CENTENNIAL, Colo.—Mobile TV Group (MTVG) today launched its full-stack MTVG Production Platform, a comprehensive solution covering every stage of a live broadcast, from on-site capture and production through contribution, media control and final distribution.

Located at the Mountain Media Center, the MTVG Production Platform was built to deliver through a single, unified partner what previously required multiple vendors and a patchwork of systems.

“What we’ve built at the Mountain Media Center isn’t just a facility; it’s the cornerstone of a complete production platform. From the mobile unit through contribution, media control, and all the way to distribution, every piece is connected and purpose-built to work together, for better performance and cost efficiency,” said Nick Garvin, CEO, Mobile TV Group. “Teams and leagues no longer need to stitch together a dozen vendors to get on air. We built this because the industry needs it right now, and the Angels partnership shows exactly what’s possible when you have the full platform behind you.”

The MTVG Production Platform plays an integral role in the daily success of Angels Broadcast Television. In late March, the Angels partnered with MTVG to stand up a complete broadcast network from scratch in one month. Leveraging every layer of the platform, MTVG delivered a fully operational, end-to-end production and distribution solution for the Angels, with the first game airing May 1, 2026.

“As plans for a new broadcast network moved from concept to reality this past spring, we identified MTVG's Production Platform as the best solution for Angels Broadcast Television,” said Molly Jolly, president, Angels Baseball LP. “They leveraged every layer of their platform to provide a fully operational, end-to-end solution in a month. It is an incredible partnership, and the MTVG team proved they are a unified, trusted partner who supported our objectives and positioned us to continue delivering baseball games to our fans.”

The MTVG Production Platform operates across four interconnected capability areas, delivering comprehensive live media capabilities through specialized divisions, including content and production, contribution, media control and centralized production and distribution services.

One year after opening its doors, the Mountain Media Center has become one of the most capable live production facilities in the country. The 300,000-square-foot, Class A facility, located near the Denver Tech Center provides the infrastructure that makes the full-stack platform possible.

The platform includes:

• More than 30+ mobile units
• Over 70 live media control pods
• Two technical operations centers (TOCs)
• 25 Cloud control rooms built nationally
• 24 centralized cloud control stations
• Four Edge/REMI rooms for flexible remote production
• Redundant power stations serving power
• Four data halls with uninterruptible power supplies and redundant generators
• Four satellite uplinks and six satellite downlinks
• Hundreds of fiber strands from multiple providers
• Capable of operating entirely off-grid without external power
• 30 minutes from Denver International Airport; few natural disaster risks

More information is available on the company’s website.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—The live broadcast technology services company Mobile TV Group (MTVG) has announced significant technology and equipment upgrades for 15 Flex Series mobile units. 

The improvements include hardware and software upgrades to make them 1080p, a move that will significantly improve in-person and Cloud Control hybrid cloud productions and enhance the viewing experience, the company said.  

MTVG reported that the opportunity to provide broadcast technology for Major League Soccer (MLS) games during the 2023 season and beyond was one of the catalysts for this investment. The upgrades will benefit multiple teams and leagues, as MTVG produces over half of all MLB, NHL, and NBA games every season. 

Flex Series mobile units were designed to be upgradable and keep up with the rate of technology evolution. 

“At MTVG we are committed to providing our customers with the technology they need to bring viewers at home the highest quality viewing experience possible,” said Nick Garvin, chief operating officer at MTVG. “MTVG prioritizes the broadcasting experience for our customers and the sports ecosystem. We are proud to be leaders in our industry in giving our customers the ability to make their viewers feel closer to the game than ever.” 

In addition to the Flex Series, MTVG offers the Edge Series, a hypermobile edge computing solution for small to midsize live productions — a solution that reduces the on-site footprint of a production crew. 

More information is available here.  

The live production industry constantly tests the boundaries of what is possible during a broadcast. The viewer experience and consumer demand act as a catalysts for new ideas and solutions. As more technology than ever goes into a live broadcast, the rate at which it is evolving is faster than ever.

Broadcasters and streamers are experimenting with new technologies often. Live shows are growing, with increasing production requirements, cameras, and formats like 1080P and HDR. In contrast, a shift to streaming apps and tighter budgets is encouraging technologists to simultaneously look for savings—sparking the discussion on where, how, and when to look to the cloud. 

However, moving to the cloud can mean many different things; it’s a complicated, "no one-size-fits-all" solution. Public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, fog computing and edge computing all play a role, so the most popular cloud variation has yet to be determined. 

Public clouds are easily accessible, but come with a premium hourly price, are less secure, and can only currently serve lower-tier productions. Edge computing and fog computing solutions show some promise, but aren’t yet at the stage where they can be relied upon beyond small and mid-size events. 

Hybrid cloud is the combination that many are turning to in live production. The flexibility of both private cloud and on-prem mobile units and resources, like cameras, makes it the most capable solution. This cloud variant gives companies unrivaled access to centralized computing power and purpose-built hardware on-site. The hybrid cloud also provides the lowest latency and highest reliability with the most control for large-scale broadcasts. 

Why Hybrid Cloud Wins
Hybrid cloud provides the perk of not having to choose one solution and utilizing benefits from multiple options. Many businesses have adopted the cloud in one way or another, with 87% of businesses having a hybrid cloud strategy. 

The broadcasting industry is certainly not the first to turn to the cloud, so there are insights to be gained from other industries who started their cloud journey a decade ago. However, with the additional requirements of being live, and cameras that need to be on-site, there are caveats that make cloud adoption for this industry unique.

The live broadcast industry fits into the world of the cloud as it pertains to three main components—cameras, people, and computing (hardware and software). Unlike other tech industries, there is a tangible component with live broadcast cameras that will always need to be on-site at an event, and unable to move to the cloud. Conversely, production crews can now be anywhere. Whether producing, directing or running replay, operators can remotely access the systems they need. 

This leaves technologists with the option to explore innovation in hardware and software components. With the anchor of cameras needing to be on-site, a customized combination of private cloud and on-prem is likely to be the cloud variant for the largest broadcasters. Offering the lowest cost (with some level of volume), lowest latency, highest reliability and the most control, it is the best choice for this industry.

The hybrid cloud harnesses the benefits of the private cloud, while still allowing for on-prem production resources at an event. For this reason, the move to the cloud will represent the move to the hybrid cloud for live broadcasters. 

With companies recognizing the value that the private cloud brings to their workflows—and ultimately, their viewers—broadcasters are using the cloud to simplify multifeed productions, while also using distributed hardware and distributed control to place an emphasis on scalability and quality.

The hybrid cloud has benefits that go beyond technology, as well. In a post-pandemic world, the modern workplace has grown more accustomed to remote work and hyper-flexible schedules; there is intense competition to hire skilled workers that is affecting seemingly every industry. Live broadcast production needs to be able to satisfy the modern workforce’s needs in order to attract and retain talent.

Cloud technologies are taking on more responsibilities to cater to both viewer and employee demands, helping to alleviate pain points; but on-prem production won’t go away. Effectively utilizing cloud technologies will be vital to the live production industry’s success in the current economic landscape, helping with cost savings and flexible schedules.

Increased Demand will Expedite the Move to Cloud
The demand for bringing live events into a viewer’s home will continue setting the bar for new developments. The results of that will look different in an ever-changing landscape—whether it be a new shift to streaming platforms or an enhanced experience from home that caters to personal preferences. Regardless, technology will continue to advance at an exponential rate to meet these needs. 

Alongside viewers, the brightest minds in the industry are always looking at ways to improve. Technology will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and the hybrid cloud will be on the frontlines making a big impact.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Mobile TV Group (MTVG) today unveiled its MTVG Edge series edge computing production solution.

MTVG Edge delivers the company’s live production solutions for small and mid-size productions anywhere with a minimal onsite equipment footprint and a much lower cost.

The new solution leverages the benefits of edge computing, the distributed cloud computing architecture made to maximize speed, reliability and efficiency. Combining cloud and edge computing puts the necessary equipment on-site for instant data needs versus sending the data all the way to the cloud.

MTVG Edge is hypermobile and can be shipped quickly around the country while also granting access to MTVG’s Cloud Control flagship remote production solution.

“MTVG is committed to furthering and innovating live production technology,” said COO MTVG Nick Garvin. “Edge strongly favors software over hardware and runs on general purpose computers. It also favors automation over traditional operations and is married to Cloud Control for creative processes. It is truly scalable.”

“MTVG Edge diversifies our live production offerings to reach a larger community of storytellers,” he continued.

The new solution can be operated on-site or remotely with one to four operators fulfilling the roles of technical director, replay, graphics, mixer and shader. This proprietary workflow dramatically reduces cost. The only items needed on-site are cameras and the 25-inch-by-25- inch MTVG Edge system.

The company will offer MTVG Edge for single use or on a monthly or annual contract basis, Self-service options are available, it said.

The new live solution is now the official broadcast solution for Major League Pickleball (MLP) events, which are broadcast around the country and are available every Tuesday on YouTube, it said.

The company also announced that Don McKinney, formerly senior director of production operations at the Pac-12 Network, has joined the company and will head its new MTVG Edge division.

More information is available on the company’s website.

LAS VEGAS—The bottom line for Nick Garvin, COO of Mobile TV Group, when it comes to IP-based production trucks is that the real benefits of this transport technology are flexibility and capacity, two qualities in abundance in its new 45Flex end-to-end native IP double-expando OB vehicle on display at the recently concluded 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

“In the past, when you needed a very large show, you might need to roll multiple mobile units,” said Garvin. “Three mobile units just because of the sheer size of the router and the equipment needed. With this, we can pack it all into one mobile unit.”

The truck, parked during the show between the Central and South Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, isn’t simply a mobile production studio with an IP router. It’s what Mobile TV Group has dubbed “end-to-end IP native.”

In other words, in addition to the Evertz 16 RU EXE-VSR router with Magnum control system, all major technology components transport audio, video and ancillary data as IP packets using the SMPTE ST 2110 protocol. Those include a Grass Valley Kayenne control panel and K-Frame X production switcher; Grass Valley cameras—the LDX 85 with IP XCUs and LDX 82 with IP XCUs; EVS XT-VIA and XS-VIA replay/record servers with IP backplane; Evertz evMV-32x10G-Q and 36x4 IP multiviewers; and Leader LV7600 IP waveform/vector rasterizer. “Even the [Calrec Artemis] audio mixer is connected via IP,” adds Garvin.

By leveraging SMPTE ST 2110 IP transport, 45Flex, which was bound for Fox Sports Midwest following the NAB Show, is relatively easy to transition to meet individual show requirements for 1080i, 1080p or 4K UHD HDR. “Part of the reason that this unit is IP is that it can be flexible and transition to these different resolution and whatever the customer needs,” he said.

During a walkthrough of 45Flex at the NAB Show, Garvin repeatedly pointed out instances where IP transport contributed to the vehicle’s overall flexibility. “This is the back of the EVS,” he said, as he pointed to the backside of the replay/recorder. “Traditionally, you would see all of these spigots filled with digital coax, and now you can see all of the spigots are empty and just the fiber coming out there.”

“Why this matters is it gives us the ability to say ‘Yes’ more often,” explained Garvin. “‘Can we add this camera here?’ ‘Can I have this monitor do this?’ ‘Can I move positions?’ The answer is just more yeses.”

Another benefit of having the added capacity shows up in meeting the need for multiple feeds from the regional sporting events 45Flex will cover. “Most people don’t know that a regional sporting event is enormous now. We are talking close to college football-level,” said Garvin.

“That’s not only the cameras we have out in the field, but also camera feeds that are coming out of the truck.”

Garvin listed some of the frequently required feeds: two different shows—the home show and the away show; a league feed, such as to the NBA; a referee system feed; a special feed for viewers watching on a mobile device; clean feeds distributed internationally; and a feed for OTT platforms. “And that’s just an everyday regional sports network event,” he said. “So having IP capacity is becoming more and more important.”

As would be expected, an end-to-end native IP truck is lighter than a coax-based baseband truck, said Garvin. However, this won’t necessarily translate into fuel savings.

“Our traditional mobile units run exactly at 80,000 pounds, which is the DOT [Department of Transportation] limit. We are hoping to have a little more flexibility with 45Flex to add more and different things,” he said.

While multiple vendors have participated in multiple plugfests and other industry-facing interops to promote harmony among their disparate pieces of ST 2110-based technology, influence exerted privately by companies like Mobile TV Group has also played a role in making sure these products can communicate with each other.

“Luckily we are big enough. We work really closely with the manufacturers,” said Garvin. “We bring them all together at our shop and say, ‘We’ve got to work together. We all know it’s going to be 2110. Now make your systems talk.’”

“We are almost the mediator, bringing everyone together and making the systems work flawlessly.”

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

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

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

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

4K UNDERWAY

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

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

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

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

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

‘BIG DEAL’ UPGRADES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EASIER TO RECORD

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

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

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

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

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

SSM FOR ALL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Fox Sports Readies the Field for World Series]

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

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

TIME TO DOWNSIZE

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

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

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

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

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

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

ENGLEWOOD, COLO.—Ferrofish’s A32 and A32 Dante units have gotten the call up to be a part of Mobile TV Group’s mobile units used for broadcasting regional and national games from the NBA, NHL, MLB and college football. MTVG has implemented the Ferrofish units into three of its production trucks: 39 Flex, 42 Flex and 42 VMU.

The 39 Flex unit includes Ferrofish’s fiber booth kit, which employs two A32s that receive audio from the announcer’s booth and sends it back out to the truck via a single fiber. The Ferrofish A32 is also in the 42 VMU unit, which is capable of handling dual-feed production; the A32 is used to move audio via MADI between the main truck and 42 VMU during dual-feed production.

MTVG also cited its need for interface redundancy as its reason for selecting Ferrofish, per the press release. The A32 Dante unit is able to run Dante and MADI at the same time, enabling for automatic change in case of failure. Front-panel control was also a factor, according to Peter Wehner, MTVG’s director of engineering.

MONTREAL—Mobile TV Group’s 39 Flex 4K production truck has been on the road serving mobile productions, including the Masters and PGA golf championships, with the help of Grass Valley’s Kayenne K-Frame Switcher. The 4K-capable switcher, which features 48 inputs/24 outputs in 4K and 192 inputs/96 outputs in full HD, has 7 M/Es, with six keyers in every full M/E.

The Kayenne switcher provides full multiformat support, including 1080p and 4K. It also is now available with IP I/O for SMPTE 2022-6 connectivity. The system is easily upgradable for future enhancements, according to Grass Valley.

Grass Valley is a provider of end-to-end television production and content distribution workflows and is based in Montreal.

INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—The name of the remote game is pressure—the pressure to make live event television coverage instantly accessible, more effectively, for less money with no particular pipeline of trained recruits. That was the upshot of remote production panel discussion at the HPA Tech Retreat this week.

NEP elected the economy-of-scale model, making acquisitions that give it a global television production footprint, including, most recently, Consolidated Media Industries in Hilversum, Netherlands. Hilverum is 17 miles southeast of Amsterdam, home of Dutch TV production giant, Endemol.

“There is pressure to do production effectively and cheaply,” said NEP chief technology officer, George Hoover. Infrastructure is part of that. NEP also has 100,000 miles of phone lines in the Netherlands and operates two data center content delivery networks.

“Unlike some other places, the data center is part of our package,” he said.

LIVE TV OVER IP
The network presence gave NEP the ideal opportunity to deploy IP-based remote production. With trucks, when they’re in use, they’re making money. When they’re parked, they’re not. IP technology held the promise of a more efficient architecture versus the truck fleet, if it could work for live TV production.

NEP CMI division, DutchView Infostrada, aired “Carlo’s TV Café” live on RTL4, last November, using remote-controlled cloud production using SMPTE-2022 over Grass Valley IP camera technology. (SMPTE-2022 is the standard for encapsulating video signals for IP transport.)

“The control room can be anyplace,” Hoover said. “We’ve been doing two or three shows a week. We’ll probably be doing three or four a day.”

Michael Harabin, vice president of technology, engineering and media management for Pac-12 said the collegiate sports network televises 850 live events every season, now over IP transport.

“The challenge was how to produce field hockey and lacrosse and rugby… and break even,” he said.

“We have partners in the 12 consortium, so all we did was fiber the network,” he said. “Our farthest campus is Salt Lake City. Latency was 24 milliseconds. Everything’s about latency, routing and who’s the best provider.”

Pac-12 Network now has no other products in the field. The networks uses JPEG2000 with Nevion encoders. Everything comes out of San Francisco, to master control in Denver, he said.

Down the road Harabin said Pac-12 is looking at virtualizing master control, because they see the cable business going away, and they like the idea of spinning up as many networks as they want. The would like to get to the point where master control operator can go to Starbucks and operate playout. He said they’re looking to move everything from capex to opex.

$K
Philip Garvin, president of Colorado Studios/Mobile TV Group, thought they might get ahead of the competition with 4K, so MTVG built a 4K mobile unit, assigned it to HD productions and slo-mo, and “keep waiting for someone to call and say, ‘we’d like to use that 4K truck,’” he said. Garvin estimated that making outfitting a remote unit for 4K production costs an extra $1 million to $2 million.

Garvin said the the same cameras that do 4K can also do super slo-mo.

“That’s been extremely helpful to us, so we can invest in these cameras and use them while we’re waiting for 4K,” he said. “You’re looking way, way in the future when you build a truck.”

Garvin said 4K is not so hard, but that 4K high-dynamic range is not so easy. There are implications for the entire workflow, he said. For now, MTVG is working to recoup its 4K investment, and it’s not a seller’s game.

“The only place to squeeze is the truck companies these days,” he said. “We have to use all the technologies to provide a better fan experience, for less. They’re not just looking for 5 percent or 10 percent, but ‘big cuts,’” he said.

Joe Wire of flypack supplier Bexel said that when executives look at their investment cycle, they ask, “what are people going to do to improve the fan experience at home? That’s been a challenge for us… When we look at our investment, it’s really around how we can use our equipment best. Sometimes, you get a long-term contract for your truck. Sometimes, you don’t. So, for example, what is the lifecycle of HDR? What is the business case?

“It’s a struggle,” he said, with lots of hedging around 4K.

Asked if high-dynamic range 4K would be as compelling as the transition from standard to high definition, Garvin said it wouldn’t be quite the same.

“When we started HD in 2001, there were about 50,000 homes with HD sets. They were very expensive. Today, there may be somewhere between 20 million and 30 million 4K sets—they’re not HDR—and that tips the scale. Many are software-upgradable to HDR,” he said.

PEOPLE
Another issue in the truck business is finding qualified crew members. Harabin said it’s a challenge to get people in San Francisco, where a guy turned them down because he couldn’t bring a dog to work.

“It’s not glamorous to work at a television station,” he said.

Hoover said you have to “grow your own. Nobody else makes them. Harvard doesn’t graduate 5,000 of them every year.”

Harabin lauded NEP’s training program and said PAC-12 is doing likewise. Interns work for NEP for two years, then they’re sent out on the road as a third engineer on a three-person truck crew. Hoover talked about the necessity to balance personalities on a truck crew.

“Typically, an OB truck will send two or three people,” he said. “So those two people pretty much live together 220 days a year—you find the right personality mix, and it takes time to do it—it benefits both of them.

“It doesn’t take long. We’ve replicated this thing so many times, it’s second nature.”