NEW YORK—CP Communications and its Red House Streaming subsidiary marked their 11th year of covering the TCS New York City Marathon last month by adding new technology to fill in coverage gaps. For this year’s five-borough, 26.2-mile race on Nov. 3, these included a broader implementation of private LTE spectrum, streamlined REMI site systems and integration with Starlink that enabled IP-based aerial acquisition.

These content acquisition and networking innovations from RHS allowed CP technicians to expand the event’s streaming footprint to 48 outbound feeds originating from HD-21, CP’s flagship 53-foot expando production truck. Those feeds were sent to multiple broadcast and streaming platforms, including WABC-TV New York City, ESPN2, the New York City Marathon App, and event organizer New York Road Runners’ social-media platforms.

“Over the years, we have gradually taken control of production elements where we can make a difference,” CP Communications Technical Manager Frank Rafka said. “This year, we took full responsibility for the TSC New York City Marathon App consumer experience, producing and streaming nine live feeds. That’s a big change from last year where we handed off select camera feeds to a third party. We added two VMix systems to HD-21 and assigned a dedicated operator to each for live mixing and switching of all nine feeds. We also added a dedicated encoding channel to our on-board Haivision Makito X4 video systems for low-latency transmission, which ensured real-time delivery to the app.”

As in past years, the RHS team deployed REMI (remote integration model) production systems to three locations, slimming down the technologies to simplify setup and operation, the company said. Haivision Pro460 5G mobile video systems were among the encoding and decoding technologies used to contribute live feeds to HD-21 from the three REMI sites, leveraging both public mobile networks and special Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum. RHS also deployed Pro460 systems to seven on-course motos, including dual-stream Smartcars with Sony cameras and microphones to capture live POV feeds and commentary from on-course talent.

The CBRS spectrum proved especially useful for intercom communications, particularly at the starting and finish lines, where public mobile spectrum can quickly reach capacity. “We assigned a Green-GO digital intercom system to the CBRS spectrum, which provides a private LTE cellular network for mission-critical needs with networking and communications,” said Aaron Segarra, vice president of sales at CP Communications and Red House Streaming. “That ensured clear spectrum for intercom at the start and finish lines where you have large crowds of spectators sharing their own pictures and live video feeds.”

The Green-GO intercom network included 18 belt packs at the starting line and 12 at the finish line along with six iPhones at each site, with connectivity to a cloud server from Pente Networks to manage all technologies assigned to CBRS spectrum. The communications strategy included a city-wide Unity radio system for field technicians, moto drivers, bike spotters and press vehicles, and an RTS ADAM matrix with RVON connectivity between HD-21 and the three REMI sites.

CP Communications also partnered for the first time with Helicopters Inc. to provide a camera-equipped helo for aerial race coverage. CP and RHS technicians designed a platform in collaboration with Heli Inc. to mount a Starlink satellite antenna and use that service for connectivity and Haivision for encoding.

“That was a huge accomplishment in our quest for uninterrupted connectivity,” Rafka said. “We recently started using Starlink to embellish existing cellular coverage for sporting events as there are always spots with coverage caps, and others where we can’t establish a reliable internet drop or run a cable across the street. For the marathon, we equipped Starlink connectivity to a helicopter for the first time. We still had a traditional RF microwave link on the helicopter for backup, but we used Haivision encoders as our primary encoding links. For the first time, we provided uninterrupted coverage of the entire race from all locations via IP with sateliite-based Starlink connectivity.”

The marathon—now in its 54th year—is produced by FILM 45 on behalf of the New York Road Runners.

NEW YORK—For three years, live event production services provider CP Communications has been transitioning from traditional microwave technology to IP and bonded cellular network contribution to cover the New York City Marathon—but 2019 was different.

This year’s race, Nov. 3 through the boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, was the first time CP Communications relied entirely on IP and bonded cellular networking to provide live coverage of the Men’s and Women’s races of the TCS New York City Marathon, CP Communications said.

CP Communications credits growing bandwidth and network availability as an impetus for completing the switchover to the more cost-efficient IP and network alternative to traditional RF live shots.

In its 25th year of marathon coverage, CP Communications used many of the same platforms and technologies as it has for previous marathons while revising aspects of its technical infrastructure and production workflows. The company leveraged the expansive fiber network throughout New York City to reduce its reliance on traditional video transmission circuits, the company said.

CP Communications deployed four cars and three motorcycles equipped with stabilized mounts and lenses as well as a POV camera for talent installed on two of the cars.

Mobile Viewpoint Agile Airlink encoders captured and streamed the live action via bonded cellular with bandwidth-efficient H.265/HEVC video encoding back to the CP Communications HD-21 production truck, located at the finish line.

CP Communications also relied on the encoders at two rooftop locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and at three REMI (Remote Integration Model) production locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx, it said.

On board HD-21, CP Communications personnel monitored bitrates and dataflow from all Agile Airlink devices, as well as signals leaving the truck through its 24x24 routing infrastructure.

The Agile Airlinks at the REMI sites were used for live interviews with racers, race organizer New York Road Runners (NYRR) spokespeople and others throughout the day.

Traditional microwave links at the rooftop locations were available as backups in the event of cellular network congestion at the start and finish lines, CP Communications said.

This year’s coverage also marked the first time CP Communications relied on Mobile Viewpoint 2K4 playout servers at each rooftop and REMI site, which made it possible to route any signal between the five locations.

The servers also enabled CP Communications to send IFB return to each vehicle and location. Mics were embedded locally at every site to ensure lip sync with video was maintained.

“Having return video to the cars over the entire course was an important step forward, and overall we had a valuable return system to move video, audio and other signals between all of our acquisition points,” said CP Communications Technical Manager Frank Rafka.

“This was one of the biggest changes to the infrastructure this year, as we could seamlessly monitor all locations and dynamically make changes as necessary—a major benefit of managing IP encoding in the cloud. The hotspots and cellular networks associated with Mobile Viewpoint technology made it very easy to achieve.”

A Dante network was deployed on board HD-21 to manage and deliver vehicle and REMI audio to broadcasters. RTS OMNEO intercoms linked HD-21 to the host broadcaster, which allowed seamless communications throughout the TV broadcast compound.

Separately, CP Communications used a Unity intercom system deployed over the cellular network, allowing NYRR personnel and spotters along the course to communicate with the broadcast compound.

All video and audio signals were delivered from HD-21 to an NEP broadcast truck at the finish line using a MultiDyne VF-9000 fiber transmission system. NEP produced world feed uplinks as well the domestic national broadcast for ESPN2.

A CP Communications team also wrote custom software to interpret data and GPS locations from 28 inbound signals to HD-21. When transposed over a Google map, the data provided information as the race proceeded into areas with challenging cellular coverage.

“These technologies and workflows, along with overall better network bandwidth and availability, made it possible to leverage a 100% modern network infrastructure to cover this year’s event,” said CP Communications CEO Kurt Heitmann.