EMERYVILLE, Calif., and BOZEMAN, Mont.—Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has formed an exclusive partnership with Nu-Studio, which will make its public debut at the 2026 NAMM Show, Jan. 20-24, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.

ASG will serve as the exclusive reseller of Nu-Studio, including the company’s modular, portable studio designed for immersive audiovisual production, to bring the platform to market through its global sales, installation, and service infrastructure, ASG said.

Nu-Studio is a studio infrastructure designed to be adaptable as technology, standards and workflows evolve. A modular, reconfigurable acoustic control room, it allows for integrated audiovisual workflows with a portable, non-permanent framework that installs in days and can be relocated or reconfigured as needs change.

The partnership brings together Nu-Studio’s modular studio environment with ASG’s experience in end-to-end sales, installation, training and long-term service for media production environments worldwide, it said.

Designed for modern audiovisual production, Nu-Studio allows artists and production teams to work across multiple formats in a single environment, reducing the need to move between dedicated rooms as projects evolve.

"Nu·Studio gives our clients a flexible, scalable solution for a wide range of applications," said Tom Menrath, ASG vice president of Audio & Post Production. "This partnership allows us to bring a truly unique modular control room to market that allows our customers to easily pivot as their needs change."

As part of the exclusive agreement, ASG will manage commercial aspects of the Nu- Studio System, including sales, installation, staffing, training and servicing.

Nu-Studio systems are designed to integrate seamlessly with various production technologies, including Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision workflows.

Nu-Studio and ASG will exhibit at the 2026 NAMM Show in the Avid booth (booth 15000).

More information is available on the Nu-Studio and ASG websites.

In today’s fast-paced sports broadcasting environment, the role of the studio is becoming increasingly central to the overall production. Whether it’s pre-game analysis, mid-game breakdowns, or post-game commentary, sports broadcast studios are expected to deliver content that engages viewers visually as much as it does editorially. A key part of achieving this engagement is the ability to capture dynamic, creative shots that enhance the storytelling within the studio.

Yet, for many studios, managing complex camera movements and maintaining high-quality visuals across broadcasts can be a challenge. Traditional camera setups often rely on manual operation, which can result in inconsistent shot quality, operational inefficiencies, and higher production costs. With the growing need for real-time responsiveness and flexibility in studio environments, more advanced solutions are required to streamline camera operations and ensure smooth, polished visuals.

CHALLENGES IN CAMERA OPERATIONS FOR SPORTS BROADCAST STUDIOS

Inconsistent camera movements and shot quality

One of the biggest challenges in sports studios is ensuring smooth and consistent camera movements. Whether it’s a transition from one host to another, a sweeping shot across a panel of analysts, or a close-up to emphasize a key point, these movements need to be flawless. In traditional setups, these shots are controlled manually, leading to inconsistencies in timing, framing, and execution. As a result, the overall quality of the broadcast can suffer, diminishing the professionalism and impact of the in-studio segment.

Smooth, well-timed camera movements are essential for maintaining viewer engagement. For example, during a heated discussion among commentators, a poorly executed camera transition can disrupt the flow of conversation and diminish the viewer’s experience. Achieving consistent, seamless transitions is crucial to delivering a visually compelling experience that keeps the audience focused on the content, not the production.

Operator-intensive production requirements

Managing multiple camera angles in a live studio environment requires a highly skilled and coordinated team. In traditional setups, each camera must be controlled by an individual operator responsible for executing precise movements. This level of manual control can be time-consuming and labor-intensive and requires experienced operators who can react quickly to real-time developments in the broadcast.

The complexity of certain camera movements—like smoothly tracking talent as they move across the set—can present challenges, particularly in automated setups. While manual operation often provides the nuance needed to make such movements appear natural, automated systems can struggle to replicate the same fluidity without manual intervention. Maintaining a large crew of skilled operators to achieve high-quality, consistent results can drive up production costs, making it harder for studios to stay within budget while delivering polished broadcasts.

Limited flexibility for real-time adjustments

A sports broadcast studio is an inherently dynamic environment. Hosts move around the set to interact with graphics, video walls, or other studio elements. In some cases, they might shift locations unexpectedly or stand up to make a point more emphatically. While manual camera operators excel at making reactive adjustments with precision, relying on a dedicated operator for each camera can be inefficient and costly. Scaling this approach across multiple cameras significantly increases production complexity and budget, making it difficult to maintain efficiency in fast-paced broadcasts.

Traditional automated cameras result in inconsistent or delayed camera responses, which impacts the flow of a broadcast and may lead viewers to miss key moments or become distracted by awkward framing. Flexibility in camera movements and framing is especially critical in sports studio settings where timing and smooth transitions are vital to maintaining professionalism and viewer engagement.

The role of automation in solving studio camera challenges

As the demands on sports studios increase, many broadcasters are looking to automation to streamline their camera operations. Robotic camera solutions, like the ones used in top studios, help bridge the gap between manual operation and full automation. They bring advanced features that make capturing shots more precise and easier to control. Automated systems have the ability to execute precise, pre-programmed camera movements with greater consistency and reliability than manual setups. These systems provide a level of precision and control that can enhance a broadcast’s overall visual quality while reducing operational complexity.

Consistency and precision in camera movements

Robotic cameras are becoming a cornerstone of leading studio setups, often complementing manual systems. Manual tools like jibs and Steadicams have long been prized for their ability to execute dynamic, creative shots—the “candy” of broadcast visuals—but they also rely heavily on highly skilled operators. Achieving consistent quality across broadcasts can be challenging, as outcomes depend on operator expertise and technique.

Advanced robotic systems, such as Ross Video’s Artimo, are now bridging the gap between precision and creativity, offering smooth, fluid camera movements that rival those of manual setups. These systems can replicate complex moves traditionally reserved for manual tools, such as sweeping transitions or dynamic talent tracking, while ensuring consistency across broadcasts. With the added advantage of automation, these systems reduce operational complexity and provide reliable performance in live, fast-paced environments, helping broadcasters maintain a professional polish without sacrificing creativity.

Reducing the operator burden

Automating camera operations significantly reduces the number of operators required to manage a live studio production. Instead of needing a dedicated operator for each camera, an automated system can control multiple cameras simultaneously from a single console. This not only improves operational efficiency but also minimizes the risk of human error during live broadcasts.

With automation, operators can build pre-programmed sequences of shots that automatically recall new camera positions and framing throughout the show. For example, during a pre-game discussion, a sequence might include wide shots of the entire panel, close-ups of individual hosts, and dynamic transitions between angles—all executed with little to no manual intervention. This allows production teams to focus on other elements of the broadcast, such as coordinating graphics, managing audio, or interacting with live data feeds.

Real-time adaptability through AI-driven tracking

The latest generation of robotic camera systems leverages AI-driven tracking technology to further enhance automation. AI-based systems, like those deployed in leading broadcast studios, can automatically track on-camera talent, ensuring the camera stays framed on the subject even as they move across the set. For instance, a major German broadcaster, Sky Deutschland, incorporated these solutions during a recent studio overhaul, significantly improving their live sports coverage’s precision and dynamic capabilities​.

This eliminates the need for manual tracking and ensures that talent is always framed perfectly, even in fast-paced, dynamic environments. AI-driven tracking can be a game-changer in sports studios, where talent often moves around to interact with graphics, screens, or other visual elements. By following the talent in real time, these systems ensure that the camera keeps up with the action, delivering smooth, professional-grade shots that enhance the viewer experience.

For example, AI-driven technology like Vision[Ai]ry can autonomously adjust to follow talent’s movements, in a way that looks natural to the viewer. Systems like this offer a hands-off approach that reduces the need for manual adjustments, allowing directors to focus on other production areas.

Enhancing creative flexibility

In a studio environment, creative flexibility is essential. Automated camera systems can be programmed with customizable presets that allow directors to easily switch between different camera angles and movements. For example, a preset might be used to capture a wide-angle shot of the entire set at the start of a segment, then transition to close-ups of individual hosts as the discussion intensifies.

These presets can be triggered automatically or at the director’s discretion, allowing for seamless transitions between shots without the need for manual control. This level of creative flexibility enables directors to experiment with different shot compositions and movements, ultimately improving the visual storytelling of the broadcast.

Cost efficiency and scalability

By optimizing camera operations and enhancing workflow efficiency, automated camera systems improve cost efficiency for sports studios. These systems are scalable, making them suitable for studios of all sizes—from small local stations to large national networks. As the demands of live broadcasts continue to increase, the scalability of automation ensures that studios can grow and adapt their camera operations without incurring major costs or requiring extensive reconfigurations.

The future of camera automation in sports studios

As sports broadcast studios become more complex, the need for efficient, flexible, and high-quality camera operations has never been greater. Traditional camera setups, with their reliance on manual control, are becoming increasingly inadequate for the demands of modern broadcasts. Automated camera systems offer a solution that improves the consistency and quality of studio shots and reduces the operational burden on production teams.

By embracing automation, sports studios can enhance their creative flexibility, capture more dynamic visuals, and deliver a more polished and professional broadcast experience. Whether through advanced AI-driven tracking or pre-programmed camera movements, the future of in-studio camera operations lies in automation.

For studios looking to stay ahead of the curve, investing in a robotic camera system similar to Ross Video’s Artimo is an important step toward improving operational efficiency and elevating production quality. These systems offer the precision, adaptability, and scalability that modern sports broadcasts demand, ensuring that every segment is delivered with the highest level of professionalism and visual appeal.

A definitive guide to the modern sports viewer

Sports broadcasting is undergoing a seismic shift, with global audiences consuming live events in new and diverse ways. From multi-screen viewing to the rise of social media engagement, modern sports fans are more connected—and selective—than ever before.

According to our recent research, conducted in partnership with Kantar, sports audiences are adapting to new technologies and media formats at an unprecedented rate. These behavior shifts present challenges and opportunities for broadcasters and rights holders.

SAN FRANCISCO—Fox’s ad-supported streaming service Tubi has launched Stubios, a fan-fueled studio for aspiring filmmakers and their fans that the company says will build new pathways for creatives to find success in Hollywood and provide fans with the power to encourage the development of specific types of content. 

More specifically, Stubios is a program for creatives that enables their fans to have a say in what gets made. 

Stubiorunners, creatives who are accepted into the program, have the ability to ask fans their opinion on everything from casting to key art and fans follow along throughout the production process. When projects go live, fans can show their support by watching the content and once viewership surpasses a threshold, the Stubio runners will be automatically greenlit for their next project, creating a flywheel of success to build a sustainable career. 

“Tubi is free entertainment for the cordless generation, and we’re committed to a programming strategy that resonates with younger and diverse audiences,” said Anjali Sud, CEO of Tubi. “Tubi has the unique advantage of the world’s largest library of movies and TV series, and the insights we gain from viewers telling us what they want to watch. Stubios is a way to give creatives with invested fanbases an opportunity to tell stories that may not otherwise be greenlit in Hollywood, and it will enable Tubi to ensure our programming reflects culture as it is happening.”

The streaming service stressed that Stubio runners do not need to have any filmmaking experience to bring their stories to life. 

For this program Tubi is looking for creatives from varied backgrounds with different experience levels. Issa Rae will serve as a mentor drawing on her own experiences transitioning from digital content to long-form entertainment formats. Stubio runners will receive script support, one-on-one mentor calls with Issa and creative production support from ColorCreative. Resulting films and series created from the program will be distributed and promoted on Tubi. Stubio runners will receive an executive producer credit and be paid a flat fee for their original IP and the work on the project.

“I am deeply passionate about creating pathways to sustainable careers into Hollywood for creatives of diverse backgrounds,” said Issa Rae, co-founder of ColorCreative. “We at ColorCreative are thrilled to see Tubi taking this important and bold step, and we’re excited to support and guide Stubios creatives on their first long-form projects”

“I am immensely proud to partner with Tubi in launching Stubios, empowering diverse voices in entertainment,” said Talitha Watkins, “Together, we’re shaping the future of storytelling, fostering inclusivity, and providing mentorship and production support to emerging talent to cultivate a community where creativity thrives.” 

The first group of creatives who will kick off the program include rapper and songwriter Lady London, who became a viral sensation for her freestyles. As a Stubio runner, Lady London will bring her fans along on a journey as she produces a docuseries that will explore her life and music-making and capture the creation of her debut album. 

Starting May 7, creatives can apply to be a part of the next cohort of creatives selected for the program. Open submission period begins 5/7/24 at 6:00 am PT and ends the earlier of: 1) 5/31/24 at 11:59 pm PT, or 2) when 750 applications are received. Open to legal US residents physically residing in the US/DC only. Must be 18+ years of age. Limit 1 entry per person. See Stubios Contest Rules at https://stubios.tubitv.com/rules for prize description/restrictions and complete details. 

LOS ANGELES and MUMBAI—Tata Communications has announced the opening of a production and delivery facility in Los Angeles to support future business development and growth.

Named The Switch @ Victory, the new facility will give Tata Communications the ability to serve more live content customers with end-to-end media production and connectivity services, it said.

The 66,712-square-foot facility is located on Victory Boulevard on the border or Glendale and Burbank, Calif. The two-story building sits in the heart of Hollywood’s extended production community and offers a live production center to support customer configuration requirements, the company said.

The purpose-built facility becomes the hub for Tata Communications’ and The Switch’s production and delivery services. It is designed to support live content production for rightsholders of all sizes, it said.

The Switch @ Victory is operational. Several companies, including Fox Alternative Entertainment, producers of “America’s Most Wanted,” already are using the facility.

The facility positions Tata Communications to expand in the U.S. and beyond as its customer base grows. It is fully equipped offering:

• Four sound stages with powered lighting grids and green screens.
• Large multi-row seating production control rooms with best-of-breed switchers and digital audio consoles.
• Multiple insert studios for media training, live shots, and satellite media tours.
• Dressing rooms and lounges for talent.
• Multiple conference rooms.
• Video-audio edit stations.
• More than 100 workstations.
• Private offices, kitchens and breakrooms.                             
• Auditorium with seating.
• Prop and costume storage.
• 230 parking spaces that can support a powered base camp for production trailers, grip trucks and other equipment.
• 130-degree view of Hollywood Hills.

The Switch @ Victory sits on Tata Communications’ global, low-latency video delivery network with added satellite links.

Tata Communications completed its acquisition of The Switch Enterprises in May 2023.

More information is available on the company’s website.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—KERO-TV, the E.W. Scripps station here, has upgraded its studio lighting with a full Brightline system, bringing to more than 12 the number of its stations that have upgraded or replaced their Brightline fixtures.

“Scripps has a storied history in journalism and cable and is well regarded for its latest multi-platform initiatives,” says Sam Cercone, managing partner at Brightline. “Widely known for pioneering new technologies, the expansive lighting upgrades underway throughout the group further solidify its position as a broadcast innovator.”

From Nashville and Cincinnati to Denver and Tampa, Brightline relights underscore Scripps’ commitment to sustainable technologies throughout all its endeavors. Scripps has added a variety Brightline products, ranging from its all-in-one retrofit kit to turnkey lighting upgrades, the company said.

With turnkey packages that provide lighting for all aspects of the studio with wired or wireless DMX control, Brightline systems deliver improved performance, richer color saturation (97 CRI with 5600K), and a scalable approach to upgrading studios, it said.

Converting stations in Billings and Bozeman, Mont., Boise, Idaho, Buffalo, N.Y., Lexington, Ky., Milwaukee, Omaha, Neb., and West Palm Beach, Fla., a team of skilled Brightline lighting directors have assisted local facilities with their installations, it said. 

Chris Boyd, lighting director on the recent KERO-TV project, will next tackle KMGH-TV in Denver, supervising the station’s turnkey Brightline lighting conversion, due to be done in time for a March on-air rollout.

More information is available on the company’s website.

NEW YORK—ARRI has opened a compact, multipurpose studio facility focusing on advertising and commercial production that provides a cost-effective production infrastructure with access to ARRI’s high-quality, trusted camera and lighting systems. 

“ARRI has been at the forefront of virtual production innovation from its origins in high-end film and feature production,” explained Stephan Ukas-Bradley, vice president of solutions at ARRI Americas. “At ARRI Studio New York, clients benefit from ARRI’s comprehensive knowledge and brand excellence including high-quality camera and lighting technology, and workflow integration. This means they can fully concentrate on their production and maximize their time on set.”

The facility, which is located at ARRI’s premises in New York City, offers a turnkey studio configuration with space for live audience for corporate videos, interview-style setups, town-hall presentations, educational and training clips, fashion shoots, and music videos, the company reported. 

Built around a curved LED wall with image-based lighting design, ARRI Studio New York also offers an efficient, user-friendly introduction to virtual production with in-house creative and technical support that is designed to help advertising and commercial clients reduce costs and carbon footprint by avoiding crew travel to multiple locations, consistency in weather and daylight conditions, and real-time virtualization, the company said. 

The studio is operated by ARRI, with clients able to tap into the technical insights of in-house support staff including Creative Producer Luis Feliciano. Clients have access to the full inventory of ARRI Rental’s professional camera and lighting equipment.

“ARRI serves the best creatives in the world, who shoot award-wining productions with our equipment and services," Andy Shipsides, president North America ARRI Rental, added. "ARRI Studio New York not only offers leading production infrastructure and convenience. But agencies and corporate customers can also expect a supportive environment, ensuring all creative needs are met under one roof.”

For more information and booking, visit https://www.arri.com/arri-studio-new-york.

BETHPAGE, N.Y.—News12 has officially opened a new 40,000 square foot $20 million state of the art studio and newsroom. 

During a grand opening on May 1 with local businesses and political leaders, executives at Altice USA’s News12 operation said the project is a major $20 million investment into Long Island journalism. The build was part of a multi-year effort beginning in early 2020. 

"It just shows our commitment to local, hyperlocal news, to this community," Altice USA CEO Dennis Mathew said in a News12 story on the opening. "We have the best team. This shows that the best team should have the best state-of-the-art studio, and so we're excited."

Altice News senior vice president and chief content officer Kristin Malaspina explained that the upgraded space with larger monitors will enhance our visual storytelling.

"I'm so excited to be here and to open this new studio and continue to bring the best hyperlocal news coverage to the tri-state area," Malaspina said. 

Notable features in the studio include:

• Flash Camera for breaking news coverage.
• Multiple spacious Production Control Rooms with advanced automation and technology for high- quality broadcasts, graphics, weather and more. 
• Crew vehicles equipped with power inverters to enable the teams to work out of mobile “offices” from any of the News12 communities. This allows the team to shoot and edit news packages to go live to air within minutes.  
• Thunderbolt 12 mobile weather and storm tracking vehicle with live reporter capability. 
• Editing and Technical Operations Center with numerous fiber connections to pull in news feed, breaking news and video from across the region and nation. 
• Massive Broadcast Equipment Center featuring the latest news production technology and backup and redundant systems to ensure high quality video signals and continuity of broadcast in the case of a system failure.  
• Five broadcast studios of varying sizes.  These include a small Weather Hub studio, two midsize studios and two large studios which feature newly designed and modern sets. 
• The large studios consist of multiple large seamless monitor walls, an anchor desk, a working Weather Center, an Alert Center and additional monitor areas for Anchors to “walk and talk” as they deliver and visually illustrate local news coverage.    

LONDON—ELMNTL has opened London’s newest cloud-enabled post-production studio with technical support from Big Pic Media.

The new Shoreditch facility is built around a host of cloud-based creative tools that allow the artists to collaborate in the studio or remotely. This cloud-enabled approach provides the ability to scale processor-intensive tools in the cloud without being limited by physical footprint or on-prem hardware, the companies said. 

The studio hosts both open-plan collaborative project areas and suites, covering color grading, VFX and CG/motion graphics, with multiple support stations for production planning, ingest, QC and delivery. 

Big Pic Media supplied and installed all local hardware required for monitoring, control and networking. This included DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panels, Sony BVM HX-310 and PVM-X3200 monitors across color grading, online and QC monitoring, as well as Sony A95k QD-OLED displays in client areas, calibrated to match the reference HX-310.

Big Pic Media worked alongside Konsistent Consulting, an AWS-approved independent consultant company, to specify, install and commission the on-prem hardware, networking and cloud-based infrastructure required to support the studio’s technical infrastructure. This ensures that ELMNTL can utilize all required resources on-demand, simply and efficiently. 

“ELMNTL has built a facility that is extremely friendly and welcoming,” says Adam Welsh, Big Pic Media director. “It has the infrastructure to allow creatives and clients to work in a flexible environment and make sure the work produced is of the highest standard, on time and on budget.”

“Adam and the Big Pic Media guys were great to work with, flexible and accommodating to our changing needs and expectations during the build,” adds Danny Whybrow, ELMNTL founding partner. “Our operations were up and running on schedule. We are now flat out on new projects with everything working perfectly. We look forward to bringing Adam and his team back to expand our studio facilities in the near future.”

HOLLYWOOD & BOSTON—A joint venture between the BARDAS Investment Group and Bain Capital Real Estate has announced plans for a $600 million redevelopment of the former Television Center at 6311 Romaine Street in the heart of Hollywood that will transform the aging facility into a modern, state-of-the art 620,000-square-foot urban studio campus. 

The new facility will be rebranded as Echelon Television Center. The property was acquired by the joint venture in March 2022.   

The deal comes at a time when rising production for TV and streaming outlets has fueled a hot market for studio space and new production facilities. 

The 6.4-acre property, which once served as Technicolor’s headquarters as well as the studio lot for Metro Pictures Corp., is one of the largest development sites in Hollywood. 

The existing facility, developed between 1930 and 1966, currently offers approximately 183,000 square feet of office and studio space. 

The new master plan will reimagine many of the property’s distinctive buildings that were constructed during Technicolor’s golden age.

On the northern block of the property, the original art-deco facade will enclose an active studio lot, bookended by a new mid-rise creative office building with ample private outdoor terraces, framing views of the Hollywood Hills, the companies said. 

The new construction will replace a parking lot and two dilapidated buildings on Santa Monica Boulevard. 

On the southern block of the campus, a parking lot will be given new life with four large soundstages flanking an expansive basecamp, capped by a six-story office building offering tailored creative office space, production support space, as well as private rooftop office bungalows and decks on its top floor, the investors said. 

“This project represents our company’s continued focus on redeveloping infill product for the entertainment and media industries in the content capital of the world,” said David Simon, founder and managing principal of BARDAS. “The old home to Technicolor and Metro Pictures represents another great opportunity to keep ‘Hollywood in Hollywood’.”

The property will be managed under the joint venture’s Echelon brand.

“We have strong conviction in the secular demand drivers underpinning the continued growth of the media and entertainment industry, and we are excited to expand our portfolio with BARDAS,” added Joe Marconi, a managing director at Bain Capital Real Estate. “We look forward to working together to reimagine the site and honor its past while at the same time delivering an unmatched curated experience that meets the evolving needs of today’s entertainment and media content creators.”  

Bain Capital Real Estate and BARDAS formed a joint venture in 2019 to pursue opportunities to acquire, renovate, develop, and operate creative office and other production space targeted at users in the content and media industry, with a focus on the key content submarkets in Los Angeles. To date, the joint venture has invested in and has a pipeline of existing and new development projects encompassing more than 1.5 million square feet.

LOS ANGELES—The idea of “a new look” for football offense and defense is nothing new, and while the same could be said of television production of NFL games and their pre-game, post and half-time shows, what Fox Sports has planned for this NFL season is unlike anything the broadcaster has ever done for football coverage.

Relying on a massive LED volume, a combined three dozen Unreal and Viz Engines, multiple new cameras, precise camera tracking and state-of-the-art technology that seamlessly stitches video together in real-time for the volume, the broadcaster will debut a combination of Extended Reality (XR) and Augmented Reality (AR) Sept. 11 during “Fox NFL Sunday.”

The studio will enable Fox Sports to transport viewers one moment onto the middle of Lambeau Field during a Packers update and the next take them outside Sofi Stadium—all while giving hosts a better way to tell the stories of games.

The new Los Angeles studio, while the broadcaster’s first AR-XR deployment for NFL coverage, represents the next step in its adoption of the technology, following the upgrade of its Charlotte, N.C., studio, to AR and VR technology for NASCAR coverage nearly four years ago. 

“AR and XR technology enhances the storytelling ability of our hosts,” says Zac Fields, senior vice president of graphic technology and integration at Fox Sports. 

For a segment called “On the Field,” for example, the technology will help hosts better break down plays. “In the past, you were somewhat limited. You have a handful of guys on the field trying to tell a story,” says Fields.

“If you can add items and manipulate things within AR, you’re not quite as limited. Now you can add in players, objects and routes that someone runs and the viewer can see that virtually in the XR space. That’s exciting,” he says.

By The Numbers
Work began on the new 5,000-square foot studio in Los Angeles at the end of last season. The centerpiece of the two-story structure is the LED volume, which measures 19 feet, 8 inches (H) by 46 feet (W) by 24 feet, 7 inches (D), and takes up about one-third of the area of the set. The LED volume, which was built and commissioned by NEP Studios, consists of three LED walls and an LED floor—a combined 5,130 square feet of LED display—that enables Fox Sports to change environments quickly as different show segments air. 

“[One of the] biggest design goals was to give unique segments their own identity. There are certain branded segments throughout our show where the hosts do different things,” says Fields. “The goal was to provide them with their own environments, their own unique functionality to tell their stories in a different way.”

Fox Sports developed much of the creative for the LED volume and also worked in concert with “out-of-house design studios” on some of the creative integrated into the studio. “They would help facilitate building an environment,” says Fields.

“Sometimes they would build functionality; other times we would build that functionality—things like generating graphics based on live data or any other sort of dynamic information that we then integrate into our studio,” he says.

Rendering relies on a combination of technologies. Eleven Viz Engines power the standard LED screens around the set while 25 Unreal Engines drive the XR rendering required for the LED volume as well as any AR rendering that’s needed, says Fields, adding that all engines used for the volume are 4K.

“One of the key technologies we are using is called GhostFrame [from Megapixel]. It allows multiple cameras to see their own image on the LED wall,” says Field. For this LED volume, four cameras can have their own view of and projection onto the LED volume at the same time.

To someone standing in the LED volume, the displays appear to have the pickup of the different cameras overlaid on each other. However, the technology makes it possible for each camera to see only its own image, thereby giving the director an accurate preview of LED volume shots from the four cameras before deciding which one to take to air, he says.

“GhostFrame is sort of like the secret sauce to making this work in a live broadcast environment,” says Fields. 

To support the use of AR throughout the set, seven cameras are tracked and support object tracking that allows for elements in the shot to be interactive. “We deployed stYpe tracking for the cameras as well as object tracking,” says Fields. “That allows us to not only place objects in AR, but also to interact with objects in 3D space.”

Wireless tablets will be used to give talent control over AR elements and telestration. In total, the setup supports 41 real-time graphics output channels.

One fear many broadcasters have expressed about adopting any sort of virtual technology for sets is what happens in the event of an engine failure. Fox Sports, too, had those concerns but has learned to live with the possibility based on its experience in Charlotte.

“Our Charlotte studio was our first virtual set, and we’ve been doing it quite a while now, almost seven days a week, most weeks out of the year,” says Fields.

Originally, the broadcaster focused on having complete redundancy for every rendering engine as well as an automatic failover. “What we realized was in the time that it would take to get that [doing the failover], you’re better off switching to another camera and using the other cameras until the problem is corrected,” he says.

In the event of a catastrophic failure, the “beautiful thing” about the Los Angeles deployment is there is also a practical set so the show can go on uninterrupted, he says.

Beyond the AR and XR, the new studio is equally impressive and massive. The structure includes 63,000 pounds of steel, aluminum, rigging hardware and mechanical components, and required over 53,000 man hours to build.

Only The Beginning
In Fields’ view, the new Fox Sports studio is only the latest advancement in a long line of virtual technology—one that’s poised to transform television going forward.

“I think this is a technology that you’re going to hear a lot about in broadcast’s future. There’s been an iteration of virtual sets. It started with virtual sets used for weather segments and grew into a whole other thing as the technology progressed,” he says.

As photorealism entered the picture so did a new generation of LED display technology that enabled the next advancement. 

“We’re now able to not only project incredible imagery, but the LED also provides this lighting on your subjects that creates a believability that hasn’t been able to be achieved before. That is why when this is seen on the air, I think people will really be impressed with the visual presentation,” he says.

TORONTO—Asian Television Network International Limited, which is Canada's largest South Asian broadcaster and pioneer broadcaster of World Class Cricket, is starting to rent out its studio space & Green Screen in Markham, Ontario, which is near Toronto, for  for television, movies, music videos, commercials and corporate video productions.

In the past few years ATN's high class Studio Facilities have been used by various production Companies associated with Netflix, CBC and others. 

ATN said it has over 40,000 sq. ft of Studio and office space which is ideal for small and large productions on a short and long term basis and offers various studio spaces i.e full studio space, studio with green screen & a dry studio with high ceiling.  

Apart from the studio space ATN also offers a large make up room for artists, wardrobe rooms, a large formal dining area to accommodate 100 people, programming area which can accommodate over 100 crew members, overhead Garage doors for equipment, parking space for over 60 vehicles, 2 conference rooms fully equipped with AV equipment, 10 fully equipped editing suits and 10 large size executive offices, all with Wi-Fi access.

ATN serves Canada's diverse cultural communities with over 50 specialty television channels.

SAN JOSE, Calif.—NBC Bay Area / KNTV has unveiled a new state-of-the-art news studio that features a number of cutting edge technologies, including 3-D news presentation technologies that are a first for local news.

The studio, which is integrated into the station’s content center, spans 2,600 square feet and features a sleek and open design, cutting-edge technology that augments storytelling, a modern anchor desk and interview area, and multiple standup locations designed for movement and flexibility, the broadcaster reported.

“Elevating our connection to our viewers has been the driving force of this project," said Stacy Owen, president and general manager of NBC Bay Area and Telemundo 48. "It’s about moving the idea of a news studio forward, bringing the audience into our home and conveying news and information with clarity and impact.”

The new studio, located in the heart of Silicon Valley at the station’s headquarters in San Jose, was designed by Jack Morton Worldwide.

Eight newscasts will broadcast from the new KNTV studio: Today in the Bay, NBC Bay Area News at 11, NBC Bay Area News at 5, NBC Bay Area News at 5:30, NBC Bay Area News at 6, NBC Bay Area News Tonight, NBC Bay Area News at 11 and The Fast Forward. Public affairs programming and other news shows will also originate from NBC Bay Area’s studio. 

“We are excited to take our on-air and digital news presentation to the next level with a new, modern and transparent look,” added Stephanie Adrouny, vice president of news at NBC Bay Area. “Like our storytelling, our new storytelling space is unique, sophisticated, and mission-focused, delivering the best viewing experience for our audiences.”

The new studio, located in the heart of Silicon Valley at the station’s headquarters in San Jose, is designed by Jack Morton Worldwide.

Some of the new features include: 

• The new 2,600-square-foot studio extends into the joint NBC Bay Area and Telemundo 48 newsroom, bringing viewers into the center of the station's multi-platform content engine. Opening the studio to the newsroom also enables immediate communication from the anchors to the news desk and fellow content creators, the broadcaster said.
• 3-D news presentation technologies that are a first for local news. Built by blackwalnut, an Emmy Award-winning fabricator of scenic environments for television, the sleek minimalist style of the studio makes storytelling the focus for audiences through cutting edge tools that include a video wall, an interactive touch screen, and an above-and-below display area that makes storytelling in three dimensions possible, a first in local news. 
• The studio is designed for multi-platform flexibility. The studio area gives anchors and reporters the opportunity to reach out to audiences in ways that are specific to mobile and OTT platforms. The station's OTT newscast, The Fast Forward, will be presented from the new dual-screen area and the touchscreen wall will enable interaction with viewers across the station's social platforms.
• New studio equipment was selected to be more efficient and sustainable. The studio offers reduced power consumption with LED monitor walls in each area and 5600K LED lighting throughout. A new overhead tracking ceiling camera allows for more open floor space allowing presenters to move more freely.

SAN MARCOS, Texas—Hill Country Group has unveiled plans for Hill Country Studios, a state-of-the-art virtual production, television, film and streaming studio in San Marcos, Texas. 

The $267 million project will be the largest studio of its kind in Texas, the company said. 

“What started as a dream to elevate the production industry in Texas, is now becoming reality,” said Cory McLoud, co-founder and CEO of Hill Country Studios. “Recognizing the revolutionary potential of Virtual Production, Hill Country Studios aims to place the film industry in the epicenter of the innovation corridor in Texas. We couldn’t think of a better place to propel the entertainment industry with a world-class studio space than our own backyard.” 

Hill Country Studios will boast two identical virtual production stages featuring a 75-foot diameter performance space that will be among the largest virtual stages in North America.

Overall, Hill Country Studios will include 12 sound stages across 310,000 square feet, two back lots totaling 15 acres of outdoor production space, 310,000 square feet of modular offices and four workshops. 

The multiuse project, located at the entrance of the La Cima Master-Planned Community, will also feature modern lifestyle and collaborative workplace amenities, headlined by post-production facilities, a 50-seat screening theater and a full service restaurant and coffee shop. Twenty-five acres will be reserved for vendor and commercial space built to serve both the studio and surrounding community. 

Architecture and design will be led by renowned architect Bill Foley of Foley Design, while leading media consultant David Godfrey will join the team in studio operations. Virtual Production design and management will be led by Vision’s team of designers and integrators, who bring a wealth of film and live production experience to the project.

Hill Country Studios is slated to begin construction in early 2023.

NEW YORK—The Fox News Channel has debuted a new studio for its “Gutfeld!” late night show. 

The studio, which went live on May 2, was designed predominantly for Greg Gutfeld’s live audience late night show and was purpose built to operate more like a Broadway theater than a traditional broadcast studio. 

A key part of the design is flexibility. Every set piece including the audience seating is movable. The new studio build includes a series of six high resolution LED media walls that move along a track system and can be angled, positioned independently or joined together to create a single video mosaic. 

The studio also has a massive 40 foot long ultra high definition LED media wall as a centerpiece of the set design.

The background of show's scenic design features a combination of detailed 3D models of buildings along with a striking architectural interior.

Fox News reports that design was created to surround the Host and guests with a comfortable and inviting atmosphere and provide a whimsical backdrop that is tailored to Greg Gutfeld and his personal style.

In his opening monologue, Gutfeld discussed the new studio here. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has completed a new state-of-the-art media production facility at NAB's headquarters, located at 1 M Street, SE in Washington, D.C. 

The buildout of the facility, including a studio and media hub, was made possible by donations of critical equipment and studio design services from leading companies in the business of content creation and management, the NAB said. 

One major highlight of the studio is a curved,15-foot interactive video wall that serves as a high-tech backdrop for live and pre-recorded programming. In addition to energy-saving LED lighting and robotic cameras, the studio features a powerful edit suite capable of 8K post-production.

Led by Emmy-winning producer and vice president of media production Michael Khatcheressian, NAB will use the studio to create national spots and branded educational content for its members. 

Productions will include compelling digital stories for NAB's trade shows and high-profile award programs. The studio will also be used for production of NAB's Congressional PSA Campaign and the NAB Leadership Foundation’s Service to America Awards. External organizations may rent the studio and its staff for original productions as well.

“As the premier trade association representing America’s radio and television broadcasters and as the producer of the world’s largest convention for media and entertainment, NAB has a critical need for advanced audio and video production capabilities,” said April Carty Sipp, executive vice president of Industry Affairs at NAB. “We are grateful for the generous support of the companies that contributed to the buildout of our new studio and media hub.”

Companies contributing to the NAB’s new media production facility include: 

• Angry Badger Productions - Scenic and lighting design, creative direction, production coordination services
• Planar - Fine-Pitch LED Video Wall
• Vitec Production Solutions - Premium lighting, mobile power, prompting and camera support products
• Barbizon Lighting Company - Studio systems integration and lighting controls
• PESA - Router switching system
• The Launch Group - Scenic and set fabrication, engineering, and themed décor
• Video Visions, Inc. - Professional audio-visual design, installation and service
• Magis Media - Interactive storytelling solutions for elections and custom datasets. Video servers and control interface for video panels and DMX devices
• The Light Source – MEGABATTEN connector strip

More details about NAB’s media production facility and the contributing companies is available here. 

ATLANTA—When the 2021-22 NHL season opened in October from its new home on TNT, Turner Sports unveiled a new broadcast studio powered by the disguise live visual creative platform.

Four disguise vx 2 media servers and five rx II render nodes are driving the more than 270-degree wraparound visual content in the studio, which will be used exclusive over the next three years as home to league coverage, disguise said.

Built in under two months at the end of summer with the help of disguise Certified Solution Provider and Atlanta-based creative studio MEPTIK, the studio is leveraging disguise’s ability to seamlessly combine LED and projection to create the massive canvas. The disguise deployment combines nine projectors, two LED walls and multiple cameras into a single end-to-end workflow.

“This is a full broadcast studio completely driven by disguise,” said Gideon Ferber, disguise director of product for broadcast who oversaw the development of the studio. “Turner Sports opted for the full disguise solution for its ease of use and efficiency of delivery.”

Custom-built curved LED panels on either side of the oval and the projection screen filling the remaining canvas display video, images and data via the disguise solution.  A full height diagonal LED panel display and two large tracking monitors in the foreground of the studio further blend the LED and projection displays and offer additional flexibility for shots and presenter positions, the company said.

A pixel-accurate 3D project was created and played out before going live with the new studio. “It was absolutely crucial to be able to pre-visualize the studio because they didn’t have time to do rehearsals or block shots in advance during the build,” said Ferber. “The studio was actually up and running a week before the go-live date, so the ability to previs the whole setup and how the content would look, then build in animations and graphics, was imperative.”

The in-house production team of Turner Sports received training on the disguise workflow for broadcast from disguise and MEPTIK. Curricula for each key set of skills, from producers and creatives to engineers and operators, guided the training of a number of super users across each skill. Using disguise’s online training community, the aim was to have the team gain knowledge over time.

“We provided Turner Sports with a blank canvas for creatives to tell their best stories and engage the audience. We were so proud of being able to turn around this project in such a short timeframe and have it be such a success,” said Phil Ventre, vice president of broadcast at disguise.

More information about disguise is available online.  

SAN FRANCISCO—CNBC’s new Steuart Tower studio in San Francisco may not be the biggest or most expensive studio revamp the network has ever taken on, but what it may lack in scale the 1 Market Studio makes up for in technical innovation, especially when it comes to minimizing latency, and appealing design.

“We launched a show a couple of months ago called ‘Tech Check,’ and being a tech show we felt we really had to have a real, legitimate presence out there [in San Francisco],” says Steve Fastook, senior vice president of operations and engineering at CNBC. 

The business-news cable network chose to expand its existing San Francisco bureau, originally built about a decade ago, transforming a rather simple Flash Studio into an attractive space taking full advantage of its seventh-floor view of the Bay Bridge and an appealing set design by John Casey Production Design. 

Lowering Latency
It’s the exception rather than the rule for a full production crew to run shows from 1 Market Studio. Rather, most of the network’s production assets and production control technology reside in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., at CNBC headquarters, says Fastook. So, reducing latency between the 1 Market Studio location and New Jersey was essential.

CNBC upgraded its bandwidth between the locations from 1Gb/s to 10Gb/s and installed Cisco IP video gateways supporting Hitless Merge and Evertz JPEG 2000 encoders and decoders. “We went from a roundtrip before we did the project of about a second and a half to now a roundtrip of a quarter of a second,” he says.

From a production point of view, the nearly non-existent latency brings a natural feel to the on-camera give and take between contributors. “[With] cross talks, you don’t even know they’re not in the same room. That’s huge for us because it’s natural conversation,” says Fastook. “What we wanted to be able to have was cross talks between anchors in New York, New Jersey and San Francisco.”

However, what happens on screen is only a part of the story. Off camera, the ultra-low latency means operators in Englewood Cliffs can control the three Vinten robotic heads supporting the new 4K-upgradeable Sony box cameras with Canon lenses at 1 Market Studio as if they were in the studio.  

“That’s sort of the theme we’ve been taking. If you’re doing a show and it’s coming from a particular location, you grab the cameras at that location and you can control them like you are there,” he explains. “With the connectivity being so upgraded, that control is fluid.”  

In a similar fashion, the low latency helps to enable CNBC to run audio remotely from Englewood Cliffs. CNBC installed Calrec audio boards and the Calrec RP1 remote-controlled processing engine. 

“If you acquire a microphone in Englewood Cliffs that’s out in the studio, it’s the same as acquiring a microphone in San Francisco. All of the mix-minus and everything else can be assigned and followed,” says Fastook, who notes the approach made it unnecessary to add another audio operator.

“Everything comes back homerun through this RP1. You could look at your board and see four inputs from the studio mics in New Jersey, two from the stock exchange, two from the NASDAQ and three from San Francisco, and it really makes no difference. That really enabled three- and four-party conversations to really be as real as possible.” 

The new studio’s lighting system, like the lighting systems in all CNBC remote locations, is controllable from Englewood Cliffs. Fastook relied on CNBC ENG crew members to design and install the setup, which consists of LED fixtures, including Rosco studio lighting and large Litepanels LED studio lights.

Using LED fixtures was important because Steuart Tower is an office building. “Our ceiling height is a little bit higher than normal office space, but there’s no great height, and the air conditioning is really designed for office space, so the LED lighting was critical,” says Fastook.

While remote operation is integral to the 1 Market Studio workflow, local robotic camera, lighting and audio control are also available when needed, he adds. 

The redesigned space also relies on an electronic shade system on every window. Used throughout the day and prominently featured during “TechCheck,” which premiered in April, the space is subjected to the sun as it traverses the sky. 

“The sun comes up in the corner of the building, and it sets on the other side of the building,” says Fastook, “and we’re on through the whole horizon of the day.” 

Working with Broadcast Blinds, CNBC installed electronic shades on every window—whether they’re fully behind scenery or partially blocked by scenery. As the sun moves, the ND filters used as shades can be dialed in and out depending on the time of day.

COVID And The Studio
Like so many other things in broadcasting and society at large, expanding 1 Market Studio was not immune to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the case of the studio, however, its impact was both positive and negative. 

Typically renovating the small bureau to a 2,500-square-foot remote studio complete with a custom set would have required Fastook and crew to restrict their work to overnights and long weekends, making sure the space was ready to use when the broadcast schedule resumed every day. That start-and-stop approach would have required two months to complete this studio upgrade. However, COVID changed the equation, he says.

“Because of COVID, the bureau had been closed. We were able to go in and do everything we needed to do, and the whole project was completed in over a little less than three weeks, including the set, which took at least a week,” he says.

However, the new studio was not exempt from supply chain problems—particularly chip shortages—that are plaguing the economy during this stage of the pandemic. While Fastook made his completion deadline for the project, the job was “pushed to the limit,” he says.

“It really was a little bit less about the broadcast equipment, and a little a little bit more about the traditional switch gear—mostly Cisco-type stuff—that really got hit by the chip shortage,” says Fastook, who attributes getting the job done on time to being in the queue for equipment “pretty early in the process,” ensuring a place near the front of the line when the crunch began to ease.

Engineering for the studio renovation, which Fastook estimates cost between $150,000 and $200,000, was done by CNBC engineers, and the actual work was completed by an implementation team from NBCU.

While production from the renovated space supports CNBC’s 1080i HD needs today, the three Sony box cameras selected for the studio are 4K-capable, preparing 1 Market Studio for the future.

“We’re getting to the point where the amortization of those cameras may fall into our 4K transition—although I don’t know what that is, we haven’t really decided,” says Fastook. “It’s really more driven by the desire for it to be 4K than the content. This isn’t sports—that’s a whole different thing.”

But as the rest of world adopts 4K, there will come a point where transitioning to 4K may be unavoidable. When that day comes, 1 Market Studio will be ready.

NEW YORK—CBS News has announced that its “CBS Mornings” show will go live on September 7 in a new studio that will feature new technologies to enable the show’s new format and approach to telling stories. 

The second-floor studio space inside the ViacomCBS headquarters encompasses more than 3000 square feet, providing for multiple interview areas and production capabilities. 

The new studio includes touch-screen technology, augmented reality, monitors throughout the room, and LED walls. 

The new technologies and studio design will dramatically enhance CBS Morning’s storytelling capabilities and provide new ways for the broadcast to showcase interviews, blend feeds from CBS News’ vast newsgathering arms and its affiliates, and deliver engaging content to viewers on television and through ViacomCBS’ streaming networks and social and digital platforms, CBS News said. 

CBS senior vice president of news operations Rick Jefferson, creative director Renee Cullen in collaboration with Jack Morton Worldwide and their teams designed and developed the studio.

The show will also debut a new team and a new format. Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson will co-host “CBS Mornings” Monday through Friday. Jeff Glor, Dana Jacobson and Michelle Miller will to co-host “CBS Saturday Morning” and Jane Pauley to anchor “CBS Sunday Morning”

“All CBS News morning broadcasts will now be part of the same family, with a focus on original reporting and exquisite storytelling, connected by the sound of the iconic trumpet music and an ethos of optimism that carries all the way through to the sunshine logo itself,” said Neeraj Khemlani, president and co-head of CBS News and Stations.

CBS News said the show will feature hard news and smart conversation in the mornings during the 7:00 AM hour and expand its feature reporting during the 8:00 AM hour with live interviews as well as in-depth pieces, covering topics from news, sports, climate, and technology to race, health, parenting and personal finance. 

It will also feature signature arts and culture pieces from Anthony Mason and Vlad Duthiers will continue his “What to Watch” segment.

LONDON—ARRI has opened a new state-of-the-art mixed reality studio on its Uxbridge, U.K., premises outfitted with an LED volume consisting of 1,125-square-feet of LED wall, making the studio one of the largest such permanent production spaces in Europe, the company announced today.

Installed in partnership with NEP Live Events production and technical specialist Creative Technology, the LED volume consists of a main, in-vision curve that is 98.4 x 16.4 feet; two moveable and tiltable side screens, each 9.8 x 13.8 feet; and a height-adjustable 31.5 x 31.5-foot ceiling. A 59.1 x 13.8-foot back curve completes the fully encapsulated space, ARRI said.

The studio can be programmed to display 360-degree imagery, which even when not in frame casts dynamic, integrated lighting effects onto performers and the scene being shot. The in-vision curve is constructed of ROE Visual Ruby 2.3 panels and the side, ceiling and back cure use ROE Visual Carbon CB5 panels, it said.

“Collaborating with best-for-purpose suppliers of all the varied required technologies has enabled ARRI to deliver a full solution for mixed reality in our Uxbridge studio. These industry-leading hardware and software tools could not be better complemented than with ARRI cameras, lenses, stabilizers, lights, and workflow support, which can be provided to productions as a package deal on site,” said Jannie van Wyk, managing director of ARRI Rentals.

The 7,621-square-foot studio is being offered for hire for short and long-form productions as well as for events, education and R&D. Technical support and advice tailored to the needs of each production are available from ARRI Creative Technology and its partners. For productions new to mixed reality, technical support can be extended to a full script-to-screen service, it said.

The ARRI Solutions Group provided studio design and system integration. Creative Technology designed and installed the video walls, playback systems and control solutions. Mo-Sys supplied a StarTracker camera tracking system and VP Pro XR; and Epic Games provided its Unreal Engine 3D creation tool. NVidia’s RTX A6000 GPUs power the image processing.

More information is available on the company’s website.

NEW YORK—“CBS This Morning,” CBS News’ morning news programming, will be moving next fall to a new studio inside the ViacomCBS’ headquarters as part of a plan to enhance the show’s storytelling abilities and improve its ability to deliver content to multiple platforms.  

“CBS This Morning” has been emanating from Studio 57 in the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City since 2012. 

The new location brings the show to the ViacomCBS headquarters at 1515 Broadway in Manhattan, where CBS News built a state-of-the-art studio for its 2020 Election Night coverage.

That space, which was also briefly used by “CBS This Morning” for its Election coverage last November, is being expanded and revamped with new interview areas, video screen experiences and an all-new graphics look.

“`CBS This Morning’ changed the broadcast morning news landscape when it launched, and we are continuing to reimagine the program and the way we produce content for today’s multiplatform audiences,” explained Neeraj Khemlani, president and co-head of CBS News and Stations. “The new studio in the heart of Times Square will bring us a wealth of new opportunities for high-quality production, changing our look without changing our commitment to impactful news in the morning.”

“We are thrilled to have the versatility of a more technically advanced studio that has more space, more cameras and more looks,” added Shawna Thomas, the show’s executive producer. “We want the show to look, sound and feel different than the competition and this starts to get us there. While bolstering our production capabilities is serious business, be on the lookout for elements of whimsy as well.”

The 1515 Broadway studio was designed by CBS News’ creative director Renee Cullen with support from Jack Morton Worldwide. Rick Jefferson, CBS News’ vice president of news operations, provided oversight of the project. 

BOSTON—New England Sports Network is ready to go full 4K/HDR with a brand new studio space. The regional network’s 360-degree customizable studio space will debut in time for the Boston Bruins season-opener on Jan. 14, but will show its full potential with 2021 Red Sox games that will be broadcast in 4K/HDR later this year.

NESN’s new studio was designed in partnership with Jack Morton Worldwide, as well as AV Design Services, New York City Lights and Propmasters. The space integrates aesthetic blending technology with natural materials for what the network calls a “sleek and modern” look.

The renovation of NESN’s 50x50-foot space began in early 2020 with the goal of the fully redesigned studio to be ready for 2021. The new studio features six LED monitors, two of which are 20x7 feet and 14x7 feet, spanning the width of the space on opposite ends.

Part of the renovation also included upgraded technology in NESN’s master control. The network also transitioned its satellite distribution platform to high performance hybrid fiber to shoot, produce and air 4K/HDR quality video.

“We are thrilled with the Bruins’ return to play and excited to debut our new 4K/HDR studio for fan enjoyment in conjunction with the first game of the season,” said Sean McGrail, president and CEO of NESN. “The studio’s renovation is one of the final elements in our plan to deliver a 4K/HDR broadcast in 2021. Continuing our tradition of being the first to introduce cutting edge technology, we are excited to bring New England fans closer than ever to the games they love.”

NESN’s coverage from their new studio will begin at 6 p.m. ET on Jan. 14.

LAS VEGAS & BRISTOL, Conn.—ESPN is setting up shop in Las Vegas, as the sports network has partnered with Caesars Entertainment for a new studio space that is debuting on Aug. 24 and will be the new home to ESPN’s “Daily Wager” starting Sept. 8.

The studio, which resides in the LINQ Hotel + Experience, is intended to be the home of ESPN’s sports-betting content, including “Daily Wager” and a sports-betting-themed digital show launching this fall.

ESPN’s new facility is 6,000 square feet and features three studios, 12 cameras—including two robotic cameras—and ESPN’s REMI production workflow with 24 transmit and receive paths to ESPN control rooms and technical operations around the country. ESPN says that this is its first facility to be fully capable to support native 4K, and is set to launch in 1080p.

“Our new studio with Caesars is ideally located in the middle of The Strip and has been designed and built out with state-of-the-art UHD 4K-capable technology, a first for ESPN,” said Chris Calcinari, senior vice president of remote production operations, ESPN & ABC Sports. “We will leverage this technology and our innovative REMI production model to serve this growing audience of sports fans with the quality content for which ESPN is known.”

In addition to the original content that ESPN will host through the studio, the space will play a role during major sporting events taking place in Las Vegas.

For more information, visit ESPN’s website. 

The process of keeping sound or heat from spreading between spaces is a well-understood practice for the building and acoustical trades. Media facilities have used those techniques in their studios, control rooms and edit spaces. Mandated environments surrounding the coronavirus are impacting news and live production workflows, altering how they produce and deliver their live and prerecorded show in ways they’d not previously comprehended.

Working remotely isn’t new. Reporters have worked from hotel rooms for years. Technicians administer datacenters virtually and the cloud is certainly the foremost example of how to accomplish features and functions in an absentee domain without a doubt.

Yet what is occurring now may, or already has, altered how production and studio facilities could be for years to come. Newly adopted workflows now produce similar outcomes without the huge physical footprints, costs and overhead currently required for large-scale operations. Such changes could forever disrupt how news programming is created and delivered.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?

TV production operations live heavily on the physical side. Think of the elements needed to produce a regular live news or entertainment program when most of the human elements are in the same building. Now imagine that 50–75% of those elements are being “disassociated” physically from one another. Imagine when one studio changes to multiple studios—and they’re not located in traditional spaces, they’re now in people’s homes.

Major news organizations usually have control rooms seating 12–15 production personnel composed of tech managers, directors and others. Editorial spaces have in excess of 200 desktops and a dozen-plus craft edit suites. Audio needs editing and live-to-air spaces. Still, 3D and animated graphics need large displays with high-performance compute stations. Add a myriad of web-producers, writers and researchers and you have an assortment of people who must all commute, share spaces and consume resources every day.

Support-wise there are ingest managers, archivists and MAM wranglers. Add studio and grooming personnel, field reporters and technicians and a gaggle of remote equipment to produce “live and breaking news” whenever needed. Numbers quickly grow towards a hundred or more. Many work functions demand physical people attached to physical gear, fixed to cables that attach to dedicated equipment housed in a complex (usually enormous) central equipment room (CER).

Until cloud technologies, nearly every studio function and show activity was centered around similar infrastructure support spaces. Even when productions moved somewhat “out of house” or some processes extended into the cloud, elements basically required tablets, cell phones and laptops connected through high-end CPU workstations. Network connections, software management, storage, MAM and archive, ingest and playout, local and distance support… and operations grew more complex and specific.

Operations are steeped in human interaction from conception to delivery. Yet that’s now changing, fast and furiously.

Once most functions were branded to discrete, dedicated devices, which were connected to an internal LAN or an SDI-router. They likely functioned using KVM-like technologies to control or manage the relatively nearby components found in the central equipment room. Multiviewers of enormous proportions governed the images, sound, and metering interpretations.

More recently, organizations have embraced new features using virtual machines and/or cloud-based technologies to supplement, administer or orchestrate functions previously associated entirely around “on-prem” physical, dedicated hardware. Operations and workflows, which were likely candidates for change included graphics, acquisition, storage, playout, asset management and some distant/occasional use activities such as an EFP remote or a feed from another location. Each had a consistent and structured agenda based upon managed workflows governed by functions attached to connections to/from the devices.

Previously such workflows were relatively straightforward. Dedicated people sat at dedicated machines and moved files, images or operational commands using a mouse and keyboard. Communications depended upon dedicated intercom stations with multiple channels that could be easily selected from a panel. Essentially, this was a local “one-to-one” operational workflow, exemplified by activities like a remote feed for a live broadcast.

When addressing real-time images or sound, operators used a router panel on a dedicated “network” that was associated internally to a fixed format and flow. To stream images to another location involved workflows with another set of encoders, gateways and networks connected between internal or external locations.

With the recent world changes and in under 60 days, many of the traditional one-to-one production activities have become “dematerialized,” i.e., taking the physical association of hardware/software and moving it to a position that could be connected to or from anywhere else. Such new workflows would become the most significant challenge a broadcast network enterprise would face since portability became the norm for content collection and transmission.

Dematerialization is not new and was headed in those directions for some time. We just hadn’t expected this to occur in such a risky, isolated environment. Change has demanded instantaneous scaling that dissected the studio talent and put them in locations they’d not expected before.

Production workflows have taken segments of local facility-based operations and immediately associated them into cloud and cloud-like productivity. Operators and talent both are now connected through internet associations using cloud support products such as IaaS, MyCloudIT, XenApp Express and AWS Workspaces.

Even before the COVID-19 crisis forced operations into isolation, a standard PC from an off-site location would connect via AWS Workspaces to a secure high-resolution, compressed PC-over-IP client such as Teradici’s “PCoIP.” For real-time operations, users need a highly responsive computing experience. By employing advanced display compression, end users can associate with on-premises or cloud-based virtual machines to emulate an alternative to their once “local” computers. Essentially, the users work directly and remotely on their servers, but from afar at home or other locations.

PLUS: WRAL Keeps News Staff, Viewers Connected

Virtual workspace architectures will now compress, encrypt and transmit only the pixels (instead of the data) to software clients, including mobile clients, thin clients and stateless endpoints. For graphics, the coupling of the endpoint engines and compositing means that artists can see what they are creating with minimal delay and no reduction in image quality.

EVOLVING WORKFLOWS

The first week of this new REMI-like production model was assembled with cell phone and laptop cameras, usually functioning in dual capacity. Once a comfort level was achieved, week two moved into locations adding (or adapting) 42-inch and above displays to put rolling backgrounds behind close-ups. Images were fed live from laptops played via VNC connections or files. Audio processing and equalization soon followed as consistent levels needed to feed into local encoders before sending the signals across a public internet connection.

By week three, viewers begin to see “home-lighting,” two (or more) “sets” from the same home and multiviewers, prompters from PCs or equivalent making up the new workflows.

Making sure that the right amount of connectivity and the highest level of quality with the least amount of lag are prompting personnel to place PCoIP-devices at every endpoint. Once called “thin-clients” or “zero-clients,” PCoIP capabilities have taken signal transmissions as “direct connections” from laptops direct to CER-based high-performance graphics or video servers or feeds between make-shift home studios and primary control rooms at the network’s studios. Most will use card-based zero clients that outperform software-based applications on desktops.

Fig. 1 is a simplified, high-level overview showing how remote home/studios, graphics designer/operators and staff can work in quarantine or isolation. During broadcasts, two studio control rooms and a separate audio room keep the reduced facility staff spaced apart.

Control room multiviewers are replicated, encoded and sent to the remote sites as compressed video—allowing each remote operator, talent or artist to see the same content as is in the live control rooms at the studios.

Operators must have the same user experience at remote home studios as when at the studio facility. Pushing the MAM to the edge via a web browser lets producers (editors) cut proxies or push cut items either to editing or direct to control room for playback. Using core-native floating licenses, i.e., the “bring your own license” option, through to remote editing and VXF is now commonplace.

KEEPING CONNECTED

Where is the biggest headache? The missing elements in “the COMMs,” according to network managers I’ve spoken with. Getting an approximate level of studio intercom-like functionality is the nemesis of daily productions, so far. Cell phones with earbuds have limited functionality, yet that’s what’s needed for the least amount of latency between home and main studios.

Getting IFB to the remote home studio adds another tier of complexity. Multichannel and multi-access IP-based communications become essential when operating in several simultaneous locations. Intercom, using “virtual link” products (e.g., VLink) is a good start; yet substituting a tablet-but-ton-set for a physical button-control-panel is not an ideal workflow. Expect to see multiple updates in these product lines.

Link-bandwidths make all the difference when spinning up multiple activities into a VPC or when interconnecting studios and CERs between major metropolitan locations. Having 10G or higher connectivity, while a luxury for many, is essential at a network level. Security services also play important parts that limit network access. Products with adaptive MFA (multifactor authentication) permit flexibility when adding sites at the peak of a breaking story.

Firewall rules (set by the appropriate user, application, port-set and IP addresses) need to be extensible to gain appropriate access on a tier or tailored workspace.

WHERE DOES IT GO FROM HERE?

Given the social distancing paths certain to be here for many months, these new workflows change the dimensions of how technologies, like bonded-cellular, will migrate. Many clever enterprises are rapidly changing the production domain and these adaptations may become the links to a new way of designing and outfitting studios. Only time will tell.

Karl Paulsen is a SMPTE Fellow and frequent contributor to TV Technology.

Bridgeville, Penn. – Dec. 10, 2019 – Brightline, a leading manufacturer of energy efficient lighting systems, today announced it now offers technical support through Zoom for its resellers, integrators, and clients. The cloud-based videoconferencing system allows Brightline to program light fixtures remotely, re-focus, visually diagnose potential issues, and perform other troubleshooting.

“Zoom service is ideal for time-critical issues,” explained Kathy Katz, Brightline managing partner. “You don’t have to struggle through a phone call without visuals or schedule onsite service. Zoom gives us ‘eyes’ in the room.”

Beyond its new Zoom-based technical support, Brightline offers project design and consultation, and through its network, turnkey installation and commissioning services.

“In addition to being a fixture manufacturer, we strive to provide lighting solutions for our partners and clients,” Katz added. “From broadcast studios to large auditoriums, we have the right system and the right people to ensure ideal lighting integration.”

To request a free Zoom technical call, contact technical support at techservice@brightlines.com.

About Brightline
A leading manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting systems for broadcast, videoconference, eLearning, and government, Brightline’s mission is to enable communication through clarity. With more than 5,000 customers in over 35 countries, Brightline specializes in enhancing the presentation of visual images by providing high quality, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective evolutionary lighting solutions. Get enlightened at brightlines.com.

Bridgeville, Penn. – Nov. 5, 2019 – Brightline, a leading manufacturer of energy efficient lighting systems, today announced Open Signal: Portland Community Media Center, a nonprofit media arts and broadcast center in Portland, Ore., has upgraded the lighting grid in its 2,000-square-foot main studio with 30 Brightline L1.2 SeriesONE LED fixtures. The new lighting was installed in July.

Noah Dorsey, media services manager, said the upgrade in Studio A was prompted by the fan noise of previous lighting fixtures in the studio. “We want the studio environment to be as silent as possible,” he explained. “That was something that had been requested by a lot of producers.”

The new 5600K L1.2 lights are controlled through a DMX console. Open Signal contracted Brightline’s premier Pacific Northwest systems integrator, Advanced Broadcast Solutions (ABS), a division of Key Code Media, to supply the new lighting. Dorsey said the lighting “looks dynamic but not so stylized that it can’t be applied to multiple shows.”

Bruce Aleksander, a lighting director hired by ABS for the Open Signal project, said the decision to use soft lights throughout Studio A was based on the need for versatility and accessibility for the wide variety of producers who use the space. Though some productions use an ellipsoidal light for show-specific gobo projection accents, the main lighting is generally not altered.

“Normally, I use a combination of hard and soft lights,” Aleksander explained. “Portrait lighting – that’s the perfect look for the main anchor position on a news set. But that’s not what Open Signal needed. They needed a loosely defined area. We gave them the base that they could use and do almost anything anywhere within the area.”

Studio A also features a large chromakey cyc, and Dorsey said the L1.2 lights are “perfect” for green screen effects and VR environments. “We love them. They live up to the name ‘Brightline’ – they’re super bright,” added Dorsey. “We almost never use them at full capacity. We’ve gotten nothing but positive feedback from producers.”

Originally, Aleksander had considered using different lights for the cyc, but he got better results with the Brightline fixtures. “I thought I was going to have to supplement them with additional cyc lights to wash the back wall,” he recalled. “It turned out the L1.2 had enough kick and spread to do the job for me, and it was smoother than doing it with the cyc lights.”

Aleksander said the Brightline LED SeriesONE fixtures are his soft lighting tools of choice. “Currently, I do a lot of television studios, and there are things that you want a soft light to be,” Aleksander explained. “The L1.2 and L1.4 have a tremendous amount of punch, and they’re dead quiet because they have no fan. They use a remote phosphor technology that is just absolutely smooth and beautiful – and holds up over time.”

A community-based PEG (public, education, government) organization, Open Signal produces programming for five cable channels that reach 400,000 homes in the Portland area. Dorsey estimated the facility produces about 20 shows per week between Studio A, which has five full-size studio cameras, and Studio B, which has three PTZ cameras.

The L1.2 LED studio lighting fixture and its twice as powerful complement – the L1.4 – are available in 3200K or 5600K. Designed for broadcast and videoconferencing, the products offer high-quality lighting (>95 CRI) with DMX control. Weighing less than 13 pounds, the compact fixtures are constructed with 100 percent aluminum in the United States.

About Brightline
A leading manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting systems for broadcast, videoconference, e‑learning, and government, Brightline’s mission is to enable communication through clarity. With more than 5,000 customers in over 35 countries, Brightline specializes in enhancing the presentation of visual images by providing high quality, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective evolutionary lighting solutions. Get enlightened at brightlines.com.

BISMARCK, N.D.—Bismarck State College is putting the final touches on a new studio space for TV and radio production thanks in large part to support from local broadcast station KFYR-TV.

The studio, which began construction over the summer and is near completion, is equipped with industry-standard equipment and features an expanded set, providing a realistic, hands-on learning experience for students in BSC’s Mass Communications program.

“I know how to properly white balance a camera for news, I know how to properly audio gain myself for radio and I know how to put together a really good looking, professional newspaper,” said Robert Mechaley, a sophomore Mass Communications major, in a story on KFYR’s website.

“[KFYR] came over and saw the space and saw the opportunities, and they really didn’t hesitate to say ‘yeah, I think we can do something.’ And they were able to help us out,” said Dusty Anderson, the video production teacher at BSC. “So, without KFYR, we would not be in this space.”

Fremont, CA - September 18, 2018 - Blackmagic Design today announced that Los Angeles based visual effects (VFX) company Flash Film Works used its VFX and motion graphics software, Fusion Studio, on Studio 8’s action adventure drama Alpha.

An epic adventure set in the last Ice Age, Alpha tells a fascinating, visually stunning story that shines a light on the origins of man’s best friend. While on his first hunt with his tribe’s most elite group, a young man, Keda, is injured and must learn to survive alone in the wilderness. Reluctantly taming a lone wolf abandoned by its pack, Alpha, the pair learn to rely on each other and become unlikely allies, enduring countless dangers and overwhelming odds in order to find their way home before winter arrives.

During their perilous trek, Keda falls through ice and is trapped below the surface. The Flash Film Works team used Fusion Studio to create the VFX sequence.

“The fall through the ice was shot in a tank, with wax used on top as the ice. It needed to look more realistic, so we used Fusion Studio to remove a lot from the plate and add 3D objects back in, so the ice would break in a certain way,” said VFX Supervisor William Mesa.

“Once Keda is in the water, there’s a strong current that pulls him. We used Fusion Studio’s 3D particle system to add ice fragments and bubbles to the water to really show the flow of the current,” Mesa continued. “Then we composited in Ice Age era fish and underwater landscapes to make the water come to life.”

With Keda being trapped under the ice, the Flash Film Works team also used Fusion Studio for face replacements between actor Kodi Smit-McPhee and his stunt double. Then they used Fusion Studio’s 3D tools to project the ice sheet under the water, making it extend even further.

Compositing Supervisor Jeremy Nelson explained, “During the scene, the wolf is looking down at Keda as he struggles under the ice. Some shots were done with a stunt double, so we had to take Smit-McPhee’s face and put it on the stunt double’s body. For this, I used Fusion Studio’s tracking tools to track and stabilize both plates, so I could marry them together. I then used the grid warper to match the faces and retiming tools to fine tune things, so the face’s movements really matched the actor’s performance.”

Flash Films Works also relied on Fusion Studio for additional compositing work on the film. “Whether we were adding people to various shots or changing the landscape to add mountains for flyover scenes, Fusion Studio was our go to tool,” concluded Mesa.

Press Photography

Product photos of Fusion Studio and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Alpha

Directed by Albert Hughes (The Book of Eli, Menace II Society), and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee (X-Men: Apocalypse, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Atomic Blonde, HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), Alpha was written by Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt, based on a story by Albert Hughes. It was produced by Andrew Rona and Albert Hughes.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com

Paris, France – August 16, 2018 – Dalet, a leading provider of solutions and services for broadcasters and content professionals, today announced Dalet OnePlay, a new-generation studio automation solution designed to modernize live productions, increase audience engagement and open up new revenue opportunities while optimizing operational costs and reliability. Dalet OnePlay leverages the Dalet Galaxy five MAM, NRCS and workflow orchestration capabilities to enable more efficient and collaborative productions, as well as a more effective synchronized multi-platform distribution.

“News and sports content producers are constantly challenged to deliver more content to more platforms in a shorter time, with the same resources, while ensuring consistency across delivery devices,” comments Raul Alba, Dalet product line manager. “To succeed, they need reliable, highly efficient and flexible show production workflows. Dalet OnePlay helps meet those complex requirements while building a multi-platform experience around the show that will increase the engagement with your audience. A component of the Dalet Galaxy five platform, Dalet OnePlay leverages advanced data models and Dalet Workflow Engine-driven operations to sync distribution of specific content across many outlets.” Dalet OnePlay benefits any show production, from newscasts to sports magazines, as well as live and live-to-tape studio shows.

Dalet OnePlay will be showcased at the upcoming IBC2018 exhibition held in Amsterdam from September 14–18, 2018 (stand 8.B77). IBC2018 attendees can book a private demonstration or workflow consultation with a Dalet expert to learn more about Dalet OnePlay and other Dalet solutions.

Modern UI, Better Collaboration and Workflow Orchestration

Dalet OnePlay’s modern and efficient web-based UI, which runs both on desktop and tablet, offers an intuitive experience to control all core production device types, including video switchers and servers, cameras, audio mixing consoles, graphics, lighting, routers and more. “The innovative UI enables a unique mix of automated and manual workflows,” adds Alba. “Each editorial story is displayed in the form of a timeline that presents timed events that can run fully automated. In addition, users can add events to stories without timing information. These events can be controlled manually for playout and Dalet OnePlay will keep the log information about the manual operation for future use. This type of flexibility is useful for journalists or other staff who want to automate part of the workflow but allow the playout operator to manually control playout of specific events.”

Further, Dalet OnePlay leverages the agile Dalet Galaxy five News Production and Workflow Orchestration capabilities to enable custom live production workflows with unrivaled operational flexibility that goes beyond traditional studio production. The unified solution gives way to collaboration between show preparation and production teams.

“While Dalet OnePlay is designed as a single operator tool that minimizes the resources needed for managing live studio productions, the core platform agility of Dalet Galaxy five propels a ‘friction free’ collaborative workflow where workgroups can interact with the studio operation team to craft and perfect the show even as it airs,” states Alba. “This is especially important for audiences of live news and sports, where the story narrative is evolving and timely, detailed information spanning multiple screens is fast becoming a vital means of audience engagement.”

Last but maybe one of the most important aspects is the native interactivity between Dalet OnePlay and the Dalet Workflow Engine. “This is a very unique and powerful point of the value proposition,” adds Alba. “It enables producers and editorial teams to associate rule-based automated processes as a macro or secondary-event of the show. This means they can schedule and automate social media posts or any custom distribution workflow, with any element of the library, in synchronization with the show. For instance, a post teasing audiences on social media before a guest comes in, or a trailer with the best actions of the last games before a sport magazine starts. The options are limitless and will really redefine how audiences can be engaged on many devices before, during and after your show!”

For more information on Dalet OnePlay, please visit https://www.dalet.com/platforms/dalet-oneplay.

About Dalet Digital Media Systems

Dalet solutions and services enable media organisations to create, manage and distribute content faster and more efficiently, fully maximising the value of assets. Based on an agile foundation, Dalet offers rich collaborative tools empowering end-to-end workflows for news, sports, program preparation, post-production, archives and enterprise content management, radio, education, governments and institutions.

Dalet platforms are scalable and modular. They offer targeted applications with key capabilities to address critical functions of small to large media operations - such as planning, workflow orchestration, ingest, cataloguing, editing, chat & notifications, transcoding, play out automation, multi-platform distribution and analytics.

Dalet solutions and services are used around the world at hundreds of content producers and distributors, including public broadcasters (BBC, CBC, France TV, RAI, RFI, Russia Today, RT Malaysia, SBS Australia, VOA), commercial networks and operators (Canal+, FOX, MBC Dubai, Mediacorp, Mediaset, Orange, Charter Spectrum, Warner Bros, Sirius XM Radio) and government organisations (UK Parliament, NATO, United Nations, Veterans Affairs, NASA).

Dalet is traded on the NYSE-EURONEXT stock exchange (Eurolist C): ISIN: FR0011026749, Bloomberg DLT:FP, Reuters: DALE.PA .

Dalet® is a registered trademark of Dalet Digital Media Systems. All other products and trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

For more information on Dalet, visit www.dalet.com.

Press Contact

Nick Govoni

Zazil Media Group

(e) nick@zazilmediagroup.com

(p) +1 (978) 866-7354

####

Basingstoke, UK - July 12th, 2018 - EditShare a technology leader in intelligent scale-out storage, AQC and media management solutions, announced today that Brisbane, Australia-based boutique post production house and one of the few women-led post houses in Australia, 3P Studio, has invested in EditShare’s XStream EFS 200 single-node scale-out storage platform to power its collaborative workflow. What started as a busy freelancing business by founder and artisan, Haley Stibbard, became a powerhouse post production house whose eclectic post production portfolio has grown to include high-profile commercial brands such as Subway, Allianz, Isuzu Motor Company as well as iconic and defining shows like Sesame Street.

When 3P Studio opened its doors for business on January 1st, 2017, the team temporarily worked off old hard drives that were backing up to other RAIDed drives overnight whilst also mirroring for redundancy. Since Stibbard built the stunning boutique facility from the ground up, the modern design took into account installing an EditShare shared-storage solution in late 2017. “I always knew that I wanted to install EditShare because I had used it before, and I really liked the way it supported the content flow. We just needed to save for the investment,” says Stibbard.

3P Studio installed the XStream EFS 200 model scale out shared storage solution connecting 10 creative Mac and PC-based workstations over 10-GB Ethernet comprising a mix of Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, The Foundry’s NUKE, Maxon’s Cinema-4d, Autodesk Maya, 3D Studio Max, DaVinci Resolve for grading and the hero suite, Autodesk Flame Premium while Avid Pro Tools is utilized to provide audio post production. With advanced support for project and media sharing, EditShare features helped tremendously with the boutique’s retail clients who, more often than not, required an incredibly fast turnaround. It allowed the team to work simultaneously on projects with one person recording voice-overs while another artist works on the graphics and another edits. Stibbard notes, “Because the EditShare system is designed for content sharing, it makes the workflow as fast and as collaborative as possible. This means higher quality projects completed on time and of course most importantly, happier clients. EditShare enables us to freely pick and choose the creative tools we want.”

Stibbard comments that she could have purchased other gear, but the EditShare scale-out shared storage nodes were the solution to power her successful business. “I could have gone out and purchased a Mac Pro and hooked it up to a couple of hard drives. Would it have done the same thing? To a certain degree, but it hasn’t been tried and tested like in EditShare. After talking with the guys at EditShare and getting the rundown of the specs and performance reports, investing in EditShare gave me the peace of mind I needed. In addition, my previous experience with using EditShare on very demanding projects assured us that this system would take a beating and keep performing.”

For more information on 3P Studio and how it is using EditShare to take on the industry establishment, please see the full case study here: editshare.com/case-studies/cs-3p-studio

About EditShare

EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and tapeless, end-to-end workflow solutions for the post-production, TV, and film industries. Our ground-breaking products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include video capture and playout servers, high-performance central shared storage, archiving and backup software, media asset management, and Lightworks – the world’s first 3-platform (Windows/OS X/Linux) professional non-linear video editing application.

©2018 EditShare LLC. All rights reserved. EditShare is a registered trademark of EditShare.

Press Contact

Nick Govoni
Zazil Media Group
(e) nick@zazilmediagroup.com
(p) +1 (978) 866 7354

CHICAGO—Stadium opened a new studio this week and expanded office space in the atrium at Chicago’s United Center, the 24/7 all-platform sports network said.

“As the only national sports network originating from the Midwest, we’re extremely excited with the quality, location and visibility of our new home,” said Jason Coyle, CEO of Stadium. “The location embeds Stadium in the middle of the action and further reinforces our unique perspective on the national conversation.”

The new studio is the latest step in Stadium’s production and programming evolution. The facility features a polished news desk setting that can be converted into an intimate lounge for interviews with visitors to the set.

Built by Artform, the set can be adapted to accommodate a variety of show formats in addition to news. Plans call for the sports network to originate more than 1,000 hours of live, original studio programming from the new space in its first year, Stadium said. Live and classic games will also be produced and aired from the new studio.

The facility is also home to master control operations and integrated control rooms for live studio and live event production as well as new office space.

Stadium began its 24/7 linear operation in August 2017. Since then, it has grown its distribution footprint to more than 75 markets, or 58 percent of the country covering over 18 million households. It is also retransmitted to 25 cable markets around the country.

More information is available on the Stadium website. Here is a clip of the new studio in use.

NEW YORK—Wall Street runs at a blazing speed, so it is fitting that CNBC’s “Squawk Box” can do the same. Now residing in a street front studio at the NASDAQ building in Times Square, “Squawk Box’s” new studio was designed to set up and break down in a New York minute.

“Squawk Box” wanted its new location to be in the heart of the action, according to Steve Fastook, senior vice president of technical operations for CNBC. However, while being at the NASDAQ studio allows for viewers to see people as they come into work every morning in the background of the show, it also means that “Squawk Box” can’t be idle when the cameras are turned off at 9 a.m. The show’s new studio also serves as the studio used for ringing the opening bell at 9:30, meaning “Squawk Box” has to be completely cleared in a half-an-hour. That was the motivation for most of new studio features.

The most visible of these is the new desk, weighing in at an estimated 3,000 pounds. “Beautiful and portable don’t necessarily go together,” said Fastook. “The more beautiful it is the heavier it is, the heavier it is the harder it is to move. So we had to come up with something that would be durable enough that we could move around every day.” To do so, the desk is made of plexi-glass and the crew has designed a special protocol that enables them to move it quickly and safely as to maintain its pristine look.

Contributing to that look is the fact that CNBC also eliminated some of the clutter that can typically be found on desks with monitors, PCs and other devices. The desk was built to house all of those needs underneath the glass, with a special design that allows for all of it to fit and work with the desk’s unique 57-degree angles.

Putting elements of the set at a 57-degree angle was a huge part of the design for “Squawk Box,” as monitors at the back of the set are also configured to incorporate that angle. Again, though, with NASDAQ coming in after them and using a standard 16x9 framework for the monitors in the studio, “Squawk Box” had to come up with another adjustable solution. “There’s a custom bracket that changes the height and rotates [the monitors] from 57-degrees to zero literally at a push of a button that unlocks it,” said Fastook.

Filming from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., the morning light also changes rapidly throughout the show and throughout the year, so to handle those quick adjustments, “Squawk Box” implemented a polarizing filter that’s embedded in the glass in the back of the studio as well as the front of the camera. The camera filter is on a motorized spinning wheel controlled in the video room that is capable of making the set look darker or brighter to balance with the available sunlight. Consisting of all LED lights, the studio also has flexibility with the color of its lights based on season or time of day.

After nearly an eight month process, the new “Squawk Box” studio debuted Wednesday, Nov. 15. The desk was built by Showman Fabricators and the Lighting Design Group lit the studio.

BRISTOL, CONN.—ESPN is taking up residency in lower Manhattan, as the sports network has announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement for a 19,000-square-foot-space within The Howard Hughes Corporation’s development at Pier 17, at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Cameras will start rolling at the new studio in spring 2018 and will be home for multiple studio shows, including radio, radio on TV, news hits and social segments. ESPN will also use the facilities roof and access to the pier for potential shoots. NEP will provide technical services and staffing.

“The Seaport District production facility is a state-of-the-art content factory that will allow us to produce differentiated studio content for both television and digital,” said Connor Schell, executive vice president, content, ESPN. “The flexible spaces, both indoor and outdoor, allow us to take advantage of all that New York City has to offer.”

STAMFORD, CONN.—NBC Olympics will hit the beach for its coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, setting up both an indoor and outdoor studio on Copacabana Beach for its daytime and late night coverage.

The two sets will feature a main anchor desk, an interview area, and a news update desk. There will also be hi-def video monitors to showcase highlights from the events. The sets will feature panoramic views of the beach, Sugarloaf Mountain and the Rio coast line.

Ryan Seacrest will host NBC’s late night coverage of the games, while the hosts for NBC’s daytime coverage are expected to be announced soon. Bob Costas will serve as NBC’s primetime host for the 11th time from its studio in the International Broadcast Center.

This is the first time since the 1992 games in Barcelona that NBC has used a studio outside the IBC.

The sets were designed by Bryan Higgason of HD Studio.

The 2016 Summer Olympics will take place from Aug. 5-21.

Read more about how broadcasters are covering the Rio Games at our Live@TheRioOlympics social media hub.

CNBC uses the combined natural and manmade beauty of the San Francisco skyline to provide a backdrop to its “Squawk on the Street” daily program.

SAN FRANCISCO—Curse that light.

It wasn’t the technology, or the infrastructure or the rabidly competitive real estate market that was flummoxing the engineers and producers building a brand new broadcast facility in downtown San Francisco.

It was the light. Milky and murky, sometimes filtered by thick grey fog, sometimes glinting straight through the window, the developers of the new CNBC broadcast facility struggled with that ever-changing light as they worked to build a new broadcast facility in downtown San Francisco.

Built to serve as the network’s West Coast technology bureau, the newly built CNBC@1Market facility finally found its ideal location. Now it had to solve two challenges: ensuring that this facility could be up and running in the wee morning hours when most West Coasters are still in bed. And that the devilish lighting caused by San Francisco’s microclimate could be slayed.

“We needed to find the best space in San Francisco, something with a beautiful view that was easily accessible,” said Steven Fastook, senior vice president of technical and commercial operations for CNBC in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. The resultant 8,000-squarefoot bureau is situated in a building at the foot of Market Street in the financial district of this city, just steps away from the namesake Ferry Building and the enormous San Francisco Bay.

That’s also where the problems began.

The new CNBC studio at CNBC@1Market

The CNBC broadcast day starts at 6 a.m. on the East Coast, and by the time the channel’s tech coverage begins, by about 6 a.m. Pacific, “there’s a huge swing of sun activity,” Fastook said, including a constantly changing mix of streaky sun and glinty reflections directly off the Bay Bridge into the studio.

“The sun is a challenge, the fog is a challenge,” he said. “The biggest challenge is to be able to have the inside studio and outside look good together, to see the talent look good and warm in both places.”

The largest studio—a three-camera space with the bay as a backdrop—includes three Sony BRC-H900 pan-and-tilt cameras with 14:1 lenses, Autocue prompters and lights, lots and lots of lights. The tricky lighting outside was mastered with a mix of lighting and drapery inside.

“[Indoor] lighting was a real saving grace for us,” Fastook said. “We can adjust color temperature on the lights to an intensity that you’d associate [with a certain time of day].” The studio is using ellipsoidal lights from the Italian firm Coemar, Creamsource fill lights from the Australian firm Outsight, and L-5 LED lights from ARRI. Cameras in the large studio were outfitted with a series of natural density filters.

In addition to the fully outfitted studio, a smaller “Flash Studio” was built nearby for breaking news and last-minute interviews. That room includes a Sony BRC-H900 robotic cam, Azzurro camera production system, Tektronix WFM7020 waveform monitor and Tekskil on-camera unit with Autocue’s QMaster software for teleprompting. A 75-inch Samsung plasma HD set is used to showcase live feeds, graphic elements or a taped loop of the bay outside.

The bureau also has access to an outdoor terrace with a view of the San Francisco Ferry Building. Power, fiber and connectivity were built into the outdoor terrace to run lighting and Panasonic P2 cameras.

ONE PIPELINE

The new CNBC facility in San Francisco is using two Avid edit bays running Media Composer and using a GV Stratus. Graphics packages, like those being created by freelance editor Rory Keenan (left) CNBC’s Director of Technical Operations Mario Schettino, are stored locally on Avid ISIS servers.
Behind the scenes, the bureau installed two Avid editing suites with 64 TB of shared ISIS storage. A four-channel Avid AirSpeed server is being used for local playout, with a Grass Valley STRATUS content management system being used to transport content to the CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs. “So if I’m sitting in San Francisco and I need to do an edit and go back to an archive, I’m able to open the STRATUS, search for it and pull it back,” Fastook said.

The Avids have allowed the bureau to ensure the workflow was working as intended, said John Chiala, technical manager for CNBC San Francisco. “We wanted to streamline the way that the bureau operates.”

Technology in the backroom includes a set of Miranda and Wohler routers, Fujitsu transmitters and receivers, a Textronix SPG8000 video signal generator, Miranda Densité frame syncs, and RTS intercoms.

What’s also unique about the bureau, Fastook said, is that everything comes back to headquarters via dual 100 Mbps pipes that pass through NBCU Los Angeles and then on to the East Coast. The network can carry eight HD SDI feeds, data from the Avid editing rooms, remote camera control functionality and intercom connections. “All of that transport comes back to on that same pipeline,” he said. It was designed so that everything that is happening in San Francisco can be seen in real time from the network’s headquarters in New Jersey.

“If it’s early or urgent, and I don’t have anyone sitting at the desk in San Francisco, I can turn on all three cameras from here,” Fastook said, the first time that CNBC has engineered a bureau with full studio and camera control. The engineering side—which includes transmission, camera control, diagnostics, and distribution and fiber gear—can be monitored and managed from 3,000 miles away. “I want to be able to see every resource that we have for CNBC in one place,” he said, so that pipeline flow can be monitored and adjusted.

Fastook pointed to CNBC’s cadre of guests and contributors as the reason that the engineering behind the West Coast bureau needed to be as interconnected as possible. To a large extent, IP technology is facilitating that move. “IP technology is a huge enabler,” he said. “It’s changed the capabilities.”

It’s a setup that CNBC may replicate again, as the channel considers installing a similar IP system at CNBC Europe and Asia. “Imagine being able to scan the content library and use it [in other bureaus as needed,]” Fastook said. “It’s working out well.”

PIERRE, S.D.—I like the TriCaster Mini for reasons that will resonate with anyone who produces video content.

It’s compact and lightweight, which makes it incredibly easy to transport. It can be set up quickly, transforming a dark conference room into a broadcast-ready set in less than five minutes.

I can also attest to the fact that it’s easy to use and even easier to learn. I run Lifewrx Media, a video production company that produces content for OaheTV, the public, education and government channel here in Pierre. I’m a one-man operation so I often work with other production companies. I’ve worked with organizations that have dozens of staff, many of whom I’ve watched teach themselves to use the Mini in two or three minutes.

NewTek’s TriCaster Mini
COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER PRODUCTS
One of the greatest things about NewTek’s TriCaster Mini is that it integrates easily with so many other products.

I put the TriCaster Mini’s compatibility to the test the first time I used it earlier this year to broadcast South Dakota’s Quasquicentennial Statehood Celebration, not only across OaheTV, but to viewers across the state. The celebration featured a performance by the South Dakota State Symphony and speeches by numerous dignitaries, including the governor, lieutenant governor and state Supreme Court justice.

Of all the events I’ve produced, it was important that every component worked together seamlessly for this one—which they did.

With HDMI cable, we pulled three camera positions back to the TriCaster Mini, which acted as the on-air live switch. The HDMI-based TriCaster Mini was routed via a Blackmagic HDMI converter to an SDIbased Leightronix Incode X One, which connected directly to a wired cable modem and public Internet connection.

For close-up shots we used a Canon 5D Mark III with a Canon 70-200 f2.8L lens next to the C100. For wide crowd shots we used the Canon XA10. A Panasonic AG-AC7 AVCHD captured the moment the building’s painstakingly restored stained glass was lit for the first time.

At the heart of the equipment rack was the Ultra Nexus video server and PEG Stream encoder. Packages used included Leightronix PEGvault, Total Info and PEG Central.

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS
I had only learned of the TriCaster Mini two weeks before the event, which made the Quasquicentennial a “trial by fire.” But based on the experiences I’ve had with NewTek products for more than 15 years I was confident the Mini would exceed expectations.

I’m happy to report it did. It made it easy for us to switch cameras throughout the event. It also provided ISO recording capabilities thanks to its ability to record individual cameras through external hard drives. In turn, the flexibility of ISO recording allowed for timing changes in post-production editing.

I felt comfortable using the TriCaster Mini for the first time during such a high-profile event because it’s a NewTek product. I know firsthand that NewTek prioritizes simplicity, affordability and ease of use in order to level the playing field for small operations like mine. Even though I haven’t had problems, it’s reassuring to know that customer support is there if we need help.

NewTek was critical to our success with the anniversary event, which we completed within budget. NewTek helped us raise the expectations of OaheTV viewers, who definitely liked what they saw. Moving forward, the rest is up to us.

Patrick Callahan founded Lifewrx Media LLC in 1997, and started as General Manager of OaheTV the same year. He can be contacted atPatrick@lifewrx.com.

For additional information, contact NewTek at 210-370-8000, or visitwww.newtek.com.