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.  

NEW YORK- NYC Television Week, presented by Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel Newsmagazines, announced today its 2018 preliminary speaker lineup, featuring top names and influencers to headline the industry's premier events covering the latest trends, technologies and insights impacting the television, OTT, and video markets.

Held Oct. 29-Nov. 1, NYC Television Week features five mega events including Advanced Advertising, TV Data Summit, Next TV Summit, NYC Television Week's 40 under 40 and the star-studded Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame.

"We have assembled an exceptional lineup of speakers and panelists who are proven experts in their field of business. Attendees will have many valuable opportunities to hear first-hand about the latest industry developments and how to navigate the immediate business challenges facing the television and video industries. The tremendous support that this event continues to receive emphasizes the importance of having an industry platform where leading executives and senior managers can come together to discuss lessons learned, new trends and technologies, and perspectives of where the future of the industry lies," said Mr. Charlie Weiss, Vice President, Group Publisher, Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News.

The preliminary speaker lineup includes such industry leaders as:

• Ian Ferreira, EVP, Programmatic – WideOrbit
• Lance Neuhauser, CEO - 4C Insights
• Julie Sterling, Director, Broadcast Partnerships - Google
• Jim Keller, VP, National Advertising, Hulu
• Mark Gorman, CEO - Matrix Solutions
• Jessica Hogue, SVP, Product Leadership – Nielsen
• Radha Subramanyam, Chief Research & Analytics Officer, CBS Television
• Natasha Hritzuk, VP, Consumer Innovation and Research – Turner Broadcasting System
• Nicolle Pangis, CEO – NCC Media
• Ross McCray, CEO – VideoAmp
• Michael Powell, President & CEO – NCTA – The Internet and Television Association
• Jennifer Koester, Lead Director of Telco and Video Distribution Partnerships – Google
• Andy McCollum, CEO – Philo
• John Hendricks, Founder & Chairman– CuriosityStream

A sampling of topics to be covered include how data insights can guide programming decisions, segmenting markets, profiling viewers and providing solutions to advertisers; in-depth looks at the latest digital advertising technologies and how to use them to succeed; OTT growth and business models; transformative TV technologies; video consumption trends (and the way to measure those trends); how to manage talent and content in the digital age; and much more.

For a detailed look at all of the NYC Television Week events, speakers, programs and registration information, visit www.nyctvweek.com.

ATLANTA—Turner is making a play for a new standalone sports streaming service that will debut in 2018. As part of the streaming service, Turner has also finalized a three-year multi-platform rights agreement for exclusive presentation of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League soccer matches for the 2018-2019 season.

The announcement comes on the heels of Disney’s announcement last week that it will offer an ESPN streaming service, also likely to premiere sometime in 2018.

As part of Turner’s agreement with UEFA, the network will serve as the exclusive media partner in the U.S. for English-language coverage of both UEFA leagues; Turner will present more than 340 UEFA matches per season across its television and digital platforms; matches will be offered direct to consumers through the new OTT sports platform; Turner-owned Bleacher Report will serve as a portal to the OTT service and its live UEFA matches; and live matches will also be aired on TNT, TBS and/or truTV. Bleacher Report will also provide year-long UEFA clips and original content through its products and social media accounts.

Turner’s UEFA Champions League coverage will include four live telecasts a week through the group stage (September through early December) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1 p.m. ET and 3 p.m. ET, followed by two televised matches per week during the knockout stage (beginning in February) on Tuesday and Wednesdays at 3 p.m. ET. All other matches will be available live through Turner’s OTT platform. All semifinal matches and the Champions League final will be televised nationally on TBS or TNT.

The UEFA Europa League matches will be made available through the OTT platform, with the Europa League final airing on either TBS or TNT. In addition, Turner will televise the UEFA Super Cup on TBS or TNT, which pits the Champions League winner against the Europa League winner.

No official date has been given for the launch of Turner’s sports streaming platform.

MENLO PARK, CALIF.—SDVI Corporation has announced that it has closed a strategic investment round with Fox Networks Group, Discovery Communications and Turner. As a result of the investment round, executives from Fox, Discovery and Turner will join the SDVI Board of Directors.

The technical, business and legal teams were led by, respectively, Fox Networks Group Executive Vice President and General Manager Richard Friedel, Discovery Communications’ Chief Technology Officer John Honeycutt, and Turner CTO Jeremy Legg.

SDVI is a media company with the goal of developing next generation media supply chain platforms. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif.