Philadelphia , Pa.-based Comcast SportsNet unveiled last week a 53-foot-long "Comcast SportsNet HDTV" mobile production truck built by Sony Electronics' Systems Integration Center in San Jose, Calif. The truck’s first assignment was an HD telecast on Monday, February 17 covering a NBA basketball game between the Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors.
The state-of-the-art production “facility” will produce approximately 200 HD games, Comcast said, including those of the Flyers, 76ers, and Phillies in Philadelphia, and Capitals, Wizards and Orioles in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. markets, as well as select postseason games.
The expandable, nine-to-13.5-foot-wide mobile truck made the cross-country journey in late January from Sony's Systems Integration Center in San Jose, Calif., where it was outfitted with Sony's HDCAM acquisition and production equipment, to its first stop in Washington, D.C.
After initial training sessions with the crew, the mobile unit traveled to Philadelphia to broadcast of Comcast SportsNet's first HD hockey telecast, on Saturday, February 15 (featuring the Philadelphia Flyers and the visiting Carolina Hurricanes).
Sports fans in both markets must have a HDTV set and subscribe to Comcast’s digital cable service to watch the games.
"This is truly an exciting time to be in television right now,” said Jack Williams, president and CEO of Comcast SportsNet. “The shift from standard to high-definition is reminiscent of the transformation from black and white to color television. This will truly revolutionize the way that we watch, produce and enjoy the sports television experience.”
The new Comcast SportsNet HDTV truck, which includes more than 200 Sony video monitors, three 42-inch plasma displays and 10 hand-held, studio and robotic HD cameras, is designed to simultaneously transmit game coverage in SD and HD.
Comcast SportsNet consists of two regional sports networks serving the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. television markets. Together, they reach more than eight million households in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.
For more information, visit www.comcastsportsnet.com.
