(Editor’s note: UFL action begins tonight on Fox with the Birmingham Stallions taking on the Louisville Kings at 8 p.m. EDT. First week matchups continue Saturday, March 28, with the DC Defenders taking at the St. Louis Battlehawks at noon EDT on ESPN; the Houston Gamblers vs. Dallas Renegades at 4 p.m. EDT on Fox; and the Colombus Aviators at Orlando Storm on ESPN at 8 p.m. EDT.)

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Drones over the field, cameras embedded in helmets and chest pads and Steadicam operators running on and off the field during games are only a few of the television production technologies and techniques pioneered last season by the United Football League—better known as the UFL—owned in part by Fox Corp. and Disney.

No wonder then that the league is willing to push the envelope a bit when it comes to exploring ways production technology can enhance the viewing experience. While many of the same elements used last season will return for the 2026 campaign, both Fox Sports and ESPN will be relying on important enhancements behind the scenes to advance this season’s coverage, which begins tonight.

Fiber and 5G
Signal acquisition from the field and around the venues as well as contribution back to the sports broadcasters’ respective remote production centers will benefit from enhanced tech.

Fox Sports is expanding its use of a private 5G wireless network this season, according to Brad Cheney, vice president of field operations and engineering at Fox Sports.

“We've been at the forefront of private wireless networks, and we're going to deploy them this year full time on every one of our shows” said Cheney. “We are working with CP Communications and Verizon to do that, and we're really excited to see that in daily operation every single game for us across the UFL season.”

The success of last season’s trial use of a private 5G wireless network for camera acquisition proved successful with respect to reliability and ultra-low latency, leading the broadcaster to expand its commitment to the technology.

This season, it will deploy the private wireless network to support 1080p HDR video acquisition from three cameras, including two RF handhelds and its Megalodon camera, as well as 15 wireless comms packs. Each 5G camera transmitter is “roughly the same size and weight” as its traditional COFDM counterpart, said Cheney.

Cheney noted that even though Fox Sports is deploying its own private 5G network at each UFL venue, the wireless network still exists within the broader 5G footprint of the carrier in general and more specifically of the public wireless networks at the various league venues. That fact at the moment limits how many wireless cameras the broadcaster will use on its private 5G network.

“Obviously, the cell networks in the U.S. have been built around download—somewhere in the neighborhood of 80% download and 20% upload. Carriers are slowly changing that. But as that is done, it affects the people and the frequencies around you,” he said.

“The closer you get to 50-50, or inverting it to 80% [upload] and 20% [download], that's when things start affecting other things around you.”

“That's a really dynamic piece of the puzzle. The No. 1 thing we have to work on in every single venue is understanding the other cell networks around us,” said Cheney. “We’ve spent a lot of time mapping out these stadiums to figure out these things and make sure we can provide extensive coverage, not just coverage on the field.”

Cheney noted that for now, other wireless cameras—especially specialty cameras like pylon and player-worn cameras—will remain COFDM because there is no pressing need to re-engineer existing off-the-shelf traditional wireless camera backs simply to accommodate a miniaturized 5G alternative.

Like Fox Sports, ESPN is entering this UFL season with an eye towards how it can best produce games. Several new venues will be used this season. Six, including those in Washington, D.C., Orlando, Fla., Houston, Frisco, Texas, Louisville, Ky., and Columbus, Ohio, are used for professional soccer.

“A lot of these MLS [Major League Soccer] stadiums don't have the same robust fiber infrastructure that, say, an NFL stadium might have,” said Eric Kimmel,  supervisor of remote operations at ESPN.

ESPN, along with Fox Sports and the UFL worked together in the offseason to ensure sufficient fiber-optic resources would be in place prior to tonight’s season kickoff, said Jim Birch, senior manager of remote operations at ESPN.

“A lot of this planning started well in advance of the season—months in advance—doing site surveys,” said Birch. “The league, Fox and ESPN got together and looked at the infrastructure of these new venues to establish a foundational infrastructure.”

Those surveys identified a pressing need to build out the fiber infrastructure in place for the broadcasters’ UFL productions. “The league did a lot of installs,” said Birch. “It seems like we put in thousands of strands of fiber [in the aggregate] across all of these new stadiums to prepare them to produce our games.”

ESPN will make best use of available fiber bandwidth to support its REMI productions with the help of new encoding technology it first used last fall. “For the past college football season, we utilized new transmission encoders from Appear,” said Kimmel. “They were a great success.”

The encoder enables ESPN’s A Crew to transport 23 paths of HEVC-encoded 1080p HDR video back to its REMI control rooms in Bristol, Conn., and its B and C Crews to use 20 paths, he said.

School of Hard Knocks
One notable addition to the production was the use of wireless cameras embedded in select players’ chest pads. The results were mixed.

“Frankly, we learned from the chest camera last year,” said Bryan Jaroch, vice president of sports production at ESPN. “They [the league] thought it would be able to take the impact of hits, and they tested it. There were times when it did crack, or it didn’t work as well as we all had hoped.”

That lesson directed ESPN to try a different approach this season. “The chest cam cannot take that impact,” he said. “We actually tested the POVORA camera on kickers a couple of weeks ago in Arlington.” The POVORA tilt control CapCam, which ESPN used last college football season and has been nominated for a George Wensel Technical Achievement Emmy Award, may be used in other applications.

“We may try to put that on coaches or players on the sidelines. But in terms of the impact, that was one of the shortfalls with MindFly [used during the 2025 UFL season], where it could not take those hits. We’re going to work with POVORA to see what we can do with their CapCam like put it on some referees,” said Jaroch.

“They also have a BodyCam version of their cameras, so we’ll try some new technology there.”

The Ramifications
The UFL’s willingness to try innovative technologies and production techniques attracted the interest of other sports leagues throughout last season, and the efforts of Fox Sports and ESPN to implement them paid off, both broadcasters agreed.

ESPN’s Jaroch pointed to the ACC’s decision to give the sports network greater access to its replay command center during some 2025 ACC football action as an outgrowth of what the broadcaster accomplished last season with the UFL replay command center.

Fox Sports, too, points to various tech deployments during the 2025 UFL season that influenced how sports were covered in other leagues. “The automated first-and-10 setup is something the NFL did this season,” said Cheney, adding that it is one of the most visible examples.

Another is drones. “Our use of the drone at UFL games has definitely driven access across all sports,” he said.

Only time will tell how this year’s new tech deployments will influence sports production beyond the UFL.

For more information on the 2026 season, visit https://www.theufl.com/

MONTREAL—Grass Valley and integration partner Tab M Solutions have completed Phase 1 of a new broadcast production control room for the University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics: Fighting Illini Productions.

The installation work, which was completed ahead of the 2025 football season, primarily supports football and basketball videoboard productions, with secondary integration into Big Ten+ broadcasts.

The project is Phase 1 of a multi-phase buildout, and required Grass Valley and Tab M Solutions to deliver an entirely new broadcast infrastructure within an existing facility, presenting space and thermal constraints. Tab M Solutions designed a hybrid SMPTE ST 2110/SDI architecture that allows staff to maintain familiar SDI workflows while leveraging IP where it delivers infrastructure efficiency and scalability.

The deployment includes five Grass Valley LDX 150 cameras with super slow-motion licenses, one LDX 135 RF wireless system, and a CCS-ONE camera control server. The LDX 150 cameras are deployed natively over ST 2110, eliminating traditional baseband CCUs and enabling direct connectivity from venues to the core IP switch. CCS-ONE centralizes shading and supports remote monitoring.

“Our objective was to elevate our game-day production while positioning Fighting Illini Productions for long-term growth,” said Derryl Myles, associate director of athletics, Fighting Illini Productions & Technology. “The hybrid architecture allows us to incorporate IP strategically while maintaining familiar workflows, and the LDX 150 cameras provide the image quality, flexibility and performance we need to meet the expectations of Big Ten and our fanbase.”

By eliminating traditional CCUs and reducing hardware density, the design lowered rack space requirements and thermal load while simplifying integration within the existing control room footprint.

“This was an intentional transition strategy,” said Kevin Tucker, partner & CTO, Tab M Solutions. “The hybrid 2110/SDI architecture preserves operational familiarity while leveraging IP where it creates tangible benefits. Deploying the LDX 150 cameras natively over 2110 reduced rack space, heat load, and integration complexity while creating a scalable foundation for future expansion.”

Phase one establishes the technical platform for the University of Illinois’ long-term production vision to enhance its storytelling capabilities while future-proofing its infrastructure. “It’s another example of the innovations we’re proud to be bringing to collegiate sports production with our partners at Tab M Solutions,” says Greg Doggett, VP of Sales, NAM Sports at Grass Valley. “Fighting Illini are now equipped with a production control room and hybrid infrastructure that positions it perfectly to meet the needs of today while building scale and flexibility for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow. We’re delighted to be supporting them on that journey.”

NEW YORK—Television viewing climbed to a 12-month high in January 2026, according to Nielsen’s latest report of The Gauge as overall viewing was up 3.7% over December. That was fueled by a 9% monthly increase in cable viewership, in combination with high-stakes sports, returning broadcast dramas and colder winter temperatures that kept audiences indoors.

Cable captured the largest monthly viewing increase across The Gauge in January and represented 21.2% of total TV (+1.0 share point of total viewing).

Cable sports viewing surged 49% over December, propelled by ESPN’s coverage of the College Football Playoffs, which included the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games. ESPN alone saw an 82% monthly viewing uptick. Meanwhile, cable news benefited from an active news cycle in January and rose 13% versus December, largely driven by a 17% viewership gain for Fox News Channel, plus a 29% gain for CNN. Notably, ESPN and Fox News Channel each represented 2.2% of total TV usage in January, and together, the two networks comprised 21% of this month’s cable viewing.

Sports remained the anchor for broadcast viewership in January as football continued to dominate the category. NFL games accounted for the top 15 broadcast telecasts, and the sports genre represented the largest share of the category’s viewership (30%).

Broadcast dramas were also on the rise (up 24% vs. December), and "High Potential" on ABC emerged as the most-watched drama program of the month. Similar to cable, the busy news cycle boosted broadcast news viewing by 10% compared to last month, led by "ABC World News Tonight". Overall, broadcast viewership was up 4.2% versus December and represented 21.5% of TV.

Following record viewing levels in December, streaming proved its resilience in January, Nielsen reported. Time spent streaming increased 2.7% month-over-month and the category continued to represent the lion’s share of TV usage with 47.0%.

Highlights from the audience data for streaming include:

• Netflix mirrored the resilience of streaming following its best monthly performance to date. The platform achieved a steady 1% viewing increase (8.8% of TV) versus December, and owned the top streaming program for a second consecutive month, as Stranger Things tallied 15.4 billion viewing minutes in January.
• Peacock viewership was up 10% in January, bringing the streamer to 1.8% of TV. Peacock’s monthly uptick was driven primarily by the new season of its original series The Traitors, and by audiences watching simulcasts of NFL games carried on NBC. This cross-platform amplification was most noticeable on Sunday, January 18 during NBC’s broadcast of the NFL Divisional Playoff matchup between the L.A. Rams and Chicago Bears, which fueled a 78% boost in viewership over its monthly average.
• Across the free ad-supported streaming platforms, Tubi and The Roku Channel each claimed monthly increases. Tubi was up 6% versus December to notch 2.1% of TV, and Roku Channel increased 5% to maintain its platform-best 3.0% share of TV for a second consecutive month.

The January 2026 interval spanned four weeks, from 12/29/2025 through 01/25/2026. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.

ESPN has reached a new multi-year agreement with The Heisman Trophy Trust to remain the exclusive home of the Heisman Trophy Ceremony.

ESPN televised the 91st annual Heisman Trophy Ceremony Presented by Nissan on Saturday, Dec. 13, with ABC broadcasting the event for the first time. The 2025 Heisman Trophy Ceremony averaged 4.3 million viewers, delivering the event’s best audience since 2012 and finishing up 69% year-over-year. Viewership peaked at 5.8 million viewers during the broadcast.

With this extension, ESPN will remain the exclusive home of the Heisman Trophy Ceremony for the long term, pushing the relationship beyond 35 years since first presenting the event in 1994.

“The Heisman Trophy Trust is thrilled to continue its long-standing partnership with ESPN,” said incoming Heisman Trust CEO Jeff Price. “For decades, ESPN has helped to tell the stories of the outstanding Heisman Trophy Winners, and we look forward to building on that tradition in the coming years. This partnership also accelerates our mission to harness the power of the Heisman to positively impact underserved youth, enabling us to donate millions annually to organizations that broaden opportunities for young people through sports and education.”

“ESPN is incredibly proud to continue our enduring relationship with the Heisman Trophy Trust — a collaboration that will soon span more than 35 years,” said Kurt Dargis, senior director of programming, ESPN. “The Heisman Trophy remains one of the most prestigious distinctions in sports, and we’re honored to help present this moment to fans every year as we celebrate the very best of college football.”

ESPN also announced that in addition to continuing to exclusively televise the presentation of the Heisman Trophy Ceremony each year, ESPN will also continue to exclusively announce the Heisman Trophy finalists, present the Heisman Top 10 show and a Heisman Preview Show each year.

In addition, Disney Advertising will continue to work with the Heisman Trust in driving sponsorship opportunities around Heisman Trophy content and programming.

The College Football Playoff (CFP), ESPN and TNT Sports have announced kick times and broadcast information for the 2025 CFP First Round, which will launch the second year of the 12-team Playoff.

“We are pleased to work with both ESPN and TNT Sports to deliver these first-round games to fans across the country in premier viewing windows,” said Rich Clark, executive director of the College Football Playoff. “We also appreciate the collaboration with the National Football League in coordinating schedules to best serve fans of both college and professional football. This all reflects the growing reach and excitement surrounding the new Playoff format, and we look forward to showcasing the best of college football on both networks.”

The 2025-26 edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff will begin with the first CFP First Round game on Friday, Dec. 19 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN. First round action will continue on Saturday, Dec. 20, as ABC and ESPN will broadcast the first game of Saturday’s tripleheader at noon ET, while TNT will present games at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. ET, respectively. All games on ESPN networks will be available on the ESPN App, while the first-round games airing on TNT and truTV will also be streamed on HBO Max. Each of the four first-round games will be played on campuses to be announced on Selection Day, Dec. 7.

In April, it was announced that ESPN will present each of the four Playoff Quarterfinals, the two Playoff Semifinals and the 2026 CFP National Championship, slated for Monday, Jan. 19, at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

The CFP National Championship returns to Miami for the first time since the 2021 contest, marking the second straight season the national championship game will return to a city for a second time, after Atlanta hosted the title contests in 2018 and 2025.

Last season, the inaugural CFP First Round delivered 10.6 million average viewers across ESPN networks and TNT Sports.

The quartet of Playoff Quarterfinals scored multi-year viewership highs, while the CFP Semifinals produced the most-watched Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on record (20.6M viewers) and the second-most-watched Capital One Orange Bowl in nearly 20 years (17.8M viewers). The 2025 CFP National Championship between Ohio State and Notre Dame attracted 22.1 million viewers, the most-watched non-NFL sporting event over the past year. The showdown peaked with 26.1 million viewers. ESPN reported.

A football season unlike any other is taking shape in a conflicted broadcast environment where big-game producers are delivering unprecedented viewing experiences digitally as TV station owners count on the sport’s popularity to help them weather a weakened ad market.

The challenges were highlighted by The Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger during an early August earnings call, when he discussed the now-launched ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service, which encompasses all content delivered over the seven ESPN cable channels and online assets, including ESPN+.

While stressing that Disney views what it’s doing with ESPN as part of its TV business, Iger acknowledged, “the features and functionality of the ESPN app will have more on them or in the app than obviously any linear channel can provide. It will really be a sports fan’s dream in terms of everything they’ll be able to do and watch on that channel.”

ESPN-NFL Deal
Adding to the drama, the NFL and Disney also announced a landmark deal that, if approved, would give the league an unprecedented 10% stake in a media partner in exchange for ESPN’s takeover of NFL Network, with the addition of more games and other benefits. A taste of what’s in the offing on the ESPN service, which launched Aug. 21, can be found on the NFL+ streaming service, which remains under the NFL’s control, delivering all its games, but is available in the deal with ESPN for bundling with the latter’s streaming service.

It happens that the advanced in-game betting, personalized fantasy team features and other data-rich enhancements available on NFL+ are supported by technology from Genius Sports, which has also been supporting features on ESPN+. While declining to go into details of what his company is bringing to the new streaming service, Matt Fleckenstein, chief product officer at Genius Sports, says the arc of development on ESPN and NFL+ is parallel.

Specifics are “just a question of whether we’re working directly with NFL+ or ESPN,” he says.

The Genius BetVision app—a single-screen display of betting options supported by all the major sports-betting books, with video lagging just two to three seconds behind real time—is an especially noteworthy example of game-changing aspects to what ESPN might be offering.

With nearly all major pro and college football games now available on streaming services, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the broadcasters whose distribution via cable, satellite and OTA accounts for the lion’s share of the football audience. As they’ve done before, station group owners in their latest earnings reports cited football as a significant counterforce to economic headwinds impacting ad revenues.

During Sinclair’s Q2 earnings call in early August, Chief Operating Officer Rob Weisbord, acknowledging the overall advertising environment “remains rough,” said that with “larger buys coming down the pipeline … we’re cautiously optimistic as we move through the summer months into September with the return of college football and NFL.”

Building on the popularity of football, Sinclair has launched four podcasts devoted to college football programs at Ohio State, Alabama, Texas and Notre Dame, and “will shortly be announcing a landmark events and media partnership” devoted to “producing original content and brand activations,” says Chris King, Sinclair’s vice president of investor relations. This will include a “nationwide tailgate tour during the upcoming college football season” and an exclusive event at February’s Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., he said.

Scripps’ Sports Strategy
E.W. Scripps also touted the importance of football to its second-half expectations following first-half revenue performance that was down just 2% from levels reached in a national election year, marking a “best-of-class” performance that tied “directly back to our sports strategy,” according to Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs. While “there’s a lot of hesitancy out there” in the overall second-half advertising picture, Combs voices “optimism around our ability to monetize football as it starts to kind of roll back in here.”

One aspect to that optimism relates to Scripps Sports’ longstanding relationship with the NCAA Division I Big Sky Conference, which consists of 10 full and two affiliate member universities in eight Western states. The contract with the Big Sky, renewed for another five years in March, makes Scripps responsible for producing and broadcasting at least 12 conference games a year over its seven Montana stations involving either or both of the state’s conference members, Montana State and Montana University, James Raffety, Scripps Sports senior director of sports production, says.

Scripps is generating coverage that “brings big market, big production to FCS [Football Championship Subdivision] football,” Rafferty says. And Scripps also benefits from the fact that the Big Sky relationship runs deeper than basic game production, he says, with the broadcaster acting as league supporter in event productions like the annual Big Sky Hall of Fame banquet and the Media Day season kickoff. It’s a relationship that goes to the heart of Montana culture with the broadcast of the annual “Brawl of the Wild” showdown between MU and MSU, which Rafferty says draws the biggest statewide audience for any TV program other than the Super Bowl.

Local Ties
Many other station owners benefit from relationships they’ve built with colleges at regional and local levels, in some cases enabling game coverage not supplied by the national networks and, in others, resulting in ancillary programming with games broadcast nationally. Gray Media, for example, is leveraging multiple university partnerships with its launch of regional sports networks, says Robert Folliard, the station group’s senior vice president of government relations and distribution.

“This is a strategic initiative for the company to get into local sports where there’s a ton of advertising and sponsorship opportunities,” Folliard says. “We provide the only platform that can get them into every home.”

On another front, Gray with six other partners in the NextGen TV Pearl TV alliance will be broadcasting college and NFL games in HDR-enhanced 4K, marking a major advance in viewing experience over what consumers typically get through cable and online services. With FCC Chair Brendan Carr voicing enthusiasm for NextGen TV, it looks like “all signals are a go” for expeditious transition to ATSC 3.0, Folliard says, which means TV stations will be in a much stronger position to hold football fans with the combination of superior signal quality and OTA access to interactive game playing and real-time betting.

Nobody is doing more than Fox Sports to keep all its boats afloat, including the new Fox One DTC streaming service, by delivering superior viewing experiences across all affiliated TV and digital outlets. On the big home screen, whether NFL games are delivered via pay TV, OTA or online, Fox is tapping things it introduced at this year’s Super Bowl to enhance the lean-back experience, says Michael Davies, executive vice president of field operations at Fox Sports.

“We’re looking at picking up where we left off,” Davies says. He cites wider use of things like dual SkyCams, Lidar technology for nonobstructive on-screen placements of AR-embellished graphics displays and officials’ Hawk-Eye play-review systems to help commentators with real-time analysis. At some point, Fox Sports anticipates embellishing some NFL broadcasts with output from field-based 180-degree cameras that Fox partner Cosm has deployed to support immersive off-site theatrical viewing of game action.

ST. LOUIS—Many tests define the outcome of football games. There are tests of will, individual talent, team play, gameplans, motivation and more.

But for Fox Sports, the UFL has become a proving ground where innovative new technology can be tried under game conditions to determine what works, what needs improvement and what new production tech tools the broadcaster can use in the future to up its game regardless of the sport that’s being covered.

Such was the case June 8 here at The Dome at America’s Center when the UFL’s D.C. Defenders defeated the St. Louis Battlehawks 36-18 in the XFL Conference Championship. (Editor’s note: XFL is now the name of the UFL conference to which both teams belong.)

During the game, Fox Sports continued limited deployments and separate technology trials–one for video and the other for audio—that it sees one day playing important roles in UFL productions and beyond.

AI and Audio
The evolution of TV sound has seen mono give way to stereo, which in turn has given way to 5.1 surround and is now advancing slowly to immersive, object-based audio. But there’s another ongoing audio advancement that Fox Sports is testing.

The broadcaster is testing the use of artificial intelligence to give its audio engineers additional tools to enhance the soundscape viewers' experience during UFL games, NFL matchups and ultimately the range of sports it produces.

“One of the things we’re trying to determine is how do we derive more sound out of the sound we are capturing that is going to interest viewers,” said Brad Cheney, vice president of Field Operations and Engineering at Fox Sports.

About 100 feet away from the Game Creek Video Gridiron production unit where Eddie Verstraite, the broadcaster’s UFL audio sub-mixer, sat behind his console, the broadcaster positioned a six-foot-long folding table with its AI setup receiving the sub-mix from the truck—among them the field microphones.

“There are eight microphones out on the field level. The AI allows us to pan and scan around to find certain pieces of audio triangulated between those microphones,” said Cheney. “The beauty of it is that once you have that audio coming inbound, you're not tied to a single output of it. You can make multiple outputs of it and start to do other things with player tracking; for example, you are able to follow that audio or that person around.”

During the game, one goal was to determine the “next pieces of the puzzle” to make the triangulation possible, which entailed isolating sounds correctly to highlight a player or coach and thereby improve the overall production, he said.

“We want to enhance the show by only putting out an array of microphones vs. lots of people trying to aim directionally,” said Cheney.

The broadcaster has other AI-based audio enhancements in the works, as well. With players, coaches and referees mic-ed during games, it’s easy to miss exchanges that might offer key insights into what’s happening on the field. Fox Sports is looking to use speech-to-text AI algorithms to help.

“The more audio we’re taking in and the more we are able to capture, the harder it is to figure out what we’re listening to,” he said.

The broadcaster is testing AI speech-to-text identification of keywords in conversations and “is beginning to figure out the level of keywords that pop out” to alert the production team about what is being said, the next play to be run and what modifications are being made, said Cheney.

Ultimately, the broadcaster envisions this level of insight not only alerting production personnel to what’s happening, but also how announcers call games and even how coaches coach as opposing teams receive this data in real time, he said.

AI also holds out the prospect of bringing a more consistent sound to the production of UFL, NFL and college football games, Cheney added. “The benefit of having this stuff and capturing and keeping it is that we’re able to model it for a UFL scenario, and then we’re able to model it against the NFL scenario by taking certain mics and certain audio out of what we’re doing because each has different micing capabilities and different audio coming inbound.”

Private 5G Network
This season, Fox Sports has outfitted at least one of its sideline cameras with wireless connectivity to a private 5G network for contribution. During the conference championship game, it worked with Verizon and CP Communications to deploy a private 5G network and wireless sideline camera and relied on public 5G connectivity outside to contribute shots from a helicopter above the venue.

“We launched in the latter half of the UFL season a true private 5G network with a live sideline camera that went all the way back to Los Angeles directly on a private connection,” said Cheney. The camera, which was linked into Fox Sports’ production network on-site, was linked to Los Angeles where the Homerun Production (REMI) was being done.

“That camera bypassed every encode path we had here, beat all of the encoders back to L.A. with full, true video, return [video], video control, tally, comms—all of that stuff—all built into a single system,” said Cheney, adding that the delay was about 500ms. “It was fully operational, ran in the game and did everything we wanted it to do.”

Cheney anticipates the use of 5G wireless camera contribution and networks will only grow over time. Not only is there less latency, but 5G private and public networks eliminate the complexity of shoehorning signals into crowded spectrum, the need for special temporary authority (STAs) from the FCC and setting up RF receive sites for shots, such as those from the helicopter.

The setup also offers greater flexibility depending upon where it is being used. For instance, the day before the game, Fox Sports deployed four roaming wireless IP cameras for the 2025 Belmont Stakes in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Two were outfitted with 5G modems from multiple carriers that could be used in a bonded channel configuration if needed on public wireless networks, and two others ran exclusively on the private 5G network setup for the race.

“We're starting to up that ante of what's going on when it comes to being able to have private networks merging with public networks,” said Cheney. “We're really taking a giant leap forward with our partners in doing private wireless 5G that will actually start to take over our regular COFDM RF.”

LONDON and NEW YORK—The United Football League (UFL) has signed a new global partnership with sports broadcaster DAZN to broadcast every game of the UFL’s 2025 season.

The UFL, which was formed by the merger of the XFL and the United States Football League began its second season March 28. Broadcast coverage of the league in the U.S. is shared by Fox Sports and ABC/ESPN. Extending coverage to DAZN means the UFL will now be seen in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, China, Sub-Saharan Africa and Canada, in addition to the U.S.

(Read: ESPN, Fox Sports Kick Off UFL Coverage With New Production Technologies)

The 2025 season kicked off last weekend with a match-up featuring the St. Louis Battlehawks against the Houston Roughnecks, which averaged 690,000 viewers. The seaon will conclude after 10 weeks of the regular season and two weeks of the postseason with the 2025 UFL Championship Game on June 14.

The league features eight teams – four former USFL and four former XFL teams. The USFL Conference is made up of the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Roughnecks, Memphis Showboats and Michigan Panthers. The XFL Conference includes the Arlington Renegades, DC Defenders, San Antonio Brahmas and St. Louis Battlehawks.

With DAZN, UFL will be available in over 200 markets, across multiple internet-enabled devices and distribution channels. DAZN say the flexibility and robustness of its platform enables live and on-demand content to be streamed at scale, while also providing the capability to localize in key markets.

DAZN also offers the NFL as the global home of the NFL Game Pass and is the only place for fans (outside the U.S. and China) to watch every NFL game. Fans of American football around the world can also watch the European League of Football (ELF) with DAZN’s new ELF Game Pass. Moreover, DAZN offers free content from some of the world’s most exciting sports properties including the FIFA Club World Cup, LIV Golf, E1 and more.

"The United Football League is proud to join DAZN’s world-class lineup of sports offerings, said Wendy Bass, Executive Vice President, Business Operations & Administration. "This league is focused on expanding the global footprint of American football and DAZN is the perfect partner to help us reach that goal.”

"DAZN’s dedicated audience of sports fans already enjoys a wide range of American Football content on our platform," said Shay Segev, DAZN Group CEO. "Our partnership with the United Football League is an exciting extension of this portfolio and will support the growth of this sport’s reach worldwide. DAZN’s is committed to creating the ultimate destination for sports entertainment, and offering the United Football League’s 2025 season to fans for free aligns with this ambition.”

LONDON—Amagi, a cloud-based SaaS solutions provider for broadcast and connected TV (CTV), announced that FC Barcelona is launching Spanish and English versions of the TOP BARÇA FAST channel on Amagi NOW

Amagi Now is an all-in-one cloud media platform that simplifies content operations through automated workflows, media asset management, and streamlined distribution and monetization capabilities.

The new TOP BARÇA channels will bring fans closer to the action with exclusive behind-the-scenes content, player interviews, historical match highlights, and other content. Using Amagi’s cloud technology, FC Barcelona intends to deliver high-quality streaming experiences while tapping into new revenue streams through targeted advertising and audience monetization, the two companies reported.

The launch of TOP BARÇA is part of FC Barcelona’s drive to capitalize on the booming FAST market. With the launches, the club said it aims to strengthen is businesses by:

• Monetize Video Content: FC Barcelona advertising revenue opportunities by distributing curated Barça content across streaming platforms.
• Enhance Global Reach: The dual-language channels allow the club to engage a broader audience across Spanish-speaking regions and international markets.
• Streamline Content Delivery: Amagi’s cloud-native platform simplifies the operational complexities of managing and distributing live and on-demand content.

Toni Cruz, director of Barça Studios | Barça One, elaborated on the strategy by saying, “FC Barcelona has always been a pioneer in connecting with fans worldwide, and our partnership with Amagi to launch TOP BARÇA channels is a testament to that vision. By tapping into the FAST ecosystem, we are extending Barça’s reach and creating an innovative platform to engage our fans with premium content while driving significant revenue growth for the club.”

Amagi provides a suite of channel creation, distribution, and monetization solutions. The company’s clients include some of the world’s biggest names, including Hearst Networks UK, ABS-CBN, Astro, Cox Media Group, DAZN, Globo, Lionsgate Studios, NBCUniversal, Tastemade, and VIZIO.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has updated its Virtual Placement product with the release of version 7.7 offering new tools and enhancements for football telecasts.

Virtual Placement 7.7 offers dynamic and automated graphics support with tools for field-goal targeting and several automated red zone features, giving broadcasters and venue operators tools to enrich storytelling and deliver visual clarity, it said.

The new Field Goal Target Tool allows broadcasters to show precise, team-specific target lines. Storing predefined field goal ranges for home and away teams, the tool provides accurate placement and highlights each team’s range, it said.

Enhancements to the Red Zone Tool include a new outline option, with customizable textures, colors, sizes and opacities for visually compelling highlights of the “Red Zone,” the name given to the area between the 20-yard line and the end zone during scoring drives. Tailored to the NFL’s new kickoff rule, the feature optimizes the display for the landing zone, providing a fresh approach to field graphics. Besides boosting audience engagement, the enhancements allow broadcasters to adapt visuals to specific team branding or broadcast themes, it said.

Chyron has improved the Down and Distance module to enhance flexibility and precision during games. New automation options for play-clock presentation, include changing the color based on time remaining and animating the clock on and off-air at specific time points. The expanded settings menu offers quick access to down and scrimmage information, allowing operators to make quick adjustments during gameplay. The version’s automatic midfield switching feature streamlines transitions as teams cross the 50-yard line, effortlessly adjusting the orientation to save time and eliminate errors, it said.

“Virtual Placement 7.7 continues our mission to deliver unparalleled storytelling tools for sports broadcasters,” Andreas Olsson, product manager for Virtual Placement said. “By introducing features like the Field Goal Target Tool and automating critical aspects of game-day coverage, we empower broadcasters to focus on the game while captivating the audience.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

NEW YORK—The return of the NFL and college football kicked off significant viewing gains for media companies in September, as Disney reclaimed the top spot in Nielsen’s media-distributor rankings, accounting for 11.3 percent of TV viewing. The Paris Summer Olympics pushed NBCUniversal to the top of the rankings in August.

Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge, which ranks media companies by their share of TV viewing, found that Disney notched a 17 percent viewing increase in September and added 1.8 share points over August—the largest share increase among all reported distributors.

Disney’s 17% growth can be attributed to gains from ESPN (+101%), ESPN2 (+165%), and its ABC broadcast affiliates (+25%).

In addition to Disney, other distributors recorded double-digit viewing increases in September, including Fox (+18%) and Amazon (+13%). Like Disney, Fox also exhibited a considerable bump in viewing to its broadcast affiliates and was up 69 percent compared to August. Overall, Fox’s share of television viewing climbed to 7.3% (+1.3 share points) in September, and Amazon finished with 3.7% of TV (+0.5 points), a new high-water mark for the streaming distributor.

Ultimately, as viewers shifted their focus to football in September, eight of the 14 reported media companies experienced viewing decreases this month, including NBCU. Despite falling 4.1 share points in the wake of a record-breaking August powered by the Olympics, NBCU would have likely exhibited growth similar to the aforementioned distributors. It still managed to finish in the top three, though, and came in behind YouTube with 9.3 percent of TV, Nielsen reported.

The measurement month of September included five weeks: Aug. 26 through Sept. 29, 2024. Nielsen measurement weeks run Monday through Sunday.

LOS ANGELES—In the run-up to the 2024-25 sports season, Allen Media Group’s HBCU GO has announced that it has expanded the nationwide distribution of the free digital platform to 95% of all U.S. TV homes. 

The expanded distribution, which includes 15 new markets plus The Armed Forces Network, includes Fox owned-and-operated (O&O) stations in Los Angeles (KCOP-TV) and Chicago (WPWR-TV), as well as distribution on the Armed Forces Network. 

In addition to the previously announced carriage deal with CBS O&O duopoly stations, HBCU GO has secured distribution with group-owned television stations including AMG Broadcasting, FOX O&Os, Sinclair, Gray, Tegna, Hearst, Nexstar, Gray, Scripps, Monumental Sports Network, Lockwood, Graham Media, Circle City Broadcasting, Hubbard, Imagicomm, Deerfield, Cowles, News Press and Gazette, Lilly, Marquee, Morris, and Word Broadcasting. In addition, HBCU GO is carried on TheGrio Television Network and digital distribution platforms.

The 15 markets that will have access to the service at the start of the 2024-25 sports season include Abilene, Augusta, Colorado Springs, Corpus Christi, Grand Rapids, Green Bay, Johnstown/Altoona, Knoxville, San Angelo, San Antonio, Springfield, St. Louis, Washington DC, Wichita, and Yuma. 

HBCU GO will kick off its 2024 football season schedule on Saturday, August 31. A total of 26 football matchups will highlight the 2024 season featuring teams representing the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), and the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) -- including the Southern Heritage Classic, homecoming games, and the CIAA Football Championship.

“Allen Media Group is proud to be the number-one provider of live Black college sports,” said Byron Allen, founder/chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “It is important for us to showcase these excellent athletes and amazing HBCUs -- not just in their hometowns, but to sports fans worldwide.”

AMC also reported that viewers can watch HBCU GO’s games in a variety of ways – syndication channels in major television markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Memphis, Detroit, Sacramento, Miami, Tampa, and Pittsburgh and nationally on TheGrio Television Network. Select games will also air across various digital platforms including HBCU GO’s mobile app and FAST channel that is available on AMG’s free-streaming platforms, theGrio Gold and Local Now. 

For more information about HBCU GO, visit HBCUGO.tv or follow the streaming network on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Find out where to watch and download the free app at HBCUGO.tv/how to watch. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The CW Network has announced it will be the broadcast home for 11 Pac-12 football games featuring Oregon State and Washington State during the upcoming 2024 season. The network will provide full nationwide coverage for the games. 

The deal comes in the wake of the recent collapse of the Pac-12 conference, with 10 of the conference’s 12 teams opting to move to other conferences. The conference, which is more than a 100 years old, played its last football championship game in Dec. 2023. 

The CW coverage of the remaining two schools kicks off on Saturday, August 31 with a doubleheader featuring Portland State at Washington State (3:00- 6:30pm ET) and Idaho State at Oregon State (6:30-10:00pm ET). All broadcasts will be produced by Pac- 12’s production facility, Pac-12 Enterprises.

“Adding the Pac-12 conference to The CW’s growing roster of live sports gives the network coast-to-coast coverage in key markets and solidifies our position as a national player in college sports,” said Dennis Miller, president, The CW Network. “The CW will truly be a destination for all sports fans this fall with impressive weekend lineups consisting of Pac-12 football, ACC football, LIV Golf and NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff races.”

“We are thrilled to announce this national partnership with The CW,” said Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould. “Oregon State and Washington State football student-athletes deserve this elite stage as they continue competing for the College Football Playoff, and Beaver and Cougar fans have a great opportunity to enjoy their teams’ successes.”

The is part of an ongoing expansion of live sports on the CW, which includes a new season of ACC football, the final tournaments of the current LIV Golf season and the network debut of the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Last season, The CW aired two college football games that delivered over 1 million live Total Viewers according to Nielsen and set a viewership record for the most-watched Saturday national primetime in network history. The CW is poised to broadcast over 500 hours of premium sports programming in 2025.

“National exposure and the ability for Beaver Nation to easily access our games was a top priority during the process,” added Oregon State University vice president and director of Intercollegiate Athletics Scott Barnes. “Additionally, the ability to announce game times well in advance provides an improved experience for our student-athletes and fans.”

“We are excited to partner with The CW to broadcast Cougar Football nationally for the upcoming 2024 season,” added Washington State University interim director of athletics Anne McCoy. “Having WSU in 100 percent of the homes across the country will amplify the exposure of our student-athletes and program, and grow the connection with our fans and alumni. Additionally, the partnership provides for nearly all home game times to be set in the spring, allowing our fanbase to plan their fall weekends around Cougar Football.”

LOS ANGELES—Technology and sports have gone hand-in-hand at least since KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcast the first live sporting event—a boxing match—more than 100 years ago.

Since then, the two have become so enmeshed that it’s hard to think about one without the other. But the new United Football League (UFL) plans to take things to a whole new level, building its foundation with technology as the cornerstone.

“The UFL is a league defined by technology,” says Brad Cheney, vice president for field operations and engineering at Fox Sports. “That’s what the board wants. That’s what the league wants, and that’s what the broadcasters want.”

While Fox Sports plans to use some new production technology and apply a bit of “one-upmanship” on technology used for the past few years, he says, much of the tech will be what the broadcaster has developed over the past 30 years covering the NFL and nearly 20 years of college football.

“The real benefit is we are going to give the viewer the access they desire. Quite honestly, we know what that is now,” says Cheney.

UFL, tech and the viewer
The UFL, which begins inaugural play March 30 with four games, is the new league formed by the merger of the XFL and USFL. Fox Sports and ESPN share the UFL broadcast duties. 

(Editor’s note: TVTech asked ESPN about its plans but as of publication has received no reply.)

The league’s emphasis on technology is a strategy to differentiate itself and produce dividends for the fans, the teams and the league. “By leveraging technology, you get to be part of an R&D-oriented environment with the goal being to make the players better, which makes the play better, which makes the games more exciting,” he says.

One tech improvement viewers will notice immediately is the use of an automated first down system that keeps the game moving and running at the pace the players want.

“Imagine a long drive with a little bit of time left on the clock,” says Cheney. “You're running down the field. The last thing you want to do is let the defense reset itself while you're pulling the chains out.”

Instead, Fox Sports will use an optical ball-tracking technology that relies on data from multiple static cameras in the stadium and cloud processing to determine exact ball positioning within three seconds, he says.

“As the official places that ball on the field, it is laser-marked exactly by the optical system. The system tells us exactly how many yards that ball moved from the last time it started and from where the first down was,” he explains.

Audio Enhancements
The broadcasters will mic coaches and key players as well as rely on an array of parabolic mics to enhance audio.

Not only will fans be able to hear what coaches and quarterbacks are saying when the Fox Sports production team thinks the audio will improve viewing, but the telecast’s on-air crew will be able to listen and step up their game calls and color commentary.

“That’s a piece of the learning experience we’re developing,” says Cheney. “Our talent will explain what a play could be before the snap [based on these communications]. Viewers will be able to start to really understand these exchanges as they hear them in our broadcasts.”

The wireless mics, transmitters and receivers needed to pick up these verbal clues are only part of the UFL audio story, however.

“We’re micing a lot of players as we have in the past. But you can only have so many wireless microphones out there before you run into RF problems,” says Cheney.

“The goal is to have the right players with microphones on and having a pool of parabolic microphones to really dig into that sound,” he says.

Fox Sports crews will have full access to coaches and players—not simply on and off the field—but also up and down the sidelines. 

“Not only does that access help us with capturing video, but it really helps in capturing audio. All of a sudden, the parabolic microphones we used to aim down the straight line when the teams match up are right there,” he says. “They’re much closer than they are in college and NFL coverage.”

Two parabolic mic operators on each sideline will have access to the edge of the playing field and won’t be forced to attempt to pick up audio from behind players on the sidelines, he says, adding that they will not be standing in front of coaches.

Video production
Fox Sports will produce the UFL in 1080p HDR. Some games will be upconverted to 4K HDR, says Cheney.

Unlike the USFL, which chose a handful of venues for game play with opposing teams visiting, thereby drastically reducing the number of production truck rolls needed, the UFL will employ the more traditional traveling-team, home-away model.

As a result, Fox Sports will roll OB trucks to each home venue and also will employ its Home Run Model production workflow. Graphics and specialized production elements will run from the broadcaster’s Vault facility in Los Angeles. Augmented reality will play a part in UFL presentations, as well, he says. 

The camera complement is extensive, totaling more than 50 cameras, including specialty cameras like a drone camera, a home and visiting team Helmet Cam from Action Streamer, umpire and side judge Hat Cams, Megalodon and Pylon cameras.

“A lot of these pieces will be used on a consistent basis to make sure we have all this material available to our production team to show off what’s going on,” says Cheney.

One familiar technology that will see less use for UFL coverage is Skycam. “Especially as you start to talk about Helmet Cams and the drone, you say, ‘Wait a second. If I've got a running back with a Helmet Cam, and I know he is going to run the ball, I'm going to rip the Skycam out of the way and watch him coming at me instead of trying to follow that ball through the zone,” says Cheney.

Beverly Hills Aerials will handle drone duties, deploying its fourth-generation Bumblebee drone system, a more agile unit that offers “a bit more movement in the gimbal system” and greater camera stabilization, says Cheney.

“We're going to continue to launch that throughout the season and give you that angle of being in the run, being behind these players as they move, tracking a ball as it's kicked, tracking a ball as it’s thrown and finding that new look,” he says. 

Beyond the immediate benefits these technologies bring to the UFL and viewers, their use gives other sports leagues and organizations an opportunity to see how they perform and could possibly enhance the television production of their games.

“We have been a very open book with the NFL and the power five conferences and the NCAA about us doing things that other people aren’t doing,” says Cheney. “We’re happy to show them and have them come down and see that what we’re doing is going to be beneficial for the sport.”

(Fox Sports coverage begins with a game between both leagues’ champions, the Birmingham Stallions and the Arlington Renegades at 1 p.m. EDT. Next up for Fox Sports is the St. Louis Battlehawks vs. the Michigan Panthers at 4 p.m. ESPN’s season kickoff coverage begins at noon EDT with the D.C. Defenders vs. the San Antonio Brahmas and concludes with the Memphis Showboats vs. the Houston Roughnecks at 3.pm EDT. Games will be aired on Fox, FS1, ABC and ESPN.)

STAMFORD, Conn.—NBC Sports unveiled a rendering of its on-campus studio set for B1G College Countdown presented by Genesis, which will debut in nine days at Penn State as NBC and Peacock kick off their Big Ten Football schedules on Saturday, Sept. 2. 

The set is part of NBC Sports new package of Big Ten Games on Saturday night.  In 2022, the Big Ten announced a seven-year, $7 billion media deal with CBS, NBC and Fox allowing the three networks to broadcast their games starting in 2023 and running through the 2029-30 season.

B1G College Countdown will lead into each B1G Saturday game on NBC and Peacock. In addition, College Countdown presented by Genesis will lead into the two Notre Dame primetime games on NBC and Peacock.

NBC Sports said that the set will be located at a strategic location close to the stadium and that the open-air set will allow students, alumni and fans from both schools to view and interact with the B1G College Countdown team as they preview the upcoming game and provide news and commentary on the day in college football. 

The location will also allow NBC flexibility to showcase unique parts of each school’s college football traditions in and around the stadium. The NBC Sports studio team will utilize the set throughout the day of college football coverage leading up to B1G Saturday Night on NBC and Peacock.

In addition, NBC Sports has created a companion B1G Yards presented by Genesis fan experience, which will be on-location at each Saturday night game. NBC Sports and the universities will collaborate on a school-specific B1G Yards at each campus, highlighted by spirit team appearances, giveaways, spray-paint tattoos, a face-paint station, and a DJ deck called The Peacock Perch.

“We are thrilled to partner with Genesis on this unique opportunity to combine Big Ten and Notre Dame Football's dedicated fanbases with new, immersive experiences backed by the power of the NBCUniversal portfolio,” said Peter Lazarus, executive vice president, advertising & partnerships, NBC Sports. “Together, we are tapping into the power of sports to create long-lasting connection and impact with brands and fans alike.”

NBC Sports kicks off coverage of the 2023 college football season this Saturday, Aug. 26, as Notre Dame travels to Dublin, Ireland, to play the Navy Midshipmen at Aviva Stadium at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Coverage begins with College Countdown presented by Genesis at 2 p.m. ET on Peacock.

On Saturday, Sept. 2, NBC Sports debuts its Big Ten Football package with two of college football’s top programs – Penn State and Michigan – opening their 2023 seasons with home games.

At Noon ET, exclusively on Peacock, the Big Ten champion and Associated Press preseason No. 2 Michigan Wolverines open “The Big House” against East Carolina.

At 7:30 p.m. ET, on NBC and Peacock, the AP preseason No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions, Rose Bowl winners this past winter, host West Virginia at Beaver Stadium in the schools’ 50th meeting, but first since 1992. The Nittany Lions and Mountaineers played 31 times between 1960-92.

NBC Sports’ FBS college football games announced to date are:

Date Time (ET)            Matchup                                    Platform

Sat., Aug. 26 2:30 p.m. Navy vs. No. 13 Notre Dame (in Ireland) NBC, Peacock

Sat., Sept. 2 Noon East Carolina at No. 2 Michigan Peacock

Sat., Sept. 2 3:30 p.m. Tennessee State at No. 13 Notre Dame NBC, Peacock

Sat., Sept. 2 7:30 p.m. West Virginia at No. 7 Penn State NBC, Peacock

Sat., Sept. 9 Noon Delaware at No. 7 Penn State Peacock

Sat., Sept. 9 7:30 p.m. Charlotte at Maryland NBC, Peacock

Sat., Sept. 16 2:30 p.m. Central Michigan at No. 13 Notre Dame Peacock

Sat., Sept. 16 5 p.m. No. 10 Washington at Michigan State Peacock

Sat., Sept. 16 7:30 p.m. Syracuse at Purdue NBC, Peacock

Sat., Sept. 23 7:30 p.m. No. 3 Ohio State at Notre Dame NBC, Peacock

Sat., Oct. 14 7:30 p.m. No. 6 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame NBC, Peacock

Sat., Oct. 28 3:30 p.m. Pittsburgh at No. 13 Notre Dame NBC, Peacock

Sat., Nov. 11 7:30 p.m. Michigan State at No. 3 Ohio State NBC, Peacock

Sat., Nov. 18 3:30 p.m. Wake Forest at No. 13 Notre Dame NBC, Peacock

Fri., Nov. 24 7:30 p.m. No. 7 Penn State at Michigan State (Ford Field) NBC, Peacock

NBC Sports’ Big Ten Football package features B1G Saturday Night on NBC and Peacock – marking the first time ever that Big Ten Football will have a dedicated weekly primetime game on a national broadcast network – and nine exclusive games on Peacock.

Peacock will simulstream all of NBC Sports’ college football games and studio shows airing on the NBC broadcast network this season, including B1G Saturday Night and Notre Dame Football home games, the company added. 

HACKENSACK, N.J.—The European League of Football (ELF) is streaming up to six live games every game day to its digital platform via a full cloud-based production with the assistance of the LiveU IP-video EcoSystem.

Multi-cam LiveU LU800 field encoders are deployed at venues where needed with LiveU SmartData providing optimal data management with terabyte capacity, the company said.

Managed entirely in the cloud by German production house novel.media at its office in Munich,  the productions are supported by LiveU’s German partner netorium, which prepares units and provides on-site support, it said.

Headquartered in Hamburg, ELF is a professional American Football League for Europe that’s in its second season using LiveU encoders and production support from novel.media. Last year, games were produced on-site. Transmission was done using LiveU’s bonded cellular encoders.

This year, novel.media moved the entire production chain into the AWS cloud. The scalability of LiveU's EcoSystem allows the production team to add units as needed, and its open architecture enables live signals to be integrated seamlessly with ELF's existing Vizrt's Viz production tools, LiveU said.

Fans access games on Game Pass, ELF’s digital platform. Viewership and monetization are growing, the company said. 

“American football is growing in popularity across Europe. To start off, we had eight teams competing with plans to expand to 24 teams in 2026. Scaling the live production wouldn't have been possible without the flexibility offered by LiveU and, together with novel.media, we can add as many LiveU units as we need to the cloud production, said league CEO Zeljko Karajica. 

“We can create more creative live content with minimal cost and effort, increasing our revenues. Providing accessibility to more games, we're continually building our audience as fans can follow their favorite teams on a weekly basis.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

After adding several new teams in the last year and seeing increased fan interest, the European League of Football (ELF) is implementing a new cloud-powered remote production infrastructure for the 2023 season. 

To accommodate an increasing volume of match broadcasts across networks, streamline production, and ensure a high-quality, low-latency viewer experience, ELF began looking to sustainably scale its production infrastructure with an assist from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the league explained. 

Together with ELF’s production and streaming partner Novel Media and AWS Partner LOGIC media solutions GmbH, AWS helped realize a cost-efficient, cloud-based remote production pipeline for the league in under three weeks, just before the start of the 2023 season in June. The collaboration marks the first of its kind for a pan-European sports league, the companies said. 

The AWS team worked closely with ELF, Novel Media, and LOGIC Media from remote production architecture ideation and technical design through to implementation and testing, which took place on Saturday, May 13. 

ELF’s desire to enhance scalability while reducing production costs and its carbon footprint drove every aspect of the team’s design, as did ensuring a consistent, top-notch viewer experience, the league explained. 

The resulting infrastructure combines a wide range of AWS services with 4G/5G signal transmission and signal distribution to over-the-top (OTT) technologies from partners. By reducing the volume of travel and equipment transport between match locations in Europe for 76 games, ELF expects to save more than 300 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

“The European League of Football is on track to reach more than half a billion households worldwide, so the scalability AWS-powered infrastructure provides is not only paramount today but will also make it easy for us to support continued growth and launch new viewer features in the future,” shared Zeljko Karajica, CEO of the European League of Football. “It’s also helping us reduce our carbon footprint, as we can significantly pare back the volume of travel and outside broadcast (OB) truck equipment that productions of this caliber typically require.”

AWS services form the infrastructure backbone, including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances that support production in a reliable, scalable, and performant manner. Several different blocks of solutions including 4G/5G signal transmission and OTT signal distribution were orchestrated by AWS, Novel Media, and LOGIC Media for streamlined integration. The pipeline also includes Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for scalable block and object storage; AWS Elemental MediaConnect for secure, reliable live video transport; AWS Elemental MediaConvert for file-based video transcoding; and the Amazon CloudFront content delivery network (CDN) for content distribution, AWS reported. 

AWS, Novel Media, and LOGIC media also designed the architecture to support separate signal variants depending upon the match-up needs. Two separate signals are produced for highly anticipated matches. These include a graphics-only version of the world feed, which is fed to a local broadcaster that inserts presenters and L-frames. Sent out through the ELF OTT service, the second signal for these matches is available in four languages, each including ambient sound, and features ELF, Czech, or Polish presenters.

Standard match broadcasts entail up to four signals per production. The first is a version of the world feed distributed to ran.de, which contains graphics, some of which have a presenter but no inserts/clips, and supports audio in four languages and ambient sound. Another signal with ELF, Czech, or Polish presenters, and virtual insertion of partners playing on the field in up to four languages with ambient sound is sent to the ELF OTT platform. For matches including the Wroclaw Panthers or Prague Lions, a similar signal is fed through to the ELF OTT platform, and a Polish broadcaster or Czech broadcaster, respectively. 

“What ELF has achieved in just three weeks with AWS is incredible, and a testament to the power of the cloud,” said Marc Aldrich, general manager, Global Media & Entertainment at AWS in ELF’s announcement. “The fan experience is central to any sports production, and by moving its production pipeline into the cloud, ELF will be able to create more memorable match broadcasts that let fans dive deeper into the game. We can’t wait to see how this architecture continues to evolve as well as what it enables.”

ELF is present in nine countries with 17 teams, including champions Vienna Vikings, Raiders Tirol, Hamburg Sea Devils, Berlin Thunder, Rhein Fire, Cologne Centurions, Stuttgart Surge, Frankfurt Galaxy, Munich Ravens, Leipzig Kings, Wrocław Panthers (Poland), Barcelona Dragons (Spain), Paris Musketeers (France), Fehérvár Enthroners (Hungary), Prague Lions (Czech Republic) and the Helvetic Guards (Switzerland). All franchises compete for a chance to showcase their talents in the championship game in Duisburg on September 24. 

NEW YORK—Fueled by the ongoing importance of sports programming on TV and streaming services, the annual sports report from S&P Global Market Intelligence estimates that U.S. TV and streaming sports media rights payments will likely total $25.57 billion in 2023 across broadcast, cable, RSNs and streaming services. 

That represents a significant rise from an estimated $14.64 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow to more than $30 billion in 2025 as new deals are forged.

The increases have occurred despite viewership declines, a contracting subscriber base in the traditional cable bundle and a growing list of alternative pay TV services that appeal to cost-conscious consumers, the researchers said. 

The forecast also shows that sports rights rose faster in even years than odd years due to spending on the Summer and Winter Olympics, with 2021 being an outlier as the 2020 Summer Olympics were held in 2021.

The report also contained data from Kagan's U.S. Consumer Insights survey, conducted in September 2022, of 2,528 adults who use the internet showing the important role that live sports plays for the American consumer. Over half of US internet households surveyed (55%) said they typically watch football, and about one-third of households tune into basketball (34%) and baseball games (33%). While not as popular, a host of other sports — including motorsports, golf, soccer and tennis — reach a healthy slice of US households.

More information on the report “From the Stadium to the Screen: Examining the Impact of Streaming on Sports Media and Consumption” by S&P Global Market Intelligence is available here. 

FARMINGTON, Utah—The Big Sky Collegiate Sports Conference recently began streaming to ESPN+ and upgraded its productions with the addition of JVC Professional Video’s GY-HC900CHU CONNECTED CAM solutions.

Jon Kasper, senior associate commissioner of the conference, received a recommendation to use JVC from a colleague in collegiate athletics. He and his video team ultimately selected the brand’s GY-HC900 CONNECTED CAM cameras.  

“A friend at Cal State Fuller mentioned that he was using JVC for the Big West schools and suggested that I reach out to the company as well,” said Kasper. “He had previously worked at a Big Sky school, so he had an idea of what our schools were doing and what we’d need to produce for ESPN+. He said that JVC had really good cameras with great quality, and that they were reasonably priced―which was ideal,” he said.

Four Big Sky schools officially integrated the cameras last year, which were used to produce about eight to 10 live sports broadcasts per week for ESPN+. 

“The schools that purchased the cameras have been very happy with the functionality―how easy they were to learn to use and, most importantly, the video quality that they produce. I have weekly calls with ESPN, and they were also thrilled with the overall production quality in the Big Sky Conference in our first year. There’s no doubt that upgrading the cameras at those schools that needed them has helped with the fan experience of watching the games,” said Kasper.

The schools’ production teams echo Kasper’s sentiments. “With the new resources and expectations for our broadcast productions at University of Idaho, JVC’s shoulder camcorder has been an excellent addition, said Zack Kellogg, director of broadcast and creative content at university of Idaho.

“Since the GY-HC900 has dual viewfinders, multiple viewfinder configurations, an easy-to-use interface and reliable mechanics, there is no doubt this will be a product that is an integral part of our broadcasts for years to come.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

NEW YORK—The National Football League (NFL) and Nielsen have completed a custom study of viewership for NFL football on Thanksgiving Day, particularly in group settings, that found each game reached an average of more than 20 million additional viewers, raising the average-minute audience to 44.1 million. 

That is a 31% increase from the 33.6 million initially reported.

Late last month, it was reported that the telecasts of the games were the most-watched NFL Thanksgiving Day on record. Cowboys-Giants was the most-watched regular-season NFL game of all-time, Lions-Bills broke a Thanksgiving Day early-window record, and Vikings-Patriots was the second-best Thanksgiving primetime game on record.

Those Nielsen numbers showed a total unduplicated audience across all three games of 138 million, making them the highest Thanksgiving total audience on record, surpassing the previous high of 126 million in 2016 and is up +34% vs. 2021 (103 million).

The new study found, however, that even those record numbers seriously underestimated total viewing and by implication raised more questions about Nielsen’s audience data, which has been under fire by many industry players. 

The NFL and Nielsen reported that the new figures showcase the unique nature of Thanksgiving Day football, which for football fans has become intrinsically intertwined with a national holiday that brings families and friends together for a day of appreciation and gratitude. Many watch in larger-than-normal group settings such as an extended family member or friend's home, bar, or restaurant.

"Quantifying the exact number of people watching NFL games on Thanksgiving presents additional challenges due to the fact that so many people gather in different group settings with family and friends," said Paul Ballew, chief data and analytics officer of the NFL. "As was the case with our study around the Super Bowl, we feel this Nielsen custom survey helps provide a more complete picture of the total viewership for this unique day on the NFL calendar."

Nielsen measures out-of-home in locations - such as bars and restaurants - across about 65% of the United States and its co-viewing measurement covers groups of up to 16 people in households across the entire country.

"The tradition of family gatherings and NFL football on Thanksgiving Day is endemic to American culture," said Jon Stainer, Nielsen Sports managing director for the Americas. "We're honored to continue working with the NFL on this custom study to help them better understand the size and behaviors of group viewing parties outside our co-viewing measurement."

The custom survey of 5,800 households, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago using the AmeriSpeak panel, examined the size of viewing groups at any location and to what extent those groups are larger than that which is measured today. This is the same study used when Nielsen announced an estimated 208-million-plus viewers watched Super Bowl LVI via a custom study with the NFL, the companies explained. 

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Hego, a Chyron brand, has announced that it is providing HBCU GO, the media provider for the nation's 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), with an end-to-end first-and-10 graphics solution for the free streaming network's production of Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) football games. 

Using Hego's turnkey Virtual 1st system, graphics expertise, and on-site operator, HBCU GO reported that it has been able to enhance its coverage of SWAC matchups and deliver the kind of on-field graphics that sports fans have come to expect of top college football broadcasts.

"First-and-10 graphics play a critical role in helping viewers understand what's at stake with every play, and they also let fans and athletes know we are committed to making every play and every moment count," said Curt Simmons, executive vice president, programming, and operations, HBCU GO. "The beauty of working with Hego is that we've been able to integrate high-end virtual graphics into our productions and regardless of the field or game-day conditions, the on-screen results are pro-level."

Based on advanced real-time image-processing algorithms, Hego's Virtual 1st optical tracking system enables very fast calibration and setup time, enabling HBCU GO to incorporate virtual graphics — virtual lines of scrimmage, first-down markers, and sponsored advertisements — into any live broadcast quickly and easily, Hego said. 

For every HBCU GO game, a Hego operator sets up a mobile Virtual 1st system, which provides three cameras in and three cameras out, and oversees the placement of graphics throughout the game. The Hego graphics team works with HBCU GO on an ongoing basis to refine the look and feel of first-and-10 graphics.

"With the introduction of virtual placement for first-and-10 lines, Allen Media Group's HBCU GO is bringing next-level technology and sports enhancement to HBCU college football," said Hego general manager Arthur Mason. "We're proud to be part of raising the profile of these games—and of great athletes across the conference—and supporting HBCU GO in giving fans the viewing experience they deserve."

More information about Hego and the company's production services is available at www.hego.tv.

Conference USA has announced a new multimedia rights deal between C-USA and its longtime partners CBS Sports and ESPN that gets underway during the 2023-24 season.

“This is a major step forward for Conference USA in terms of our multimedia rights as it relates to streamlined exposure, accessibility for our fans and greater financial resources for our members,” commissioner Judy MacLeod said. “Building on our strong relationships with CBS and ESPN enabled us to provide increased exposure and consistent broadcast homes for our membership and fans as we continue to see the landscape of Conference USA and college athletics evolve.”

The multi-year agreement provides CBS Sports Network with tier one selection status for C-USA football (18 games annually) and men’s basketball (18 games annually) over the length of the partnership, while also televising the football championship, men’s basketball semifinal and championship games, the women’s basketball championship game, and baseball and softball championship games.

C-USA membership also approved a linear television-friendly scheduling format for football that sees all October league matchups played on midweek evenings. The broadcast partners will share C-USA’s October weeknight football games on linear television across CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

“Conference USA has been a key partner for nearly two decades and we are pleased to extend our longstanding relationship,” said Dan Weinberg, executive vice president, programming, CBS Sports. “As the primary television home of Conference USA, we are excited to showcase the conference’s best across sports throughout the year. This new deal adds even more live games and events to our CBS Sports Network lineup and we look forward to crowning champions in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball for years to come.”

ESPN linear networks will carry eight midweek football games per season via the October midweek scheduling. In addition, ESPN+ or ESPN3 will carry all additional regular season football games, while also serving as the exclusive digital home for all of Conference USA’s Olympic sports (soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, etc.), including all C-USA tournament games aside from the title games for baseball and softball, which will air on CBS Sports Network. Consolidating all digital inventory with ESPN provides a much more streamlined process for C-USA fans under one banner. Over 450 live sporting events will be available and streaming on ESPN+/ESPN3.

ESPN linear networks will also broadcast a minimum of five regular season men’s basketball games and one regular season women’s basketball game on its linear networks, while holding digital rights to all additional women’s regular season basketball games and all men’s basketball regular season games beyond CBS Sports Network’s selections.

“ESPN is thrilled to continue its association with Conference USA and improve its selections to offer better and more games than ever before,” said Nick Dawson, Vice president of programming & acquisitions, ESPN. “Our combination of industry leading linear networks and digital platforms will feature hundreds of events across multiple sports each year, providing C-USA, its member institutions, student-athletes and fans unmatched simplicity and access to their favorite C-USA teams and games.”

Conference USA retained Octagon to assist with negotiating its deals with CBS and ESPN. The full schedule of games and their corresponding distribution outlets will be announced at a later date.

NEW YORK—The XFL has announced a new, global multi-year agreement with The Walt Disney Company and ESPN, which includes exclusive broadcast rights for all gameday content, tentpole events and more, for its upcoming 2023 season through 2027. Each season, all 43 games (40 regular season games, two playoffs, one championship) will be featured on a combination of ABC, ESPN networks and FX. Additionally, the agreement includes exclusive content rights across TWDC and ESPN’s digital, social and direct-to-consumer outlets such as ESPN+. The XFL is excited to officially announce its 2023 season will kick off on Saturday, February 18, 2023.                                                                           

The announcement was revealed at the Disney Upfront, where XFL owners Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson were in attendance and presented the news.

“Without question, we have long admired Disney’s distinct ability to engage an expansive consumer fanbase across verticals, while also maintaining a deeply authentic, nuanced and heartfelt approach to storytelling much like our own,” said Dany Garcia, Chairwoman of the XFL. “To find a partner that honors our foundation and to be able to root our vision of unwavering passion, accessibility and the future of football with Disney as our home, is a dream come true. We are extraordinarily excited to explore the endless possibilities of this partnership – today is surely just the beginning.”

The XFL has had numerous lives, first as a collaboration between the WWE and NBC in 2001, which lasted only one season. It was revived by the WWE in 2020 but was shut down shortly after it began because of Covid. After declaring bankruptcy, it was acquired by Johnson and business partner Danny Garcia and RedBird Capital in August 2020. 

The league will also be competing with the USFL, the second, much-revived spring alternate to the NFL (if it survives its inaugural season). The USFL—which is broadcast on NBC and Fox—has struggled in the ratings during its first five weeks, mainly due to competition from NBA playoffs, however ratings have recently upticked, with viewership exceeding 1 million during several matchups. 

Nevertheless, Disney and the XFL expressed optimism over its most recent reincarnation.

“The XFL will tap into sports fans’ deep love of football by emphasizing competitive action while dedicating itself to innovation and entertainment,” said Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content. “You can see a great path to success when you combine the reach and influence of ESPN and Disney with the collective vision of XFL leadership led by Dany, Dwayne and Gerry.”

Dwayne Johnson added, “This is a definitive moment for the XFL and the beginning of an incredible, long-term partnership for the league, building on my longstanding, very successful legacy relationship I’ve had with Disney throughout my career. We’re excited to be working with global visionaries that are aligned with the XFL’s values, are true team players and share our ambitious goals to grow the XFL as a global sports and entertainment business. Through the combined power of Disney, ESPN and the XFL, together we will create a new powerhouse on the sports calendar and bring a dynamic game of football to fans everywhere. Time to ball out.”

Gerry Cardinale said, “With today’s announcement, the XFL has launched a truly innovative partnership with The Walt Disney Company and its world-class platforms across media, culture, sports and entertainment.  It is a privilege to join forces with the incredibly talented team at Disney and ESPN and bring Dany and Dwayne’s vision for world-class football and live event entertainment to our fans and players.”

NEW YORK—The NFL and Amazon Prime Video have unveiled the schedule for the Thursday Night Football (TNF) games that will be streamed exclusively on Prime Video. 

This marks the first time that the games will only be available on streaming rather than airing on a network and streaming. 

“The first exclusive season of TNF on Prime Video is officially can’t-miss TV, with star power like Lamar Jackson and the Ravens taking on Tom Brady and the Bucs, divisional rivalries featuring Bills at Patriots and Chargers at Chiefs, a fun West Coast matchup between the Raiders and the Super Bowl Champion Rams, and a heavyweight showdown with Derrick Henry and the Titans visiting iconic Lambeau Field to face the Aaron Rodgers and the Packers,” said Marie Donoghue, vice president of Global Sports Video, Amazon. “It’s an action-packed inaugural TNF lineup, with must-see games NFL fans won’t want to miss. We can’t wait to kick things off on Prime Video this September.”

The games will be called by Al Michaels, who left NBC Sports to join Amazon, and Kirk Herbstreit. 

Recently, Prime Video also announced Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez has joined the TNF team as an NFL analyst for its pregame, halftime, and postgame shows. Fred Gaudelli, a 24-time Emmy winner, will serve as executive producer of Thursday Night Football. 

Pregame coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET and kickoff at 8:15 ET.

The full 2022 schedule, which includes: 

• Week 2 - Thursday, Sept. 15: Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs (GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.)
• Week 3 - Thursday, Sept. 22: Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns (FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio)
• Week 4 - Thursday, Sept. 29: Miami Dolphins at Cincinnati Bengals (Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio)
• Week 5 - Thursday, Oct. 6: Indianapolis Colts at Denver Broncos (Empower Field at Mile High, Denver, Colo.)
• Week 6 - Thursday Oct. 13: Washington Commanders at Chicago Bears (Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.)
• Week 7 - Thursday, Oct. 20: New Orleans Saints at Arizona Cardinals (State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.)
• Week 8 - Thursday, Oct. 27: Baltimore Ravens at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla)
• Week 9 - Thursday, Nov. 3: Philadelphia Eagles at Houston Texans (NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas)
• Week 10 - Thursday, Nov. 10: Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers (Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.)
• Week 11 - Thursday, Nov. 17: Tennessee Titans at Green Bay Packers (Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisc)
• Week 13 - Thursday, Dec. 1: Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots (Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass)
• Week 14 - Thursday, Dec. 8: Las Vegas Raiders at Los Angeles Rams (SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif.)
• Week 15 - Thursday, Dec. 15: San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks (Lumen Field, Seattle, Wash.)
• Week 16 - Thursday, Dec. 22: Jacksonville Jaguars at New York Jets (MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.)
• Week 17 - Thursday, Dec. 29: Dallas Cowboys at Tennessee Titans (Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.)

In yet another attempt to revive a new professional football league during the NFL’s off-season, a new version of the USFL debuted this weekend, with the April 16 marquee matchup between the New Jersey Generals and the Birmingham Stallions garnering a combined 2.90 million viewers between its simultaneous broadcasts on FOX and NBC. In comparison, the NBA Playoff matchup between the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors on ABC logged 2.95 million, making it the number one show for Saturday night. 

The game marked the first time a professional sport competition had been broadcast on two competitive networks since Super Bowl I broadcast on NBC and CBS on Jan. 15, 1967. For the inaugural game, NBC Sports provided pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage which aired on both networks, utilizing its on-air, production, and technical personnel. FOX Sports, which used the same NFL theme music for its USFL coverage produced the game coverage, using its broadcasters, production, and technical staff. 

The league introduced several technologies to the game, including a “First Down Measurement Tool”  which provided a closer view of the distance between the last play and first down. Also new was a "helmet-cam”  view, which is exactly as described. Also drawing attention were drone camera angle views, which were used between—and occasionally—during the plays.

The league is financed by FOX Sports, which owns the league and has reportedly committed $150 million–$200 million over three years to its operations, with plans to attract an additional $250 million from investors.

Bad weather hampered additional games on Sunday, causing delays, and the Tampa Bay Bandits and Pittsburgh Maulers matchup, also scheduled for Sunday was moved to Monday night, April 18.

In yet another attempt to monetize America’s game year-round, the United States Football League (USFL) has announced its regular- and postseason television schedule. FOX Sports and NBC Sports, the League’s official media partners, will combine to present all 43 games live, starting in late April. There will be 18 primetime broadcasts, including the USFL Championship Game on Sunday, July 3 airing on FOX from Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.

Past attempts to launch professional football leagues in the spring—post-NFL—have failed miserably. Like its counterpart the XFL, which expired amid lawsuits and a pandemic two years ago, this will be the USFL’s second go-round, after its three-season attempt for relevance in the early 1980’s. 

In its announcement this week, the USFL clarified that it is “a new, independent football league that is not affiliated with the defunct 1980s league or its owners.”

The one element that  could work in its favor: the current lockout between players and owners that is preventing what was formerly “America’s game” from launching its 2022 season.  

Leading up to the championship, NBC Sports and FOX Sports will each broadcast one semifinal game on Saturday, June 25, from Canton, with the first airing at 3:00 PM ET on FOX, and the second in primetime at 8:00 PM ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service.

The USFL inaugural kickoff game between he New Jersey Generals and the Birmingham Stallions will be broadcast live on FOX, NBC and Peacock, April 16 at 7:30 PM ET (6:30 PM CT) at Birmingham’s Protective Stadium.  

This will mark the first scheduled sports competition to air at the same time on two competitive networks since Super Bowl I broadcast on NBC and CBS, Jan. 15, 1967. For the inaugural game, NBC Sports will provide pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage which will air on both networks, utilizing its on-air, production, and technical personnel. FOX Sports will produce the game coverage, which both networks will carry, using its broadcasters, production, and technical staff, and the same commercials will run on each network throughout the broadcast.

For the 2022 USFL season, FOX Sports will carry 22 games split between FOX (14) and FS1 (8), and NBC Sports will present 22 games on NBC (9), USA Network (9), and Peacock (4), which will also stream all games broadcast on NBC. 

In perhaps a not so subtle dig at the MLB lockout, the USFL said that “the combined regular-season coverage on NBC and FOX will give the USFL 22 broadcast windows, more than any regularly scheduled sport in the first half of 2022.” Each network will reveal its respective production details, including broadcast teams, later.

Yesterday, the USFL announced the regular-season team versus team matchups including confirmed dates and start times for Week 1 and Week 2. Broadcast specifics for the remaining weeks of the season will be announced on the Monday two-weeks prior (e.g., Week 3 specifics will be announced on Monday, April 18, Week 4 specifics on Monday, April 25, etc.).

NEW YORK—In an illustration of the importance of live sports in the streaming wars, Paramount+ is reporting rapid growth in the streaming of live football games this fall, both for NFL matchups and college football. 

Paramount+, featuring live NFL ON CBS local market games, scored an NFL regular-season viewership record for total streams, minutes streamed and unique viewers with Sunday's Dallas Cowboys vs. New England Patriots game. It was the most-streamed NFL regular-season contest ever on the service, surpassing the Dallas-LA Chargers matchup in Week 2. 

Overall, through six weeks of the NFL season, Paramount+ has seen double-digit growth in total streams, streaming minutes and unique viewers compared to the first six weeks of the 2020 season, the streamer said. 

Paramount+, featuring live SEC on CBS games, scored triple-digit growth in total streams and minutes streamed for Saturday's Georgia-Kentucky game when compared to the 2019 LSU-Mississippi State game, the most recent game in the comparable window. 

DALLAS—KXAS, the NBC station for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, issued an apology for it failing to immediately interrupt the broadcast of Sunday Night Football between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles with a Tornado Warning.

After meteorologists issued a Tornado Warning for Dallas County on Oct. 20, KXAS delayed interrupting the game for six minutes.

“When it comes to dealing with severe weather, we know that seconds matter,” the station said in its statement. “We should have broken into football programming sooner. We apologize and want you to know that we’re doing everything in our power to make sure this does not happen again.”

KSAX meteorologists were livestreaming weather coverage on its website throughout the evening and alerted the football audience to the livestream throughout the game, the station said.

However, that did not stop criticism from some.

The tornado ultimately impacted more than 17 miles across the Dallas County area, destroying homes and businesses, with three people hospitalized but no reports of fatalities.

DALLAS—The Golden Domers are getting the 4K treatment, as AT&T and DirecTV have announced they will offer 4K UHD coverage of all Notre Dame Fighting Irish home football games for the 2016 season. The 4K broadcast will complement the traditional HD broadcast, featuring the same on-air commentators, camera angles and graphics.

The first available 4K broadcast will be Sept. 10 when the Fighting Irish play the University of Nevada Wolf Pack. Other UHD broadcasts include games against Michigan State, Duke, Stanford, the University of Miami, and Virginia Tech. All productions will be produced by NBC Sports. Mobile TV Group will provide its 4K mobile unit, 39 Flex, to NBC for the productions.

Like AT&T and DirecTV’s previous 4K sports broadcasts, the 4K Notre Dame games will only be available to DirecTV subscribers who have a Genie HD DVR (Model HR54 or higher) and a DirecTV 4K Ready TV, or a 4K TV connected to a 4K Genie Mini.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO—U.S. television networks are taking advantage of advanced video formats, IP-based signal routing, and just-in-time video file transfers to enhance coverage of the NFL and college football season. “Sports coverage is usually at the cutting-edge of TV production technology,” said Ken Aagaard, executive vice president of operations, engineering and production services for CBS Sports. “We tend to lead the charge into new ways of doing things, on behalf of all our networks’ production and operations facilities.”

Drew Brees (#9) during the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New Orleans Saints matchup in Pittsburgh last season. The NFL kicks off the 2015 season with the Steelers visiting Gillette Stadium to take on Super Bowl champions New England Patriots.4K AND BEYOND
Although fans can’t view the action in ultra-high definition yet, 4K cameras have become a staple of sports coverage. “This will be our fourth or even fifth year that we’ve used 4K equipment in some area of football coverage,” said Michael Davies, senior vice president of Fox Sports’ Media Group Field and Technical Operations. “4K cameras are extremely useful for capturing high-resolution footage that we can then digitally zoom into for HD replays and slow motion clips.”

The Sony HDC-4300 variable frame rate camera is the preferred choice for NFL and college football coverage with at least three of the four networks (ESPN/ABC, CBS and Fox) using the camera system in their mobile football units. Fox is also shooting with the Grass Valley LDK 86 4K and Vision Research v642 2K cameras to shoot slow motion clips.

“The v642 provides higher resolution than HD, variable frame rate, and the ability to work over a single server channel on our Game Creek Encore mobile production unit,” said Davies. “In contrast, the HDC-4300 at full 8x slow-mo requires nine channels.” Fox is adding Vision Research Phantom Flex4K cameras to its football roster to broaden its base of 4K camera options. The Flex4K can shoot 4K footage at speeds up to 1,000 frames per second.

When it comes to using advanced video formats to cover football, ESPN is pushing the envelope this fall, including the testing of the “Pylon Cam,” a custom-molded goal line pylon that houses multiple cameras that can bring new imaging perspectives around the goal line during the game. ESPN has consulted with the NFL on the development of the Pylon Cam since it debuted the device during the College Football Playoff Championship in January. The network tested it during this year’s NFL preseason and, depending on feedback, may decide to use it during the Monday Night Football debut on Sept. 14. It also may utilize the Pylon Cam during some college football telecasts this season.

During the NFL preseason, ESPN tested the “Pylon Cam,” a custom-molded goal line pylon that houses multiple cameras that can bring new imaging perspectives around the goal line during the game.

“We’re active in testing, research and development around new video formats, including 4K, 8K, HDR and more,” said Jon Pannaman, vice president of content and production systems for ESPN. “We’ve also got some other new things that we are exploring in terms of using technology to bring new views to consumers, but we’re not in position to talk about those just yet.”

CBS is also trying out new cameras as it deploys its new SSCBS mobile unit to cover football. In addition to SSCBS’ flagship Sony HDC-4300 4K cameras, the network will be testing its own version of pylon-mounted small cameras and 360 degree-cameras on its “Supracam” two-point aerial 4K camera system. “Supracam is strung between two points in the stadium and flown over to the opposite side of the field,” said Aagaard. “This camera just moves in a straight line, always looking down the line of scrimmage. We would possibly place 360-degree cameras on the Supracam system, giving 360-degree camera views.”

IP ROUTING ADDS CAPACITY
Compared to traditional SDI signal routing, IP-based routing can support far more signal channels and connections. This is why Fox’s Encore unit is equipped with an Evertz EXE IP-based router, Evertz 570IPG high-density IP gateways, and an uncompressed 10Gbps Ethernet infrastructure that can carry and switch the equivalent of 6,900 uncompressed HD-SDI signals.

“We are very happy with the extra capacity that IP provides to our Encore unit,” sDavies said. “This unit probably won’t get fully tasked until we cover the Super Bowl.”

CBS Sports is also using hybrid IP and SDI routing in its new NEP-built SSCBS mobile production unit. “CBS is committing to an IP-based infrastructure for video, audio and communications,” said Aagaard. “As these technologies continue to mature we are prepared to take advantage of them.”

Another big trend in this season’s pro/college football coverage is the expanded use of video file transfers. These files are transferred on a “just-in-time” basis to mobile units to broaden their choice of real-time templates and content during live production; and from mobile units to network storage facilities to allow more people to pull and edit highlights quicker than ever before.

ESPN is using off-the-shelf network-attached storage hard drive arrays to create dedicated network-connected data storage centers for football video files. Available in storage sizes from 6 TB to 2 PB, ESPN calls these dedicated data centers “Bristol Advanced Storage Systems” (BASS); Bristol, Conn. being the home of ESPN’s IP-based (DC-2) Digital Center 2. (When it opened last year, DC-2 was the first-large scale Ethernet/IP-based production facility in the world. It is built around a large Ethernet core of two custom-made Evertz systems that provide 2304x10 Gbps ports, enabling a fully redundant dual path platform with 46Tbps of bandwidth.)

“With all of our football video being directed into a dedicated BASS, our people now have a one-stop-shop for storing, accessing, editing, and playing out football video,” said Pannaman. “DC-2’s tremendous IP-based capacity is central to our ability to utilize BASS for football production. For instance, the facility has the capacity to route and switch more than 60,000 1080p sources at a time.”

There is no doubt that this year’s network football production is more advanced than ever before. But as advanced as it is now, it will likely become even more sophisticated as the 2015-16 season progresses.

“The things that we are doing at the start of the season may well be different by the end,” said Davies at Fox Sports. “That’s just how quickly production technology progresses in U.S. pro/college football coverage.”