SYDNEY—When the remote location of a world championship cycling meet challenged the traditional outside broadcast model, Gravity Media developed a custom solution to facilitate Beyond Productions’ coverage, connecting specialist crews in Western Australia with production control in Melbourne more than 1,860 miles (3,000 kilometers) away.

For the first time, the UCI Gravel World Championships were held outside Europe. The event brought together the world’s best gravel cyclists to compete in the valleys and forests of Nannup, Western Australia.

Producing a world-class broadcast from this remote corner of the country presented a significant commercial challenge. The travel, accommodation and logistical demands of a conventional outside broadcast (OB) deployment threatened to consume almost the entire local production budget.

Gravity Media brought together its various service teams to develop an alternative approach. By centralizing production control at its Production Center in Melbourne and reducing the operational footprint in Nannup, Gravity Media made the complex remote production happen, bringing together the infrastructure, connectivity and technical expertise required to produce a world-class sports production.

Covering a gravel course across challenging terrain required a flexible, multicamera approach that could follow the action wherever it unfolded. Camera operation combined fixed cameras at key points, including the start and finish, with mobile and aerial coverage from chase motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), drones and helicopters.

Getting video back from a geographically dispersed course was a significant technical undertaking. RF links, supported by mobile and cellular-bonded connectivity, helped connect the live camera operation across the course.

Multiple digital satellite newsgathering (DSNG) vans, positioned at different sites, supported the workflow, multiplexing and transporting feeds to the Melbourne production center. Gravity Media’s CELBO remote production technology supported cameras on the ground at the start and finish.

This distributed approach enabled the production to draw on multiple camera platforms across the course while keeping production control centralized in Melbourne, reducing the need for a traditional OB deployment at the venue.

At the heart of the operation was Gravity Media’s Production Center, where control-room operations and virtual hosting supported Beyond’s production.

The center received, processed and synchronized multiple live feeds from Nannup. The production was integrated across Gravity Media’s facilities, with the domestic and world feeds produced in the control room supported with localized commentary in the virtual hosting studio environment. EVS systems further supported the production workflow.

Communications infrastructure was important in coordinating operations across such a vast distance. A complex IP network was established and satellite internet zones completed the communications loop, while GPS tracking was integrated through the motorcycle links to support the production.

The workflow supported Beyond’s production of an international world feed for cycling audiences around the globe alongside dedicated coverage for Australian audiences on SBS featuring custom interviews, live crosses and commentary.

Boost Graphics, Gravity Media’s Belgium-based live graphics and virtual production subsidiary, played a vital role. Drawing on its experience with major European cycling events and the UCI, Boost Graphics brought specialist knowledge to the production and helped integrate GPS tracking into the broadcast to elevate the viewing experience.

This collaboration combined technical capabilities with event-specific expertise that extended beyond a traditional OB operation. From designing the camera and transmission workflow to establishing communications across the course and integrating the production in Melbourne, teams worked across service areas to solve challenges that required a tailored approach.

The project showed what can be achieved when established ways of working are reconsidered and specialist teams collaborate to extend their technical capabilities and problem-solving expertise.

More information is available on the company’s website.

RTÉ, Ireland’s national public-service broadcaster, rethought how it would approach mixing commentary for the 2026 World Cup soccer tournament, June 11–July 19, choosing to combine Calrec’s Type R system with its SMPTE ST 2110 network.

Prior productions would have required six commentary booths—each with its own operator on a mixer. But this year, RTÉ signals from each booth fed a single multimix area where one operator handled all feeds. For the entire tournament, a team of four operators covered 104 matches held across North America.

From an operational point of view, the biggest benefit came in the form of productivity. “I think there were four operators mixing these 104 matches; that’s pretty much the biggest win,” said Roland de Groot, media production and infrastructure manager at RTÉ.

RTÉ has relied upon Calrec, especially in television, for a long time. Since 2023, Synthax Audio, Calrec’s U.K. partner has installed Type R in seven of the broadcaster’s radio studios as part of a large-scale upgrade project.

So, when RTÉ’s TV sound operations team set out the requirements for a multimix commentary area, RTÉ and Calrec’s engineering teams collaborated closely to shape the solution.

“We’re already very familiar with the Calrec Type R for radio,” de Groot said. “When the TV Sound Ops team gave us their list of technical and operational requirements, some of the engineers in my team said: ‘Actually, I think we can cover this pretty much with a Type R, maybe 80% out of the box.’”

The architecture for the tournament mirrored the broadcaster’s radio installations, in which dual main and redundant Cores and an analog breakout box are connected to RTÉ’s ST 2110 network.

“The mixer is 2110, our commentary boxes are 2110, and our comms system is 2110,” de Groot said. “All the signals, all the sources and all the destinations are connected to our 2110 house router, and all this combined allowed us to build a very powerful, very flexible system.”

The two Calrec Cores sit in a rack room, and the quiet, passively cooled analog breakout box sits in the gallery. It also connects to the network rather than the Core itself. If the on-air Core were to develop a problem, the system fails over to the standby Core, which reconnects to the breakout box automatically in about a second. The Type R consoles connect via standard Cat6 cabling to a switch, which links them to the Cores.

“It’s effectively a data center system, which is accessed by the consoles over standard IP,” said de Groot. “It’s a rack room in the building, but technically it could be anywhere.”

NEW YORK—Gravity Media’s SMARThead robotic camera technology made its New York City Marathon debut Nov. 1.

Working in partnership with CP Communications, Gravity Media deployed two of the SMARThead systems on the gantries above the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to capture more than 55,000 participants as they began the race.

While the position was relatively inaccessible, Gravity Media’s team drew on its experience of rigging the systems in hard-to-reach locations to deliver the unique, iconic shots. Equipped with Sony HDC P50 cameras and CJ45x zoom lenses, the remote heads offered pan-and-tilt functionality, enabling precise camera movements and flexibility for production teams.

Gravity Media’s SMARThead technology was designed and developed in-house. It is a versatile and compact remote head that regularly supports European international sporting events, including the London Marathon, the British Open and Wimbledon, where over 40 heads are deployed. SMARThead systems have also been used for major U.K. state events, including the coronation of King Charles III.

“Having supported coverage of some of the world’s biggest sporting and live events, we understand the importance of capturing the moments that make each event unique. SMARThead unlocks new creative possibilities for broadcasters, delivering distinctive perspectives that can bring audiences closer to the action,” said Nathan Spencer, managing director of Gravity Media USA. “Bringing this unique, proven technology to our U.S. clients is an exciting step in our U.S. growth.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

Sony's XYN spatial capture solution, which enables creators to capture real-world objects and environments and generate high-quality 3DCG (3D Computer Graphics) has been released in the United States. XYN is a suite of solutions that supports spatial content creation. T

he spatial capture solution consists of three applications: XYN Spatial Scan Navi, a smartphone application that assists with capturing spatial content; XYN Spatial Scan, a cloud application (available on XYN website) that generates high-quality 3DCG assets from real-world spaces; and XYN Spatial Renderer Plugin, a rendering plug-in that displays generated assets for applications such as virtual production.

Since the initial announcement in April 2026, XYN spatial capture solution has added software updates to all three applications, to support the creation of 3DCG assets for a wider range of subjects, from props and consumer products to vehicles and larger industrial assets. This expands opportunities across VFX production, gaming, virtual production, digital twin creation, product visualization, and immersive digital experiences.

In addition, multiple subscription plans, token options, and online credit card purchasing make the solution accessible to freelance production professionals, small production teams, studios, and enterprise customers. Users can select the package that best aligns with their creative workflows, project scale, budget, and production requirements.

Each plan includes application licenses, while paid plans provide token allocations for 3DCG asset generation and the free plan offers the ability to purchase tokens individually, as needed. Additional tokens can be purchased and are planned to be supported across additional XYN applications in the future.

Olympic Broadcast Services is deploying a fully virtualised master control room for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), which began on Saturday.

During the event, OBS will deliver more than 500 hours of coverage across all 25 competition sports, including live coverage of 22 sports.

OBS is producing 507 hours of HD 1080p SDR coverage using 64 camera systems, including two drones, and 100 microphones. Over two-thirds (67 per cent) of broadcast staff are based in Dakar, with 33 per cent working remotely in Madrid.

Core MCR functions are running in a cloud-based, software-defined environment from Alibaba and operated remotely from Madrid.

“At Dakar 2026, OBS is bringing together a range of developments that are transforming host broadcasting, from virtualized operations and remote production to software-based audio and production systems,” Isidoro Moreno, OBS head of engineering, told Olympics.com.

“The first fully virtualized master control room deployed at an Olympic event is an important milestone in this shift towards more flexible and efficient broadcast operations.”

Instead of a traditional audio infrastructure, OBS is using software-based and cloud-enabled workflows, with monitoring, control and QC managed remotely from Madrid.

Artificial intelligence is being deployed to generate automated highlights for 16 of the 25 competition sports, as well as audio mixing, and a proof-of-concept exploring how AI can support the programming and operation of continuous Olympic broadcast channels.

More details are available at Olympics.com.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand TVBEurope.

Sony has launched the RIALTO 65 Camera Extension system, expanding its VENICE 2 CineAlta camera to the 65mm format.

Incorporating a 53.75mm wide by 35.83mm high sensor with a diagonal of approximately 64.60mm, RIALTO 65 has an imaging area around 2.2 times larger than that of a 35mm full-frame image sensor.

Aiming to accommodate shooting in difficult situations such as confined spaces, RIALTO 65 supports Extension Mode, with the camera head separated from the VENICE 2 body, and Studio Mode, in which the head is directly attached, said Sony. Additionally, the solution allows operators to access the color science developed for VENICE 2, including internal recording in 16-bit X-OCN, established operability, and existing workflows.

Measuring approximately 115mm x 154mm x 63mm, RIALTO 65 weighs around 1.5kg. The system supports 9.6K 1.5:1 Open Gate readout and a 9.6K 2.20:1 readout mode with a diagonal of approximately 59.04 mm, which accommodates a wider range of lenses. Additional readout modes will be introduced through future software updates to the VENICE 2, added the company.

A base ISO of 2,500 or 10,000 can be selected, according to creative intent and shooting environment. RIALTO 65 delivers 15+ stops of latitude at Base ISO 2,500. Reproducing rich gradation from highlights to shadows in high contrast scenes and under a wide range of lighting conditions, the system aims to enable image creation in line with cinematographic intent.

Designed to provide flexibility in positions that have typically been restricted with conventional 65mm systems, the cable connecting the camera head and VENICE 2 body aims to enhance ease of handling on set and is detachable at both ends. The system supports 4.5m and 12m cable options. Camera tilt and toll information can be recorded as metadata for use in post production workflows.

Operators can use VENICE 2 AXS memory cards for a smooth transition to 65mm shooting while using existing operability, recording media assets, peripherals, and production workflows.

With no lens mount included, RIALTO 65 is designed to accept third-party lens-mount adapters to meet production requirements. When using compatible lenses and mount adapters, information such as focal length, focus position and aperture value can be recorded as metadata.

When using anamorphic lenses, users can use de-squeezed display at multiple magnification ratios and the Zoom to Fit function to confirm the field of view and composition according to the lens being used, said the company. The system also includes 11 types of drop-in ND filters equipped with electronic contacts. VENICE 2 automatically recognizes the density information of an ND filter inserted into RIALTO 65, added Sony.

Live sports is the bread and butter of television these days, and there can be just as much enthusiasm for collegiate sports as there is for professional action. And in recent years, broadcasters have expanded their coverage, adding a much needed local flavor to scholastic athletics.

In our new Guide to College Sports Production, we take a look at the current landscape and how media tech advances are impacting and enhancing the way collegiate sports connects with its fans.

Click here to download your free guide.

Anthony James Partners (AJP) was the technology consultant for the new Ryan Field at Northwestern University, where the firm led the planning, design, procurement, and implementation oversight of the stadium’s broadcast production and LED display systems. The new Ryan Field hosted its inaugural football game on Friday, Oct. 2. The game took place exactly 100 years to the day after the original stadium hosted its first football game in 1926.

AJP has worked on the redevelopment since the early stages of stadium technology planning, designing the broadcast and LED systems while coordinating the architectural, infrastructure and building requirements necessary to integrate those systems throughout the new venue.

“It’s great to see a collegiate venue leading rather than following what professional stadiums are doing," said Michael Rowe, CEO of Anthony James Partners. "They took a different approach from the beginning. They bucked trends, thought outside the box, and were committed to delivering a professional stadium experience. The result is one of the best display and production environments in collegiate sports.”

At the center of the broadcast program is a new 1080p/3G production control room, designed alongside the camera systems, broadcast positions, and supporting technology infrastructure to support game day production throughout Ryan Field.

The new production environment incorporates Grass Valley cameras and production switching, Evertz routing and replay technology, Ross Video display control and graphics integration, and a comprehensive wireless camera system. The production system was developed not only for Ryan Field operations, but with the ability to support broader production and videoboard operations across Northwestern Athletics over time. ZTransform was awarded the broadcast systems integration package.

AJP also designed and managed the procurement of the stadium’s comprehensive LED display program, beginning with extensive modeling, placement studies and sightline analysis to integrate the displays into the architecture of the new venue.

The program includes more than 7,000 square feet of LED video technology, anchored by two 45x100-foot-wide, 8mm end-zone displays. More than 2,400 linear feet of LED ribbon extends throughout the stadium, including a nearly 1,200-foot mid-bowl display that follows the upper concourse and an additional 1,270 linear feet of ribbon displays.

Additional displays include a 1.2mm outdoor LED display measuring approximately 9x24 feet in the North Great Hall, along with multiple displays integrated into the stadium vomitories. The overall video package also includes approximately 275 indoor and outdoor televisions and 50 play clocks and locker room clocks.

AJP worked with the project team from early concept development through detailed design and procurement, evaluating display dimensions, viewing angles, content presentation and integration with broadcast and game-production operations. The work also required detailed coordination of display locations, mounting and support conditions, concrete embeds, guardrails, MEP requirements and other interfaces between the technology systems and the building. SNA Displays was the awarded LED manufacturer and integrator.

Rather than approaching the videoboards and broadcast control room as independent systems, the Ryan Field program was developed around the relationship between the venue’s production infrastructure and the displays it drives.

The control room, camera systems, and LED display infrastructure were designed together to support live game presentation, in-venue content and broadcast production while providing the flexibility for Northwestern Athletics to expand its production model in the future. AJP also led a competitive procurement process for the Ryan Field technology systems, developing technical specifications, managing vendor proposals, and interviews, and supporting Northwestern through final selection and implementation.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand AV Network.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Gravity Media deployed its specialist flypack production system and numerous RF specialist cameras for Red Bull Rampage 2026, one of the world’s most demanding freeride mountain biking events.

Gravity Media USA’s flypack specialist and technical project manager Marshall Lucas was on the ground in Virgin, Utah, delivering a self-contained flyaway production system and specialist cameras to support the event’s broadcast requirements in a remote desert environment.

Red Bull Rampage, which ran from Oct. 8-10 and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2026, Red brings together the world’s leading freeride mountain bikers to compete across Utah’s steep sandstone cliffs. Unlike traditional mountain bike competitions, riders design and build their own lines down the mountainside, navigating technical descents, challenging terrain and drops of more than 600 feet.

With no permanent on-site broadcast infrastructure, delivering live production from the remote environment presented a unique set of technical challenges. The flypack was transported, installed and configured on site, operating reliably despite limited power and connectivity.

The system also provided a portable broadcast control room, allowing video switching, audio, replay and communications in one integrated setup. Robust signal flow and clear communications were essential to keeping the production connected across a vast course.

This year’s production also featured five RF handheld cameras positioned across the mountain, alongside the RF infrastructure supporting a live FPV drone feed, delivering immersive and creative perspectives from every angle.

The Gravity Media team also leveraged the EVS XtraMotion AI solution, transforming standard camera feeds, including RF cameras and the FPV drone, into ultrasmooth slow-motion sources in real time. Widely used throughout the broadcast, the technology enhanced storytelling and replay capabilities.

“Delivering live production in a location as remote and challenging as Red Bull Rampage requires careful planning, technical expertise and a system that can be relied on when it matters most,” Lucas said. “Our specialist flypack and RF specialist cameras enabled the team to bring essential broadcast capabilities directly to the remote venue, helping ensure the production could operate effectively despite the demanding environment.”

More information is available on the Gravity Media website.

With the college football season well underway, the constant need to improve the fan experience has never been greater.

That’s easy to understand when considering the fan’s perspective. The ease of lounging in front of a 4K screen in an easy chair while enjoying some inexpensive eats—and the overall time and money saved—has created stiff competition for athletic programs that need to fill expensive seats in massive stadiums.

So what’s one way for the athletic programs to battle back? By providing multi­faceted—and sometimes mind-blowing—film and video upgrades.

Brandon Meier has had a front-row seat for this progression. He started his career at the University of Nebraska as many dream of doing—as a student production assistant from 1996 to 2002. Over that span, he worked in the university athletic department’s HuskerVision unit.

Back In the Day
HuskerVision was created in 1994 to operate two large Mitsubishi CRT screens and produce video content for the Cornhuskers back when Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium had 3,000 square feet of broadcast facilities.

Today, Meier is the deputy athletic director of external affairs and oversees all creative and content for Nebraska athletics. This included the recent installation of a new Daktronics 117-foot-by-33-foot screen, and 25,000 square feet of production facilities following a move into the football team’s former offices. That shift involved a $13 million upgrade in broadcast facilities, including a $6.5 million investment in equipment and infrastructure.

The facility now houses the eight full-time HuskerVision staff who handle in-game video and other broadcast duties from three control rooms. They control the SMPTE 2110 broadcast deployment with an IP data center-level infrastructure, 12 4K Grass Valley Group HDR cameras and three EVS servers with 2 terabytes of IP switching capacity. Nebraska was the first university to install Lawo/VSM routing and IP management infrastructure, Meier said.

The new HuskerVision production facility (read more about it in SCN) also includes 34 operator stations, a new rack room with 40 racks and a centralized UPS backup with Liebert air conditioning units to keep the operation cool.

Much of its non-event content is shot in a 2,600-square-foot studio with a 24-foot green-screen cyclorama, full AES 67 IP audio integration with Lawo I/O frames for trucks to grab video feeds and a Riedel intercom. Beck TV was the project integrator.

While the group uses all three control rooms at peak times, it’s the master control room that serves Nebraska’s eight other athletic venues around campus. Meier said Mark Jacobson from Chicago-based Stadia Video Group “did an amazing job as our consultant and provided great value for our overall investment. He also worked hand-in-hand with Brock Raum, a former HuskerVision production assistant, who was the senior engineer for Beck TV overseeing the equipment integration.”

The Kickoff
But since it’s football season, Meier has enjoyed the new production capabilities on game day. “Higher-quality replays, better clarity of camera images and larger lenses help engage the fans to interact with our show,” he said, although the main improvement is “better, more reliable workflow.”

“We can be ready to go in a moment from one venue to another,” he said. “We may have volleyball at 3 p.m., then football at 6 p.m. In the spring. It’s not uncommon for us to have three events at once.”

Meier said that while much of HuskerVision’s equipment “was end-of-life, so it was time” for the update, there’s an additional benefit. “This helps us prepare our students for top industry positions and it gives them experience with state-of-the-art broadcast gear,” he said.

For more information, check out “Cornhuskers Coverage Conversion” on TV Tech sister brand SCN.

How Vast Is It?
The big new attraction at the University of Illinois’ Gies Memorial Stadium is a $30 million Daktronics video board above the south end zone, measuring 17,300 square feet (250 feet by 69 feet, which would rank fifth in the NFL). It’s “the largest in all of college athletics,” said Derryl Myles, senior associate athletic director for Fighting Illini Production and Technology.

The board is so vast that it is about 6,700 square feet larger than the board at Auburn University’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, which ranks second in the Football Bowl Subdivision. On its back are two more video displays to greet the Fighting Illini faithful as they arrive for the game, with each measuring 29.5 feet by 52.5 feet.

But that’s just the first upgrade in the overhaul of the video and broadcast operation, which also includes a 12.5-foot-by-180-foot “super ribbon” under the north end zone, with east and west ribbons of 4 feet by 427 feet.

New broadcast infrastructure is used to create and distribute content for the screens and elsewhere within the U of I’s network. It starts with content capture via six in-stadium Grass Valley LDX 150s, plus two Bolin PTZ cams mounted on the goalposts.

Images are distributed from the new control room, which is located not in the stadium but in the nearby Bielfeldt Athletics Administration Building. It features an IP infrastructure, which works off of an Evertz Magnum router; NETGEAR and Cisco switchers, using SMPTE 2110 with SDI baseband support; one Ross Carbonite switcher, with two XPressions with four channels each; and two Evertz Dreamcatchers for replays.

Showing the Money
The university is making best use of the old equipment, as it now serves as a second control room for streaming service B1G+ (Big Ten+) for “overlapping smaller events” held in the basketball arena, State Farm Center, Myles said. It includes four Sony 300 Triax HD cameras, a Ross Carbonite switcher with one channel of Xpression and the Mira Abacus for replay.

To connect the new network, Illinois has 144 strands of fiber emanating from Bielfeldt, 72 of which are dedicated to Memorial Stadium and 72 to State Farm Arena. The old auxiliary fiber still connects Huff Hall, home to smaller sports such as gymnastics, wrestling and volleyball.

Myles said the update was made for this football season for simple reasons: It was time and the athletic department had the money.

“Our infrastructure was about 12 years old when longtime fan and university donor Larry Gies generously contributed $100 million to university athletics, [which is] the biggest of many of Gies’s gifts to the university that he loves,” he said. The updates also include Wi-Fi
upgrades at more than 100 access points throughout the stadium through a partnership with MSB Engineering.

“The cool thing about it is that we’re now more flexible in what we can do in and out of the stadium, with various user interfaces,” Myles said.

So while accessing a philanthropic contribution is a long process, “We’ve moved forward since it was approved in January,” said Myles, who now has a new task at hand. “We’re still in the trial and error stage with our new Daktronics boards, but we’re making progress every day.”

Coming Attractions
You could say the technical updates at The Ohio State University, another Big Ten stalwart, are two-fold. Some of the work is complete and more is underway, slated for completion before the 2027 football season.

The obvious upgrade is the new north videoboard, standing out in the closed end of Ohio Stadium. The 44-foot-by-17-foot board from Daktronics is complemented by new 4.5-by-450-foot LED ribbon boards mounted on the fascia of the upper deck, along the east and west sidelines.

The coming attraction is rising on the southern end of the property: A new $3.8 million, 21,500-square-foot (total area) TV compound benchmarked for the ever-varying number of large and small trucks on hand to cover a given day’s competition.

“We’re relocating the site from the general-use parking lot to one near the Huntington Club entrance, which is 450 feet south of the stadium,” Executive Associate Athletic Director Mike Penner said.

The new building will house an Evertz ENX Router, Evertz 5800MSC sync generator and Evertz 3406 SDI transport; Sencore AFN-1000 IP encoders and a Sencore MRD 80100 decoder; Dante audio ML-32D, ML-16D and MM-2D-X transports by Tascam; and a Phabrix QXL SDI analyzer.

Part of the impetus for the new compound is to accommodate more production vehicles. That’s been spurred by the growing number of marquee TV matchups held in Ohio Stadium, as the footprint for Big Ten and potential College Football Playoff games “can require that a given facility accommodate more trucks, generators, satellite uplinks and main connections,” Penner said.

“It’s a better space for the networks to set up,” he said. “It’s covered from the elements and will be unified with our broadcast in-house production for TV, cable, audio/visual transit and digital video signage.”

Wait ’Til Next Year
But that isn’t all that is on the horizon.

Back in the bowl, coming in 2027 is a new 157-foot-by-45-foot video board, as well as a 157-by-10-foot LED ribbon board that will be complemented by a new audio system with Fulcrum speakers and Powersoft amps installed by C.V. Lloyde Audiovisual. This time, the updates will all be in the south end zone.

There is also an LED control room in the press box. Game-day video content is captured via 12 Sony professional-grade PTZ, production and cine cameras, with Ross routing, graphics and switchers.

About 500 feet of fiber connects the TV compound to a hub inside the Ohio Stadium, with several hundred more connecting the main nerve center in the Schottenstein Center around a campus that supports more than three dozen teams.

The arena, which lies across the Olentangy River from Ohio Stadium (but still within the campus footprint), contains a Grass Valley main switcher and tech from Ross Video for routing and graphics, Dreamcatcher for Replay and Sony Cinecameras for PTZ and production.

Into A Higher Gear
When the University of Washington agreed to join the Big Ten two years ago, the move came with various mandates for upgrades in and around the campus, including a big change in avenues for the creation and distribution of sports content.

That led to an extra improvement that wasn’t expected, but more on that later. First, it called for the building of four new control rooms, not inside Husky Stadium but in Alaska Airlines Arena, which connects to several venues around the campus.

Just how these four SMPTE 2110-based control rooms inside the arena “are broken down and used varies greatly,” Deputy Athletic Director Kurt Svoboda said of an operation which incorporates more than 20 Grass Valley and Sony cameras.

In the case of Huskies football, games involve three scoreboards from Daktronics. This includes the east main video board, which is 31.2 feet by 108 feet, plus two wing boards that measure 18 feet by 31 feet each, alongside three rows of ribbon boards.

New gear in master control includes two GVG K-Frame SXP switchers, six Ross XPressions for graphics and six Evertz Dreamcatchers. Anthony James Partners was the system integrator, with major university partners GVG and CTI.

The university has also added a 1,000-square-foot video and photography studio with seven LED columns that can be configured into a single 10-foot-by-27-foot background, “which is big for a small room,” said Svoboda, also noting the separate Pro Cyc wall.

“That space is where we can host a sports talk show, students’ athletic promos, interstitial content,” Svoboda said, noting the versatility offered by the new setup. “We have a 2,300-square-foot event space with another LED wall that measures almost 7 feet by 12 feet, between the control rooms and photo/video room.

“So we can host a premium event for professional industry groups where guests can watch the games unfold in the arena before them,” he said.

Getting Schooled
The above illustrates what often happens when a university athletic department changes conferences. “When we were in the Pac-12 we didn’t need these spaces, since the conference handled all of the game broadcasts,” Svoboda said.

“However, when we joined the Big Ten, we had to upgrade our infrastructure so we could provide content to the Big Ten Network,” he said. “That was an extra challenge at the time, because we never had athletic employees in the content creation space, nor did the university have a major for it—nor do we to this day.”

That said, the university has “grown a great deal” in just two years. “In 2024, we had no student workers and we needed hands,” Svoboda said. “Since then, we’ve gained 50 students who are working with us. Some got full-time jobs in the industry when they graduated with unrelated degrees, but still offered actual working experience.”

Today, the approach at UW is still evolving.

“We now have a four-credit class in sports video production because the university has recognized its importance to what we do to the point that our production personnel now serve the entire university for its video production needs,” he said. “So we’re very proud of that.”

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—The San Antonio Spurs have named Sinclair as the team’s local over-the-air television partner for the 2026-27 NBA season.

Throughout the season, 22 Spurs games will air on CW SA, San Antonio’s The CW affiliate, which airs over a digital subchannel of WOAI-TV (Channel 4.2) and Deerfield Media-owned KMYS, which is operated by Sinclair under a joint sales and services agreement.

“The Spurs are an important part of the fabric of South Texas, and we’re proud to partner with the team to bring more games to fans across the region,” said Rob Weisbord, chief operating officer and president of local media at Sinclair, said. “Live local sports are a natural fit for broadcast television, and this partnership reflects our commitment to making compelling content that enriches local lives.”

Local fans can catch Spurs games on CW SA with a digital antenna or via participating cable, satellite or online live-TV providers where available. Secondary markets across South Texas will have access to the over-the-air games on select local channels. Fans also can visit the Spurs website or text WATCH to 210-444-5940 to find where games are available in their area.

The deal with Sinclair follows an earlier pact with subscription streaming service DAZN to air local Spurs telecasts. Last season, Spurs games aired mainly on FanDuel Sports Network Southwest, which ceased operations in September.

“Our fans are incredibly passionate and supportive and should have as many ways as possible to watch and connect with the Spurs,” said Frank Miceli, chief commercial officer of Spurs Sports & Entertainment. “We’re excited to make this over-the-air option available, giving more fans a convenient way to watch the team, share in the Spurs spirit and stay connected throughout the season. This partnership with Sinclair helps us create more opportunities for viewers across our market to experience Spurs basketball.”

MILWAUKEE—When the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays take the field tonight at American Family Field for Game 1 of the 2026 World Series, they won’t be he only ones trying to deliver a championship performance.

Fox Sports has added new technology and production features to its series coverage aimed at continuing its streak of award-winning postseason coverage.

(Game 1 of the 2026 World Series begins at 8 p.m. ET on Fox and Fox Deportes. The broadcaster is streaming coverage on Fox One, FoxSports.com, the Fox Sports App and live streaming packages such as Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV.)

New to its production tech lineup are three 4K Nucleus cameras, as well as expanded augmented reality (AR) in conjunction with Major League Baseball to track pitches and swings from either side of the field. The broadcaster will take 18 feeds from MLB, Statcast and other AR sources for its coverage.

It will again rely on multiple high-speed cameras—11 of which are 6x, 8x or higher—to capture slow-motion coverage of the game. A pair of drones will contribute aerial views. Fox Sports will also present an UmpCam AR Strike Zone as well as use three Dirt Cams, Base Cams and eight Proton POV cams.

Its camera complement also includes 27 Sony 5500-series cameras—16 hard cameras, six handhelds, including one RF, as well as five studio cameras, three of which are buildups, a jib and one RF handheld. Fox Sports will also employ eight robotic heads, two RF MoVI rig/Sony FX6s and one RF Steadicam.

For audio, Fox Sports will deploy about 70 game-side mics and studio mics. They include 24 boundary mics, 10 in-ground mics and nine parabolic mics. Three RF base mic sets, 13 effects laves, four shotguns as well as four reporter kits, four player mics and one RF umpire mic round out field coverage. In the studio, seven wireless lavs, seven wireless stick mics and eight wireless IFBs will be used.

Joe Davis will take on play-by-play duties while Hall of Fame starting pitcher John Smoltz will do color commentary. Fox Sports MLB reporters Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci will contribute to the broadcaster’s pre-game show.

José Pablo Coello, Gabriel Medina, Diego Venegas and Rodrigo Arana will lead the FOX Deportes broadcast. Mayra Gomez and Steffy Aradillas will also contribute to the broadcast.

There's several periods in sports when major events happen all at once. It usually happens twice a year—in early June, when Major League Baseball, the French Open, Belmont Stakes, Stanley Cup, NBA Finals—and periodically one of golf's major championships—all take place simultaneously.

The other period occurs in late October when all of the major sports leagues in the U.S. are playing at the same time.

That happens again this year when on Monday, Oct. 26, the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL will all have games scheduled, marking the "Sports Equinox," a rare day when all four major U.S. leagues are in action at the same time.

With games airing across networks and apps, DirecTV is observing the specialy day by offering its viewers a curated Multiview featuring four games, one from each league, on a single screen for customers whose packages include the participating networks.

Also, DIRECTV Sports Central will help fans find live and upcoming games across sports and supported apps, follow their favorite teams, check schedules and scores, and get team alerts and game-time notifications.

DirecTV is promoting anticipation for the Sports Equinox through Meta Reels Trending Ads, TikTok Pulse and Super Like, Snapchat Reminder Ads, a Reddit Category Takeover, and a free-to-play DraftKings contest. Fans can predict outcomes across the four leagues for a chance to win up to $5,000. The campaign also extends to CTV and digital video inventory with a :15 and :30 spot.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Cox Media Group Jacksonville and University of North Florida Athletics have inked a multiyear deal making Action Sports Jax TV the exclusive local broadcast home of University of North Florida (UNF) athletics in Northeast Florida.

Under the agreement, Action Sports Jax TV will air live UNF Ospreys sports events each season, free over the air via multicast on WJAX-TV (Channel 47.2) and on Xfinity Channels 216 and 1188 HD.

As part of the deal, the weekly “Talon Talk” show covering Ospreys athletics will air on Action Sports Jax TV. The show features interviews with coaches and student-athletes, game previews and discussions of UNF’s 19 NCAA Division I programs.

“UNF is part of the fabric of this community, and Osprey fans deserve to see their teams on free, local television,” Omesh Somaru, vice president and general manager of Cox Media Group Jacksonville, said. “Adding UNF Athletics and ‘Talon Talk’ to Action Sports Jax TV gives fans more ways to follow the Ospreys and gives local businesses a direct connection to one of Jacksonville’s most passionate hometown audiences.”

North Florida joins a growing Action Sports Jax TV lineup that also includes the Jacksonville Jaguars (preseason games and ancillary programming), Orlando Magic and Tampa Bay Lightning.

“We are excited to partner with Action Sports Jax TV to bring UNF Athletics to more fans across Northeast Florida,” University of North Florida vice president of Intercollegiate Athletics Nick Morrow said. “By bringing UNF games and ‘Talon Talk’ to free local television, we are expanding access for Osprey fans while increasing the visibility of our programs and the university.”

The broadcast schedule, including specific games and “Talon Talk” air times, will be announced before the first telecast.

More information is available on the university’s website.

Traditional sports production followed a one-to-many model, with teams focused on creating one strong program feed before delivering it to rights holders and distribution partners for downstream customization. That model is being reshaped by the new realities of modern streaming—and by audiences who now engage with sports across more platforms and formats than ever before.

The same game can now appear on television, streaming services, FAST channels and social platforms at once. Some viewers want the familiar main broadcast, while others prefer local language commentary, real time statistics, alternate camera angles or creator led coverage. Meeting those different requirements places more pressure on production teams to create several outputs from one event.

Data and metadata are central to managing this change because structured information allows production teams to prepare and distribute different experiences from the same video.

Starting With the Viewer
Sports workflows have traditionally been designed from the camera lens forward, beginning with event acquisition and the main programme before addressing distribution further down the chain. That approach becomes harder to sustain when one production must serve several platforms, markets and viewing preferences.

Future workflows will increasingly begin with a clearer understanding of how, when and where audiences watch content. That information can help rights holders decide which experiences to create and where they are likely to provide meaningful value.

It is now common for an event to support three to five versions, so these requirements need to be considered from the beginning. The main pictures and editorial direction can remain consistent, while commentary, graphics, advertising and presentation are adapted for each destination.

Connecting Data Across the Workflow
Metadata has long supported content discovery, although its role now extends into production and distribution. Sports data, graphics information, SCTE triggers and other in band or out of band signals can support live clipping, replay selection, rights management, advertising, highlights and content versioning.

When this information travels with the video, production systems can prepare different outputs from the same source. One version might carry regional graphics and local commentary, while another includes additional statistics or a different advertising profile. Modular assets and reusable templates can apply these changes without rebuilding the full workflow.

This depends on infrastructure that can move video, metadata and control signals reliably from acquisition through production, customization and delivery. Bringing these stages into a shared IP environment reduces handoffs between disconnected systems and complex multivendor chains, while giving teams clearer visibility into signal health and metadata across the workflow. That makes it easier to manage different versions of an event and identify problems before they affect delivery.

The FCC’s July 2026 vote approving rules for the auction of Upper C-Band spectrum is accelerating this transition, with regional sports networks and large national networks now moving large scale distribution workflows from satellite to IP. While satellite will remain part of many hybrid and backup strategies, IP provides a more flexible foundation for carrying video, metadata and control signals across broadcast and digital services.

Using Automation to Manage Live Operations
Production teams are being asked to create additional feeds and digital coverage while budgets and staffing levels rarely increase at the same pace. Automation can reduce repeated work by using metadata to select audio, apply graphics, manage frame accurate routing, follow commercial rules and prepare the required platform format. Approved, templated configurations can then be reused across a season instead of being recreated for every event. This makes versioning faster and helps teams apply requirements consistently.

Operational control remains essential because every output needs the correct video, audio, graphics and ad signaling throughout the event. Teams must be able to see what audiences are receiving and intervene quickly when coverage moves away from the plan. Organizations can choose software based tools operated by their own teams, managed services or a combination of both. In each model, automation should handle predictable work while editorial decisions remain with experienced operators.

Using Audience Data to Guide Decisions
Audience data can help rights holders decide where customization is worth the investment. An organization can introduce an experience for a particular platform, review how viewers respond and determine whether it provides enough engagement or commercial value to support further development.

Total viewing time remains useful, although rights holders also need to understand how audiences move between services and which experiences support loyalty or revenue. Access to meaningful performance information should therefore be considered when distribution partnerships and rights agreements are developed.

'Immersive, high-quality production and strong editorial judgment will continue to define the quality of live sports coverage. But richer metadata and interconnected IP workflows are giving broadcasters a practical way to adapt that production, assess each version and respond as audience habits change.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—Gray Media, Triple B Media and the Southwestern Athletic Conference will collaborate on simulcasting SWAC athletic events over the air as well as via the recently announced SWAC TV FAST channel.

Gray Media owns television stations in multiple local markets with SWAC institutions, including Huntsville, Ala. (WAFF, WAAY), Montgomery, Ala. (WSFA, WCOV and WIYC) and Jackson, Miss. (WLBT). Each will air sports from their respective SWAC universities. Games include football, basketball, soccer and other men’s and women’s sports.

An article on the WAFF website announcing the deal quoted Joshua Pila, Gray vice president of content acquisition, about the collaboration and the importance of sports to the station group.

“This collaboration shows Gray’s continued focus on free local sports for local viewers,” Pila said.

The NBA tipped off its 2026-2027 season in a big way on Tuesday with a trio of marquee games broadcast live on NBC and its Peacock streaming service.

The day started in mid-afternoon with a matchup between the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons, which was won by Detroit, 121-113.

Then it was on to Madison Square Garden with the most anticipated matchup between NBC champs New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers spoiled the Knicks season debut with a 106-100 victory. The nightcap saw the San Antonio Spurs host the Oklahoma City Thunder with the Thunder winning 116-104.

Although the NBA traditionally starts their season on Tuesdays in late October, this was the first time a network had ever broadcast three NBA Tip-Off games. The new season marks the second year of the NBA's 11-year, $77 billion deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime. NBC approached the network with the idea, according to NBC Sports Executive Vice President Justin Byczek.

“We kind of challenged the NBA,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “We think opening day should be expanded, and we’d love to be the network that gets behind it, and over the course of the next decade, let’s try to understand where opening day can get to.”

Some fans in certain markets reported that their local affilliates preempted the games in favor of regular local programming, according to Awful Announcing. Viewers in Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; Omaha, Neb.; and Madison, Wis.; among others, tweeted that they could not access the games on their local stations. Viewers in areas that could not access the games on their local stations could watch on one of station's auxiliary channels (aka diginets) or on Peacock.

An NBC spokesperson told Awful Announcing the vast majority of local stations did indeed carry the games live.

“Broadcast stations serving 99% of U.S. households aired the game either on NBC or an alternate local station,” the spokesperson said. “It was also available on Peacock.”

LONDON—Despite recent turmoil in traditional regional sports networks (RSNs), the value of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) regional broadcast rights at $1.6bn in 2026, accounts for 43% of the league’s total $3.7bn broadcast rights revenue, according to a new report from Ampere Analysis.

The contribution remains substantial despite the disruption to regional sports networks (RSNs), which traditionally broadcast teams’ games to local audiences outside national television packages, the researcher said.

Rooted in linear cable, regional sports networks (RSNs) have come under increasing pressure from cord-cutting, as US households move away from traditional pay TV towards streaming. Over the past four years, 13 of MLB’s 30 teams have lost their regional sports network partner, including 12 following the bankruptcies of Diamond Sports and Main Street Sports Group.

Ampere estimates that US pay TV households will fall from 96 million in 2016 to 65 million by the end of 2026, while streaming households will increase from 57 million to 112 million over the same period.

MLB.tv has taken on responsibility for broadcasting local games for affected teams which has contributed to the robustness of the regional rights income. In the 2026 season, it holds regional broadcast rights for 14 of the league’s 30 teams. Most of the remaining teams have more lucrative regional television arrangements with the ones in the larger, more populous markets having a bigger pool of fans and potential regional sports network customers.

Ampere estimates that the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees alone account for 23% of total MLB regional rights fees and that in total, the 14 teams partnered with MLB.tv currently account for roughly 30% of all regional non-advertising TV revenue. These teams previously had more lucrative agreements with their regional broadcast partners, with MLB.tv currently providing an interim solution.

With labor talks threatening an all-out "strike" for the 2027 MLB season, Ampere adds that greater revenue sharing between teams may be introduced following the expiry of the collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association at the end of this year. This could reduce the television revenue gap between teams in smaller and larger markets.

In the upcoming negotiations, MLB wants to centralize local broadcast rights at its next media rights cycle in 2028. This could allow the rights to be sold collectively to a streaming platform, potentially on a national basis, Ampere said.

In terms of the overall U.S. market, Ampere expects US pay TV households to decline further to 58 million by 2031, while streaming households will reach 120 million. A consolidated package of local MLB rights would offer a substantial volume of games to broadcasters interested in one of the ‘big four’ US sports leagues.

GARBSEN, Germany—Proton Camera Innovations says it will demo its new PROTON IS miniature broadcast camera at NAB New York 2026, Oct. 21-22, at Javits Center in Manhattan.

Incorporating image stabilization and an innovative lens/body split structure to provide image clarity in immersive contexts, the PROTON IS was demonstrated as a concept during IBC206 in December. The camera will be available for delivery in Q1 2027.

The PROTON IS brings professional-grade image stabilization to a form factor where conventional stabilization systems, such as gimbals, gyros and mechanical dampers, are simply unable to function.The camera uses a two-part architecture that separates the imaging head—measuring .8 x .8 x .9 inches (20x20x22.5mm) drawing 0.5W—from the processing unit and power supply which measures .9x.9x2.75 inches (23x23x70mm) and draws 2.3W with passive cooling.

Together, these are connected via a flexible cable up to 35 inches (90cm), which allows the sensitive processing components to remain safely hidden away while the tiny imaging head captures footage in the heart of the action.

With 1080p60 footage in 10-bit quality, the PROTON IS incorporates Proton’s VEGA broadcast-grade shading for color accuracy and dynamic range required in professional production. An integrated stereo microphone captures embedded audio, while the low total power draw of 2.8W across a 4.7-24V range enables integration into power-constrained environments. The camera fits any SDI transmitter system, with full remote control available via RS485.

The PROTON IS is well-suited to body-mounted applications, where the stabilization system compensates for the jarring and distracting bobbing motion of the human gait, while retaining the immersive perspective of a POV shot. The split architecture also allows for even weight distribution and moves heat-producing components away from the subject’s forehead.

Proton Camera Innovations will be in Booth 560.

More information is available on the company’s website.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The remote production workflow TNDV and GameTime Productions put in place for Season 4 of the Team Boxing League (TBL) saw a more comprehensive remote integration (REMI) production model leveraged than in the previous season.

The refined workflow positioned TNDV’s 40-foot HD Expando Sallie mobile production unit as the centralized production control room in Irving, Texas, while GameTime Productions coordinated local technical crews for live matches originating from venues around the country, including the Aug. 30 championship at War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. All events aired live on Envoy TV, Dr. Phil McGraw’s cable and streaming network.

While Season 3 saw TNDV supplying remote flypacks, cameras and supporting production systems at each venue and transporting live signals to a third-party REMI facility in Texas for production, TNDV assumed responsibility for both ends of the REMI workflow for the latest season, which ran March 20–Aug. 30. TNDV received live camera and audio feeds from the venues at Sallie, producing the live program and supporting outbound distribution to broadcast and streaming partners.

“Bringing the venue-side REMI systems and the centralized production environment under the same TNDV umbrella has made the entire workflow more cohesive,” said Rob Devlin, president of TNDV. “We already understood the production requirements from Season 3, so this year was about fine-tuning the model and taking greater responsibility for the complete technical ecosystem. We can see and manage what is happening from the venue all the way through the truck and into distribution, which gives the production team a much more unified operation.”

The regular season presented a demanding schedule of three live matches most weekends, typically originating from three different cities on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. TNDV maintained three remote production racks that rotated among venues nationwide, allowing crews to establish a consistent technical footprint quickly regardless of location.

Each venue typically relied upon six HD camera signals, including four operated cameras—a primary game camera, two handhelds and a jib—and two fixed cameras focused on the team corrals. The latter are particularly important to TBL’s distinctive format, which transforms traditional boxing into a team sport with teammates positioned ringside throughout a fast-moving sequence of single-round bouts.

GameTime Productions continued to manage the local crewing operation, providing camera operators, audio technicians and other technical personnel at the remote venues. The combination allowed TBL to maintain a consistent production standard while avoiding the expense and logistical complexity of moving complete production trucks and traveling crews between cities.

The REMI model is particularly well suited for many TBL venues, which can present space, parking, power and infrastructure limitations for conventional mobile production. Compact flypack systems can instead be brought inside and quickly configured using a standardized technical design.

“REMI was essential to making the schedule both logistically and economically practical,” said Larry Meyers, consulting executive producer for TBL television. “We can have our primary production team and talent working from the same location throughout a three-event weekend while the venues change around the country. TNDV and GameTime have helped us develop a production model that can move efficiently from city to city while still delivering a very polished television product.”

TNDV transports the venue feeds to Irving primarily using SRT over public internet connections, typically budgeting about 10 Mbps for each video feed. Return program feeds and confidence multiviewers are also sent back to the venues, giving local technicians immediate confirmation that their signals have successfully reached the truck.

TNDV maintains additional safeguards for less predictable venue connectivity, including cellular-based LiveU backup for maintaining an on-air camera feed if primary internet service is disrupted. TNDV’s Nashville operations center provides another layer of support by monitoring bandwidth and signal health, managing remote intercom and providing backup paths. Operators can adjust compression and latency when necessary to accommodate variations in available bandwidth.

Inside Sallie, the remote signals are combined with three additional cameras capturing TBL’s commentators and studio presentation in Irving, creating a nine-camera live production. The HD truck includes a Grass Valley production switcher, EVS replay systems, Calrec audio console and extensive routing and connectivity, with production, replay, graphics, audio and engineering personnel working in close proximity.

TNDV also supported outbound SRT distribution from Sallie to multiple broadcast recipients, while its Nashville infrastructure converted and distributed feeds via RTMP where required for connected and streaming platforms. The workflow also incorporated remote Unity Intercom connectivity between production personnel and venue crews.

Season 4 matches aired live on Envoy TV and were distributed across a mix of regional television and streaming outlets. The flexible architecture allowed additional feeds and destinations to be incorporated as TBL’s distribution requirements evolved.

More information is available on the TNDV and GameTime Productions websites.

KINGS PARK, NY—MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems has introduced new kits that combine SilverBack fiber transport technology, a compact base station and all required camera-specific accessories in a single package, designed to make it “easier and more affordable for production teams to integrate digital cinema cameras into professional live production environments,” the company said

Built around its SilverBack Series and designed for any cinema camera including the Sony VENICE, Sony BURANO and Canon EOS C400, the new kits extend the value by consolidating the necessary components into one convenient purchase, MultiDyne eliminates the complexity of sourcing individual cables, connectors and mounting accessories while offering substantial savings compared to purchasing components separately.

"Our goal is to remove the guesswork and expense that can come with integrating cinema cameras into live production systems," said Jesse Foster, Director of Strategic Accounts and Products, MultiDyne. "Customers can choose the camera they want to use, purchase the corresponding SilverBack kit and have everything they need to get connected. We're making a proven, professional fiber camera solution more accessible to a wider range of broadcasters, production companies, corporate enterprises and houses of worship."

Each kit is tailored to the connectivity and mounting requirements of its supported camera. The Sony VENICE kit includes the serial data cabling required for camera control, while the Sony BURANO and Canon EOS C400 kits incorporate camera-specific mounting plates that simplify installation and provide access to essential connections. All kits include the relevant cables, connectors and documentation needed to streamline deployment.

At the heart of the solution is MultiDyne's compact SVB-1 1RU base station, which provides the fiber connectivity and power infrastructure required for professional SMPTE camera workflows. Paired with SilverBack camera-mounted adapters including the SilverBack-V, the system supports the video, audio, control and return signal requirements of live multi-camera production over fiber. The shallow, lightweight base station is especially attractive for flypacks, mobile production systems and installations where rack space is limited, according to the company.

Multidyne will showcase the new kit at Booth 856 during NAB Show New York at the Javits Center, Oct. 21-22.

PITTSBURGH—NEP Group today announced the availability of TAG Video Systems' software-based multiviewing, monitoring and QC capabilities through NEP Platform.

Customers can deploy TAG alongside complementary software applications through NEP Platform’s single, secure interface, bringing multiviewing, real-time monitoring and quality control into broader production workflows. TAG Core, the software behind TAG Video Systems’ technology, lets production teams view all of their media formats side by side, monitor them in depth in real time, and analyze signal quality with built-in QC tools.

NEP Platform is built around an open approach to software orchestration, running applications from multiple technology providers on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. This gives customers the flexibility to run different production applications on common infrastructure, deploying and scaling capabilities up or down as production requirements change, the company said.

“We’re excited to bring TAG’s technology to NEP Platform and become part of its growing software ecosystem,” said Michael Demb, vice president, Product Strategy at TAG Video Systems. “TAG and NEP share a common view of where the industry is headed: toward open, software-defined environments that give customers more freedom to choose the technologies and capabilities that work best for them. By bringing TAG to NEP Platform, production teams get multiviewing for all their media formats side by side, in-depth real-time monitoring, and QC analysis in one place, so they can verify what they put on air with confidence.”

Despite increasing competition from streaming giants eager for an ever bigger slice of the live sports pie, ESPN reported impressive viewing numbers for its most recent season.

For 2026, the sports network saw a 10% year-over-year increase in total viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN on ABC, marking the sixth consecutive year of linear television growth. The gains came during a highly competitive sports media landscape that included the FIFA World Cup and Winter Olympics on competing networks, the network said.

Across FY26 (Sept. 28, 2025-Oct. 3, 2026), ESPN’s television networks accounted for 31% of all sports viewing among both total viewers and Adults 18-49. ESPN finished nine points ahead of second-place Fox Sports networks and 13 points ahead of NBCUniversal networks.

ESPN and ESPN on ABC each posted 11% year-over-year growth in total viewership, while ESPN2 increased 3%.

Growth was broad-based across audiences. Female viewership increased 14% year over year and represented 34% of all viewing across ESPN networks, up from 29% a decade ago. Viewership among children ages 2-17 also increased 14%.

Beyond television, ESPN’s average monthly reach expanded to 239.4 million users across its television, digital and social platforms. Digital and social audiences increased ESPN’s overall reach by 286% compared to television alone, extending its audience to nearly four times its TV footprint. Adults 18-49 accounted for 56% of ESPN’s total cross-platform reach.

Among the highlights:

• The College Football Playoff National Championship (Miami-Indiana) averaged 28.9 million viewers, making it the most-viewed college football game in 11 years. ESPN networks also delivered their most-viewed regular season since 2011.
• ESPN’s AFC Divisional Playoff game (Texans-Patriots) averaged 37.9 million viewers, the largest NFL audience in network history. Monday Night Football delivered its second most-viewed season of the ESPN era.
• The 2026 NBA Playoffs were ESPN’s most-viewed postseason since acquiring NBA rights in 2002. The Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals became the league’s most-viewed Finals since 1998, with the decisive Game 5 averaging 24.5 million viewers.
• The 2025-26 regular season and 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs both ranked as the most-viewed of ESPN’s current NHL rights agreement. The Golden Knights-Hurricanes Stanley Cup Final posted triple-digit year-over-year growth.
• In Men’s college basketball, both the regular season and Champ Week delivered multi-year audience highs.
• Coverage of both the Masters Tournament and PGA Championship posted double-digit audience growth year over year.
• Women’s college basketball achieved its highest regular-season audience in 17 years. The Women’s NCAA Tournament delivered ESPN’s second most-viewed tournament on record, while both the Women’s College World Series and WNBA Playoffs became the most-viewed in ESPN history.

ESPN’s digital and social platforms also grew, with ESPN Digital averaging 21.8 million daily active users, up 1% year over year. The ESPN App led with 9.8 million daily active users, while the Fantasy App increased 5% to 3.4 million daily active users. NFL, NBA, college football and MLB generated the highest levels of engagement.

ESPN Social generated 7.5 billion engagements, maintaining its position as the No. 1 sports publisher on social media and finishing 71% ahead of second-place Bleacher Report.

LINCOLN, Neb.—HuskerVision, the University of Nebraska athletics department’s video production and multimedia operation, has deployed Grass Valley K-Frame production switchers and LDX cameras as part of a new SMPTE ST 2110 production facility supporting sports venues across the campus.

The six-month project created three new control rooms and replaced HuskerVision’s aging baseband infrastructure with an IP production environment. The facility gives its production teams the capacity to support events across campus with UHD and HDR capability built into the system as they are needed.

Operated by students and staff, HuskerVision produces video and multimedia content for University of Nebraska Athletics.

“We had the opportunity to look at how we wanted to produce content across our venues for the next several years, rather than simply replacing the equipment we already had,” HuskerVision Director of Technology Garrett Hill said. “Grass Valley gave us the combination of functionality and price-to-performance we were looking for with an IP production system that can support what we need today and our move toward UHD in the future.”

The new facility uses Grass Valley LDX 135 and LDX 150 cameras, with XCU Xpress UXF base stations connecting the camera systems into the ST 2110 environment. The LDX 135 provides native UHD acquisition, while the LDX 150 supports multi-format production with both camera systems providing HDR and native IP capabilities.

Two Kayenne K-Frame SXP-I production switchers provide the main production control, with support for HD, 3G and 12G UHD production. Advanced IP I/O and 100 GbE connectivity carry signals across the IP infrastructure, while Creative Grading panels and a central control server provide color and HDR management.

The two switcher configurations provide separate production positions, giving HuskerVision the resources to manage multiple productions across its event calendar. The IP architecture also allows Grass Valley and third-party systems to operate across the same network rather than relying on fixed baseband routing.

An important part of the project was to give students experience with technology they are likely to encounter in professional live production. Grass Valley equipment is widely deployed across production trucks in the U.S., making familiarity with K-Frame and LDX systems relevant beyond their work at the university.

Grass Valley worked with systems integrator BeckTV on the deployment, which also included commissioning and on-site operational and technical training.

Grass Valley will exhibit in Booth 121 at NAB Show New York, Oct. 21–22, at the Javits Center in Manhattan. Visitors can learn more about the company’s latest live production, IP infrastructure and software-defined production technologies.

More information is available on the company’s website.

IRVINE, Calif.—Wooden Camera has unveiled a redesigned lineup of accessories for the Sony FX6, bringing a more modular, production-focused approach to the camera platforms.

Designed in response to evolving production workflows and feedback from working camera crews, the updated system provides expanded mounting options, faster transitions between configurations and improved integration with modern camera accessories.

At the center of the updated ecosystem is a redesigned Top Plate System featuring an expanded mounting layout, forward-facing ¼-inch-20 and 3/8-inch-16 mounting points, anti-twist options and a removable center section. The modular center design allows users to maintain compatibility with the FX6’s native top handle or configure the camera for professional screw-in top handles without removing the entire top plate.

The updated system also introduces an ARCA Plate for Sony FX6, providing a direct ARCA interface at the bottom of the camera for fast transitions between compatible support systems. Its full-length design offers additional balance options, while an integrated opening maintains airflow around the camera.

For camera assistants and operators working in compact documentary configurations, the new Native Handle Cheese Plate expands the capabilities of Sony’s native top handle by adding mounting options for additional accessories and Ultra Handle extensions. The design preserves the shape and ergonomics of the native handle while creating additional mounting capability for accessories, such as MDRs and other on-camera equipment.

Wooden Camera has also redesigned the Sony FX6 power workflow with updated V-Mount and Gold Mount Battery Slide Plate Kits. The new attachment style connects directly to the redesigned top plate and incorporates the new Bolt-On Battery Slide Bracket, addressing a long-standing request from the Sony FX6 community while providing a more adaptable battery mounting solution. The slotted bracket allows the battery position to be adjusted based on camera configuration, while its swing-away design provides access to rear camera ports.

The ecosystem is rounded out by updated Lens Support and Base Plate options, along with complete Core and Elite configurations designed for different production needs. The Core Cage System is aimed at documentary, run-and-gun, low-profile and owner-operator workflows, while the Elite Cage System provides a more comprehensive cinema configuration with an Ultra Handle, expanded mounting points, lens support and 15mm rod support.

The redesigned Sony FX6 ecosystem is built around industry-standard interfaces, including ARRI-Standard mounting points, NATO rails and ARCA and dovetail systems, allowing users to integrate existing accessories and build configurations that can evolve with their production needs.

The new Sony FX6 accessories will be available as individual components and complete system configurations, giving users the flexibility to upgrade existing rigs or build a new FX6 package from the ground up.

More information is available on the company’s website.

DirecTV this week announced “Build Your Own Multiview,” a new feature that gives subscribers more control over how they stream live games by letting them select up to four eligible channels to watch together on one screen.

The feature is being rolled out this week to DirecTV streaming customers on Gemini and Roku, with Android TV, Fire TV, Vizio, LG, Apple TV and Tizen TV to follow. Building on DirecTV’s curated Multiview experience, fans can now choose between pre-selected combinations or create their own two-, three- or four-view lineup.

The experience is simple and intuitive. While watching eligible content, fans can access Multiview directly from the DirecTV interface. The channel they’re already watching is pre-selected, and from there they can add other available sports channels to create a two-, three- or four-view lineup. Fans can also add or remove selections as they watch.

“Eligible content” includes a wide range of sports networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FS1, NFL Network, NBA TV, MLB Network, NHL Network, CBS Sports Network, Golf Channel, Tennis Channel, ACC Network, Big Ten Network and SEC Network. Additional participating local broadcast and national networks can also become available when they’re carrying eligible live sporting events, according to DirecTV.

This new feature joins existing Multiview channels and DirecTV Sports Central as part of DirecTV’s sports viewing options. Available from the main menu, Sports Central brings live and upcoming games across football, basketball, baseball and hockey together in one place, where fans can view schedules, follow the action and set recordings for their favorite teams.

Studio W has been a staple space at ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters since 2014. That’s among the reasons it was time to “tear it down to the studs” after the 2026 Super Bowl.

Those are the words of Anthony Lacaprucia, senior director of ESPN studio operations, who has been with the network for three decades. He’s now working within a 9,000-square-foot environment so technically advanced that it would have been tough to imagine when he started.

“Studio W still lives in Digital Center 2, in Bristol, but we’ve made huge strides with this first refresh,” Lacaprucia said.

On that note, builders ESPN Studio Operations, Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology, ESPN Creative Studio and designer Jack Morton Worldwide went big on the new set. It now serves as the home for daily studio shows like “NFL Live” and in-game wraps for ABC college football coverage and NHL telecasts, among other programming.

The key feature of the rebuild was adding more than 9,200 square feet of movable LED displays, walls and desks, “with a purpose-built XR volume,” he said, featuring roughly 44.7 million pixels and rendering capabilities for multicamera virtual shoots.”

So a multicam setup it is, with the studio equipped with Sony HDC-5500 cameras supporting native ST 2110, HDR, and UHD workflows, Mo-Sys camera tracking across a Jimmy Jib Pro, three robotic pedestals, and two manual pedestals, as well as a Vislink wireless RF platform for Steadicam operations across the facility. The new multicamera virtual production technology allows up to four cameras to capture images simultaneously from the same LED wall.

“That presents new opportunities for storytelling in a virtual reality setting,” said Lacaprucia. For instance, college football analysts can be depicted as immersed in game situations, and NHL analysts P.K. Subban and Mark Messier can be shown discussing game action from within a hockey rink during wraps. “The size of the LED displays, when combined, is 8 feet by 55 feet, and can be broken up into four individual tracking displays.”

So the displays “viewers see on college football broadcasts,” he said, use “the same technology for our daily ‘NFL Live’ (and the weekly ‘Fantasy Focus Countdown’) shows. They’re just set up differently.”

Adding to the complement of automated displays is the 146-inch Creative Connors touch- screen system, which can be relocated to other parts of the studio. So for Studio W, ABC’s college football is only the start of what’s to come from under ESPN’s vast umbrella.

In the end, it’s all about having options. “On any given college football Saturday, it can be home to ABC, while Studio X is the home of ESPN, and Studio E is hosting ESPN2 wraps,” Lacaprucia said.

LiveU has unveiled details of its work to support CRD Audiovisuel in delivering live content from the start of the 2026 men’s and women’s Tour de France.

Working with the organiser of the annual cycle race, CRD Audiovisuel had to overcome issues with fluctuating connectivity to provide live paddock shots, behind-the-scenes coverage, interviews and more from locations that have previously presented difficulties.

Key objectives for the project included ensuring reliable connectivity at each race start, a plug-and-play setup that avoided heavy RF infrastructure, strong enough bitrate to ensure broadcast-quality output and a simple intercom system.

Featuring LIQ, LiveU’s AI-driven intelligent connectivity software to manage eSIM cards, LiveU’s LU900Q was deployed, with each unit connected to the strongest available network based on its location. The solution provided CRD Audiovisuel with reliable performance across congested or saturated network environments, said the company. Using only public 4G/5G networks, the LU900Q provided 99.9 per cent of connectivity needs across the men’s and women’s races.

Stéphane Reibre, MD at CRD Audiovisuel, said, “I could never have imagined that LU900Q and LIQ would perform so well in the field. We had exactly zero problems, which, in this specific context, is a small miracle. If you’ve ever covered a Tour, you know what I mean.”

“The trust Stéphane has shown in our teams and our technology honours us,” added Philippe Gaudion, LiveU’s regional sales manager for France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. “We supported him as closely as possible to contribute to the success of his project, and we are all very proud and happy about it.”

AUSTIN, Texas—Apple is bringing Dolby Atmos alongside Dolby Vision to Formula 1 for Apple TV subscribers beginning with coverage of the 2026 U.S. Grand Prix, Oct. 23-25, from the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

For the first time, fans in the U.S. with an Apple TV subscription will be able to experience every Formula 1 race weekend in both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

“We’re always looking for new ways to make Formula 1 on Apple TV even better for fans,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Music, Sports, Apple TV, and Beats. “The sound of Formula 1 is such an important part of what makes the sport so exciting, and with Dolby Atmos joining Dolby Vision, fans can experience the energy and intensity of every Grand Prix in a whole new way. It’s another example of how we’re continuing to innovate across the viewing experience to bring fans closer to the action.”



Dolby Atmos brings immersive audio to viewers, from team radio communications and race commentary to the roar of the engines, while Dolby Vision offers richer colors, greater contrast, enhanced brightness and lifelike clarity.

Formula 1 in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos is available through the Apple TV app on supported Apple devices and compatible Dolby-enabled TVs, soundbars and home theater systems.



"Formula 1 is one of the most captivating sports in the world, where every circuit, team, and race weekend has its own visual and sonic identity," said John Couling, senior vice president of Entertainment at Dolby Laboratories.

Apple TV is the exclusive U.S. home of Formula 1, delivering every practice, qualifying, Sprint session and race live and on demand.

More information is available on the company’s website.

Disney+ will stream Super Bowl LXI on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2027, the company announced today.

Disney+ subscribers in the United States can stream the traditional game presentation airing on ESPN and ABC, with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge on the call, as well as the Spanish-language telecast on ESPN Deportes.

Outside of the U.S., Disney+ will stream ESPN’s Super Bowl in more than 55 international markets, including Spanish-speaking Latin America, Brazil, the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia/New Zealand. In conjunction, ESPN’s linear platforms will carry the Super Bowl in more than 130 countries and territories.

In addition to Super Bowl LXI, two Monday Night Football regular-season games will be available to Disney+ subscribers in the lead-up to the big game: The Oct. 26 matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and a second game to be announced.

Both games will continue to air as scheduled on ESPN/ABC and ESPN Deportes, with the option to stream both the English- and Spanish-language broadcasts on Disney+. These add to the expanding roster of domestic and global live sports available on Disney+.

The 2027 Super Bowl is the first time ABC has broadcast the game since 2006, before Disney+ existed. Today's announcement is of most interest to subscribers to Disney+’s basic service, who don’t have access to ABC or ESPN’s live network feeds. While CBS has streamed the Super Bowl over Paramount+, NBC has streamed it on Peacock and Fox on Tubi and Fox Sports, this marks the first time the Super Bowl will be streamed on Disney+.

NEWARK, N.J.—The University of Utah has opened a new state-of-the-art broadcast production facility designed and integrated by Diversified.

The facility marks a major investment in the future of the university’s athletics, sports production and media education programs. It can support in-venue productions across multiple athletic venues, ESPN+ broadcasts and future opportunities with linear broadcast partners.

Built around SMPTE ST 2110 and IP-based infrastructure, the facility gives Utah the flexibility to produce content for multiple sports, venues and distribution platforms while providing a foundation that can evolve as broadcast technology and media workflows continue to change.

Diversified worked with the university from design through commissioning to create a centralized production environment engineered around the institution’s current needs and long-term content strategy. Adding to its value, this investment extends beyond game-day production by giving students the chance to learn in the same types of production environments being adopted by professional sports and major broadcast organizations.

The Language & Communications (LNCO) broadcast facility is also central to a partnership with the University of Utah College of Humanities, where it provides students with access to professional-level technology, workflows and hands-on learning opportunities.

“This new facility embodies where collegiate sports production is headed,” said Aaron Jester, assistant athletics director of broadcast operations at Utah. “Now we can produce more content, support more of our athletic programs and continue expanding how we tell Utah’s stories across broadcast, streaming and in-venue platforms. Just as importantly, our partnership with the College of Humanities gives students a professional production environment in which to gain experience that can translate directly into careers in the industry.”

More information is available on Diversified’s website.

Ahead of NAB Show New York (Oct. 21–22), TV Tech surveyed a group of key exhibitors to find out which tech trends are on their radar and what key products they plan to highlight at the Javits Convention Center, including Matt Williams-Neale, vice president of marketing and communications at Appear.

TV Tech: What do you expect will be the most significant technology trends this year at NAB Show New York?

Matt Williams-Neale: Recent conversations at IBC2026 reinforced demand for adaptable infrastructure, and we expect that to continue at NAB Show New York. Broadcasters want to combine hardware, software and cloud according to each workflow, while developments such as DMF [Dynamic Media Facility] and MXL [Media eXchange Layer] for interoperable, software-defined broadcast facilities are part of more practical discussions.

With the upper C-band set for auction by July 2027, broadcasters using C-band satellite capacity need to plan their move to IP now. They want a phased migration that maintains broadcast-grade control and reliable live services.

Live production workflow is equally important as sports coverage expands across more venues and increases in scale. Customers need low-latency transport from venue to production facility or cloud, with secure connectivity and resilience over networks with unpredictable performance. These requirements are shaping investment in remote production as teams look to cover more events without an increase in resources.

TVT: What’s your key product announcement for the show, and what problem does it solve?

MWN: At NAB Show New York, we're highlighting how our X Platform hardware and VX software solutions work together across live event contribution, IP distribution and live production workflows. Broadcasters need to deliver more content while controlling costs and making better use of their infrastructure.

X Platform provides low-latency processing and predictable performance at the venue, while VX extends contribution feeds into the cloud and enables processing and workflow functions to run in software. This gives teams more options for expanding remote production across different event scales.

Hardware-accelerated SRT enables secure transport over unmanaged networks, helping broadcasters transition from satellite, leased circuits and SDI infrastructure. Customers can introduce these capabilities in stages, retaining dedicated hardware where performance is critical and adding software as their production requirements evolve.

TVT: How does this new solution stand out from what’s available on the market?

MWN: Our approach combines X Platform hardware and VX software so customers can choose where to run different parts of their workflow while maintaining control over live production. VX is natively integrated with X Platform, allowing teams to introduce software processing while retaining dedicated hardware where predictable performance matters most.

Support for JPEG XS, SRT and ST 2110 gives customers the flexibility to accommodate changing formats and production models within the same infrastructure, reducing the need to replace systems as requirements evolve. Support for multiple codecs and hardware-accelerated SRT helps us address those requirements across different production scales, including contribution over unmanaged networks.

TVT: What makes NAB Show New York so essential for your business, and what brings you back each year?

MNW: We’re already successful in the U.S., and we strongly believe that there is further room for growth in North America. NAB Show New York gives us an opportunity to speak directly with customers and partners about their investment plans, from satellite-to-IP migration to expanding live event contribution and REMI. The value comes from the quality of those conversations and having the right people involved. Understanding how customers use our technology, where they need more flexibility and what they want us to develop helps shape our product priorities.

A successful show strengthens existing relationships and opens discussions around new projects. It gives us a clearer understanding of how U.S. broadcasters and production companies plan to operate, helping us support their requirements as we continue to grow in North America.

Visit Appear at NAB Show New York in Booth 129.

LOS GATOS, Calif.—Netflix has named IMG as its production partner for its coverage of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Netflix is the U.S. and Canadian rightsholder for the 2027 tournament, which will run from June 24–July 25, 2027. IMG will produce coverage of all 64 matches in English and Spanish for U.S. audience and in English and French for Canadian viewers, as well as 100 hours of studio programming featuring top-tier talent and Netflix-exclusive in-tournament announcers, the streaming platform said.

IMG will also support Netflix’s live coverage of the soccer tournament’s final draw on Dec. 11.

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup is one of the fastest-growing events in global sport, showcasing the best football and captivating new audiences worldwide,” IMG president Adam Kelly said. “As Netflix makes its live football debut, we’re excited to help bring this tournament and its extraordinary athletes to new and existing fans in the U.S and Canada. Netflix’s scale, discoverability and storytelling, combined with IMG's best-in-class production expertise, make this a huge moment for football and women’s sport.”

More information is available on the Netflix TUDUM website.

Anthony James Partners (AJP) and the Florida Panthers have completed a comprehensive modernization of the broadcast production facility at Amerant Bank Arena, transforming the arena’s existing production environment into a fully IP-based system designed to support Panthers games and the venue’s year-round sports and entertainment schedule. The new facility went live for its first game on Sunday, September 20, marking the first live event produced using the Panthers’ new SMPTE ST 2110 production system.

Designed by AJP and implemented by broadcast integrator BeckTV, the project represents the next phase of a multi-year technology program at Amerant Bank Arena. The new production environment transitions the venue from its previous 3G infrastructure to a full SMPTE ST 2110 1080p workflow, providing significantly greater flexibility across production, replay, content creation and signal distribution while establishing a scalable foundation for future expansion.

The project went well beyond replacing production equipment. The existing production facilities were completely demolished and rebuilt, with AJP redesigning the layout of the production spaces to improve workflow between production, engineering, replay, graphics and audio personnel while supporting the operational requirements of the new broadcast environment.

Beyond the control room, AJP designed a major expansion of the arena’s broadcast connectivity infrastructure. Thirty-five new junction box locations were installed throughout the venue, replacing legacy cabling with new single-mode fiber, SMPTE fiber and audio connectivity. New truck-dock panels and six new truck-dock racks further integrate mobile production units with the arena’s broadcast infrastructure and Technical Operations Center.

Together, the improvements create an integrated production ecosystem extending from cameras and field locations throughout the arena to the production control room, Technical Operations Center and visiting broadcast trucks.

The broadcast modernization follows the recently completed LED and venue technology program at Amerant Bank Arena, also designed and managed by AJP. That work included the arena’s new 4K HDR-capable center-hung display, LED halo, ribbon boards and additional displays throughout the venue, together with associated hoist and rigging systems and reconfiguration of the bowl audio system.

With the completion of the new production facility, the Panthers now have a broadcast platform designed to take full advantage of those venue-wide systems while supporting the organization’s continued development of live game presentation and content production.

FORT WORTH, Texas—Disc Golf Network is the subscription streaming service of the Disc Golf Pro Tour, providing live and on-demand tournament coverage to viewers worldwide. We worked with Big Blue Marble in August 2023 to connect our production capabilities with a scalable cloud distribution platform supporting reliable live coverage, instant VOD and flexible viewing.

Our events can involve eight to 10 hours of coverage per day, and we believe the viewing experience should remain consistent from the opening coverage to the final moments of play. Our production workflows were capable of creating broadcast-quality output, but our previous streaming platform could not maintain that quality consistently across devices and locations.

As our viewing audience grew, it became clear that reliability alone was not enough. We needed to be able to introduce features quickly and be more responsive to viewer expectations. For a direct-to-consumer sports service, continuous improvement is essential, and we needed a platform that could develop alongside our audience.

Cloud-Based Quality
Our previous platform reduced live streams from 60 frames per second to 30 fps, affecting the fluidity of fast-moving sports coverage. Video-on-demand recordings were slow to become available, viewers could not pause or rewind live broadcasts and the infrastructure had limited capacity to scale when demand increased.

We needed a cloud platform that could preserve the quality of our production output throughout distribution and give us more control over development. It also needed to scale during major tournaments, protect our content and support different subscription tiers.

Big Blue Marble became our strategic architecture and systems integration partner, leading the platform rebuild and defining its architecture, integration standards and operational model. Its team redesigned Disc Golf Network around a modular, cloud-native framework using Cloud Video Kit and AWS Media Services.

The migration was a significant undertaking for both teams because it had to be completed within a demanding timeframe, six months before the new season started in February 2024. Big Blue Marble was confident its products and cloud technology could support the service we had envisioned. Close collaboration helped us deliver the new platform to our audience on schedule.

The new architecture brings encoding, packaging, recording, ad insertion and distribution into a unified cloud environment. Big Blue Marble introduced higher ingest bit rates, more-efficient encoding profiles and consistent 60 fps streaming, allowing us to retain the motion and picture quality created by our production workflow.

Amazon CloudFront supports content delivery, with redundancy and continuous monitoring helping maintain reliable performance. Audience peaks should be a sign of success, rather than a threat to service quality, and the platform automatically expands capacity as traffic grows, helping us maintain picture quality and playback stability when interest is highest. Multi-DRM protects live and on-demand content, and responsive 24/7 support gives our team access to technical assistance throughout live operations.

For sports audiences, the value of coverage does not end with the live broadcast. Cloud processing makes tournament coverage available on demand almost immediately after an event and gives viewers greater control over how they follow it. Automated workflows support Live DVR, so subscribers can pause, rewind and replay coverage.

Foundation for Growth
Professional disc golf now has an active viewing audience of 1.5 million. We expect our live coverage to reach more than 15,000 unique viewers per broadcast and over 200,000 viewers per event across 85 competition days this year. Supporting that growing audience makes it essential the platform can scale without compromising the viewing experience.

The modular architecture gives us greater commercial and operational flexibility with support for multiple subscription tiers, regional customization and future integrations. It also provides clearer insight into service performance and viewing behavior, helping us continue to refine the platform.

By connecting our production capabilities with cloud-based processing and distribution, we have created a more consistent route from the live event to the viewer. The platform has improved the quality, reliability and availability of our coverage and given us greater scope to keep developing the service.

More information is available on the Big Blue Marble website.

SAVANNAH, Ga.—What we love most about working for Fans First Entertainment and the Savannah Bananas is that every game feels like a live event, a broadcast and a social-media moment all at once. We are not just producing baseball—we are creating an experience that has to work in the stadium, on television, on YouTube and on every short-form platform where fans discover us. That is exactly why Sony’s Ci Media Cloud has become such an important part of our workflow.

Before this year, our media process was much more fragmented—we were relying on hard drives, laptops, and a very old-school sneakernet system to move footage around. It worked, but it was slow and it made it hard for everyone to stay connected. We were capturing a huge amount of content every weekend, but the process of getting that footage into the right hands took too long. That changed when we began using Ci Media Cloud.

Multiplatform Speedsters
Now, everything lives in one place. That may sound simple, but for us it has been a huge shift. We can upload footage on-site, organize it and share it instantly with the people who need it. Our editors can get to work faster and our marketing team can find what they need without waiting for drives to arrive. Even our cast members can log in, pull clips and create their own content. That kind of access has completely changed how quickly we can move.

We shoot about a terabyte of footage every weekend, so speed matters. With Ci Media Cloud, we can collect all of that material and start shaping it into clips almost immediately. That helps us get the best moments out while they are still fresh and still relevant. In our world, timing is everything: A great play, a wild fan reaction or a funny moment can become a viral clip fast, but only if we can move quickly enough to package it the right way.

Ci Media Cloud has also helped us control the quality of our storytelling. Our fans see us across a lot of different platforms, so we want the image and the feeling to stay consistent no matter where they find us. With everything in one system, we can make sure the footage looks and feels like the Savannah Bananas everywhere it appears. That consistency matters because we want the broadcast, video board and social clips to all reflect the same energy.

Shareable Stories
One of the best parts is how many people can use it. Our players and cast members can access footage and post their own clips, which has been huge for us, because so much of our growth comes from people sharing their own version of the Banana Ball experience. When our players can grab a clip and post it right away, they are helping tell our story in their own voice, making the content feel more immediate and more authentic.

Ci Media Cloud has also made it easier for us to support the moments that never make it into the main broadcast but are still a huge part of the fan experience. We can capture more from the plaza party, more from behind the scenes and more from the parts of the show that make Banana Ball unique. Those moments matter just as much as the game itself.

For us, Ci Media Cloud is more than a storage platform. It is the tool that helps us turn a fast-moving, high-energy live show into content fans can connect with everywhere. It has streamlined our workflow, improved our speed and made it easier for everyone on our team to create. Most importantly, it helps us stay true to what we believe: fans first, entertain always.

More information is available on the CI Media Cloud website.

SANTA ANA, Calif.—Producing niche sports for online fans faces challenges that mirror larger sports broadcasts, like long-distance signal transport. One video production company here is overcoming them with several solutions from AJA Video.

Bantaray Mobile Sports Production has developed a mobile production pipeline for niche sports content. The company regularly deploys AJA FiDO Mini-Converters alongside several other AJA SDI/HDMI Mini-Converters and Ki Pro recorders to ensure reliable signal conversion between fiber and SDI and transport signals across venues.

“Every event is different, and each venue presents unique challenges,” Bantaray Founder Steve Banta said. “Sending signals across long distances is almost always a hurdle. We have to find simple ways to get reporter feeds back to the truck, send program feeds to in-venue LED displays, and route audio and video signals safely across the venue. Our AJA FiDO Mini-Converters support these needs and have been incredibly dependable through rain, extreme heat, and constant travel—they just keep working.”

Since the company was founded in 2009, Bantaray has refined its mobile production pipeline for live sports. Today, its team uses that workflow to produce high school sports for Spectrum in Orange County and Riverside, Calif.; support Coachella Valley Firebirds event productions; and to produce other niche sports broadcasts. Rarely given the luxury of scouting a location beforehand, Bantaray taps into Google Earth to preview the space before arriving, determine where to park the OB truck and plan cable runs.

“That’s the beauty of fiber,” said Jeff Highbaugh, a freelance camera operator who works with Bantaray. “The truck can be parked anywhere on-site, and we can still quickly deploy audio and video using our FiDOs and daisy chain as much length as we need. The setup is so fast, and we can run four cameras down one fiber line.”

Bantaray owns 24 AJA FiDO Mini-Converters, including single-, dual- and four-channel models. They are mounted inside a portable booth kit containing an I/O panel and audio gear. Multiple cameras positioned around the commentator booth feed SDI signals into Bantaray’s booth kit, which converts them to fiber using the FiDOs and sends them back to the production truck over a four-pair tactical fiber-optic cable capable of carrying four signals.

“Each production typically involves a production truck, a commentator booth—which has the most signal paths going to it—and sometimes a video scoreboard, so we need to be able to move video and audio signals across long distances without power limitations,” Banta said. “Our longest fiber reel is 1,000 feet, and we often use Dante for audio. Fiber lets us barrel as many of those fiber reels together if we have a FiDO on each end."

Bantaray also relies on AJA Mini-Converters to convert SDI feeds to HDMI for monitoring, distribution amplifiers for signal management and AJA Ki Pro recorders for capture. “We don’t have a giant crew and everyone is wearing multiple hats,” Highbaugh said. “So, we need gear that is reliable, consistent and easy to use. Our AJA FiDO Mini-Converters provide reliable conversion between SDI and fiber, giving us additional flexibility to convert signals on the fly or extend them much farther than traditional SDI allows.”

As niche sports continue to find dedicated audiences through streaming platforms, Bantaray sees growing opportunities ahead and is focused on expanding further into the multicamera production space.

"Streaming continues to grow, so I'm looking at technology that can help me send high-quality, low-latency signals efficiently,” Highbaugh said. “Whether we're working with limited bandwidth or remote locations, finding reliable ways to get content on the air remains a major priority.”

More information is available on the Bantaray Mobile Sports Production and AJA Video websites.

VIENNA, Austria and POZNAŃ, Poland—Big Blue Marble has added live multiview channels to Cloud Video Kit, its broadcast-grade video processing platform. The feature is powered by AWS Elemental Dynamic Multiview from Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows viewers to watch multiple live feeds in a single stream.

AWS Elemental Dynamic Multiview is a capability of AWS Elemental MediaPackage that combines several live sources—such as additional camera angles, concurrent games, or a mix of channels—into a single HLS/DASH stream arranged into a custom layout at the point of delivery. Viewers can then build their own viewing experience by choosing which feeds they want to watch and how to arrange them across the screen.

Unlike server-side compositing solutions, the Dynamic Multiview layouts are not pre-rendered but assembled on demand. This means that cost scales with the number of encoded source streams, not the number of layout combinations that viewers can create, according to the company. The stream is also protected by a single DRM key, regardless of how the frames are arranged, and available on any end-user device without custom SDKs or special integrations.

Big Blue Marble used Elemental Dynamic Multiview to build the live multiview channels feature into Cloud Video Kit, its video processing and delivery platform powered by AWS Cloud. The platform combines scalable encoding, packaging, and distribution tools with content security features such as DRM, forensic watermarking, and fraud detection. The integration makes the multiview channels available as part of the same infrastructure that Cloud Video Kit customers already use in their everyday operations.

Cloud Video Kit’s new multiview capabilities built with AWS premiered at IBC2026 and are now available to the wider audience.

LONDON—The International Swimming League (ISL) has appointed Gravity Media as its official broadcast content and production partner.

The partnership will focus on the ISL All-Star Match, a one-night relaunch event set for Dec. 19 at the London Aquatics Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The two-hour, head-to-head competition involves four teams of the world’s top male and female swimmers from the U.S., the Commonwealth, Europe and the rest of the world. Rather than the typical heats-and-finals swim meet, every race will count and only one team will leave London as champion, the companies said.

The partnership brings together ISL’s mission to reimagine competitive swimming as fast-paced, fan-first entertainment with Gravity Media’s three decades of producing complex, multicamera live events to the highest international standard, they said.

For the All-Star Match, Gravity Media will deploy a comprehensive production package designed to bring fans closer to the action.

“With the International Swimming League, we aim to bring the storytelling of swimming into a new dimension, transforming live sports production into an increasingly immersive and engaging experience,” said Claudio Cavalotti, Gravity Media’s Italy managing director. “Today, technology allows us to capture the competition from entirely new perspectives: from above and below the water, through robotic systems and dynamic poolside cameras to the integration of data and digital content.”

The Gravity Media production package includes:

• Underwater and specialty cameras that will deliver unprecedented views of strokes, turns and underwater technique.
• Robotic rail camera systems, capable of dynamic, high-speed moving shots around the pool deck at speeds of up to 42.6 feet per second (13 meters per second) to bring cinematic energy to every race.
• Gyro-stabilized robotic camera systems with three-axis stabilization and 8K-ready capability to deliver fluid, broadcast-grade visuals across the venue.
• Robotic minicams at the starting block and finish line, engineered for precision coverage of race-defining moments.
• Optional real-time data integration, including augmented reality graphics, live tracking and swimmer profiles layered directly into the broadcast feed.

Gravity Media’s full-service OB fleet and 19,700-square-foot (6,000-square-meter) production center in Cologno Monzese, Italy, will support the production.

“We are creating a visual spectacle that captures the speed, athleticism and drama of our event in a way audiences have never experienced,” ISL Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer Mario Medeiros said. “Gravity Media shares our vision of pushing creative and technical boundaries, and their track record with major international sporting events makes them the ideal partner as we relaunch the ISL on the global stage.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

SQUAMISH, British Columbia—Mesh Broadcast Services, a mobile production facilities company here, said it has deployed a Calrec Argo M console to fit the professional audio capabilities of a large production truck into a smaller unit.

Installed by Calrec’s Canadian partner, True North AV, the 36-fader desk sits in the production area of Mesh Broadcast Services’ Eclipse flagship, a 40-foot unit that was recently moved onto a 2025 Freightliner dual-axle truck. The truck now covers 10 to 12 events per month.

Mesh Broadcast Services first used its new Argo M during its six-week contract with InLive, the city of Vancouver and FIFA for the Vancouver FIFA Fan Festival. That event, held at the Pacific National Exhibition, served as a central hub for soccer fans watching FIFA World Cup games.

“We looked at several platforms, but when Calrec developed and launched the Argo series, we knew we had found both the power and size to fit our applications,” Scott McPhee, co-founder and production director at Mesh Broadcast Services, said.

“In North American sports, Calrec is the platform of choice for 90% of engineers,” McPhee continued. “With the Argo M, we have an extremely powerful audio workflow. The desk is intuitive enough that new A1s can get working fairly quickly, but seasoned A1s used to the older, larger Calrec consoles can still operate a show fairly easily."

Mesh Broadcast Services needed a console with multiple I/O options. That’s especially the case because Dante is a “huge” platform for Mesh, as many of today’s productions require it as part of the workflow, McPhee said.

“Combine that with the usual MADI connections and analog, and you can cover just about any workflow, be it a pro sport like hockey or soccer, or a streaming e-game event,” he said.

“In 2025, we were the official broadcast facilities provider for the Invictus Games in Vancouver,” he continued. “We purchased a DirectOut Prodigy MX as a MADI and Dante interface for our old audio system, but combined with the Argo M platform, these two devices have increased our capabilities tenfold. The card slot options for the Argo series are a huge bonus. With a small truck space, we need compact but powerful.”

Mesh Broadcast Services also installed three Calrec Type R analog I/O boxes, housed in flight cases as portable field boxes for a compact solution that is easy to move around the field of play.

More information is available on the Calrec and Mesh Broadcast Services websites.

NEW YORK—Emergent has named Tom Shelburne as head of business development, North America, tasked with driving the browser-native broadcast graphics provider’s expansion across such categories as sports, houses of worship, corporate media production, podcasts and new media producers and systems integrators.

A five-time Emmy Award winner, Shelburne is the former replay technical director for NBC’s NFL “Sunday Night Football” telecast. He has also held senior North America roles at Vizrt, Pixotope and Mo-Sys.

“Everything we learned over the years about workflow, render engines, and graphic design has been reimagined,” Shelburne said. “This isn’t a faster version of the old way; it changes how people think about making graphics.”

Emergent positions its product, built on the WebGPU standard that gives web browsers native access to local broadcast platforms, as a full-fledged broadcast rendering engine that eliminates the need for locally installed software. A cloud-native system, Emergent’s platform handles standard HTML and WebGPU rendering to replace traditional hardware render engines, the company said.

Emergent’s platform uses AI across the production lifecycle, from automated graphics creation and live-data population to automated social clipping and asset management, the company said. It is deployable via public cloud services or on-premises models.

At Emergent, Shelburne will rejoin several colleagues he once worked with at Vizrt, now on its leadership team, including CEO Greg Mindlin, Chief Business Officer David Jorba, Chief Creative Officer Miguel Yabrudes and Chief Technology Officer Wilson Li.

“Tom has sat in the TD chair and across the table from customers, and they trust him,” Jorba said. “When we built something so different, he was the first person we wanted to see it.”

For more on Emergent, visit its website.

MUNICH, Germany—ARRI, a camera brand usually associated with high-end film production, is going down market with the launch of the new HONOR Magic9 Pro Max smartphone. The launch, part of ARRI’s “Cinematic Imaging Partnership” is the second such smartphone with ARRI’s imaging technology, following the launch of the HONOR Robot Phone last month.

The difference with the new smartphone is that selected elements of ARRI Image Science have been integrated into the Pro Max, which also carries ARRI branding on the device and packaging for the first time, ARRI said.

The HONOR Magic9 Pro Max extends the company’s collaboration with HONOR, an “AI device ecosystem company,” into the flagship Magic Series, adding more ARRI Looks and access to the ARRI Look Library to further establish ARRI Image Science within HONOR’s mobile imaging portfolio.

“The HONOR Magic9 Pro Max gives us an opportunity to introduce up-and-coming cinematographers to the ARRI brand at an early stage in their creative journey,” says David Bermbach, Chief Product Officer of ARRI. “By giving them access to ARRI Image Science and a more cinematic image pipeline from capture through postproduction, we are extending what ARRI has stood for for more than a century: enabling inspiring images with tools, workflows, and expertise that serve the creative vision.”

The co-branding extends to the smallest design details, including a dedicated version of the ARRI logo optimized for precise, miniaturized reproduction next to the phone’s cameras. The device therefore represents more than a technology integration: it is a co-branded expression of cinematic image quality that visibly connects ARRI’s professional imaging heritage with HONOR’s premium mobile Platform.

The HONOR Magic9 Pro Max integrates selected elements of ARRI Image Science across capture, color management, real-time preview, and finishing. Native ARRI LogC3 recording in the ARRI Wide Gamut 3 color space is designed to preserve more usable highlight, shadow, and color information for postproduction, while ARRI Looks allow creators to preview distinctive visual styles at the moment of capture.

The device combines dual 200MP cameras with the HONOR Imaging Chip H1, APV 10-bit 4:2:2 recording, cinematic video functions, cinematic directional microphone, and optional creation accessories including the HONOR Teleconverter G200, HONOR Teleconverter G500, and the HONOR SmallRig Mobile Video Kit, supporting a more consistent path from mobile acquisition to professional postproduction.

ARRI says the launch supports the company’s expansion into Content Creation alongside its established Motion Picture and Live Entertainment businesses.

The HONOR Magic9 Pro Max will initially launch in China, with more markets following shortly thereafter. Product specifications, pricing, color variants, memory configurations, channel availability, and further market information will be announced by HONOR.

ESPN delivered its most-watched WNBA regular season ever in 2026, marking the third straight year that regular season viewing set records.

Across 29 games, the WNBA on ESPN networks averaged 1.37 million viewers, up 17% year-over-year.

ESPN presented 17 games this season, averaging 1.24 million viewers, up 32% year-over-year, while 12 games on ABC averaged 1.56 million viewers, up 9% year-over-year.

The historic season also delivered significant growth among younger audiences. Viewership among persons 2-17 increased 29% year-over-year, while persons 18-24 grew 27%.

Non-Indiana games averaged 984,000 viewers, up 24% year-over-year and its WNBA Countdown show averaged 595,000 viewers, up 27% year-over-year.

The record-setting season was highlighted by five games averaging more than 2 million viewers. Those games were:

• Indiana Fever at Atlanta Dream – Aug. 16, ESPN: 2.58M viewers
• Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky – Aug. 8, ABC: 2.56M viewers
• Indiana Fever at Minnesota Lynx – Aug. 2, ABC: 2.52M viewers
• Dallas Wings at Indiana Fever – May 9, ABC: 2.49M viewers
• New York Liberty at Indiana Fever – Aug. 11, ESPN: 2.01M viewers

Indiana Fever-Atlanta Dream on Aug. 16 led all WNBA games across ESPN networks this season and became the most-watched WNBA regular-season or postseason game ever on cable.

ATLANTA—The Ohio Valley Conference has renewed its deal with Gray Media to broadcast the league’s athletic events across twenty Gray markets in eight states.

As part of the Conference’s multi-year contract with ESPN, the entire package will also be simulcast live nationally on ESPN+ and available through the ESPN app without digital blackouts.

The 2026-27 package again features select men’s and women’s basketball matchups, plus expanded coverage with three men’s soccer, three women’s soccer and four volleyball contests this fall. A list of basketball contests to broadcast on Gray stations will be announced at a later date, in addition to plans for spring sports coverage.

Gray’s Tennessee Valley Sports & Entertainment Network and Mid-South Sports & Entertainment Network each looks forward to bringing two Tennessee institutions – Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee at Martin – to viewers across the state.

The Tennessee Valley Sports & Entertainment Network broadcasts over-the-air in Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, while the Mid-South Sports & Entertainment Network broadcasts in Memphis and Jackson. The OVC is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee (just south of Nashville).

In addition, Gray’s Matrix Midwest in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri, will serve hometown viewers of OVC’s Southeast Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Lindenwood University, while Gray’s Illinois stations in Champaign, Peoria, Quincy, and Rockford are excited to serve fans of OVC’s Western Illinois University and Eastern Illinois University.

Gray’s Indiana stations in Evansville, Ft. Wayne, South Bend, Lafayette and Terre Haute will focus on the University of Southern Indiana, and Gray will also bring the package to fans of Morehead State University in Lexington, Kentucky.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The Southwest Athletic Conference has expanded its SWAC TV with the launch of a dedicated FAST channel, increasing the accessibility and national reach of its programming.

SWAC TV will now be available via Prime Video, Plex, Xumo Play, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV and Dingo TV at no charge. The conference intends to announce more distribution platforms going forward.

“Expanding SWAC TV across leading FAST platforms represents a transformative moment for our conference and is a direct reflection of the tremendous support our fans have shown for SWAC programming,” said SWAC commissioner Charles McClelland. “The growth in our viewership has positioned us to take this significant next step and provide even greater access to our content on platforms that millions of consumers use every day.”

The expanded distribution of SWAC TV represents another major step in the conference's ongoing investment in digital media and broadcast programming. Through the FAST channel, viewers will have access to live sporting events, original programming and additional content highlighting the SWAC's 12 member institutions and 18 conference-sponsored sports.

SWAC has partnered with Triple B Media to operate and distribute the SWAC TV FAST channel across participating platforms.

The SWAC TV FAST channel will officially begin its live sports programming with action from week three of the 2026 college football season on Saturday, Sept. 19.

The FAST channel will complement the conference's existing SWAC TV distribution and provide an additional avenue for fans, alumni and supporters to follow their favorite programs while significantly expanding the potential audience for SWAC athletics.

More information is available on the conference’s website.

As live sports proliferates on streaming platforms and more viewers are watching live sports, new research from Premion and Advertiser Perceptions finds that demand for live sports streaming/CTV ad inventory is also growing.

The survey found that nearly three-quarters (73%) of advertisers plan to allocate budget to live sports streaming/CTV advertising over the next 6–12 months, driven by engaged fans and major live events. Agency demand is even stronger, with 79% planning to invest, compared with 65% of marketers, the study found.

At the same time, the study also indicated that advertisers also want better measurement, stronger proof of ROI and simpler ways to navigate an increasingly fragmented sports marketplace as they ramp up those investments.

“Live sports continues to deliver something incredibly valuable for advertisers: passionate audiences showing up in real time,” said Blake Hebert, head of publisher operations, Premion. “As more sports viewing moves to streaming, advertisers want to capture that engagement with greater precision, accountability and local relevance. The opportunity now is to make live sports easier to access, measure and prove across an increasingly fragmented landscape.”

Six in 10 advertisers (61%) say reaching highly engaged sports fans during live events is a top reason for investing in live sports streaming, making it the leading investment driver. More than half (52%) also point to capitalizing on live sporting events that draw large audiences.

The appeal goes beyond engagement and scale. 41% cite aligning their brands with premium live sports content, while 40% are looking to extend the reach and impact of linear TV campaigns and 37% want to connect with streaming-first or cord-cutting sports fans. The findings reinforce streaming’s growing role in extending linear reach and connecting advertisers with shifting sports audiences.

57% of advertisers rank audience delivery and geographic reporting down to the local market among their most important measurement capabilities, higher than any other capability tested. That local focus signals that advertisers want to know not only that they reached sports fans, but that they reached the right audiences in the markets that matter, the researchers reported.

Accountability also ranks high. 52% prioritize attribution following exposure to live sports advertising, while 49% prioritize transparent reporting across publishers and inventory sources. Another 49% prioritize measuring incremental reach beyond linear TV. The expectation is clear: prove audience delivery, quantify streaming’s incremental reach and connect exposure to outcomes.

The survey also found that four in 10 advertisers (40%) are investing in live sports streaming to extend the reach and impact of linear TV campaigns, while nearly half (49%) prioritize measuring incremental reach beyond linear TV.

The findings underscore how streaming and linear are increasingly working hand in hand. As sports audiences spread across screens, streaming helps advertisers extend linear reach while adding greater targeting and measurement, the researchers said.

In terms of barriers to investment, the survey indicated that cost is the top obstacle to greater live sports streaming investment. That factor was cited by 44% of advertisers, with difficulty measuring campaign performance and ROI close behind at 41%.

Other hurdles reflect the complexity of today’s sports marketplace. 35% cite a lack of transparency into campaign delivery and reporting, while 34% point to the complexity of buying across multiple publishers and platforms. Another 34% cite limited access to premium live sports inventory.

Notably, just 23% cite difficulty reaching sports audiences at sufficient scale, the lowest-ranked challenge. The gap is telling: reaching sports fans isn’t the primary obstacle. Cost, proving performance and navigating a fragmented marketplace are the bigger hurdles to greater investment.

“Our research shows advertisers already recognize the value of live sports streaming. The next step is removing the friction that can hold back greater investment, from buying complexity to transparency and ROI. Solving those challenges will help advertisers get more from live sports,” added Hebert.

Premion commissioned Advertiser Perceptions to survey 302 U.S. advertising decision-makers from August 3–11, 2026. Respondents were involved in media brand selection decisions and represented companies or clients with at least $1 million in planned advertising spend over the next 12 months. The sample included both agency and marketer respondents from the Advertiser Perceptions AdPROs Community and trusted third-party partners.

The full report is available here.

SACRAMENTO—CBS Sacramento (KMAX), and UC Davis Athletics have announced a new deal that will bring five 2026 UC Davis Aggies football games to the greater Sacramento area via free broadcast TV.

The five-game package gives fans free televised access to a UC Davis team that enters 2026 ranked No. 6 in the FCS. Under third-year head coach Tim Plough, the Aggies are coming off a 9-4 season and a fifth FCS playoff berth since 2018.

“This partnership reflects our commitment to showcasing the teams, traditions and institutions that matter most to Northern California,” said Scott Warren, regional president and general manager, CBS Sacramento and CBS Bay Area. “UC Davis is an important part of the fabric of our region, and we're proud to partner with the university to bring Aggies football free to viewers across the Sacramento area while helping connect more fans with the excitement of the season.”

“Expanding the reach and visibility of Aggie football throughout the Sacramento region continues to be a priority for our department, and this partnership with CBS Sacramento is an important step forward,” said Rocko DeLuca, director of athletics at UC Davis. “Providing free, over-the-air access to our games gives us another opportunity to grow our base of support, connect with UC Davis alumni throughout the Sacramento region and introduce even more fans to Aggie football.”

2026 CBS Sacramento / UC Davis Football Broadcast Schedule:

• Saturday, Sept. 19, 7:00 p.m., Stetson
• Saturday, Sept. 26, 7:00 p.m., Montana
• Saturday, Oct. 24, 4:00 p.m., Northern Colorado
• Saturday, Nov. 7, 4:00 p.m., Utah Tech
• Saturday, Nov. 21, 1:00 p.m., Cal Poly

ESPN is reporting strong viewing numbers for its U.S. Open coverage, with Sunday’s US Open Men’s Championship match between Ben Shelton and eventual champion Alexander Zverev attracting an average audience of 3.2 million viewers on ABC, the largest viewership on record since ESPN began televising the tournament in 2009.

Viewership peaked at 4.0 million from 5:30-5:45 p.m. ET.

Earlier, Saturday’s Women’s Championship, won by Elena Rybakina over Aryna Sabalenka, averaged 2.7 million viewers, peaking at 3.2 million from 6:30-6:45 p.m. The audience was up 13% year-over-year (YOY) and was ESPN’s largest since 3.4 million watched Sabalenka and Coco Gauff in 2023.

The Men’s and Women’s championships combined to average 3.0 million viewers, up 9% YOY.

The All-American Friday night Men’s semifinal match between Shelton and Frances Tiafoe averaged 3.1 million viewers, peaking at 3.7 million between 10:45-11 p.m., the largest Men’s semifinal audience on record for ESPN. The earlier semifinal match with Zverev defeating Karen Khachanov averaged 1.2 million, with the two semifinals combining to average 2.2 million viewers, up 19% YOY.

Overall, the event ranks as ESPN’s most-viewed US Open since 2022. The two-week long tournament across ESPN networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2) averaged 1.2 million viewers, a 4% increase YOY.

Other key viewing figures include:

• ESPN delivered its largest US Open opening day audience ever on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, 914K avg. viewers, up 13% YOY. Action on ABC averaged 1.25M avg. viewers, up 7% vs. 2025.
• The second round drew 834K avg. viewers on ESPN/ESPN2
• Third round across ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 1.1 million, up +27% from last year and also standing as the most-viewed since 2022. ESPN2’s Saturday daytime telecast averaged 1.0 million viewers, up +31% from the comparable telecast last year, while ESPN2’s prime window (1.1 million viewers) was up +43%.
• Through the completion of the third round on Saturday, Sept. 5, ESPN had recorded its most-viewed since 2022 (avg. 846K)
• Third round viewership was boosted by Serena and Venus Williams competing in doubles during primetime, attracting an average audience of 1.2 million (peak 2.2 million from 10-10:15 p.m.) as they lost a three-set match to Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint.
• Tournament average (through Women’s Semifinals): 1.0 million viewers, up 2% YoY, ESPN’s most-viewed US Open since 2022
• Quarterfinals average: 1.3 million viewers
• Tuesday primetime Quarterfinals window (7:30 p.m. – 3:40 a.m.): 1.6 million viewers, featured latest-finishing match in US Open history
• Women’s Semifinals: 2.2 million viewers, up 24% YoY, most-watched US Open Women’s Semis in ESPN history
• Women’s Semifinals peak (9:45-10 p.m. ET, Gauff vs. Rybakina): 2.6 million viewers

ATLANTA—Gray Media and the Cleveland Cavaliers announced a deal with DAZN that will allow Gray to broadcast 15 regular season Cavaliers games on free, over-the-air TV during the 2026-27 NBA season.

The 15-game package is a simulcast of the games available for free that are in front of the Cavaliers on DAZN paid subscription paywall offering.

The games will air locally in Cleveland on Gray Media’s stations, WOIO (CBS 19) and WUAB (MyNet 43), and statewide on Rock Entertainment Sports Network.

Rock Entertainment Sports Network is a collaboration between Gray Media and Rock Entertainment Group, which owns the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Sirens, Cleveland Monsters, and Cleveland Charge.

In addition, Gray stations in other markets, including Cincinnati, Ohio; Lima, Ohio; and Parkersburg, West Virginia will also air the 15-game package. Gray will seek additional third-party broadcasters to air the games in other parts of the territory where Gray does not own or operate television stations.

“We are absolutely thrilled to partner with the Cavaliers and DAZN to bring world-class basketball straight to our viewers' living rooms completely free of charge,” said Chris Conroy, general manager of WOIO/WUAB. “Local sports belong on local television, and this historic agreement delivers for Cavs fans.”

WUAB has a long history of broadcasting Cavaliers games and a nostalgic legacy of carrying Cleveland Indians baseball. Live Cleveland Cavaliers basketball adds to a lineup that has featured the Cleveland Browns, Columbus Blue Jackets hockey, college football, NCAA March Madness, and events like The Masters.

“In partnership with Gray and DAZN, we've built the most enhanced and accessible broadcast ecosystem we've had in years,” said Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group, Cleveland Cavaliers and Rocket Arena. “Our fans are at the core of every decision we make, and this season we're proud to triple the number of games available for free, over-the-air on Gray's local stations and Rock Entertainment Sports Network.”

The current schedule provided below is subject to change. The broadcast schedule will include pregame and postgame coverage.

• Mon. October 26, 2026 - Minnesota at Cleveland 7:00 PM (WUAB)
• Thur. October 29, 2026 - Cleveland at Atlanta 7:00 PM (WUAB)
• Mon. November 2, 2026 - Oklahoma City at Cleveland 7:00 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Sat. November 14, 2026 - Dallas at Cleveland 7:30 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Sat. December 12, 2026 - Golden State at Cleveland 8:00 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Fri. December 18, 2026 - Cleveland at Detroit 7:30 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Wed. December 23, 2026 - Cleveland at Washington 7:00 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Sat. January 2, 2027 - Cleveland at Charlotte 1:00 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Sat. January 23, 2027 - Cleveland at Dallas 8:00 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Fri. January 29, 2027 - Cleveland at Toronto 7:00 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Sat. February 6, 2027 - Orlando at Cleveland 7:30 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Sun. February 14, 2027 - Phoenix at Cleveland 1:00 PM (WOIO-CBS)
• Tue. March 9, 2027 - Cleveland at Detroit 8:00 PM (WOIO-CBS or WUAB)
• Sun. March 14, 2027 - Cleveland at Sacramento 6:00 PM (WOIO-CBS or WUAB)
• Sun. April 4, 2027 - Charlotte at Cleveland 3:00 PM (WOIO-CBS or WUAB)

MELBOURNE—The 2026 NFL Melbourne Game on Netflix, pitting the San Francisco 49ers against the Los Angeles Rams, averaged 18.5 million viewers in the U.S. according to Nielsen Big Data Plus Panel ratings.

Viewership peaked at 21.3 million viewers in the U.S. from 9:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. ET. That ranks the game among the top three most-streamed Thursday primetime NFL games.

The 49ers-Rams matchup averaged 4.0 million viewers among persons 18–34, the highest non-Christmas streaming delivery for an NFL regular season game, per Nielsen data plus first-party data from Netflix. Netflix now holds the top four highest-rated regular season NFL games among adults 18–34, including Christmas Day games.

Globally, the matchup drew 21.7 million viewers, with fans from more than 200 countries and territories tuning in for the first-ever regular season NFL game played in Australia.

49ers-Rams garnered over 14.5 million engagements across Netflix and NFL social channels.

The game was the most-watched NFL game ever in Australia.

Official attendance for 49ers-Rams was 100,021 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, ranking as the seventh-most-attended regular-season game in NFL history.