The intersection of Wall and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan has seen its share of memorable events over the years at the New York Stock Exchange.
Whether it was the first time more than 1 million shares were traded in a single day 131 years ago, the Great Crash of 1929, the installation of the bronze Charging Bull sculpture two blocks south of the exchange in 1989, or simply the trading floor where traders and market makers each weekday transact, the exchange occupies a special place in the psyche of the nation.
Less public but equally noteworthy to NYSE insiders is the exchange’s recent completion of three new video production control rooms to support financial journalists and news organizations reporting on the exchange as well as to meet its own video requirements, ranging from coverage of opening and closing bell ceremonies, corporate announcements and interviews with business leaders to producing its own one-hour “NYSE Live” show streamed weekdays from the exchange via its website, the NYSE app and other streaming platforms.
Ian Wolff, director of Broadcast & AV Operations at the exchange, long dreamed of expanding the NYSE’s video production technology. So, when the exchange approved a major upgrade in 2023, Wolff was more than ready.
“It was time to do a full infrastructure upgrade,” said Wolff. “There were times we were doing three events at once in a control room designed to do one event. I wanted three control rooms that had the same exact gear and management said, ‘OK, go for it.’”
“We replaced every piece of equipment that dealt with the New York Stock Exchange control room. We went from pretty much one and a half control rooms to three control rooms.”
Before the project began, the NYSE production team was using the Ross Video XPression broadcast graphics solution and saw it could more fully leverage the system if it moved away from its existing production switcher to the Ross Video Carbonite.
“We realized that once the XPression and the Carbonite got together with RossTalk, it was a lot easier for the two of them to communicate to each other,” explained Wolff. “If we wanted to have a whoosh or something from the XPression, we could trigger it on the Ross Carbonite with ease.”
When management authorized Wolff to upgrade its video infrastructure and production control rooms, that level of seamless integration made it easy for Wolff to select Ross Video, he said.
CTI, a Ross Video Diamond systems integrator, assisted Wolff and the NYSE with the design of the rooms as well as installation and integration of the production control room technology. “CTI made me feel like I was part of the team and always treated me with respect,” said Wolff.
A large part of creating that rapport was CTI’s willingness to sit with Wolff and the production team, observe what they used to do, how they did it and ultimately bring in the new technology that met today’s production requirements, he said.
The centerpiece of each new control room is a Ross Video TouchDrive control panel controlling its own Ross Video Carbonite switcher. The main control room uses a Ross Carbonite Ultra 60 3 ME advanced production switcher, while the other two control rooms are each outfitted with their own Carbonite Ultra 24 3 ME switchers. The installation also relies upon a variety of Ross Video openGear modular cards to support various signal processing tasks, as well as Ross Video Tally Control.
The NYSE also deployed Ross Video XPression with support for real-time data to power broadcast graphics generation in each control room. Having the ability to import real-time data into XPression is critical to much of what the NYSE produces as the constantly changing stream of price ticker data drives the on-screen presentation of ticker crawls that many viewers tune in to see.
Production Workflow
Production control room workflows at the NYSE are essentially identical to those that drive most TV newscasts and other live shows. Typically, about 10 production personnel are required in the control room. From directors and floor producers to camera operators and teleprompter, also included are playback and show producer.
The NYSE house production format is 1080p 60. However, Wolff’s production team hands off 1080i HD to journalists, broadcasters and outside production houses that frequently rely upon the exchange for video. The exchange uses Ross Video openGear processing modules to convert from the house production format to 1080i.
In October 2025, the NYSE began using the last of its three new production control rooms to come online. Having three rooms available has proven to be a blessing due to the increasing volume of live production done daily at the exchange. Rather than having to double or triple up simultaneous productions in a single control room, NYSE is well-equipped to handle multiple live productions at the same time.
For the foreseeable future, the NYSE production control room buildout will continue to support a mix of HD-SDI 1080p baseband signals as well as a limited number of NDI IP video sources. While 4K isn’t on the table at the moment, Wolff and CTI worked together when designing the control rooms to be prepared for 4K/UHD. “We’re ready for 4K if somebody says the world is going 12G and everybody needs it,” said Wolff.
“I think we’ve futureproofed this house as much as we can. If management says, “We want you to start going 4K, we have the gear and the capability to do it.”
Looking back on the project, Wolff expressed a great deal of satisfaction with and an appreciation for the willingness of both Ross Video and CTI to address any issue that came up during the buildout.
“I’ve dealt with a lot of different manufacturers, and I’m not saying they don’t have good support, but Ross is at the top right now—just from what they gave us anytime we needed help. Even after the buildout, when we have questions for them, they are very responsive. They treat us like family,” said Wolff.
