strike, and home run during the tournament. With this unparalleled content package, parents and extended family will be able to enjoy the Cooperstown experience for years to come.” 

Apple today unveiled details about its Friday Night Baseball games, which debut on Apple TV+, April 8. 

“Friday Night Baseball” games and additional content, including new exclusive programs such as “Countdown to First Pitch” and “MLB Daily Recap,” begin today in the Apple TV app.

The broadcast team includes Melanie Newman (play-by-play), Chris Young (analyst), Hannah Keyser (analyst), and Brooke Fletcher (reporter) will call the New York Mets at the Washington Nationals at 7 p.m. ET; and Stephen Nelson (play-by-play), Hunter Pence (analyst), Katie Nolan (analyst), and Heidi Watney (reporter) comprise the crew that will call the Houston Astros at the Los Angeles Angels game at 9:30 p.m. ET. 

Game assignments for “Friday Night Baseball” broadcasters will be announced on a weekly basis. In her new role with “Friday Night Baseball,” Newman becomes the second woman to lead play-by-play duties for a national broadcast team; she joined the Baltimore Orioles’ broadcast team in 2020.

Apple has hired MLB Network’s production team to produce the games and Apple says the coverage ”will offer a modern and dynamic broadcast experience that appeals to new viewers and veteran fans alike.”

Each game broadcast will employ state-of-the-art cameras, including high-speed Phantoms, the high-resolution Megalodon, and more throughout the season to present vivid, live-action shots, and offer immersive sound in 5.1 with spatial audio enabled.

“Friday Night Baseball” will also incorporate new on-screen graphics that include new probabilities-based forecasts of different situational outcomes, plus highlights and live look-ins from around the league integrated right into the broadcast. Throughout the “Friday Night Baseball” broadcasts, fans will be able to listen to on-screen callouts about batters’ walk-up songs from Apple Music, test their knowledge of baseball trivia with help from Siri, and more. And, in a first for MLB games, “Friday Night Baseball” will feature rules analysis and interpretation from former MLB umpire Brian Gorman.

“Friday Night Baseball” live pre- and postgame coverage will be hosted by Lauren Gardner, along with a rotating group of analysts and former Major League Baseball (MLB) players, including Carlos Peña, Cliff Floyd, and Yonder Alonso.

In addition to two marquee games on Friday nights throughout the regular season, Apple TV+ will offer new 24/7 live programming with MLB game replays, news and analysis, highlights, classic games, and more. On Thursday, “Countdown to First Pitch” will preview the week’s upcoming games, and every morning, “MLB Daily Recap” will offer highlights from across the league, both available only on Apple TV+. The “MLB Big Inning” whip-around show will feature live look-ins and in-game highlights every weeknight. Additionally, fans will be able to watch full games, as well as condensed game replays, on demand on Apple TV+ after the completion of the live broadcasts each week.

“Friday Night Baseball” games will be available on any device that carries Apple TV+, including on the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K and HD, and on tv.apple.com, along with smart TVs, gaming consoles, and cable set-top boxes. “Friday Night Baseball” will be available on Apple TV+ in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, and for a limited time, without the need for a subscription. 

BALTIMORE—After a contentious, months-long lockout between its players and owners, Major League Baseball got back in the game last month with a new agreement. On the heels of that announcement came news of a new player in the 2022 lineup that’s joining MLB Network, Fox Sports and ESPN: Apple TV+.

The deal between MLB and Apple TV+ is the latest extension of what’s been happening in other sports leagues, such as ESPN exclusively carrying selected NHL games on ESPN+; it calls for Apple TV+ to carry two Friday night games under a similar arrangement.

While the reportedly $85 million, seven-year deal was light on details, it led to more discussion about how viewers consume live sports, and just how Apple will present the games. Will it create its own infrastructure, with broadcast and production crews? Or stream via mlb.com?  

The economics suggest that the overall setup may soon include a variety of sports programming. Today, however, all involved are just happy to see the 2022 season get underway.

Leading Off
As the lockout ended, MLB Network was preparing to roll out a key update at its headquarters in Secaucus, N.J.: the refresh of Studio 3, so named for George Herman “Babe” Ruth.

“Studio 3 has been a workhorse for us,” said Susan Stone, senior vice president, operations/engineering for MLB Network. “It has seven distinct areas, including a spot for social media that we’ve turned into a demo area.”

That demo area, dubbed the “On Deck Circle,” features a 2.6mm LED floor in an appropriate 12-foot radius, with SemiLumen floor tiles and interactive touch capability. “It can present moving video, sponsor signage,” said Stone, “or anything we want.”

Other parts of the update include a media wall, dubbed “the Backstop,” which measures 23x13 feet, with 1.8mm SemiLumen tiles. Other new features include a curved 1.9mm LED wall, called (of course) “the Curve,” which measures a whopping 30x11 feet; and a new second news desk fronted by a curved 2x9-foot LED screen. The latter two displays are flexible.

The engines for the four new screens in Studio 3 are revved by Avid’s Maestro 4K system. The additions were created by New York-based Clickspring Design and built by Dimensional Worldwide with equipment from GrantAV. 

In addition to Studio 3, MLB Network will continue to work with its colleagues at the Office of the the Commissioner on expanded use of Statcast 3D, which analyzes player movements and athletic abilities; and FieldVision, which uses tracking data and transforms it into a 3D experience.

 Coming Soon
So, how did Fox Sports monitor if and/or when the 2022 season was going to start, and how it will start getting set up at the various MLB ballparks? 

“We didn’t really know what our schedule was going to look like if/when the players came back,” said Michael Davies, senior vice president, field and technical operations for Fox Sports. Still, “As we’ve worked on the tent poles [for the All-Star and Field of Dreams games], this preparation did not stop and kept its pace.” 

Concerning new ways to capture content, which the major networks often present during signature events, Davies was noncommittal. He did, however, hint at new approaches. 

“It’s too early to tell,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of innovation with our dirt cams and mic-ing of players,” he said. “I think that the All-Star Game will, once again, be all about access. We do have some new things in store for the ‘Field of Dreams,’ but I don’t think we’ll be unveiling them until later.  

“What I will say,” said Davies, “is that we’ll double down on drones, cinema cameras and all of the things that made the ‘Field of Dreams’ game special last year.” 

Back to School
Phil Orlins, vice president, production for ESPN, said the network’s innovation is “directed more toward MLB, with some also directed toward college” and that new technology “has more to do with information, data, screen layout,” etc., “as they are with cameras.”

Meg Aronowitz, vice president, noting that the network carries 2,000 college baseball and softball games every season, elaborated about ESPN’s extensive schedule. The hubs for its productions are the control rooms, with the spokes the fiber connections to the network’s facilities in Bristol, Conn.; Charlotte, N.C.; and The Woodlands (Houston).

As for the tech setup required when various conferences and many colleges are involved, Aronowitz discussed “The School Project,” which consists of 29 Southeast Conference (SEC) and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) institutions that operate and staff their own control rooms as ESPN’s partners. “That’s where the bulk of our programming originates.”

Typical game coverage consists of five-camera coverage, with operators stationed at the traditional spots: high home, high first, centerfield, low first and low third (compared to seven or eight locations for a typical MLB regional sports net presentation), with the cameras of choice being Sony 1500s to 2500s (and perhaps 4300s for super slo-mo), and various Ikegamis and Canon lenses.

“We throw more resources at the bigger games,” she said, noting that the equipment roster is most often rounded out with Ross Xpressions for graphics, Evertz DreamCatcher replay systems and routers, and Clear-Com and Riedel for comms.

Telling Stories
Still, control room technology “can vary depending on the school, but most are multi-million dollar facilities equipped for major network productions,” Aronowitz said. For SEC and ACC broadcasts, trucks aren’t needed, but can be on other occasions. “That’s when a truck would be brought in from NEP, Game Creek or F&F. Or there could be a REMI setup when the network only does camera feeds or maybe just a sprinter van,” she said.

While college baseball is decidedly a lower-budget affair, there are still many similarities with MLB broadcasts, Aronowitz added.

That said, the college game also offers greater possibilities: ESPN just aired a softball tournament in Florida that included 40 games, with four games from four fields often aired simultaneously, with 20 on the various ESPN networks; the other half streamed via ESPN+.

“We didn’t have that option pre-ESPN+,” Aronowitz said. “We feel that there are a thousand ways to tell a story. Between Phil and I, we make the best decisions with the resources we have to get as many games on the air as possible.” 

Fox Sports' Michael Davies will discuss the network's live production strategies during the panel "New Life for Live Production Tech" at the TV Tech Summit, March 31.   

PARAMUS, N.J.—Sony Electronics has announced that Fox, CBS and ESPN have been using Sony Electronics’ new HDC-F5500 Super 35mm system camera in ways that brought an engaging cinematic aesthetic to the coverage of baseball and football games. 

The cutting-edge imaging technology in the Sony HDC-F5500 Super 35mm 4K Camera System provided shallow depth of field to heighten the passion and provide new cinematic looks of the action on and off the baseball diamond and football field, Sony said. 

“The HDC-F5500 camera was designed specifically for live event production, with feedback from the industry, so it’s fitting that its first public uses allowed it to capture some of the most anticipated sporting and broadcast events of the year,” said John Studdert, vice president, media solutions, Sony Electronics.  “With the implementation of the HDC-F5500, Fox, CBS and ESPN continue their commitment to amplifying audience engagement through artistic and innovative uses of technology. The emotion and competition of these games were elevated by the camera’s cinematic storytelling abilities. In addition, it seamlessly integrated with all of the other Sony cameras in use at these events, to enable new forms of expression for the production and viewers alike.” 

“The F5500 captured cinema grade images which matched the tone and quality of the main broadcast seamlessly with an interface that our operators use daily,” added Brad Cheney, Fox Sports vice president of field operations and engineering.

In its broadcast debut, the HDC-F5500 camera was used during Fox’s coverage of baseball’s American League Championship Series between Boston and Houston. It was equipped with a long box lens and positioned behind the first base dugout during games 3, 4 and 5 of the series.  Several replays showcased the camera’s creative capabilities.

CBS employed the HDC-F5500 during the football game between Chicago and Tampa Bay on October 24, capturing Tom Brady’s emotionally charged 600th career touchdown pass. It was used throughout the game both in a handheld configuration on the near sideline, as well as in a live application, providing an engaging cinematic look, Sony said. 

ESPN incorporated the system camera into the Monday Night Football matchup between Kansas City and New York on November 1, where the camera was integrated into the key sideline cart position. Content captured with the camera transformed the look and immersivity of several plays during the game and integrated with the complement of additional Sony HDC-series cameras also in use during the broadcast.

Highlights of the new HDC-F5500 camera system include a highly sensitive Super 35mm, 4K CMOS global shutter image sensor that enables lush images with several available color gamuts, as well as the use of PL mount 35mm lenses.  

The camera also features a high frame rate capability of up to 120fps, making it a valuable tool for sports production. A motorized 8-step ND filter allows for the precise selection of focus depth and works with a flexible shutter system for capture of fast-moving subjects. And it offers a highly sensitive imager, the HDC-F5500 for stunning pictures in both bright lighting and night games, Sony said. 

BALTIMORE—While there will hopefully never be another Major League Baseball season like 2020—which included only 60 regular season games, (mostly) piped-in crowd noise, few fans in attendance and scant crew sizes— broadcasters did learn a few new tricks that helped them prepare for the 2021 season and the eventual simmering of the pandemic. 

At the time, they weren’t thinking that some of their adjustments that were made necessary by COVID-19 might end up accentuating their broadcast options for 2021 and beyond. 

HOME WORK

For instance, for 2021, the MLB Network is toying with adding more virtual reality, which it dabbled in during batting practice at the 2020 World Series, according to Susan Stone, senior vice president of operations and engineering. “It’s still in the vetting stage, so we’ll see where it takes us,” she said. 

That’s just one way to lure eyeballs to the screen of the viewer’s choice. “During COVID-19, broadcasters have had the opportunity to use technology in different ways and try new solutions,” Stone said. “Before, we would have dipped our toes into cloud-based technologies when we consider our content and programming. Today, however, we have many systems to engage fans.” 

Stone pointed out how BitFire, a managed service that allows bandwidth adjustments in reaction to fluctuations, was used during the NHL Draft (from the production facility it shares with NHL Network, in Secaucus, N.J.) and is now being used at MLB Network. “It’s like a souped-up Zoom,” Stone said. “Plus, many of our talent have in-home technology, like PTZ cameras, that capture broadcast-quality video.” 

MLB Network uses two setups: one with a server with Sony SRGX-400 PTZ cameras; the other with analysts joining the broadcast via their Chromebook, using BitFire. “That gives us stability,” Stone said. “A year ago, guests would be connected via Facetime or our MLB Ballpark Cams, since we have at least two in every park.” 

While these tools had been in use, “we didn’t rely on them as we do now,” said Jake Soto, vice president of engineering and information technology for MLB Network. “It’s given us more options to have talent and guests on the air, with greater flexibility.” 

That “greater flexibility” has given MLB Network some different looks, “even sometimes from a [player’s] car,” Stone said. “The result is obtaining additional content by presenting players in a different fashion. And everyone is fair game if they have strong internet.” 

Soto agreed. “When we started doing this, not everyone was comfortable with it. One player even put a garbage can over the camera. But now, everyone wants to be on the air.” 

NIXING LATENCY

Another promising innovation is “SpeedCam,” which was used last year on two “MLB Network Showcase” telecasts. It was mounted atop the first base dugout to measure the time the batter took to reach first base; ironically, the dearth of fans last year allowed for its unobtrusive introduction. It’s comprised of an RF-connected Sony P1 camera attached to a Jib Tek tracking dolly with a G1 Shotover gimbal. It’s part of MLB Network’s effort to capture better shots with smaller, less intrusive setups. 

Elsewhere around the ballparks, the network is replacing 20 centerfield “BallPark Cams” with Panasonic AW-HR140 PTZs, according to Soto, who adds that “those same cameras are in home dugouts in most parks, [plus] six away dugouts. Using the same model helps with the economy of scale, maintenance and repair.” 

MLB Network has 12 of the same cameras in press rooms, plus a smattering of Sony SRG-X400s. It’s also employing cloud-based graphics with Singular, which offers a producer template filter delivered over IP as HTML 5. “We convert them to a computer into SDI,” said Soto, for insertion into the programming. 

MLB Network engineers also came up with return feeds for talent to get rid of latency by using the Larix Player app, Soto added. 

“That solved an issue we had for 12 years when we aired Yankees or Mets games that were blacked out locally,” he said. “We’d tried to use Slingbox or a private stream; that meant a couple of people could watch, but not 10. Today, what started with four channels has evolved to 20 via an encrypted SRT stream that plays on most devices. 

“That,” he said, “was a game changer.” 

IT'S THE WORKFLOW

Back to robocams, it makes sense that they have come to the fore in these days of smaller crews and budgets. “We’ll certainly be taking advantage of the robocams, our own and those of RSNs, which usually come from Fletcher Group/NEP Group,” said Paul Horrell, remote operations manager for ESPN. 

ESPN is deploying five super slo-mos [four Sony 4300s and one Sony 4800 as the UltraMo high frame rate camera] for “Sunday Night Baseball,” Horrell added. 

“They’ll be located at low third and at other spots around the ballpark [depending on] COVID-19 concerns,” he said. 

ESPN will use its remote integration model (REMI), with all content fibered back to the company’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters for the edit. REMI came to the fore in 2020 and has obviously been much safer to deploy during the pandemic. 

PLUS: ESPN MLB Broadcasts to Be Remote Productions

“We normally have close to 100 total crew and production personnel on site,” Horrell said, “but in early April, we’ll have approximately 25, as we did last season, as part of our Sunday full REMI model. Then we’ll use our Enhanced World FeedREMI on weekdays.” 

Sundays last year were always full REMI, with a local crew and local regional sports network truck. But with the pandemic easing, “we intend to bring back our own mobile units,” Horrell said. “For weekdays, we’ll use our truck to deploy two cameras, but still take the world feed from the host RSN truck; Sundays it will be all our truck, with more of the core crew back on site as the pandemic eases.” 

As is the case at MLB Network and around the baseball broadcasting world, Horrell hailed the “great tech development” of what he called ESPN’s “Live From Home Group” (LFH) and the development of infrastructure for talent who work virtually. 

As popular and as necessary and even convenient as that’s been, he’s wondering how long it will be before some of the LFH gang start reappearing back at ESPN’s studios in Bristol. “You do lose some of the feel by not having the talent on site,” he said. 

Back on the field, the return of fans to the ballparks may cause a new issue. 

“They’ll be back in pods, with proper distancing,” Horrell said, “but they may be near our lower camera positions. As for last season’s artificial crowd noise, the initial 10–20% capacity crowds might suffice for our needs during the slow walk back, so the extra noise might become a sweetening thing this season.” 

But what’s really new about broadcasting baseball this season, said Horrell, is the workflow. 

"As the pandemic eases, that, too, will change," Horrell said. "By the All-Star Game, our approach may be a bit different, as it may also be a month later for the Little League World Series. 

“It’s interesting to me that it took a pandemic to show us what we could do, given the circumstances,” he added. “Through fiber and equipment—and pure will—we were able to keep sports fans engaged and keep sports content on the air.” 

PRODUCTION NEUTRAL

For OB companies, 2020 was a rough year as the demand for their services plummeted and sports leagues looked for ways to reduce the size of production crews on-site. 

“The primary change is the institution of the 'world feed,' which eliminates the need for a second production truck,” said Pat Sullivan, president and owner of Nashua, N.H.-based Game Creek Productions. “Keeping the entire production neutral has saved the RSNs a considerable amount of money that’s normally spent on traveling production teams and announcers.” 

Still, Game Creek continued on during MLB’s abbreviated 2020 season, working the short schedule with the Nationals and Orioles (MASN), New York Mets (SNY), Yankees (YES Network), Red Sox (NESN) and Astros (AT&T SportsNet Southwest), as well as ESPN, Turner and Fox Sports. 

To accommodate requests from clients to reduce travel, Game Creek engineers created “GCV Anywhere,” an en/decoding system that allows talent and producers to work virtually via the truck. It was used for college football and basketball in 2020 and will be used by some baseball clients for 2021, according to the company. 

There is hope that some series in 2021 will be produced with the usual multi-truck setup, such as big series on RSNs (Red Sox-Yankees, Cardinals-Cubs, etc.), and the Saturday Fox national broadcasts and ESPN “Sunday Night Baseball.” Still, it’s “too early to say” how the truck companies can make up the money lost in 2020, Sullivan said.

Representatives for Turner and Fox Sports said the networks were not ready to discuss detailed plans for their coverage of the 2021 MLB season, though Fox Sports spokesperson Erik Arneson offered that the network would be producing “the majority” of its games from Los Angeles again in 2021. 

Arneson added that, as part of its regular season lineup, Fox Sports will use two Super Motion (6x) cameras at each of its games along with the EVS XtraMotion system available for the rest of its camera roster, as well as an interesting new toy: "Megalodon," a new handheld Sony a7R IV with a Canon lens owned by its technical director, Jarrod Ligrani.

BRISTOL, Conn.—ESPN isn’t heading back to the ballpark, at least not for the start of the 2021 MLB season. In an interview with reporters about the networks coverage plans for MLB games this season, Phil Orlins, senior coordinating producer for ESPN, said that broadcasts will be primarily remote productions, with a minimal crew onsite.

ESPN went with remote production for the 2020 MLB season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the pandemic still ongoing, though numbers dropping as vaccines roll out, ESPN has opted to keep with the remote production strategy. Any change from that strategy will take into account multiple circumstances, Orlins said, including the pandemic.

Even so, Orlins said that “we’ve given up nothing in terms of our expectations of what these productions should be like.”

He said that there will be a minimum of 10 or 11 cameras on site for “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcasts, including additional robotic cameras. They plan for at least five super slo-mos during those games, including one being an ultra-slow motion.

A small ESPN core crew will be on-site for “Sunday Night Baseball,” along with a local crew. The producers, directors, switching, lead audio and other elements of the broadcast will take place from the control room in Bristol. As far as the talent, Buster Olney will be on site as the reporter; Matt Vasgersian and Alex Rodriguez will be calling the game at the Bristol Studio.

Orlins said that because they utilized remote production last season, MLB ball parks are well equipped to handle the necessary data transfer speeds for these games.

Weekday games will also be produced from Bristol, or occasionally Charlotte, N.C., control rooms (Orlins estimates about 20% of games will operate out of Charlotte). ESPN will use the feed from the home team RSN broadcaster, but the network will have at least two of its own cameras on-site for their own unique coverage. They will also create some of their own highlights and replay packages. Talent for weekday games will either be at the Bristol studio or at their homes.

When asked about a possible return to traditional production when vaccines are distributed and things are more normal, Orlins said that while he misses the experience of working in a production truck, he thinks it may not make as much sense as it used to.

“I just think the realities of technology and progress are that—again, very simple,” he said. “Almost unlimited data that can be transported, again, at roughly the speed of light tells you there are advantages to having a group of people that work and live near their workplace, consistency, centralization. There’s a lot of logic to that.”

The 2021 MLB Season gets underway on April 1. ESPN will broadcast four games on Opening Day, three of which will be co-produced with an RSN, and exclusive broadcast of the New York Mets and Washington Nationals.

NEW YORK—YouTube is stepping to the plate once again to exclusively broadcast 21 games for the 2021 MLB season, known as the “MLB Game of the Week on YouTube,” the third year the video platform will do so.

The games will be available for free on any device that can carry the YouTube app, including smart TVs, via the MLB’s YouTube channel, or for YouTube TV subscribers on a dedicated channel in the app. All of the broadcasts will be produced by the MLB Network’s production team.

The first game of YouTube’s slate of 21 is an April 7 matchup of the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays at 1 p.m. ET. Two other games have been announced thus far: the Houston Astros against the Los Angeles Angels on April 22 at 8 p.m. ET and the Minnesota Twins playing Cleveland on April 28 at 1 p.m. ET. The rest of the MLB Game of the Week on YouTube games will be announced as schedules are set throughout the season.

YouTube will have some exclusive features as part of its broadcasts, including live chat for game commentary, in-game polls and the carriage of a pregame show 30 minutes prior to game time live on YouTube. New this year, fans watching on mobile devices and computers will be able to vote on the “YouTube Player of the Game.” YouTube TV subscribers will also have some exclusive features, as they can re-watch key plays tied to the moment they are watching and view real-time stats. 

This will be the third season that YouTube and MLB have partnered on exclusive games. In 2019, YouTube carried 13 games, which averaged 1.2 million live views per game. The video platform carried four games in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

“With two successful seasons under our belts, we look forward to delivering 21 games this season to fans who have come to expect our creative presentation that is both easy to access and engaging, and we look forward to taking it to even greater heights,” said Tim Katz, head of Sports and News Partnerships, YouTube.

This is not the only package YouTube TV is offering for the MLB season. The vMVPD platform also is allowing subscribers to add MLB.TV as an add-on to watch out-of-market games.

ATLANTA—Turner Sports and Major League Baseball have agreed to a seven-year multimedia rights extension that will keep the MLB and Turner partnership going through 2028. The deal is worth a reported $3.7 billion. 

MLB and Turner Sports have been broadcasting games together since 1973, and this new deal will maintain the relationship that has TBS as one of the homes of the MLB Postseason. With this agreement, TBS will actually have the most postseason games of any network, including one Wild Card game, two Division Series and one League Championship Series each year.

TBS will also launch a new studio show anchored by Ernie Johnson, with Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, World Series Champion Jimmy Rollins and three-time All-Star Curtis Granderson joining him. This broadcast team is set to debut during this year’s postseason.

The deal also includes digital rights, including TV Everywhere rights that will allow TBS to make its MLB games and related programming available to authenticated subscribers across Turner Sports platforms. There will also be increased footage and highlights for Turner Sports websites and apps, including Bleacher Report, and rights to create companion and ancillary products related to the TBS broadcast of regular and postseason games.

“We’re delighted to extend our long-standing relationship with Major League Baseball and all of the opportunities this agreement offers us as we broaden our coverage of the game across all of our platforms,” said Jeff Zucker, chairman, WarnerMedia & Sports. “We will continue to further evolve our multiplatform delivery of content with a focus on storytelling and innovation in all forms.”

The 2020 MLB Postseason is scheduled to begin on Sept. 29.

LOS ANGELES—Fox Sports believes that its broadcast of Major League Baseball games for the new season actually won’t look as different as many might have expected with the fact that fans will not be allowed to attend games. This will be thanks to the network adding virtual fans.

Fox Sports will implement virtual fans, based on advanced motion capture, into the stands for its game broadcasts starting Saturday, July 25. Fox says that these CGI fans feature more than 500 looping actions and are customizable, with the network able to control the excitement level of the crowd and the balance of the fans for the two teams.

According to a report from Variety, MLB is supporting the effort by providing 75 different sound effects from the audio files of a MLB-sanctioned video game from Sony.

A preview of the technology was given to the New York Post, with Fox Sports Executive Vice President Brad Zager saying: “We were dead set on trying to make the broadcast with no crowd feel as authentic and organic as possible. We want to give people an escape.”

Fox is broadcasting four games on July 25, all of which will feature virtual fans. This will include games at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Petco Park in San Diego and Nationals Park in D.C.

BRISTOL, Conn.—The opening day of the 2020 Major League Baseball season takes place on Thursday, July 23, with a game between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals airing on ESPN. But like all other things in 2020, the network’s usual baseball production has been upended.

ESPN has opted to go remote with productions for all baseball games it covers this season, according to a story from Sporttechie.com. To do that it will be using its experience this spring airing games from South Korea’s KBO baseball league and collaborating with the home broadcast team for each game.

The home team’s broadcasters will shoot the game in their usual setup, with a clean world feed being shared with ESPN’s directors and producers in Bristol, Conn., and the network's game announcers from their homes. For games that are airing exclusively on ESPN, home team broadcasters will still man the cameras, but with an ESPN mandated setup of the cameras, including four super slo-mo cameras.

ESPN also plans to unveil some new features to its broadcast, like an animated Statcast 3D product.

For more information on ESPN’s setup for the MLB season, read the full story on Sporttechie.com. 

The BBC is reportedly in talks with Major League Baseball to air matches due to take place in London next year.

According to Sportcal, the pair have been holding talks since June, with a deal expected to be announced soon.

The MLB is also said to be close to renewing its long-term rights deal with BT Sport.

It's thought the deal with the BBC will resemble the NFL's deal with the broadcaster, which broadcasts UK games on free-to-air TV.

BALTIMORE—With the 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) season about to get underway, it’s time for the fans to see what video upgrades are being offered for their viewing pleasure. And they’ll find out after a close play at the plate, a devastating curveball or the look in a player’s eyes—from many angles.

That advancement can be summed up in two words: Super slo-mo (SSM).

SSM is being brought to the forefront of broadcasts by MLB’s three main mobile unit providers: Mobile TV Group (MTvG), Game Creek Video and NEP U.S. Mobile Units. That also means more high-speed cameras will capture the action at very high frame rates, while the various networks, regional sportsnets (RSNs) and viewers wait for “safe” or “out” calls from the MLB Network nerve center in Secaucus, N.J., the home of MLB Network, or get deeper, more concise reaction shots that underscore the passion for the national pastime.

Baseball is also important in a mobile industry where trucks are getting more expensive and providers need that steady home schedule of 81 games per year to create revenue; however, HD costs to the RSNs are leveling off, and broadcasters are contemplating hiring less expensive, non-union crews.

4K UNDERWAY

The pie in the MLB market is sliced into but three large slices, with the largest by far belonging to MTvG. The company operates about 35 units for Fox Sports and ROOT Sports at 18 MLB ballparks This includes one 4K truck, the 39 Flex, that “constantly goes coast-to-coast,” said Nick Garvin, COO for Englewood, Colo.-based MTvG, plus several 1080p trucks. It is currently building the 43 Flex, which will be used by ROOT Sports for Colorado Rockies home and selected away broadcasts.

“[No. 43] is a 1080p-capable truck and will have four super slo-mos,” Garvin said. “That’s the big push this year. We have four super slo-mo cameras on four trucks and two super slo-mos on two of the others.” MTvG has other trucks that are “4K ready,” but are not licensed as such, since “the only broadcasters doing 4K baseball are Fox Sports and MLB Network,” Garvin said.

The SSM push is happening because the Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays (units 38 Flex and 40 HDX, respectively) were the only teams that used four super slo-mo cameras last year, which were in demand by the RSNs due to an increasingly sophisticated viewership.

“Two weren’t enough, because the cameras are aimed at different things; so this year, we have a total of seven trucks with four” SSMs, said Garvin. “Cameras with the record and playback system make the whole chain, which runs at six times normal speed,” which also moved MTvG to buy four new 12-channel EVSs and Grass Valley Dynos for every mobile unit. “We buy about 10 every year, as well as 30-40 Sony 4300 and GVG 86 [cameras], as we’re on a constant build cycle at headquarters. We build four main units a year.”

Garvin also noted that the networks are working with MLB to offer viewers a more comprehensive experience. “This season, we’ll see the regular broadcast with bigger lenses, plus StatCast, PitchCast,” etc. “Even for RSNs, viewers expect the optimum experience, any place, any time.”

‘BIG DEAL’ UPGRADES

Hudson, N.H.-based Game Creek Video is one of two truck providers that contracts with the regional carriers of six MLB teams: the Boston Red Sox, New York’s Yankees and Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals and Houston Astros.

[Facebook, MLB Play Ball on Weekly Broadcast of Games]

Garrett Sullivan, senior vice president of production and finance, said the deals with each RSN are “a little different” and that Game Creek assigns No. 94 in Boston for NESN; Yogi in New York for Yes Network, and Webby for SNY; Chesapeake in Baltimore and Washington for MASN; and Apollo for Fox Sports Houston.

Game Creek works with Fox Sports, as well as MLB Network’s Showcase Game of the Week, “which will air 26 games in 4K HDR,” said Sullivan, adding that Fox will also carry a handful of 4K games.

As for what’s inside the trucks, the “newest, latest and greatest 4K HDR is on the Riverhawk for MLB Showcase,” he said, “and we’ve joined with AT&T/DirectTV to make it HDR capable. The only way that’s delivered to the home is via DirecTV.”

This year’s upgrades to the Riverhawk, according to Sullivan, include 10 Sony HDC 4300s, seven Sony HDR BVME 171E monitors, Tektronix HDR scopes, HDR cross-conversion gear from Evertz, five 12-channel EVS XT 4Ks and the Grass Valley Kayenne K-frame with the “crowning jewel,” the 4K SSM Sony 4800.

All told, the additions will lead to a more refined broadcast. “MLB is mandating that regional trucks have at least two SSM cameras, and some clients require four,” Sullivan said. “It’s all part of telling the story of breaking bats, seams of the ball, curves breaking, a runner’s cleat touching the base and the great plays.”

EASIER TO RECORD

The setup with NEP, of Pittsburgh, is similar to that of Game Creek. NEP contracts with the regional carriers of six teams, including the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Oakland A’s, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago’s Cubs and White Sox, as well as ESPN for its Sunday, Monday and Wednesday game broadcasts.

NEP U.S. Mobile Units President Glen Levine said the company supplies 19 mobile units for baseball, with a variety of the trucks recently accentuated with various “technological advances.” The units mainly contain Sony and Grass Valley cameras, Calrec audio consoles, EVS servers, Grass Valley Kayenne switchers and various routers.

NEP’s EN2 rolls in for the ESPN Sunday night games and is streamlined with a plug-and-play setup, “to heighten efficiencies, with recallable files, A and B fiber interconnect between units and a consistent crew,” said Levine.

NCP 10 does ESPN’s Monday and Wednesday games, and contains similar technology, aside from Utah Scientific routers; the SS18 supports Turner, which broadcasts 10 Sunday national games.

Levine, as well, noted “the biggest production adds” for this season are in the SSM vein; the ROOT (which covers the Mariners) and ESPN trucks each contain four SSM cameras, and Comcast added two for all regions. “It’s also easier to record content than ever,” said Levine. “The viewer wants to see the different angles. Since technology is always improving, the more replays you can have in SSM, the better.”

SSM FOR ALL

From the network perspective, Michael Connelly, senior vice president and executive producer for Fox Sports, discussed the heightened use of SSM, as well as other advances to broadcasts.

“Game Creek handles the east coast and Lyon Video handles some in Ohio, but MTvG does most of our work,” he said. “So, for instance, we purchased full units from Vizrt for the MTvG trucks, which MTvG services; [they provide] up to three channels of graphics for all events; a couple of years ago, when we moved to the Grass Valley LDX cameras, we bought the first 14 that were manufactured and also installed them in the MTvG trucks; now they’re standard with every new MTvG unit.”

Connelly also appreciates that, unlike other sports, baseball is played most days. “It’s a stable broadcasting option, due to all the home games, so we have an opportunity to build what equates to a proper studio,” he said. “With the new technology from the SSM manufacturers, we’re now able to employ it for everyday games instead of just special ‘jewel’ events, like the MLB All-Star Game and the World Series. It’s easier to use and you can see up to six SSM cameras on a regular telecast.”

But that’s not all. Another big addition to Fox Sports broadcasts is increased bandwidth.

“We’ve upgraded every MLB stadium with two 1 gig IP lines,” Connelly said. “That provides a few boosts to our broadcasts: a redundancy path as a backup, in case one path fails, one to master control in The Woodlands, Texas, the other to the appropriate regional studio; second, it allows integration from the studio into the game broadcast, in real time, throughout the broadcast; and third, real-time network return to the remote site for the production team and talent. That’s a big add, because it allows our production team and talent to view the broadcast in real time and eliminates the prior 8-second delay.”

Fox is also integrating StatCast in the broadcast this year, “which will be a first,” he said. “You’ll see shifts in the outfield, the spin rate on a curve ball, tracers on HRs and their distance, all driven by game data,” which is believed to be a first for Fox RSNs.

“We’ll also be testing file sharing between the studio and the stadium, and it won’t have to be facilitated by the people in the truck,” Connelly said. “That makes it faster.”

[Fox Sports Readies the Field for World Series]

And, in the end, technology making things faster facilitates blossoming creativity.

“[Broadcasting a game] is all about storytelling,” Garvin said, “and that includes using technology to bring the close plays even closer for our audiences.”

TIME TO DOWNSIZE

Fred Gerling is another invested observer who appreciates the demand for mobile units baseball creates. But he’s wondering if today’s business model could evolve.

“Baseball uses small trucks in spring training, such as the 45-foot, double-expando with a C/Ku-band link on the back,” said Gerling, president of Gerling & Associates, a mobile unit manufacturer in Sunbury, Ohio. “So I would think that more baseball broadcasters would opt for Remote Integration (REMI) production suites. I’ve heard the conversation about doing baseball from that standpoint, since the picture is transmitted back to a big facility, but I don’t see it happening.”

Gerling is also hearing questions about whether big union crews in the field are needed. “If you have streaming video that goes back to a big network facility in New York, a big union city, it gets expensive to use union crew,” he said.

That begs the question about why broadcasters aren’t going non-union. “A truck is crewed by the owner, who flies people and pays for accommodations,” Gerling said. “If the owner hires non-union crew, they’re more affordable, even if you fly them in.”

But as of today, he thinks broadcasters will continue to use the large trucks.

“Many people think baseball isn’t as popular as it was, but domestically and worldwide, plenty of people are watching,” he said. “People have no idea where those satellite links end up.”

STAMFORD, CONN.—NBC Sports Regional Networks announced an agreement with Major League Baseball Advanced Media to stream local market MLB games, as well as pre- and postgame shows, beginning with the 2017 regular season. This new streaming offering will be available at no additional cost to authenticated pay TV subscribers of NBC Sports Group’s CSN regional sports networks. NBCU said this local initiative extends its “TV Everywhere,” ecosystem making content available to authenticated customers both in and out of the home, and on multiple platforms.

CSN’s local streaming allows authenticated viewers in their respective markets to live stream games and related programming that is carried by their pay TV provider of the Chicago Cubs (CSN Chicago), Chicago White Sox (CSN Chicago), Philadelphia Phillies (CSN Philadelphia), Oakland Athletics (CSN California) and San Francisco Giants (CSN Bay Area). Game broadcast schedules will be announced at a later date.

The addition of MLB authenticated in-market streaming completes the local streaming portfolio for the NBC Sports Regional Networks, which also includes local NBA and NHL live streaming. The RSNs first introduced NBA streaming in 2014 and last fall announced the addition of NHL in-market streaming, beginning with the 2016-17 season.

The NBC Sports Regional Networks now have partnerships for in-market streaming of the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, San Jose Sharks, San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s (CSN Bay Area/CSN California); Chicago Bulls, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox (CSN Chicago); Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals (CSN Mid-Atlantic); Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia Phillies (CSN Philadelphia); and Boston Celtics (CSN New England).

Authenticated CSN subscribers can access live MLB, NBA and NHL games, as well as other sports programming, throughout the United States. During the 2017 MLB season, all in-market MLB games will be streamed on the respective local CSN regional network site on PCs as well as on the NBC Sports app—NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets and connected TVs. The NBC Sports app is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.

HAVANA— This was a happening.

True, this happening was just an exhibition baseball game; yet, it was history.

Major League Baseball teams have rarely played in Communist Cuba—the last game from “The Pearl of the Antilles” was played on March 28, 1999, between the Baltimore Orioles and the Cuban National Team, and broadcast by ESPN.

The network was also on hand on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, when the Tampa Bay Rays squared off against the Cuban National Team, with the presidents of the United States and Cuba in attendance.

This was not a normal broadcast from Havana or from its 60-year-old Estadio Latinoamericano baseball stadium; but not only did ESPN and ABC News make it work, they produced numerous news reports with pre- and post-game programming, and were able to share some resources while doing so.

BIDING TIME
About two months ago, ABC News and ESPN conferred about coverage of President Barack Obama’s goodwill trip, including the game, according to Brian Kennedy, vice president of newsgathering operations for ABC News, “because we knew we could share shipping and resources,” including a generator, lights, platforms and accessories, like tents, phones and Internet connectivity.

Going into Cuba, performance of the equipment wasn’t an issue—but it was understood that getting it to the island and setting up would be. While the Cuban police and the people were always friendly and helpful, working there can often be time consuming.

“The Cuban police went through every piece of gear we brought and everything had to be hardwired,” Kennedy said. “RF equipment was not allowed.”

Both networks started broadcasting on Sunday, March 20, the date of the first of two of ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” broadcasts, from a shared compound in downtown Havana’s Parque Fraternidad. It included two sets, with a tented control area with a router, monitoring and transmission equipment, plus Ku- flyaway uplink and IP transmission via ABC’s TVU Grid.

Meanwhile, the ESPN crew shipped NEP’s Supershooter 23A and B OB trucks, with an Illumination Dynamics twin pack, Transvision fly-away uplink and a 24-foot box truck, with ancillary hardware—all of which was X-rayed by local authorities upon its arrival on March 13.

Then, upon the equipment’s, then the crew’s, arrival at the stadium on Saturday night, it was time for another customs inspection.

“ABC had 16 boxes and we had 25,” said Terry Brady, director of remote production operations for ESPN. “The review of the cargo at the stadium with the Cuban customs started at about 7 a.m. on Sunday. Every box had to be inspected, and it took almost eight hours. That included cases of cable, since RF equipment was not allowed.”

Brady said the crew finally “hit the ground hard on Sunday afternoon because we were going live by 11 a.m. on Monday,” he said.

ESPN’s Hannah Storm, and Evan Longoria and Kevin Kiermaier of the Tampa Bay Rays on the set of SportsCenter during the Tampa Bay Rays vs. Cuban National Team spring training exhibition game, March 22.GETTING IN POSITION
Brady said that the ESPN set out to “keep a unilateral approach, pooling resources, ESPN sources and Cuban iso feeds for the game broadcast.”

Camera positions were traditional: high home, low third, mid-first, centerfield, low first, tight centerfield and, mid-third; ESPN also shipped two full ENG units, with handhelds used in the first base dugout (that were also used for SportsCenter), in the low third base stands, from the scoreboard for beauty shots and for the conference rooms.

In addition, a Marshall and GoPro POV camera were installed in the both ESPN booths, including one for Desportes. “We used a more traditional approach, given the limited amount of fiber and increased reliance on copper,” said Brady.

All told, ESPN used 12 cameras from the truck: six handheld, six hard; plus a high speed NAC, with three EVSs.

ESPN had a set on the field, and also shot from other points in the stadium, including one by President Obama’s seat. The crew worked closely with the Secret Service and stadium security “to ensure that we had the access we needed,” Brady said.

“That hybrid approach was due to the age of the stadium, which isn’t cabled,” he said. “Since everything was hard wired, it was challenging to get cable in everyplace we might need it, like it can be in the smaller venues here in the states.”

To get the signals up, ESPN/ABC News used two Ku-band 2.4-meter satellite dishes “that we don’t use that often, but it made it easier for us to hit U.S. domestic satellites,” said Kennedy.

Though the Cuban broadcasters have some satellite trucks that ABC News rented just over a year ago during the initial softening of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, those resources “were not available,” he said, “because the Cubans were using them for the game broadcast and coverage of the events around President Obama’s visit.”

POST-GAME WRAP
Also regarding transmission, the Cubans “were terrific in giving us 50 Mbps of raw data for the Internet that we used for three channels of video, and we used them to send video in both directions between Havana and New York City,” Kennedy said, “because if we get interference on a satellite, for instance, we could have switched over to the Internet connection and continued the broadcast. So these days, when we have Internet access, that’s usually our preferred way of connecting.

“What was remarkable to us,” he added, “is that we can do TV with just data, and not just satellite dishes, because dishes traditionally carry just video. Though we were prepared to use them with just data-over-satellite, it was much easier to access data via terrestrial connectivity.” All told, broadcasting the trip and the game (which was won by the Rays, 4-1) was a challenge accepted and addressed, as far as Kennedy and Brady are concerned.

“It helped that we have people on staff who had been to Cuba many times, including an engineer who’s been there more than 30 times,” said Kennedy. “They knew what to expect” concerning customs and the time constraints.

“We went in with the mindset that it would be a challenge that required our full attention,” Brady said, “especially since the two-pronged approach by ABC News and ESPN was unusual. This wasn’t about a particular job; everyone pitched in to get it done.

“This was a unique experience,” he said. “It was a ‘bucket list’ experience.”