NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The remote production workflow TNDV and GameTime Productions put in place for Season 4 of the Team Boxing League (TBL) saw a more comprehensive remote integration (REMI) production model leveraged than in the previous season.
The refined workflow positioned TNDV’s 40-foot HD Expando Sallie mobile production unit as the centralized production control room in Irving, Texas, while GameTime Productions coordinated local technical crews for live matches originating from venues around the country, including the Aug. 30 championship at War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. All events aired live on Envoy TV, Dr. Phil McGraw’s cable and streaming network.
While Season 3 saw TNDV supplying remote flypacks, cameras and supporting production systems at each venue and transporting live signals to a third-party REMI facility in Texas for production, TNDV assumed responsibility for both ends of the REMI workflow for the latest season, which ran March 20–Aug. 30. TNDV received live camera and audio feeds from the venues at Sallie, producing the live program and supporting outbound distribution to broadcast and streaming partners.
“Bringing the venue-side REMI systems and the centralized production environment under the same TNDV umbrella has made the entire workflow more cohesive,” said Rob Devlin, president of TNDV. “We already understood the production requirements from Season 3, so this year was about fine-tuning the model and taking greater responsibility for the complete technical ecosystem. We can see and manage what is happening from the venue all the way through the truck and into distribution, which gives the production team a much more unified operation.”
The regular season presented a demanding schedule of three live matches most weekends, typically originating from three different cities on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. TNDV maintained three remote production racks that rotated among venues nationwide, allowing crews to establish a consistent technical footprint quickly regardless of location.
Each venue typically relied upon six HD camera signals, including four operated cameras—a primary game camera, two handhelds and a jib—and two fixed cameras focused on the team corrals. The latter are particularly important to TBL’s distinctive format, which transforms traditional boxing into a team sport with teammates positioned ringside throughout a fast-moving sequence of single-round bouts.
GameTime Productions continued to manage the local crewing operation, providing camera operators, audio technicians and other technical personnel at the remote venues. The combination allowed TBL to maintain a consistent production standard while avoiding the expense and logistical complexity of moving complete production trucks and traveling crews between cities.
The REMI model is particularly well suited for many TBL venues, which can present space, parking, power and infrastructure limitations for conventional mobile production. Compact flypack systems can instead be brought inside and quickly configured using a standardized technical design.
“REMI was essential to making the schedule both logistically and economically practical,” said Larry Meyers, consulting executive producer for TBL television. “We can have our primary production team and talent working from the same location throughout a three-event weekend while the venues change around the country. TNDV and GameTime have helped us develop a production model that can move efficiently from city to city while still delivering a very polished television product.”
TNDV transports the venue feeds to Irving primarily using SRT over public internet connections, typically budgeting about 10 Mbps for each video feed. Return program feeds and confidence multiviewers are also sent back to the venues, giving local technicians immediate confirmation that their signals have successfully reached the truck.
TNDV maintains additional safeguards for less predictable venue connectivity, including cellular-based LiveU backup for maintaining an on-air camera feed if primary internet service is disrupted. TNDV’s Nashville operations center provides another layer of support by monitoring bandwidth and signal health, managing remote intercom and providing backup paths. Operators can adjust compression and latency when necessary to accommodate variations in available bandwidth.
Inside Sallie, the remote signals are combined with three additional cameras capturing TBL’s commentators and studio presentation in Irving, creating a nine-camera live production. The HD truck includes a Grass Valley production switcher, EVS replay systems, Calrec audio console and extensive routing and connectivity, with production, replay, graphics, audio and engineering personnel working in close proximity.
TNDV also supported outbound SRT distribution from Sallie to multiple broadcast recipients, while its Nashville infrastructure converted and distributed feeds via RTMP where required for connected and streaming platforms. The workflow also incorporated remote Unity Intercom connectivity between production personnel and venue crews.
Season 4 matches aired live on Envoy TV and were distributed across a mix of regional television and streaming outlets. The flexible architecture allowed additional feeds and destinations to be incorporated as TBL’s distribution requirements evolved.
More information is available on the TNDV and GameTime Productions websites.
