OSLO, Norway & LOS ANGELES—Appear has announced that Fox Sports is deploying Appear’s X Platform, a high-capacity, ultra-dense, low-latency media processing and gateway platform.
Fox Sports using the solution to build a unified foundation to support remote production, premium live events and large-scale IP workflows.
The rollout builds on an initial deployment and now extends across three major areas of Fox Sports’ production infrastructure: a refresh of HRP (Home Run Productions) REMI infrastructure, a standards-based IP workflow supporting coverage of a major global soccer event taking place in the Americas in Summer 2026, and the broadcaster’s Jewel Events production system for its highest-profile live broadcasts.
Appear and Fox did not specify the soccer event but Fox is the English-language broadcaster for this summer’s FIFA World Cup. Following the World Cup, Fox Sports plans to redeploy the same infrastructure across other major national broadcasts, including American football and baseball.
Together, these deployments create a common technology foundation supporting Fox Sports’ production models, from field kits and mobile units to large-scale premium live events.
“By adopting Appear across our REMI workflows, Jewel Events productions and Summer 2026 soccer coverage, we are creating a flexible production architecture that can support the scale and complexity of sports broadcasting today,” said Rob Rees, vice president, live production engineering, Fox Sports. “The ability to choose the right compression and transport approach depending on venue requirements, while maintaining the highest standards of performance and reliability, is critical to delivering the biggest moments in live sport.”
More specifically, the deployment spans three areas of its live production infrastructure:
- HRP REMI infrastructure refresh. Fox Sports’ Home Run Productions (HRP) operation is modernizing its remote production infrastructure, replacing legacy contribution and processing systems across field kits, mobile production trucks and compact deployments. By supporting both JPEG XS and low-latency HEVC on a single platform, Appear enables a consistent production approach across a broad range of live sports, while providing the flexibility to optimise codec choice and bandwidth usage without compromising operational efficiency.
- Standards-based IP production for Summer 2026 soccer coverage. For coverage of a major global soccer event in the Americas in Summer 2026, Fox Sports is deploying a REMI production workflow based on SMPTE ST 2110 and JPEG XS. This standards-based approach will enable ultra-low latency contribution of 104 live matches over 39 days, allowing workflows to seamlessly adapt across venues with different connectivity profiles.
- Jewel Events production system. Appear technology is also being deployed within Fox Sports’ Jewel Events production system, supporting the broadcaster’s highest-profile national live broadcasts with a scalable and robust processing platform.
Across the deployment, Fox Sports’ infrastructure includes Appear X20 platforms across HRP and Jewel environments, alongside Appear X5 systems supporting the commentator workflows.
The X5 provides a compact contribution solution for distributed production, enabling remotely located commentators to receive live feeds and deliver synchronised commentary with ultra-low latency.
Using a single platform, Fox Sports can select the optimal workflow for each production environment, from ultra-low latency JPEG XS over SMPTE ST 2110 to HEVC and SRT for more constrained or variable networks. This approach allows production teams to maintain consistent workflows regardless of venue connectivity conditions.
Looking forward, Fox Sports plans to redeploy the same infrastructure across other major national broadcasts, including American football and baseball, maximizing long-term value while maintaining performance and reliability.
“Fox Sports is setting a benchmark for how major broadcasters are evolving their live production infrastructures,” said Ed McGivern, president and GM, Appear US. “By deploying a single high-performance platform, they can scale workflows from compact field kits to the most demanding premium sports events.”
Join Appear at NAB Show 2026 (Booth: W1531) for live demonstrations of its latest live production solutions. To schedule a meeting, email: appear@platformcomms.com
